26 Promotions – San Bernardino, CA – (September 18, 2018) – Dylan Cappello ended a 12-race winless drought Saturday night at Orange Show Speedway after leading the final 42-laps en route to his first Lucas Oil Modified Series win of the season.
“I feel like most people show up to Orange Show Speedway hoping to load up in one piece, but all we wanted to do was win from the start,” Cappello said. “We unloaded really good, and we were cutting the center of the corner faster than anyone which is, in my opinion, how you win there.”
Friday’s practice took a turn for the worst when a rocker arm broke during the second practice session.
“The sound was pretty bad, and I wasn’t sure how hurt the engine was after immediately taking it out of gear and shutting off the power,” he explained. “After assessing the damage, we were lucky, and the damage was minimized with the 84 of Eddie Secord lending us a spare for Saturday’s event.”
On Saturday afternoon Cappello laid down a couple of mock qualifying runs that would land him on top of the speed charts heading into qualifying.
In qualifying, Cappello would pick up just under two-tenths of a second from his practice time but would fall three-one-hundredths of a second short of the top spot. Qualifying second quick would earn him a fifth-place starting spot in the Quick 6 Dash.
“Falling short in qualifying was a big heartbreak, I’ve wanted to prove we can still qualify well, and we have made big gains as a team compared to last year,” he said. “The trophy dash was a good practice session for passing, and we posted the quickest lap of the race as well which was a good sign.”
With a five pulled for the invert, The Hitman would start the 100-lap feature from the outside of the second row.
“The plan, like usual, was to fire off fast and grab as many spots as possible, then settle in for conservation,” he explained. “I cleared the inside row on lap three putting me in second behind track veteran Jimmy Mardis. I began following his entry into the corner and picking up on where I was faster and where I needed to make improvements.”
Cappello would remain in the runner-up position leading up to back to back cautions on lap 55. Cappello was able to sneak by Mardis on the last restart and began to pull away from the field, cruising to the checkered flags with over a four-and-a-half second advantage.
“We have worked on this car a lot, and I owe it to my crew chief, Dean, for never giving up and always searching for speed and trusting my calls on the track.”
Cappello currently sits third in the Lucas Oil Modified Series championship standings as the series heads to Madera Speedway on October 6th.
Dylan Cappello would like to thank Geico, Quick Response Garage Doors, Spray Nine, Driven Motorsports, Team RBK, Pro Power Racing Engines, Total Power Batteries, Roger Seymour Photography, and Bilstein Shocks for their support.
Results
Qualifying: 2nd, 13.632
Quick 6 Dash: 5th -> 4th
Feature: 4th -> 1st
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