6/20/2011
Chris Coker
Still Rolling
(June 20th - New Braunfels, TX) Chris Coker and team looking to rev things up during a three race swing 4th of July Weekend. Over the past five outings the team has had a string of uncontrollable on-track incidents and parts failures resulting in a poor couple of weeks. Chris Coker is not quick to take the pressure off himself though, "Some crashes are unavoidable, some parts just fail and there is nothing you can do. But at the end of the day, we have to be better. I've been trying new baseline setups virtually every night and nothing seams to click. Its like the old saying 'sometimes the only way forward is backwards' and that seems to be us recently. But I think that's about to come to an end. We finally had a decent weekend with the car, minus the steering box failing during a 2nd place B Main run and a couple of poor draws. We collected lots of data and knowledge about the car. And we are very confident in our strategy going forward. The #5 is going to the front, and soon!"
Friday the team went east to Beaumont, TX. After a poor heat race, adjustments were made and Chris raced from 6th to 2nd in the B main with a broken steering box. In the feature Chris would struggle with the car and new steering finishing 15th.
Chris Coker Racing then moved to Royal Purple Raceway Saturday night. A poor draw placed Chris on the last row of the last heat, but he would race to 4th, locking into the feature. Chris mentioned "We are trying a completely new baseline setup, again. And it was the most comfortable car I've driven all year. It think we're finally getting there." In the feature Chris start 15th and rally to 10th before falling to 13th after a long 30 lapper which included 3 red flags. "The car was great, but different exclaimed Chris. The track was changing and I would find a rhythm, pass a few cars, the the red would come and I would go backwards. Then after the next red I went forwards again. It was there, just wasn't consistent enough. It really helped my confidence though!" Said Chris.
The teams next outing will be a three race 4th of July trip to Louisiana and Mississippi, where the team hopes to climb back into the top 10 in points.
Submitted By: Chris Coker
