| (Sparta, Kentucky – September 24, 2016) Matt Kurzejewski and his Ansell-Menards team went into Kentucky Speedway with the goal of bringing home a solid top-5 performance after several weeks of bad luck, and they did just that. The Ken Schrader Racing team found themselves in the fifth position when the checkered flag fell on a wild Crosley Brands 150.
Kurzejewski, the 25-year-old from Mansfield, Pennsylvania spent the lone practice session on Friday afternoon trying to get the hang of his new Ansell-Menards Toyota on the new pavement at Kentucky Speedway.
“The new pavement really made this track a one grove race track,” Kurzejewski stated. “If you got out of the grove just slightly you slowed down a half of a second.”
Following his 14th place-qualifying run during Menards Pole Qualifying Presented by Ansell, Kurzejewski said, “I felt I had a good lap in qualifying, it felt fast but looking at the speed charts we needed a little more speed.”
The Crosley Brands 150 went green under the lights in front of a great crowd last Friday night. Kurzejewski quickly settled into the top-10. During the first round of pit stops the Ansell-Menards team put on four fresh General Tires and made some adjustments to help the Toyota turn better in the center of the corner.
“Our car seemed to handle decently on the short runs, the longer we would go it would develop a tight condition in the center of the corner,” continued Kurzejewski.
As the race unfolded, Kurzejewski found himself sitting inside the top-10 after missing several late race incidents. A Green-White-Checkered allowed Kurzejewski a shot at a top-5 finish and the Ansell-Menards driver executed a great restart to finish fifth.
"We held on and stayed out of trouble," Kurzejewski said. “We were in the right places at the right times and were there at the end. We leave here with third in points and hopefully can hang on to that for one more race.”
The next event for the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards will be the season finale at Kansas Speedway, October 14. |
