Austin Theriault: 50th Annual Milk Bowl
Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl Race Report
BARRE, Vt. – A broken suspension piece relegated Austin Theriault of Fort Kent, Maine, to a 15th-place finish in the 50th annual People’s United Milk Bowl at Thunder Road International Speedbowl in Barre, Vt., on Sunday, October 28. Theriault qualified fourth for the race back on September 27 before the race was rained out, and he finished 11th in a rough-and-tumble opening 50-lap segment on the banked quarter-mile. In the second segment of the race, a broken panhard bar stopped the No. 57 Pelletier Ford Ford Fusion’s march to the front. After working with interim crew chief Mitch Green, Theriault rallied to finish sixth in the final segment in the final Late Model event of the season in the northeast.
WHO: Austin Theriault, Fort Kent, Maine
TEAM: AT Racing No. 57 Pelletier Ford Ford Fusion
CREW CHIEF: Mitch Green, South Paris, Maine
WHAT: 50 annual People’s United Milk Bowl
WHERE: Thunder Road International Speedbowl, Barre, Vt. (.25-mile banked oval)
STARTED: 4th
FINISHED: 15th overall
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AUSTIN, WHAT HAPPENED IN THE SECOND SEGMENT?
All of a sudden, the tire started rubbing and I could feel the rear end moving back and forth. We broke the panhard bar. It was one of those things that just happened.
HOW WAS YOUR DAY GOING UNTIL THAT POINT?
I thought the track had changed a lot since the last time we were there. We never quite got a handle on it. It freed up a lot and had a lot less grip. I thought we had a lot better car last time, one of best we’d had there. We took the same setup this time, and we just weren’t successful.
I decided instead of putting rest of field in jeopardy and tearing up a lot of equipment, I’d ride around in the back until the segment was over (once we broke the suspension). If we had finished the second segment without any issue and then finished well in the final segment, we probably would have had a Top-5 finish.
HOW WAS IT WORKING WITH MITCH GREEN AS CREW CHIEF FOR THE FIRST TIME?
It’s always difficult to change from working with somebody every week and then working with someone new and having something happen. It’s like when (NASCAR Sprint) Cup crew chiefs get suspended for a little while – it changes the chemistry of the team, but I thought Mitch did a good job in trying to play Mickey’s role.
It’s definitely a bigger shoe to fill. Me and Mickey work pretty well together on a week-to-week basis. We did the best we could, and Mitch did a good job holding the reins and holding things together for Mickey.