Chicagoland: Robb Brent race report

Robb Brent's Stout Run Comes Up Short At Chicagoland

JOLIET, Illinois (August 31st 2009) - - There was no question that Friday evening's Ansell Cut Protection 150 was the strongest performance of the 2009 ARCA RE/MAX Series season for Robb Brent and the Justin Allgaier Motorsports (JAM) team. Unfortunately, the finishing result doesn't reflected on the performance as the team was denied a solid top-10 finish after running out of fuel on the very last lap in Friday's double-header event.

Fresh off a solid showing in his inaugural dirt debut the weekend prior at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, the Shelby Township, Michigan native arched his way into the "Windy City" on a wave of momentum and vying for his first top-five finish of the year.

Armed with new crew chief Dave Leiner, Brent was looking forward to getting underway Thursday. Unjustly, Mother Nature had tried to stall the teams in more ways than one after persistent rain showers backlogged practice. Finally, the skies cleared up with three half-hour increments allowed the teams to tackle the 1.5-mile speedway much closer to the event's actual run time on Friday.

From the time the wheels touched the Joliet, Illinois racetrack Thursday, Brent knew he had a good car. Under the three practices, Brent maneuvered his No. 36 Orchard Chrysler Dodge Jeep Dodge to the 11th fastest lap in practice and backed it up with solid efforts of 13th in the second and final practices giving Brent a good vibe about the impending race.

"I'm real happy with the way our Orchard Chrysler Dodge Jeep Dodge is handling," said Brent. "Testing paid off for us big time and I cannot wait for the race."

In Menards Pole by Ansell, Brent negotiated a lap of 31.278 seconds or 172.645 miles per hour placing the team 17th on the starting grid.

"I had a feeling that our qualifying run would not be as we had hoped for, but the good news is our car is going to be fast in the race and that's when it counts the most," Brent added.

With a quick 100-lap shootout on tap for the ARCA RE/MAX Series stars, Brent knew he had little time to play around but a quick caution on lap one halted the progress of the rising star.

Back to racing, Brent found his groove and began motoring through the field. With a solid run of green flag racing, the No. 36 found itself inside the top-10 when the second caution flag waived when two cars tangled on the front stretch.

With the yellow out, Leiner took the down time to bring his college student to the attention of his JAM crew for four tires and fuel. Brent returned to the track hovering inside the top-10.

Racing resumed with Brent back on the attack and headed to the front. A solid handling Dodge Charger allowed Brent to pad and nail the throttle and move into the top-six when the final caution waived inside five laps remaining.

On the prowl and ready to attack on the green-white-checkered, Brent began shifting through the gears when his machine began begging for fuel. Instead of causing a huge melee, Brent wisely ducked to the apron of the racetrack, irked as his strong run diminish in front of his eyes. Vowing not to receive a DNF (did not finish); Brent coasted back to the start-finish line where he would be credited with a 15th place finish.

"Man, my emotions are all over the place right now," said Brent after the race. "I'm so proud of my team because we had a great car, the best piece we had all year but to come up one lap short is just completely disheartening. I thought when Parker (Kligerman) ducked to pit road we were going to grab a top-five. It just stinks. We'll just have to get some redemption in October at Kansas."

Brent remains tucked in the 10th position in the ARCA RE/MAX Series championship standings entering next Friday's event at Toledo Speedway. Brent captured his first top-10 finish at the historic half-mile oval in May by finishing ninth. The 22-year old sits just 45 markers from overtaking Tom Hessert III in the ninth position in the championship chase.

Be sure to cast your vote for Robb Brent as the 2009 ARCA RE/MAX Series most popular driver. Visit ARCANation.com and vote for Robb Brent.

-credit: rbr