Brett Hudson Produces Top-10 Finish At Salem Speedway

Topics:  Brett Hudson, Kentuckiana Ford Dealers 200

Chris Knight
Brett Hudson Motorsports
April 7, 2009

SALEM, Indiana (April 7, 2009) - If one driver deserved a top-10 finish at Salem Speedway this past weekend, Owensboro, Kentucky native Brett Hudson was at the top of the candidate list. A wacky qualifying run and brush with the wall in the race wasn’t enough to keep Hudson from claiming another solid performance in the second race of the ARCA season.

In practice, Hudson produced the 13th fastest lap in practice after hustling his No. 25 Hudson Machine Shop Chevrolet Monte Carlo around the half-mile bullring at 17.629 seconds at 113.336 miles per hour.

“We’re okay,” said Hudson. “I would like the car to be a little better than it is but we’ll keep working and try to make it better for qualifying and the race.”

Hudson put quite a show on in ARCA qualifying after a wicked fast racecar proved to be too loose for the avid racecar driver as Hudson exited turn four of his first qualifying lap, the No. 25 snapped around with the car crossing the start-finish line backwards. Miraculously, Hudson didn’t hit a thing and still maneuvered a lap fast enough for 17th on the starting grid with a time of 18.293 seconds at 109.222 miles per hour.

Track officials nicknamed Hudson “Slider” for his commendable efforts in qualifying.

“Well that was fun,” Hudson joked after qualifying. “I don’t know how we didn’t hit anything. A lot of luck. The car is good, I think I maybe was trying too hard but we made the show and that’s all that counts.”

During Sunday’s Kentuckiana Ford Dealers 200, Hudson quickly showed why he is a master at the legendary short track after negotiating past the traffic and finding himself in the top-10 just 30 laps into the event.

He continued to inch his way up the running order ladder but the 21-year old young-gun would be sidelined a short time later as Hudson slammed the wall in turn two after getting a nudge from another competitor.

A trip to pit road allowed the team to inspect the damage and put tires on his No. 25 Hudson Machine Shop-Double H Hydraulics Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

Back to racing, Hudson regrouped and continued to move back to the front and eventually settled back into the top-10 just after halfway.

While sitting comfortably in the top-10, Hudson wasn’t able to mount a charge in the second half of the event as his tires wore off but not enough from allowing Hudson to garnish his 10th career ARCA top-10 finish.

“It was an interesting weekend for the Brett Hudson Motorsports team. It was entertaining from start to finish. I think we hurt the car a little bit when we hit the wall but we regrouped the best we could and we still were able to get a top-10 out of it. We’ll take this and move on and hope to be at Kentucky next month.”

He added, “Pit strategy definitely wasn’t our on side. We were expecting to get a caution late in the race and it didn’t happen. It was odd, but it was good racing. After the race we found out that the sway bar wasn’t even attached, so to come out of there with a top-10 and without a destroyed racecar, we feel pretty lucky.”

The word hope is a big word for Hudson and his family-owned team as they’re still unsure what their 2009 schedule has in store.

“We’ll know here pretty soon what we’re going to do. Nothing is concrete but if it all materializes where we’re going to be able to run at Kentucky, then we’ll be there. I just have to thank all of my sponsors who once again made this weekend possible.”

Hudson Machine Shop, G&A Trucking, Double H Hydraulics and Warrick Tubing took the bid as sponsors for Hudson’s 20th career ARCA start.

Sponsorship opportunities are still available for the 2009 season. Interested parties are encouraged to contact Lisa Hudson of Brett Hudson Motorsports at 270.929.2160 or hudson00@adelphia.net.

Next up for the ARCA RE/MAX Series is round three of the 22-race tour with a stop at Rockingham Speedway for the Carolina 200 set for Sunday, April 19th.

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