KEMENAH FINISHES 5th AT THE 53rd ANNUAL KNOXVILLE NATIONALS By: Joe Burrage Coming into the Knoxville Nationals Chad Kemenah had one goal and one goal only and that was to make the A-Main on Saturday night. Well the Alvada, Ohio did a lot more than that as he drove his white No.63 mount to a fifth place from the 19th starting position. Kemenah kicked off his Knoxville Nationals on Wednesday night and the veteran driver was feeling pretty good about his chances. When qualifying began the legendary Knoxville Raceway half mile was fast and Kemenah was able to time in 19th quick. Starting fifth in the fourth Heat Race was not a bad starting position but Kemenah had to finish in the top four to move onto the feature. When the heat race began Kemenah was shuffled back to the sixth position before the first lap was even completed and the car did not look right. Kemenah would finish in the ninth position and he would be forced to run the C-Main later in the evening. With a brand new motor in the car Kemenah turned to Bob Hampshire to figure out what was happening with the new power plant. Hampshire and the entire crew quickly made a few changes to the car and the motor and Kemenah was pushed off for the C-Main. Starting on the front row of the C-Main was huge as Kemenah was able to jump out to the lead and hold off a brief challenge from Dustin Morgan. Kemenah would take the checkered flag and transfer to the B-Main but the motor was still not right. After the C-Main, Kemenah returned to the pit area but the motor was still having issues. The crew made as many changes as they could before Kemenah was called to the staging area for the B-Main. Starting deep in the B-Main Kemenah played it cool on the first lap as drivers in front of him were scrambling for positions. Kemenah would only run a few more laps before pulling in for the night. “Tonight was a difficult night, we did not get a good draw for qualifying and we had some trouble with our new motor,” said Kemenah. “We gave it everything we had tonight and now we have to run Friday night and make sure we don’t make any mistakes because if we do we will be buried deep in the C or D-Mains. I have to thank everyone on this race team for never giving up and we will be back on Friday night that’s for sure.” On Friday evening 71 sprint cars were in the pit area looking to finish in the top four to lock themselves into Saturday night’s feature event. Kemenah wasted no time at all as he posted the fastest lap of the week in hot laps and he was able to back that up by setting quick time when qualifying was all said and done. From there Kemenah was scheduled to start fourth in the first heat race and with only three cars transferring to the A-Main the start was crucial. Kemenah started the race and quickly moved into the third position right behind Ed Lynch, Jr. as the race continued Kemenah slowly started to catch the black and yellow No.2L by using the bottom of the track. Starting on the pole for the 25-Lap feature Kemenah was able to grab the top spot and lead the first lap. Kyle Larson was able drive around Kemenah on the cushion in turns one and two to take the lead, Kemenah continued to run his race and traffic started to come into play for race leader Kyle Larson who was having difficulties passing cars on the bottom of the track. Kemenah pulled even and edged slightly ahead of Larson with three laps remaining but a yellow flag would erase the possible pass for the lead giving Larson a clear racetrack on the restart. On the following restart Kemenah switched his line from the bottom of the track to the cushion and that opened the door for Cap Henry to drive under Kemenah for the runner up position. After the pass Kemenah went right back to his preferred line and was able to catch Henry but the checkered flags would come out and Kemenah would cross the finish line in third place and the CKR (Chad Kemenah Racing) No.63 sprinter was locked into Saturday nights A-Main. “That was a good race, the traffic started to give Kyle Larson some problems and I just continued to work the bottom of the track and I thought we had him until that last caution came out,” said Kemenah. “This is a huge relief, we have not had the best luck here this season and in the past couple of Knoxville Nationals but we were able to find something and put this car in the feature for Saturday night. Everyone associated with this team has worked so hard and I can’t thank them enough for all of there hard work.” Sprint car racings biggest and richest race of the year was set to start and Kemenah was starting 19th on the grid. The green lights quickly came on around the speedway and Kemenah immediately went to work on the bottom of the track as he moved up to the 17th position after the first lap. After a few yellow flags Kemenah was able to catch his breath and continue his charge to the front. Running the bottom of the track was effective for Kemenah as he passed two cars coming out of turns one and two as he started to catch Steve Kinser who was running in the tenth position. Kemenah and Kinser would battle hard and clean for nearly two laps as both cars seemed to be equal and Kinser made a slight error and Kemenah made him pay for it. Kemenah then set his sites on Danny Lasoski, Lasoski was running the cushion as well and Kemenah would drive right under the black No.33 and right after that pass was made the caution flag would come out for the mandatory fuel stop. The crew would only make a few adjustments to the car and Kemenah was pushed off for the remaining portion of the race. On the restart Kemenah and Kyle Larson would once again battle each other and Kemenah would make the pass coming out of the turn two and the No.63 car was on the move again as he caught Paul McMahan three laps later. Kemenah and McMahan would battle hard for a couple of laps with Kemenah again driving under McMahan in turn four. Kemenah was running in the sixth position and Paul McMahan was able to drive around Kemenah a few laps later but Kemenah continued to fight and the effort paid off as he was able to get around Joey Saldana with two laps remaining to finish in the fifth position when the race was completed. “What a week, we started off bad on Wednesday changed motors on Thursday and ran a solid race on Friday night just to be here and then we drive from 19th to fifth in the feature, wow,” said Kemenah. “This is the hardest race in the country to win all of the best drivers and teams are here and we were able to come home in fifth place I will take it any day. We have a lot of great people that come to the racetrack to help us out all the time and I can’t thank them enough, my wife Tracy and Bob Hampshire support me 100% and we have MS Motorsports, Maxim Chassis, Tony Depalma at Radio Hospital, Champion Racing Oil, K&N Air Filters, Media Camping Centers, Pro Shocks, Simpson Race Apparel, KSE, Winters Performance Products, Banshee Graphics, SSE Helmet Designs, ButlerBuilt Seats, All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads, Kears Speed Shop, Top Flight Wings, Real Racing Wheels, Jeffery Winter Construction, Goodridge Racing Products and Bogus Racing, I truly appreciate everything they do for this race team. Hopefully this will give us some momentum for our next World of Outlaws show Tuesday night.”
Posted on: Tue, 13 Aug 2013 03:50:12 +0000
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