Winchester 400: Austin Theriault
Winchester Speedway Race Report
WINCHESTER, Ind. – Austin Theriault of Fort Kent, Maine, finished sixth in the ARCA/CRA Super Series Winchester 400 at Winchester Speedway in Winchester, Ind., on Sunday, October 13. Theriault overcame a flat tire early in the race to move into the Top-5 in the closing laps, but contact from another car shot him up the track and into the wall – costing him a valuable track position and a potential shot at victory. The Brad Keselowski Racing development driver left Winchester with his best career finish at the track, even after losing a lap early on and having the late-race incident.
WHO: Austin Theriault, Fort Kent, Maine
TEAM: Brad Keselowski Racing No. 29 Checkered Flag Foundation Ford
CREW CHIEF: Gary Crooks, Mooresville, N.C.
WHAT: ARCA/CRA Super Series Winchester 400
WHERE: Winchester Speedway, Winchester, Ind. (.500-mile banked oval)
STARTED: 14th
FINISHED: 6th
NEXT RACE: October 28, Florida Governor’s Cup, New Smyrna Speedway, New Smyrna Beach, Fla. (.500-mile oval)
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AUSTIN, WHAT HAPPENED AT THE END WHEN YOU WERE RUNNING THIRD?
I didn’t see it coming. All of a sudden from behind, got into the back of us. It wasn’t like we were side-by-side with somebody for a whole bunch of laps. It wasn’t ‘racing’ – at that point, we were racing our own race at the end. That’s how you have to treat that whole race. You can race other people, but most likely, you do what you can, and when there’s only seven guys left on the lead lap – it isn’t worth racing that hard like that.
Could we have run (the leaders) down? Probably not, but anything could have happened, just like when we had a flat tire.
WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE LEFT FRONT TIRE EARLY ON?
The left front tire was going down on a green flag run, and the car started hitting the race track. Finally, it just blew out and brought the caution out. We were lucky – we didn’t hit the wall or anything, but by the time we pitted and got back out we were a lap down.
I thought we’d broken something the way it kept hitting the track. Luckily, it was a left side tire. If it would have been a right side tire, it would have been a different story.
WERE YOU HAPPY TO GET YOURSELF BACK IN CONTENTION AFTER THE FLAT?
We were pretty good in the race. We didn’t get the qualifying result we wanted, but 400 laps is long and there’s a lot that can happen. You’ve got a lot of chances to make up any ground you’ve lost in qualifying. Early on in the race, the car was strong but it needed some work, so we kept working to try and make it turn better.
If your car is fast enough, you can still run for a win if everything goes in your favor – even after something goes wrong. We got our lap back (after the flat tire), and we were riding in the Top-5. I just rode there for a while until we came in for another pit stop, and I was running third after final pit stop.
On old tires, it’s hard to pass there. You’ve really got to make most of your ground up on new tires. We did what we could, and we’re pretty happy with the results and where we finished.