WS: Irwindale: Brett Thompson race report

Thompson Makes Most of Third NASCAR Start of the Season
Brett Thompson Terrific With Third Place Performance at Toyota Speedway

JEROME, IDAHO (July 5, 2010) Brett Thompson made the most of his third NASCAR K&N Pro Series start of the season this past Saturday night at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale, CA. Thompson counts Toyota Speedway as one of his favorite tracks and executed on the team's plan perfectly to score a third place finish at the conclusion of the King Taco "200".

Thompson qualified 15th in the 30-car field for the 200-lap race that would feature a 10-minute break at the mid-way point. Thompson's plan was to simply race conservatively and not push his RTTI Chevrolet too hard during the first half of the event.

Thompson performed his role as planned over the first 100-laps moving his car through the field and was running tenth at the half-way break. That was the easy part as every other team had essentially the same plan. The second 100-laps would be a different story.

During the ten minute break, the Thompson team changed right side tires, and made a few chassis adjustments to give the car more bite off the corner. By lap 127 after the restart, Thompson had moved up tot he 7th position but heavy traffic maligned his progress and he fell back to the 9th position on lap 130.

Thompson allowed his tires to cool a bit and took another run and by lap 145 had moved up to the sixth position. Thompson held onto the the sixth until he made a move on fifth on lap 164. On lap 170 he picked up another position moving into the fourth spot.

Over the final 30-laps, Thompson closed on the top three from more than half a lap back. On the final circuit, then second place Brenden Newberry lost power allowing Thompson to sneak past and secure the third position at the drop of the checkered flag.

Thompson will only make a handful of starts in the NKNPS this season and finishes like this is what the team is focused on. "This was the best car I have ever drove here at Irwindale," Thompson said. "I really never had to work the wheel at all. The car was perfect and I wish we had a few more laps as I think I had something for them."

Not running for the points championship can take some of the pressure off. "We are just running the races at the tracks that I know we can be good at," Thompson offered. "I have always loved racing at Irwindale and wished we were racing here several times a year. This is a great facility and the racing here is always good. I had a blast out on the the track and I am so proud of the team."

Taylor Barton of Las Vegas, NV drove a team car to Thomspon and finished 12th in his fourth start of the season. Barton has a lot of experience in Late Model style stock cars but admits the transition to the heavier NKNPS cars is interesting. "These races are longer and you have to really conserve the tires," Barton said. "This was a good race for us and we keep learning along the way. The race was really quite clean and track position made a big difference. I look forward to the rest of the races we plan to do this year."

-source: thompson motorsports