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Bridesmaid No More, Austin Cruises to 1st Place Win! Concord, NC (7/15/2009)
Austin Langenstein
removed any doubt about his abilities as a driver, and that of his
machine, as he drove the #7 FIREFOLD.com Bandolero to his first 1st
Place Win in the Young Gun/Outlaw Division during week 6 of the 2009
Summer Shoot-Out Series, Tuesday evening at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
A truly remarkable achievement considering this was only his 20th
start in a Bandolero Car. Racing before another packed house of excited fans, Austin knew from the beginning that tonight had to be “all business”. Starting in 12th place in the preliminary heat, Austin had his work cut out for him early just to race his way into a transfer spot for the feature event. “There were a lot of really good cars starting ahead of us tonight in the heat race and, with only 5 transferring to the feature, I knew I had to race hard to get into the show”, Austin said. And race hard he did. From the drop of the green Austin raced his way through traffic quickly passing current points leader Evan Bell and two-time “Shoot-Out” winner Matt Linker. By lap 5 of the scheduled 8 lap heat race Austin found his way to second place and was chasing down last week’s winner, Justin Carroll. With 2 laps remaining, Austin pulled along side Carroll several times, but then fell back in line to record a 2nd place finish. “Justin raced me hard and I could not pull the move off for the pass without taking a foolish chance of taking us both out. Justin will race you clean, and I knew that, and it was not worth the risk during a heat race”, noted Austin. Little did Austin know at the time, things would heat up between the 2 racers again later that evening. The feature event had all of the makings of a “classic” Summer Shoot-Out with seven of the top point’s chasers starting among the first 10 cars. Austin started in 4th position and, as the cars accelerated under the green flag, wasted no time moving to the front. “I saw an opening and I went for it”, said Austin. As the pack rounded turn 2 he instinctively dove to the bottom to lead the pack of 28 cars, opening a 6 car length lead before the first caution came out when Dillon Spain slowed on the track on lap 8. By this time points racers Justin Carroll, Luke Demis and Matt Linker were lined up single file behind Austin to challenge for the lead in the remaining laps, with point’s leader Evan Bell trapped back in the pack in 10th position. On the restart, Austin got a great jump coming out of turn 4, but Carroll followed close behind. On lap 12 another caution flag came out when Austin McKee lost control and spun in turn 2, bringing the pack back together in single file once again. On the restart, the #7 FIREFOLD.com again proved to be too strong for the rest of the field as Austin pulled out to a 4 car length advantage to lead the race “wire to wire” to pick up his first, and much overdue win of the Shoot-Out Series. Justin Carroll finished second, with 2 time winner Matt Linker in 3rd, Luke Demis in 4th and Reid Wilson, having another fine run, in 5th. The Point’s Leader going into the evening, Evan Bell, managed a 7th place finish, thus giving up the points lead. “It feels great to win - I am speechless actually,” admitted Austin. “We have been knocking on the door for a couple of races this season, but we finally pulled it off tonight and I want to thank everybody who has helped me get here. Tonight I was just trying to hit my marks and not overdrive the car. Plus, I just tried to keep doing what we have been doing the whole year and be smart, and finally I pulled it off.” Flip flopping positions with Austin from the previous week, Justin Carroll took home a second place finish that he was truly proud of. “It is a good feeling to come in second, but I would have liked to have taken home the win,” Carroll stated. “But you know, it is Austin’s win tonight, and we won last week, so I guess we were switching over this time. Hopefully we can come back and beat them next week though”. “Next week we’re back here again on Tuesday night to race and then the team and I are headed off to Atlanta to run the Bandolero Nationals at the end of the week. I am excited and ready for the challenge”, noted Austin. “I’m also really happy for one of our Marketing Partners, Bob Cordova, from Finger Food Products and the Pizza Logs Brand”, noted Austin, “because we were able to win during the same week that Erick Rudolph won the Whelen Modified Tour Event on Sunday at Spencer Speedway in New York”. Bob also sponsors Erick and his team and I am extremely happy for him. “At 17, Erick Rudolph is the youngest driver ever to win on that NASCAR Tour Series and we couldn’t be happier for those guys”, said Austin. Two wins in the same week for Finger Food Products and Pizza Logs: now that is Tasty”, Austin laughed. “This will be an inspiration for me to stay focused so I can reach those kinds of goals someday as well”. Austin would also like to thank all his “sponsoring partners” for all their support: Rifenburg Construction, Scotty’s Fashions, Finger Food Products & Pizza Logs, Walker Lawn Mowers by GHS, Mohegan Sun Casino & Resorts, Micro Armor, AutoTrader.com, Sweeteners Plus, Calico High Performance Coatings, A.M. Smith Electric, Razoos Cajun Eatery, The Brake Man, Coconut Island, Thermal Control Products, Lake Norman Soda Blasters, Energy Logic, Tathwell Printing, TruckSavvy.com, J. Edwards Graphics, John Davison Racers Designs, Tastee Apple, Design Engineering Inc., QA-1 Precision Products, PUMA, Impact Racing Products, Schroth Racing, Performance Prime and Charlie Langenstein Speed Shop. For more information regarding Austin Langenstein and the his sponsoring partners, please visit www.austinlangenstein.com
KAR Racing Communications, Press Release |
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