Wednesday was Valentine’s Day but there was not a lot of love given in that night’s action at New Smyrna Speedway. For TC it was a night that had some high notes but ended in frustration.
Teddy’s night began with qualifying for the Tour Modifieds. The #36 struggled on a very slick race track and posted the 11th fastest time at 16.894 seconds. TC then jumped into the Cushman Competition #29 and set a new track record for the Super Late Models. He redrew the third starting spot.
Then it was time for the Modified 50-lap feature. The Eddie Whelan team had a fresh motor in the car and Teddy was excited about the added power. He settled in line and slowly began to climb toward the front. A lap 12 caution found him up to eighth. On the restart there was contact between TC and Ryan Preece that bent the left front wheel slightly and made the car loose, but he fought on undaunted. A caution at lap 33 found Teddy in fourth place, right behind teenager Joey Logano in the Gary Cretty #6.
Over the final laps the veteran and the youngster battled fiercely for third, swapping the position several times. In the end Teddy had to settle for fourth behind winner Jimmy Blewett, runner-up Eric Beers, and Logano. But like any true warrior he enjoyed the contest, as evidenced by the smile on his face. But that smile would later disappear.
In the Super Late Model 30-lapper TC charged up to second and was chasing race leader Ryan Seig. The pair quickly closed in on lapped traffic and on the eighth circuit Seig suddenly found his path blocked and lifted off the accelerator. Teddy tried to avoid him but had no place to go and there was contact. Seig ended up in the third turn wall and TC suffered some minor front end damage. He was able to continue racing but eventually the motor began to leak water and he had to park the #29, credited with finishing 18th.
“It started out as a good night.” explained Teddy. “The track was really slick when the Modifieds qualified and we ended up 11th, but I knew we had a better car than that. In the race I came from 11th to fourth and had a really good battle going with Joey Logano in Gary Cretty’s car. I drove that car for Gary and it still runs pretty good. Logano is fun to race with. We had a real battle going but we gave each other room to race – no blocking. In the end I think my tires had about five laps too many on them and the right rear finally gave out. But it was fun and we got a good finish that we really needed.
“We set a new track record in qualifying for the Late Models. In the feature I was chasing the leader when some lapped cars got in the way. He checked up and I had no place to go. He got wrecked and I got bent up a little but we kept on going. But finally the motor started to leak water and I had to park it. It was a disappointing end to a pretty good night.”
|
