Strong 11th Place Finish At Kansas Speedway For Ryan Wilson; Win-Tron Racing

Topics:  Ryan Wilson, Kansas Lottery 98.9

Chris Knight
Ryan Wilson Motorsports
Win-Tron Racing
Knight Motorsports Management
October 10, 2011

KANSAS CITY, Kansas (October 10, 2011) - - NASCAR Whelen All-American Series (NWAAS) driver Ryan Wilson narrowly missed his second consecutive top-10 finish in a row Friday night when the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards tackled Kansas Speedway under the lights for the Kansas Lottery 98.9.

Returning to the cockpit for the Lakeville, Minnesota for the first time in two months, Wilson was antsy to get behind the wheel of his No. 32 Champion Brands Toyota Camry on Friday morning to get his fourth career ARCA start wrenched up.

Under the leadership of Mike Chaffee, considered a wizard by many in the ARCA Racing Series garage, the team spent practice getting Wilson comfortable with the track and improving their No. 32 Champion Brands Toyota Camry from the open-test at the 1.5-mile speedway last month. Mounting the 13th quickest lap overall at a lap of 32.591 seconds at 165.690 miles per hour, Wilson was content but ready to confer with his team in order to find more speed for Menards Pole by Ansell qualifying.

Wilson was the 10th car to make a time trials attempt at Kansas Speedway Friday evening with the Randleman, North Carolina native negotiating a lap of 32.178 seconds or 167.817 miles per hour, four tenths of a second improvement from his quickest practice lap earlier in the day.

Despite a quicker lap, Wilson advised the team that his car was a little tighter than practice but also had some looseness as well.

From the drop of the green flag, Wilson hovered comfortably in the top-15 being advised by Chaffee that his lap times were very consistent. The 19-year old driver noted to his team that his left front of the car was hooking the apron and he was backing up his corners in turn three and four in order to and improve the handling of his Japanese nameplate.

When the first caution flag of the day waived on lap 24, Wilson sat 13th. While the other 12 cars ahead of him in the field elected to take the trip down pit road, Chaffee made a bold move and kept his rookie on the racetrack which allowed the driver of the No. 32 Champion Brands Toyota Camry to inherit the lead on lap 26.

Wilson, winner of last Fall’s Richard Petty Driver Search II would lead the field back to green but quickly be swallowed by his competition of fresher tires but he continued to fight for respect and a place inside the top-10.

Slipping back to 11th by lap 31, Wilson would hunker down and remain there until a caution on lap 36 allowed Chaffee to bring his protégé to pit road for tires, fuel and a track bar adjustment to battle a loose condition that Wilson was battling.

Restarting in the 19th position on lap 39, Wilson picked up four positions on the race track to lock the 15th spot when the third yellow of the night waived. Under the caution, the rising phenom advised his team that his car was free up off but extremely loose in traffic. The team acknowledged their driver’s explanation and would make another adjustment on their final pit stop.

Racing resumed with Wilson focused on motoring his, No. 32 Champion Brands Toyota Camry back towards the top-10. From laps 64 to 85, Wilson would flirt between 12th and 13th before the caution flag flew on lap 88 allowing Chafee to bring his young pilot to pit road for the final stop of the night.

Loaded with four tires, a splash of fuel and a wedge adjustment, Wilson restarted the race in the 12th position but immediately found himself moving forward and battling with Tom Hessert, Chad Hackenbracht and John Blankenship. Coming to the white flag, Wilson attempted to pass Hackenbracht for a spot inside the top-10 but a lousy move by a lap-machine trapped Wilson from completing the pass. Instead, he would have to duck behind Hackenbracht coming to the checkered flag and be forced to settle for 11th.

“I’m happy that we finished the race in one piece, but I really wanted a top-10 for everyone at Win-Tron Racing and Champion Oil,” Wilson explained after the race. “The car was good. I learned a lot. I experienced things that I never had before, especially with the wind. I’m disappointed in the lap car there at the end of the race. He had no reason to be where he was and it cost us in the end.”

He added, “On the bright side, we had a solid night and we’ll go to Toledo next and see if we can’t put our No. 32 Champion Brands Toyota Camry back in the top-10.”

Nate Thiesse, co-car owner of Win-Tron Racing offered his sentiments on the outcome of the 18th race of the season.

“We could not be more proud of Ryan,” Thiesse sounded. “We utilized some strategy and he led some laps and found himself in a lot of situations he had never experienced before in an ARCA car. He is a good kid with a tremendous amount of talent. His feedback was very impressive, especially with his inexperience in these heavier type of stock cars. All in all, we’re more than satisfied with the run and extremely proud of Ryan and we’re all anxious to get to Toledo Speedway, a type of track that is ideal to him.”

Next up for the ARCA Racing Series is the 19th and final race of the 2011 season. The ARCA Toledo 200 presented by Federated Car Care is set for Sunday, October 16th set to launch at 2:00 p.m. local live on SPEED. Earlier in the year driver Matt Merrell started fifth before rising to a podium finish of third.

Further information including driver opportunities with Win-Tron Racing is available by visiting win-tronracing.com or contacting Nate Thiesse at 612.306.1641

For more on Champion Brands LLC and their extensive line of products, please log on to championbrands.com or championsusechampion.com.

Additional input on Ryan Wilson is available by logging on the web at RyanWilsonMotorsports.com.

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RYAN WILSON CONTACT:
NAME: Chris Knight, Knight Motorsports Management
PHONE: 239.834.9797
EMAIL: chris@chrisknightpr.com