Brett Hudson Storms To Impressive Top-10 In Chicagoland |
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Topics: Brett Hudson, Chicagoland ARCA 200
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Chris Knight
Brett Hudson Motorsports
September 11, 2007
JOLIET, Illinois (September 11, 2007) - - Even a new car number couldn’t shake ARCA RE/MAX Series (ARS) driver Brett Hudson from showing strength for the third time this season as the Kentucky native racked in a thrilling performance in Saturday’s Chicagoland ARCA 200.
Hudson, who made two prior starts this season at Salem Speedway and Kentucky Speedway (July) returned to the circuit hoping to keep his name in the mix with the goal of producing a career-best finish.
After rain invaded Chicagoland Speedway Friday morning, the teams welcomed a drier track in time for the lone practice session of the weekend.
During the two hour session, Hudson carrying the No. 0 for Peterson Motorsports soared into the top-five where he remained for much of the period.
Despite slipping to 14th in the final rundown after turning a time of 31.563 seconds at 171.086 MPH, the avid late model driver knew he had a competitive piece.
“I’m glad that the rain held off. The car is very good. I think it’s even better than it was at Kentucky earlier this summer. The Brett Hudson Motorsports guys have worked their tails off preparing this car. I want to thank Wayne Peterson and Peterson Motorsports for allowing us to use the No. 0 this weekend at Chicagoland. I think we’ll have a good enough piece where we’ll make some noise of our own this weekend.”
Heading into ARCA SIM Factory pole qualifying, the Brett Hudson Motorsports (BHM) team knew they had a car capable of starting inside the top-10, they just didn’t know were exactly.
Hudson whipped his Dodge Charger around the 1.5-mile speed plant in a time of 30.769 seconds at 175.501 MPH lining up the BHM team third on the starting grid.
The effort was a career-best for the part-time ARS driver.
“What a great lap,” said Hudson . “I drove the car hard and it stuck. I am really proud of everyone on our Brett Hudson Motorsports team. We don’t have the chance to compete in a lot of these races, but we try and come and put ourselves in contention. Hopefully this run turns some heads and the rest of our weekend will go as planned.”
At the start of Chicagoland ARCA 200, Hudson remained in the top-three but when the first caution flag waived on lap 11, he had slid back to the fifth position.
On the restart, Hudson ’s machine developed a tight condition which forced a backslide in the running order. When the next yellow flag waived on lap 27, Hudson claimed the ninth position.
The BHM followed the rest of the competition down pit road on lap 28 with Hudson exiting in the 18th position.
Over the next forty laps, Hudson would slice and dice his way through the field to claim the 12th position when the next yellow flew on lap 70 for an incident involving Mario Gosselin.
As the race approached thirty laps to go, Hudson reported to his crew that he wasn’t feeling well. The crush panels of the No. 0 were damaged the middle portion of the event. With the tire smoke building up in the cockpit, Hudson ’s physical condition continued to deteriorate. At one point, he event opted to bring his machine down pit road and climb from the cockpit and allow another driver to finish the event.
Luckily, the caution flag waived on lap 101 for an incident in front of Hudson allowing the avid late model competitor to catch his breath and regain his composure.
Breathing in some cooler air, Hudson felt like he could complete the job.
Hovering in the 12th position on the restart, Hudson would remain there until 11 laps remaining when his No. 0 began turning some very competitive laps. With those laps came positions.
When Hudson took the checkered flag on lap 134, he had muscled his way into the eighth position grabbing his third straight top-10 finish of the season.
“I tell you, I don’t know how we did it, but the car came to life in the final 11 laps and we made a charge. We still had some left, but we needed some more time,” explained Hudson . “I’m really proud of the guys, they did a phenomenal job and I know they are pumped about home territory next weekend at Salem Speedway, so this run at Chicagoland gives us an extra boost to go there and defend our top-five finish from the spring.”
“Hopefully this run proved a lot. I started getting really sick at the end, but thankfully a caution waived and I was able to regain my focus. This weekend, we were able to qualifying in the front and move from the back to the front in a short amount of time during the race. This team does a great job and hopefully with some additional backing, we can go from top-10s to winning races.”
Next up for the ARS is a return to Salem Speedway for Saturday’s Eddie Gilstrap Motors ARCA Fall Classic by Advance Auto Parts. Earlier this year, Hudson started eighth and used his veteran knowledge of the brutal short track to score a fourth place finish, a career best.
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MEDIA CONTACT:
NAME: Chris Knight, Brett Hudson Motorsports
PHONE: 239.834.9797
EMAIL: knight849@aol.com