PETERSEN MEDIA: Returning to Sprint Car action after making his NASCAR Craftsman Truck debut at Bristol Motor Speedway, Tanner Carrick picked up a pair of Top-5 finishes with the Kings of Thunder in Tulare, CA, and a couple of tough outings with the KWS/NARC series.
“We had a really good weekend with the 360, but we fought some engine issues with our 410 each night and it put us in two early holes that were just too hard to dig out of,” Tanner Carrick said.
Friday night kicked off the 2nd Annual Dennis Roth Classic and in 360ci action, Carrick timed the CVC/Cemex/Interstate Oil backed No. 83T in sixth quickest in qualifying time trials.
Lining up on the pole of his heat race, the Lincoln, CA driver was able to wire the field and pick up the win. By way of his win, Carrick moved into the feature event and rolled off of the starting grid from the second row.
Settling into fourth when the race came to life, Carrick would find himself in fifth on the seventh lap as he worked around the very fast racing surface. Battling hard on the high-banked 1/3 mile oval, Carrick would fight back into fourth on the 16th and 21st laps, but ultimately wound up finishing fifth.
In 410ci action with the NARC/KWS series, Carrick timed in 12th fastest in time trials, before finishing sixth in his heat race. Moving into the feature event, Carrick took the green flag from the 16th starting position.
Getting off to a strong start, Carrick was able to pick up a handful of positions in the opening laps. Racing into 11th, a car would get out shape in front of Carrick and force him to spin to a stop.
Forfeiting his track position, Carrick would restart from 22nd, and rally to finish 18th.
Back in action on Saturday night for the Dennis Roth Classic finale, Carrick continued to showcase an extremely strong 360ci as he timed in fourth fastest in time trials.
Picking up a heat race win for the second consecutive tonight, Carrick found himself on the front row of the scheduled 25-lap feature event. Settling into second when the race came to life, Carrick chased after race leader, DJ Netto in a race that was mired with stoppages.
Late in the race, Carrick would find himself battling hard with Justin Sanders as the duo battled for second. As the duo continued to battle hard for the spot, the race would ultimately get cut to 20-laps due to time constraints, and Carrick closed the race out with a third place finish.
Qualifying 18th fastest in 410ci action, Carrick finished eighth in his heat race and was forced into the ‘B’ Main.
Picking up the win in the semi, Carrick transferred into the Dennis Roth Classic feature event where he took the green flag from the 19th starting position. Mired in dense traffic for the duration of the race, Carrick was able to slowly work his way forward.
With passing tough in the 410ci ‘A’, Carrick would patiently make moves when opportunities arose as he capped his weekend off with a 17th place finish.
“We were really happy with how things went in the 360 races each night, but we just got in too deep of a hole with the 410, and it was just so hard to try and recover from.” Carrick added.
Tanner Carrick would like to thank CVC, Cemex, Interstate Oil, Conti, Harris and Sloan, Hanson Truss, Eddie’s Lincoln Auto Body, Simpson Strong-Tie, A&A Concrete Supply, Kaeding Performance, and Arai for their continued support.
BY THE NUMBERS: Starts: 9, Wins: 1, Top 5’s: 5, Top 10’s: 6
ON TAP: Tanner Carrick will be in action at Merced Speedway this weekend with the Sprint Car Challenge Tour.
STAY CONNECTED: Stay up to speed with Tanner Carrick by following him on Twitter @Carrick_Tanner or @CarrickMotorsp1, and by clicking over to www.tannercarrick.com.