June 24th Infineon Raceway results- As most of you know, Brandon didn’t get the Sprinter Trucking Dodge into the race. But on the positive side, he out qualified 12 major teams in the 40th position out of 52 cars. With the top 35 locked in on points, it only allows 8 positions to make the field. Other gains this year that we are thankful for are the equipment changes to our Dodge Avenger. We now have a transmission that shifts great, our own motor program, and a great shock program.
Thanks to Ken Wood of Sprinter Trucking on Friday our day started when the haulers entered the race track and the team headed to registration(by the way if you know of anyone who serves breakfast at 4 am let us know). After 4 trips of shuttling crew back & forth to registration, we settled into getting our Dodge Avenger through the tech area (in which 2 did not make it, but were able to race).Our volunteer crew worked feverishly and successfully with our new COT Dodge Avenger to get through the tech area with only missing 20 minutes of practice (with 52 cars it takes NASCAR quite awhile to tech all cars).
When Brandon was able to hit the track for the first time, the car was on the loose side but still posted a 28th fastest time. We had to make multiple changes to the car during practice, almost everything except Brandon’s steering wheel. In the closing minutes of practice, Brandon was working on hitting his marks and thought the car was getting close to where it needed to be.
As qualifying got closer we had the luck of the draw (or unluck of the draw) to qualify in the 2nd starting position. That leaves next to nothing to prepare the car for its final tech for qualifying. Again with lots of hard work from our short staffed crew, we had the Dodge Avenger headed into the tech area on time.
Our qualifying lap showed the car to have a new bug in the chassis. Never the less, Brandon amazingly picked up five 10ths of a second over his practice times. We had hoped to pick up a full second on qualifying, but as Brandon took the green flag the car started to rear steer as the panhard bolt was accidentally left loose, causing the car to rear steer going into the corners on the track. After Brandon realized how disastrous the loose rear end would affect the handling of the car, his only comment was “when are we going to get a chance to show what we know we can do”.
Unfortunately we have to put that behind us and start working even harder to build from our misfortunes. Build a better team behind Brandon. We are going to be searching for more sponsors that would allow us more practice time. We need to find a sponsor or sponsors that would like to grow with us to gain the exposure in the Nextel Cup series.
We are hoping to get our Dodge Avenger to Watkins Glen in August, but we know we will need to test some before we go all the way back to New York.
Thanks again to Sprinter Trucking and our other sponsor for getting us this far. But if you know someone that would like to join our team, please contact us.
Deb
May 17 & 24- After returning from two extensive road course tests, Brandon has the most positive attitude of his career. From the start of the test to the final few laps his lap times were bettered by 9 seconds. Brandon says the COT car will be quicker than the old style car. Few teams will feel this way about the COT car. Brandon stated that his transmission and brake package is better than last year. His engine accelerates quicker than last year and the overall handling package allows him to be more aggressive. His final comment was "Top of the board baby." He is excited about going into the Infineon Raceway on June 24.
May 18- Brandon Ash Racing would like to thank all our local fans who came out on Nascar Day to show their support and for making Nascar Day a great success. All the proceeds raised will be going to the Victory Junction Gang Camp.
May 15- Extensive Road Race Test for the Car of Tomorrow (COT). After going to Phoenix, AZ in April, making sure the COT car made it through Tech & Inspection the Brandon Ash Race team was surprised about the bump rubber rules. The team then shifted gears realizing we needed to do extensive testing in preparation for the June 24th road race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Ca. With this in mind we booked 3 test dates at a Ca. road course to sort out our new COT car. With a special engine package and special gear package the team is confident that they can put the car solidly in the show in June. Test dates are as follows-May 16, 17 and 24th.
I'll update you after the tests.-Deb
April 25- Well race fans, the Brandon Ash race team had the new car of tomorrow delivered to our race shop on march 31st. With only 17 days to get the car ready the team went to work. By the following Friday night we had it painted, but still had lots of work ahead, we had to reassemble the car & add more official parts. On Monday April 16th we had it completed; we took it to the Douglas County Speedway just to make sure it would turn left. 
After getting rained out at the speedway we took it back to the race shop to complete the minor repairs that we found & finished the car for Phoenix. On Tuesday night we had the car loaded for Phoenix, Jr & Brad headed to the track that night.
At the track Thursday morning the crew was busy getting the car ready for the NASCAR officials to tech. they have quite the system to go through checking all the major areas. As it headed to the new template everyone was nervous, but we made it through. Then it was a fast pace to hit the track for practice. At first Brandon thought the car felt pretty good, but as he brought the speed up the bump stops on the shocks let the front down. We only get a 90 min practice time. Then its time to get ready for tech again & qualifying time. The team was feeling pretty good until Brandon went into turn one & the bump stop did not hold the car up. As Brandon chased the car up the track to keep it off the wall he seen his time slow down. Unfortunately our weekend was done.
The team learned lots over the weekend. And now they can look at going to Sonoma for the road course in June. We will have time to test the car this time on a road course by Willows CA. We will be ready for Sonoma in June!