(Image: Ben Thrasher)
26 Promotions – Queen Creek, AZ – (April 25, 2018) – For the third time in four ASCS Southwest Region races Colton Hardy ended his night atop the podium as the series made its second appearance at Arizona Speedway on Saturday.
“After a disappointing finish in the first race at Arizona Speedway we were looking for some redemption,” said Hardy. “(Track promoter) Jonah (Trussel) added new clay to the track, and the track was really weird early. It never really packed in, it just kind of threw dirt everywhere, which made the heat race difficult. We advanced from seventh to fourth, and probably could have pushed harder to gain a couple more spots, but the risk wasn’t worth the reward.”
Hardy earned enough points to make the feature re-draw, drawing the number eight to start the feature on the outside of the fourth row.
“Right before we went out Jonah tilled the top and bottom of the track,” he said. “Everyone went to the bottom on the start, and I went to the top. We came out of turn two in fifth and got by for fourth by lap five or so before a yellow negated it.”
Restarting fifth, Hardy found the bottom of the track in turn three and four and quickly made his way to second.
“At that point, I could barely see (Billy) Chester and knew catching him would be tough, but we kept chipping away at his lead lap after lap and ended up catching him,” Hardy explained. “At one point we had lappers three-wide in front of us, and he got through them really quick, and I swore my shot at the win was done. But, I just kept digging and got through them and ended up getting back to Chester.”
Hardy would make the pass for the lead out of turn four, but a late race caution with one to go would re-stack the field and move Hardy back to second for a green-white-checker finish.
“I didn’t even know we took the white flag the first time until they told us it was going to be a green-white-checkered finish,” he said. “On the restart, Chester jumped out a few car lengths, but I got to him and cleared him coming off four.”
Hardy would extend his lead to just under a second during the final lap to take the checkered flags for his eight career ASCS Southwest victory.
“This was by far the hardest I’ve had to work for a win. The track was really racy, so hats off to Jonah and the track crew” said Hardy. “After talking about it with Nate for a while, we decided to try something new on the car, and it definitely helped. We keep improving on the car, keep trying more stuff, and it feels like every time we do something different, we gain more speed and consistency.”
Hardy will have a 63-point lead in the series standings when the ASCS Southwest Region returns to action on May 5th at Arizona Speedway.
“It feels good to win three out of the first four races of the year. The car has been rolling really good lately, and I couldn’t be more pleased and thankful for it,” he said.
Hardy will be in action this weekend in the number 41 Bandit Racing Micro Sprint at Central Arizona Speedway.
Colton Hardy would like to thank Diamond Mechanical, A & C Remodeling, Engler Machine and Tools, CSI Shocks by Factor One, Schoenfeld Headers, Marks Bolts, Nuts & Surplus, M & J Trophies and Apparel, Bandit Racing, Borello Race Engines, and Highline Clothing Co. for their continued support.
Results
Heat: 7th -> 4th
Feature: 8th -> 1st
Links
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/colton.hardy41
Twitter: https://twitter.com/colton_hardy41
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/colton_hardy41/
Website: http://www.coltonhardy.com/
Article Credit: 26 Promotions