6/21/2021
Inside Line Promotions
Kaleb Johnson Scores Career-Best Third-Place Finish at Knoxville Raceway
(Photo by Craig Mobley)
Inside Line Promotions – OGILVIE, Minn. (June 21, 2021) – A career-best result at Knoxville Raceway highlighted a solid weekend of racing for Kaleb Johnson, whose third-place outing in a make-up feature on Friday was sandwiched between a pair of top-10 runs last weekend.
“We’d been looking forward to the make-up feature for a while since we started fourth,” said Johnson, whose previous best finish at Knoxville Raceway was fifth. “I got lucky at the start. I let Clint Garner get by me, but there was a caution before we completed a lap. I made sure that didn’t happen a second time.
“I got under Ricky Montgomery for third early and then went to the top for the rest of the race. It got interesting toward the end when the leaders were throwing sliders at each other. That allowed me to close on them, but I ran out of laps to be able to do anything. I was still really happy to finish third.”
Johnson’s night didn’t begin as well as he hoped when he timed in 20th quickest out of 31 drivers for the main program at the half-mile oval in Knoxville, Iowa.
“We went out later and I think the track fell off about four to five tenths when it came our turn,” he said. “We missed the invert for the heat race for our first time ever at Knoxville, I think.”
Johnson was able to advance one position in his heat race after starting seventh, which lined him up 18th in the feature.
“I was able to make the bottom work pretty well the first part of the race and passed about six or seven cars early,” he said. “When the bottom went away I moved to the top and was able to get by another car at the end for a top 10, which I thought was pretty good compared to how we started the night and where we started the feature.”
Johnson traveled north on Saturday for a Midwest Power Series and Midwest Sprint Touring Series race at Ogilvie Raceway.
“I had trouble with the steering in the heat race and pulled in,” he said. “We discovered there was a small hole in one of the fittings for the power steering and had lost all the fluid. We got it fixed and started last (18th) in the feature.
“We were able to pass quite a few cars early and got up to about eighth. There was a red with two laps to go and we were able to get by a couple more cars to finish sixth. We got the Hard Charger Award and were pretty happy with the number of cars we passed.”
Johnson, who ended sixth, will shift gears this week when he will make his 410ci sprint car debut Monday during THE SHOWDOWN at Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, S.D. He plans to compete each night of the event with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series at Huset’s Speedway and at Jackson Motorplex in Jackson, Minn., this week.
“It will certainly be interesting,” he said. “I can’t say I’m not a little nervous, but that’s a part of it and something I’ll have to get over really quick. I’m expecting big crowds so I’m looking forward to being a part of it.”
QUICK RESULTS –
June 18 – Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa – Qualifying: 20; Heat race: 6 (7); Feature: 10 (18); Make-up Feature: 3 (4).
June 19 – Ogilvie Raceway in Ogilvie, Minn. – Heat race: DNF (5); Feature: 6 (18).
SEASON STATS –
15 races, 0 wins, 3 top fives, 8 top 10s, 10 top 15s, 13 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Monday and Tuesday at Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, S.D., for THE SHOWDOWN featuring the Huset’s 50 presented by BillionAuto.com and Thursday through Saturday at Jackson Motorplex in Jackson, Minn., for the 43rd annual AGCO Jackson Nationals with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.kalebjohnsonracing.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Kaleb___Johnson
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KalebJohnsonRacing22
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – JF Capital
JF Capital is a private financial group located in the Minneapolis area.
“JF Capital joined our team three years ago,” Johnson said. “We’re excited to have them back again this year and we greatly appreciate their support.”
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 Home Loans, The Ron Weber Team, State Bank of Fairmont, Big Al’s Diecast, Dave’s Lawn Care & Landscaping, 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
