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CONCORD, N.C. (May 1, 2008) – Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws
Sprint Car Series competitor Jason Meyers thinks he learned something
last
year about The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway that will help him
win the
Rite Aid Outlaw Showdown on Friday night, May 23.
“Even though these are dirt tracks and they are a little different
each time, the shape and the basic idea, set-up wise, is the same,”
said the
Clovis, Calif., driver. “We found something that worked well at The
Dirt
Track last year and we will come back with that same set-up.”
Meyers won’t reveal what he and the Elite Racing Team discovered
about the high-speed, four-tenths-mile oval, but it helped carry the
No.14
GLR Investments/Elite Landscaping Maxim to victory in one of the two
World
of Outlaws World Finals features here in November.
Meyers, who ended up fifth in the 2007 World of Outlaws Sprint Car
Series points standings, has parlayed his late-season success into a
strong
start to the current campaign. He won three of the first six races and
was
second in the championship chase when the calendar turned to May.
“We’ve been able to take the momentum we started in Charlotte and
keep it going at other tracks,” Meyers explained. “We’ve had a great
start,
but we are well aware that we have to keep digging and working hard at
it
every day. Our goal this year is to win the championship, which we know
we
can do, but there is an incredible group of cars this year and the
competition is the best it’s ever been.”
Meyers’ Elite Racing Team is guided by D.J. Lindsey, the 2007 World
of Outlaws crew chief of the year, and tire specialist Brian
Bloomfield.
“We wake up every day, go to the shop and continue to work on
stuff,” Meyers said. “And when I say ‘we,’ I mean everybody from our
sponsors to our team. D.J. Lindsey and Brian Bloomfield are two of the
greatest guys on the tour.
“When you reach this level of sprint-car racing, it isn’t one thing
that will help you improve. It’s lots of little things here and there,”
Meyers noted. “We pick an area of the car and work on it for a while,
and
once we feel we’ve achieved what we need to in that area, we pick
another
area to work on. We keep working and innovating, trying to lead the
pack
with new ideas and new innovations.”
Meyers launched his racing career in micro-midgets and worked his
way up to winged sprint cars. By the late 1990s, he was a regular with
the
Golden State Challenge Series and Northern Auto Racing Club in
California.
Meyers began to travel in 2000 and was named rookie of the year in
the World of Outlaws’ junior circuit, then known as the Gumout Series.
He
added the Western Australia Speedweek title to his resumé in 2001 and
has
claimed multiple World of Outlaws feature victories in four of the past
five
seasons.
The Rite Aid Outlaw Showdown on Friday night, May 23, at The Dirt
Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway is part of Coca-Cola 600 Week and gives
the
World of Outlaws competitors a chance to shine in front of large
audience of
race fans from around the world.
“We are excited about going back down there, it’s a great place to
race,” Meyers said. “We are really happy that Lowe’s Motor Speedway has
stepped up and taken the lead on doing new formats and trying new ideas
for
the World of Outlaws.
“They do a great job with Rite Aid and getting them involved. It is
a lot of fun to go down there and race because ‘Humpy” Wheeler and
Roger
Slack know how to put on an event. We really appreciate the opportunity
to
race there.”
The Rite Aid Outlaw Showdown schedule includes a full slate of
qualifying and preliminary events for the Advance Auto Parts World of
Outlaws Sprint Car Series and culminates with a 30-lap main event
paying
$12,000 to the winner.
The late model stock cars of the Goodyear FASTRAK Challenge will
join the sprint cars during the action-packed program when racing
starts at
7:30 p.m.
Reserved seats for the Rite Aid Outlaw Showdown on Friday night, May
23, are just $25 for adults and $10 for children ages 12 and under.
They can
be purchased by calling the speedway ticket office at 1-800-455-FANS or
online at www.lowesmotorspeedway.com.
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