4/26/2021
Inside Line Promotions
Kaleb Johnson Records Top 20 Against Stout Knoxville Raceway Field
(Photo by Ken's Racing Pix)
Inside Line Promotions – KNOXVILLE, Iowa (April 26, 2021) – Kaleb Johnson battled throughout a challenging night to record a top-20 finish Saturday night at Knoxville Raceway.
“It wasn’t our greatest night, but that’s the way it goes sometimes,” he said. “It’s never good when you draw 75 out of 75. The worst part about that was the number of cars that were there. You’re bound to have a bad draw sometimes. You just hope it happens when there aren’t a lot of cars.”
Johnson was still able to lay down a lap that was 15th quickest out of 37 cars, which included a stout group of non-regulars.
“Our qualifying wasn’t terrible,” he said. “The track had slicked off a bit from the start of qualifying, but I thought we still had a decent lap.”
His qualifying effort placed Johnson in the third starting position in his nine-car heat race.
“I didn’t get a great start and I got a little anxious on the first lap in turns three and four,” he said. “I hit the bottom and the car slid up from the moisture. It got out from underneath me and I spun out. I restarted last and got back to fifth. I closed on Ricky Montgomery and Carson McCarl, but didn’t gain enough ground to pass them.”
Johnson’s combined qualifying and heat race points left him one position shy of making the A Main. That started him on the pole in the 14-car B Main.
“I tried to run the bottom early in the B Main, but there wasn’t much there in turns one and two and Matt Covington passed me for the lead after a few laps,” he said. “We had a yellow on the last lap and on the restart I was able to slide him for the lead going into turn one. Then he got a run and got by me for the win. If it was a different situation, I probably would’ve tried to slide him to block him, but we were in transfer positions so there was no reason to take any chances.”
Johnson rolled off 22nd in the 24-car A Main before finishing 17th.
“I had a tough time getting around some cars in the first part of the race,” he said. “When I finally did, there were only about seven or eight laps left. I probably should’ve moved to the top of the track earlier. We had a fast car. It just took me too long getting around those cars. But we didn’t hurt anything and rolled it into the trailer at the end, so it wasn’t a bad night.”
Johnson anticipates better results when he returns to Knoxville Raceway this Saturday.
“We’ll be looking for a bit of redemption this week,” he said. “We felt we had a better car than what our results showed and we should be fine with a little better draw.”
QUICK RESULTS –
April 24 – Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa – Qualifying: 15; Heat race: 5 (3); B Main: 2 (1); Feature: 17 (22)
SEASON STATS –
3 races, 0 wins, 1 top five, 1 top 10, 1 top 15, 3 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Saturday at Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.kalebjohnsonracing.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Kaleb___Johnson
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KalebJohnsonRacing22
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Innovative Design/Sletten Properties
Innovative Design is an architectural firm owned by Lanny Auringer and Sletten Properties is a property owner and management company owned by Lanny and wife, Tammy. Together, they design, develop and manage the commercial and retail workspaces they lease in Sioux Falls, S.D.
“Lanny is a big-time fan and supporter of racing,” Johnson said. “We really appreciate him letting us use one of his shops. I feel extremely fortunate to have him on our team this year and I’m grateful for what he’s done to help us.”
Johnson would also like to thank Merle Johnson Farm Toys, Oddson Underground, GRP Motorsports, Innovative Design/Sletten Properties, Sea Foam, Snyder Tree Service, Guaranteed Rate-Mike Brudigan, Ron Weber Team, State Bank of Fairmont, Big Al’s Diecast, Dave’s Lawn Car & Landscaping, JF Capital, Last Deck, Hepfner Racing Products, Schaeffer’s Oil and TL Racing for their continued support.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.
To meet the media relations needs of your program by joining Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or Shawn@InsideLinePromotions.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.
Article Credit: Inside Line Promotions
Submitted By: Shawn Miller
