---

Brian Brown – $10,000 Payday Sets Up King’s Royal!

It was quite a week for Brian Brown and the Casey’s General Stores/FVP #21 race team. After fourth, sixth and ninth place finishes with the World of Outlaws, the Grain Valley, Missouri driver nailed down the $10,000 to win Jackson Spring Sprint Nationals in Minnesota. This weekend, the team heads to Eldora Speedway near Rossburg, Ohio for the King’s Royal.

Things started for you a week ago Friday with the WoO at 34 Raceway near West Burlington, Iowa. You were sixth quick.

It’s a good qualifying effort, but with the Outlaws, sixth quick is “no-man’s land”. You need to be in the top four, or ninth on back so you start in front of the heat.

You were able to make it through the heat, even though you had an issue.

The heat wasn’t bad, but we got into the fence in turn four and broke the shock tower off. We finished the last half of the heat without that, so we were lucky to make it through there.

You started ninth in the feature, but went backwards. Then it seemed the guys that had some experience there, were moving forward, including yourself.

We weren’t that great early. I believe we were back to fourteenth or fifteenth. Once the fuel load burned off, the car came back to us a bit. We were able to charge back through there to third. At one point, I thought we had a shot to win it, but with a couple to go, Bill Balog got by us and we finished fourth.

That surely gave you some momentum heading into the rest of the week.

It was a good night for us. It’s what we needed to get started on the right foot. It was a good showing for our locals. Terry (McCarl) was second, Balog was third and we were fourth. The Midwest had three of the top five so that was a good showing.

You timed in 11th quick a week ago Sunday at Cedar Lake Speedway near Richmond, Wisconsin.

We qualified in the right spot. That put us in the front of the heat and we were able to win that. It was big with FVP there with their customers and employees. Anytime you can do that with them there…it’s good for morale.

You ended up finishing seventh in the Dash and that put you in good position for the feature.

We had a pretty good car there. We were racing for Sammy (Swindell) for fifth, and kind of got into the fence a bit. He came across the track and kind of put me into the infield. That messed up my entry into the corner and we ended up seventh.

You would checker sixth in the feature.

I felt without that incident with Sammy, we could have been fourth or fifth. Our confidence is getting better with the Outlaws, and once you get that going, you’re accustomed to running up front. If you can see the leaders at the checkers, you feel good about things.

Last Tuesday found you at Huset’s Speedway near Brandon, South Dakota with the Outlaws. You timed in 15th quick that night.

We were able to win the heat. We started in the back of the Dash and ran seventh. I was just kind of maintaining there in the feature. We were good enough for a solid top ten. The last double-file restart, the inside row didn’t go as I’d hoped, and I got shuffled back to ninth. It could have been worse though. Joey Saldana was in front of us, and got shuffled back to fifteenth. I guess we got lucky to keep what we had.

Thursday, the Jackson Spring Sprint Nationals had a pretty stout field assembled.

That race has turned into a great event. With the Folkens Brothers, Jon McCorkell and Brian Posthuma…all those guys do a great job with that race. To be able to win it three times in a row now, and especially this time, when it was $10,000 to win is special.

You won your heat after starting sixth. That had to get your momentum going.

Obviously, I felt good about where we were at that point. We drew seven for the Dash, and I was a little bit worried that we might not get up to where we needed to be. Fortunately, we were able to get up to fourth. I knew once we got to fourth, we would be in the hunt for the feature.

You were definitely in the hunt, taking the lead right away and leading the distance.

The green flag dropped and we were able to get the lead before we completed a lap. There were quite a few yellows, and when you have Jason Johnson and Danny (Lasoski) behind you, you better be on your game and hit your marks. Otherwise, those guys will eat you alive. It was a great effort by our whole team. You don’t win races like that by yourself. Chad Morgan, Zach Thomas and Sean Michael, who was in from Pennsylvania, were all helping out. That’s what we needed heading into the month of money.

This weekend, you head to the King’s Royal.

I’m really looking forward to it. It’s second to the Knoxville Nationals as far as prestige. We’ve been very good there in the past, and we’ve been mediocre at times. We’ve got a pretty good package, and we’re going there to contend for a win.

I know you were thinking about sticking around and going for the title at Knoxville.

We’d like to win it obviously, and I think we had a shot to do that even missing a week, but it wasn’t really our goal heading into the year. Anytime we can go race for $50,000, we’re going to do it.

What’s it going to take to have that crown placed atop your head on Saturday night?

The format on Saturday is way different than an Outlaw format. You have to have a little bit of luck, and hopefully, we have that. We’d like to go out there and knock it off and make the Midwest proud of us.

Back to News