Pennsylvania team red hot heading into Ironman 55 and Knoxville Nationals
CARLISLE, PA. – July 31, 2017 – There are certain periods of the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series season that a team wants to be on a roll. One such stretch is the weeks leading up to the annual 5 Hour Energy Knoxville Nationals at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway in August. By virtue of sweeping the final weekend in July, David Gravel and his CJB Motorsports team have indeed found that elusive “roll.”
The team began the final week in the calendars seventh month in Canada. The Arrow Express Six Nations Showdown at Ohsweken (Ont.) Speedway on Tuesday, July 25th gave the #5 team another shot at victory. Gravel timed in 4th, finished third in his heat race and started the feature in 12th.
“We had a good night at Ohsweken,” explained Gravel. “We didn’t get qualified where we wanted to and missed the dash. We had some work to do but we made up the ground we needed to. Good night overall.”
Road tripping from Canada to Michigan saw the team get the opportunity to race a shortened Hartford Motorspeedway. The ‘Battle of Michigan’ lived up to its billing. The team locked up the nights’ quick time award before Gravel tangled with Brad Sweet for the race lead during the feature. A hard battle ensued with Gravel emerging victorious for his 11th Outlaw win of the season.
“I think it was better running second,” said Gravel, driver of the GoMUDDY.com, J.R.C. Transportation Inc., C&S Lawn & Landscape #5. ” It was a lot of fun. We raced real hard, even with how slick it was. It was very technical out there. We had the red flag and I think we made the car better during it. We were really tight, but you needed to be on a slick track like this. Thanks to my guys for busting their butts and I’m happy we could get another one.”
Wilmot (Wis.) Raceway has been very kind to the driver from Watertown, Conn. In two previous trips, Gravel had scored two victories. Looking to make it three, the CJB team registered a fifth-place time trial result before winning their heat race and finishing third in the Craftsman Club Dash.
“It’s been awesome racing here,” said Gravel. “Wisconsin is great. It doesn’t matter if we are at Beaver Dam (Raceway) or Cedar Lake (Speedway), the stands are always packed. They are just as good as Pennsylvania fans. It was racing with Shane. We both raced real hard. I think I may have been to patient and Shane (Stewart) got by us. Luckily Brad (Sweet) got into the infield tire and that gave us track position. I know we had a really good car. The track was awesome. The bottom was good and so was the top. It was even. The curb got out there really gnarly at the end and bit me a couple of times, but I knew that was the fastest place. I just had to play Russian roulette with the curb those last few laps and it worked out.”
The month of August begins with the annual trip to the St. Louis area for the Federated Batteries Ironman 55 presented by Walker at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 on Friday, August 4th and Saturday, August 5th. The two-day event has been kind to the CJB team as they won the opening night of the event two out of the past three years.
After the Ironman, the team will steam north to Iowa for the Capitani Classic at the famed Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway on Sunday, August 6th.
“Pevely is such a fun place,” said Gravel, whom currently sits third in the series standings, 108 markers behind leader Donny Schatz “We’ve run well there. Really well there. Sunday night is our last chance to really get some track time at Knoxville before the Nationals. Every little bit helps.”
BOX SCORE:
| Date | Track | Time Trial | Heat start | Heat finish | Dash start | Dash finish | “A” start | “A” finish | Laps Led |
| 7/25/2017 | Ohsweken | 4 | 2 | 3 | 12 | 6 | 0 | ||
| 7/28/2017 | Hartford | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| 7/29/2017 | Wilmot | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
2017 STATS:
Events: 57
Quick Times: 9
Wins: 13
Top-5’s: 34
Top-10’s: 50
Heat Race Wins: 17
Dash Wins: 7
Average Time Trial: 6.9
Average A-main finish: 5.6
Total Laps Led: 272
*Stats from Williams Grove event on 7/22 not yet added.*
STAY CONNECTED WITH CJB MOTORSPORTS:
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JOIN THE CRAFTSMAN CLUB:
CJB Motorsports gets the job done in the pits with Craftsman tools. Craftsman, one of the most enduring names in the tool industry, is a proud partner of the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series. You can experience the benefits of this legendary brand by joining the Craftsman Club here. CJB Motorsports would like to express their gratitude to Craftsman for supplying the team with dependable tools for their use, night in and night out.
ABOUT CJB MOTORSPORTS:
CJB Motorsports is a winged, 410 sprint car team that competes across the country with driver David Gravel. Founded in 2005, the Chad and Jenn Clemens owned organization has worked to establish a standard of excellence in short track racing through fielding competitive entries and providing exceptional exposure for marketing partners. The team is based out of Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
CJB Motorsports would like to thank all of our loyal sponsors and product manufacturers for their support and great products. Click on the name of the partner below to be taken to their website for more information.
Partners: Mainstream Holdings, Big Game Treestands, Muddy, J.R.C.Transportation Inc., Bairs Tree Service, Nyce, Crete & Landis Block and Concrete, All Star Performance, Henry Dunn Insurance, C&S Lawn and Landscape, Ecynbro Trucking
Manufacturers: Astro Titanium, Arctic Cat, ATL Fuel Cells, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, Butlerbuilt, Cometic Gaskets, Energy Release, Fastener Specialties, FK Rod Ends, Factory Kahne Shocks, High Performance Lubricants, HRP Wings, Kinsler Fuel Injection, Kistler Engines, KSE Racing Products, Lincoln Welders, Moose Blocks, Inc., MSD Ignition, Outerwears, Safety-Klean, Saldana Racing Products, Schoenfeld Headers, Schroeder Torsion Bars, Simpson, Sweet Engineering, Walker Performance Filters, Weld Racing, Wilwood Brakes, Winters Performance.
