Swindell strong as well as CJB duo rolls on through Midwest tracks in the month of June
CARLISLE, PA. – June 15, 2016 – Don’t look now but David Gravel might just be the hottest driver on the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series circuit.
Since the Bob Weikert Memorial at Port Royal (PA) Speedway, Gravel has reeled off eight top-5’s in a row. Throw in a win at I-96 Speedway and you’ve got the makings of a team that is beginning to peak just as the mercury begins to rise for summer time.
Gravel and the #5 team ventured to Lincoln Park Speedway near Putnamville, Ind. on Wednesday, June 8thfor the Outlaws first visit there since 1988. The return trip to the Indiana bull ring allowed Gravel to dual one of the sports best, Donny Schatz, down to the last lap.
“It was really fun racing with the best,” said Gravel, driver of the Big Game Treestands, J.R.C. Transportation Inc., C&S Lawn & Landscape #5. “Kyle [Larson] gave us a run for our money there early, and Donny [Schatz] is a really smart racer and it’s hard to go around him, especially with this tight track. It’s been a pretty good year so far; we have been fast lately. There were a couple of times I could get to him in traffic and make a move but I made some mistakes. We wanted that one. We really did.”
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(Click above to listen to David Gravel after his runner up finish at Lincoln Park)
The #5 team left the rust belt behind and headed west for the rolling corn fields of Iowa. Friday, June 10th and Saturday, June 11th marked the first trip to the famed Knoxville Raceway for the ‘Greatest Show on Dirt.’ Gravel had the added benefit of having teammate Sammy Swindell running at the half-mile oval for the past few weekends.
Gravel and Swindell to the track on Friday night. Gravel timed in second in his group for time trials while Swindell was third in his. Strong heat races followed as Gravel won his heat race while Swindell finished third in his. After the dash, both drivers took to the track for the main event.
“We started off well with being second quick in our time trial group,” said Gravel, who started the feature event in 5th. “The whole night just was really solid, start to finish. I kinda got beat on a restart and gave up some real estate during the feature but it was a really solid night overall.”
“Friday night was a night where we were still looking for some speed with this car,” said Swindell, driver of the Big Game Treestands, GoMuddy.com #1. “We made some changes from the previous weekend and got the car more comfortable but we still lacked that speed. A tenth of a second can make a huge difference now that these cars are so close. We kinda chased the setup throughout the night and, for the feature, we weren’t sure which way it was going to go and went out with a little too much stagger and were tight. In the end, we finished 12th after starting 10th.”
The duo rolled back into the speedway the next night looking for even better finishes. Gravel timed in 16th overall with Swindell slotting in 19th. Both drivers advanced through their heats with Gravel starting the 25 lap feature in 12th with Swindell rolling off in 19th.
“We didn’t qualify like we wanted to but got through the heat race and got really lucky to get through that crash,” said Gravel, referring to a major accident that took out several cars on lap five. “Obviously, a lot of guys wrecked. We didn’t time where we wanted to to start the night but we just kept getting better. We were sixth after the crash and we had a really good restart and got up to third but then fell back a little bit. We actually had a really good car. Took a couple of corners a little different and maybe we could have been second or maybe win the race. I’m really happy, we made improvements over last night, we finished fifth, and we’re looking forward to coming back here (for the Knoxville Nationals). I know we’ll have something for them and I am excited.”
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(Click above to listen to Gravel after his third place finish at Knoxville)
Gravel finished on the podium in third but his teammate, Swindell, wasn’t as lucky.
“We made a few changes during the day on Saturday that got our car better,” said Swindell, who has thirteen career Outlaw wins at the track. “We ran pretty decent in our heat race and made it to the feature. On the start in the feature, I got hung up and ended up in the wrong place. I got pushed and bumped over. It was a shame as we ended up bending the right front torsion tube in the wreck. We were able to get back out but, because of the damage, the car was nowhere near the same.”
Gravel and the #5 team will keep on the Outlaw trail as it moves north to Granite City Speedway near Sauk Rapids, Minn.
“Looking forward to Granite City,” said Gravel, who finished 13th in last years event at the track.
“This CJB car has just been working so well and our entire team is working hard to make that happen. I really appreciate the effort of my guys. They just keep coming and I know we’ll be able to get up there and hopefully run well there.”
Following that event, the focus will thenshift to a new weekend. For Gravel, stops at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, N.D. and Brown County Speedway in Aberdeen, S.D. are on tap while Swindell will make tracks to Jackson (Minn.) Motorplex and Knoxville once again.
“River Cities is an intense place,” said Gravel, who finished 7th & 18th last year in two trips to River Cities Speedway. “It gets slick early but they re-work the track for the feature and give us a bottom to run as well. Things can happen there in a hurry so you always have to be on your game. Restarts are key there. Brown County will be a cool challenge for us as well.”
“We’re just hoping the rains stays away at Jackson,” said Swindell. “They haven’t had much luck with the rain this year. Hopefully we can get a race in there this weekend. We’ll take some time off this week and head to the Big Game shop up there in Windom, Minn. and do some work. We’ve found that with this tire and kind of this combination that small changes can lead to big gains so that’s what we’re really going to focus on for when we go back to Knoxville.”
CAR #5 2016 STATS:
Events: 40
Quick Times: 1
Wins: 3
Top-5’s: 23
Top-10’s: 30
Heat Race Wins: 12
Dash Wins: 2
Average Time Trial: 8.0
Average A-main finish: 6.7
Total Laps Led: 114
CAR #1 2016 STATS:
Events: 26
Quick Times: 1
Wins: 0
Top-5’s: 4
Top-10’s: 9
Heat Race Wins: 4
Dash Wins: 0
Average Time Trial: 12.4
Average A-main finish: 11.8
Total Laps Led: 0
UP NEXT:
The World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series heads to River Cities Speedway on Friday, June 17th and Brown County Speedway near Aberdeen, S.D. on Sunday, June 19th. Gravel and the #5 team will look to continue their top-5 streak at those two facilities.
Swindell will contest events at the Jackson (Minn.) Motorplex and Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway on Friday, June 17th and Saturday, June 18th respectively.
BOX SCORE:
CAR #5:
| Date | Track | Size | Time Trial | Heat start | Heat finish | Dash start | Dash finish | “A” start | “A” finish | Laps Led |
| 6/8/2016 | Lincoln Park | 0.25 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 6/10/2016 | Knoxville | 0.5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| 6/11/2016 | Knoxville | 0.5 | 16 | 4 | 3 | 12 | 3 | 0 |
CAR #1:
| Date | Track | Size | Time Trial | Heat start | Heat finish | “A” start | “A” finish | Laps Led |
| 6/10/2016 | Knoxville | 0.5 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 12 | 0 |
| 6/11/2016 | Knoxville | 0.5 | 19 | 5 | 5 | 19 | 19 | 0 |
STAY CONNECTED WITH CJB MOTORSPORTS:
For up to the minute race updates and behind the scenes content from CJB Motorsports, please follow the team on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Fans can also listen to all of the racing action live at www.DirtVision.com.
DRIVER GEAR:
Check out the latest Sammy Swindell apparel and merchandise by visiting Sammy’s official online store as well as the R&R Racewear superstore, the webs largest collection of dirt track racing apparel and merchandise.
Click here for David Gravel’s apparel.
ABOUT CJB MOTORSPORTS:
CJB Motorsports is a winged, 410 sprint car team that competes across the country with drivers David Gravel & Sammy Swindell. 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, Blackbeard Ltd., 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, Simpson, Sweet Engineering, TI22, Walker Performance Filters, Weld Racing, Wilwood Brakes, Winters Performance.
