2/7/2019
Dylan Cappello Overcomes Early Damage to Salvage Top Five at Kern County Raceway
(Image: Bruce Nuttleman)
26 Promotions – Bakersfield, CA – (February 7, 2019) – New season, new colors, new sanctioning body, new Hitman? Dylan Cappello and the Team RBK crew began the 2019 SPEARS Manufacturing Modified Series presented by Lucas Oil at Kern County Raceway with new ideas to improve upon their runner-up finish in the Lucas Oil Modified Series last year.
Entering the weekend expecting a schedule filled with rain and delays, Cappello and his team were proven right when qualifying was pushed up to Friday night and the All-Star race was canceled due to weather.
Friday’s schedule would see the Modifieds run two practice sessions where Cappello posted the third and fourth fastest times in each hour-long session. In single car qualifying where Cappello shot to the top of the board with a lap time of 18.814 seconds.
“Despite running well and contending for many wins, qualifying has been our Achilles heel in recent years. Being fast when it comes time to race is important, but sometimes qualifying poorly put us in a hole that was tough to overcome,” he explained. “We are hoping this is a sign that we are moving in the right direction and we can grab those crucial bonus points throughout the year.”
Saturday started out under rainy skies that saw the Kern County Raceway track crew hard at work to dry out the racing surface and around 1:30 pm on Saturday afternoon the 51 FIFTY Energy Drink Modified Showdown was on track with Cappello lining up on the inside of the second row after the re-draw.
“I took second in the first corner and began assessing the cars handling and the track conditions from the morning rain,” he said. “Not long after, going down the backstretch on lap two, a piece of lead flew from underneath the car ahead and went through the front valence of our car. The sheet metal folded under the car and began dragging under the car around the track.”
The damage would significantly change the handling of the car as Cappello dropped back to fifth. Rain would again begin to fall and the race would fall under red flag conditions with 30 of the scheduled 75-laps completed.
“With the approval of the track officials, we were able to bend the piece off of the ground and continue on after the break,” he explained. “We battled back and we were able to salvage a top five, finishing fourth. Looking back it could have been much worse and I think that we showed a good amount of speed this weekend and we will show up to Irwindale ready to battle again.”
The Hitman returns to action with the SPEARS Manufacturing Modified Series presented by Lucas Oil on March 23rd at Irwindale Speedway in Irwindale, CA.
Dylan Cappello would like to thank Quick Response Garage Doors and Repair, RBK Racing, Total Power Batteries, West Coast Truck and Auto for their support.
Results
Qualifying: 1st, 18.814
Feature: 3rd - > 4th
Stats
Races: 1
Wins: 0
Top 5’s: 1
Top 10’s: 1
Links
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CappelloRacing/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dylancappello11
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dylancappello11/
Website: http://www.dylancappello.com/
Article Credit: 26 Promotions
