(Image Credit: Tiffany O'Neall Motorsports Photography)
26 Promotions – Tucson, AZ – (April 11th, 2017) – Dylan Cappello is developing a love/hate relationship with Tucson Speedway, a place where the results, including this passed Saturday’s, haven’t reflected how well Cappello has competed at the track.
The weekend kicked off with four 30-minute practice sessions on Friday night where Cappello would look to improve upon a loose, but fast, race car.
“I knew we had a super-fast car when we unloaded,” said Cappello. “From there it was just trying to make it even better. We hit on a couple things but overall couldn’t get the drive we wanted.”
As practice progressed on Friday night and opened Saturday’s racing activities, Cappello realized he wasn’t alone.
“After watching everybody on Friday and Saturday, I noticed everyone was having the same issue,” he said. “From there it was just looking over notes from Friday’s practice and planning for the race.”
Cappello would use the final practice session on Saturday afternoon to lay down a couple mock qualifying runs, something he wanted to focus on entering the weekend. He would end up tied atop the charts when the 40-minute session concluded.
The Hitman would qualify 3rd after picking up over 3 tenths from his final practice time.
“I was super happy with our qualifying effort,” said Cappello. “The car was really fast and it put us into contention for the invert.”
Following Qualifying and prior to the Feature, would be a Quick 6 Dash, featuring the top 6 in qualifying inverted for a six-lap race. Using the Dash to get the car dialed in for the 75-lap Feature, Cappello worked his way up to 2nd from his 4th starting position but quickly determined the car was too loose for the Feature.
“We had a great car in the Dash,” he explained. “But it wasn’t tight enough for the 75-lap Main. By searching the track in the dash, it gave me confidence to jump out early and make a move in the Main if I could.”
With only a 2-car invert, Cappello would assume the 3rd starting position for the Feature and would spend the first half of the race running between the 2nd and 3rd spots.
“We were able to hold our ground early but the car began to loosen up around 30 laps in. From there we played the cone and tried holding our position the best we could.”
While running 3rd with 32 laps to go, Cappello would get hit and sent spinning in the middle of turns 1 and 2.
“The car was never the same. It was unfortunate for the team because I felt we had a good enough car to hold our position and have a good run.”
The team would attempt to make adjustments on the car in hopes of getting the car back up front, but an air pressure leak in the left rear tire and bent rear end housing wouldn’t allow the car to react to the adjustments.
Cappello would fight his way up from the back of the field to finish 14th.
The Lucas Oil Modified Series presented by Ram Mounts make their first of two appearances at the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on May 20th for round 3 of the 2017 championship season.
Dylan Cappello would like to thank Ram Mounts, Sears Garage Doors, Spray Nine, Driven Motorsport, Team RBK, Pro Power Racing Engines, Total Power Batteries, Roger Seymour Photography and Bilstein Shocks for their continued support.
Friday Practice Results:
Session 1: 1st 16.314
Session 2: 5th 16.489
Session 3: 8th 16.693
Session 4: 2nd 16.271
Saturday Results:
Practice Session 1: 19th 17.006
Final Practice: Tied 1st 16.458
Qualifying: 3rd 16.108
Quick 6 Dash: 4th -> 2nd
Feature: 3rd -> 14th
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