When most people picture California, they think of the surfing culture that has spread its tradition of “cool.” In fact, the state is so cool that it has a town that is simply known as Cool, California. This weekend Jason Meyers and his Elite Racing team kept their cool to collect two more top-10 finishes in their home state. With the team overcoming adversity at both Merced and Calistoga Speedway, the whole team had to rally to hold on to the third position in the point standings.
The Merced Marathon
When the Elite Racing squad entered Merced Speedway, they did not realize that they would have to handle the night like a marathon runner. After an issue in hot laps, the crew would have to use their speed to repair the car before qualifying. Meyers then used his “hot foot” to record the 5th quickest lap. After that, the Californian Champion utilized his endurance kept pace to bring the #14 GLR Investments KPC and home inside the top-10.
Meyers began his race in the 11th position beside Lucas Wolfe. On the first lap of the race, Meyers fell back to 12th, but then climbed through the pack. On Lap 2, the Californian got past both the #7 of Dollansky and #5w of Wolf to break into the top-10. Meyers started tracking down Paul McMahan in the #83 car, but was unable to get the edge he needed to pass on the narrow course during the long green flag run.
The first break in racing action come out on Lap 19, when Joey Saldana tangled with lapped traffic while running second. As a result, the champion would restart the race in the 9th position. On the ensuing restart, Meyers would move up to the 8th position in his #14 DDNi KPC. Meyers would ride in that position through a caution with 11 laps to go. Meyers would attempt to track down Tommy Tarlton in the late laps of the race, but with passing being at a minimum the champion would have to settle for an 8th place finish while Sammy Swindell went on to victory.
Calamity at Calistoga
When the A-Main at Calistoga Speedway began, no one could have predicted the race would take on the complexion that it did. A chaotic string of ten interruptions in racing action benefited the Elite Racing team which started in the 20th position and climbed their way to 5th before the Checkered Flag flew.
At the beginning of the race, Meyers battled hard to pick up three positions before the first caution flag came out on Lap 3. On the following restart, the champion moved up to the 15th position. Over the first 14 laps, there were a total of five breaks in racing action, but Meyers stayed strong through them all. By the time that the red came out for fuel on Lap 14, Meyers was running 13th in his #14 Allstar Performance KPC.
By the Lap 15 restart, The Californian broke into the top-10. When racing began again, Meyers started tracking Lucas Wolf down for the 9th position. Another Red Flag flew on Lap 17 and on the following restart Meyers was able to move up to the 6th position behind Steve Kinser.
With 6 Laps to go Meyers challenged and then made the pass on Kinser to move into the top-five. With 4 laps to go the final caution flag flew and on the following restart, Meyers got to the inside of Joey Saldana. The two would go side-by-side for the 4th position, but the champion was unable to make the pass stick. With the Checkered Flag waving, Meyers would have to settle for his 4th top-five run of the season, while Jason Sides went on to win with a thrilling last lap pass when Craig Dollansky ran out of fuel.
“We really hoped to get our first win of the season in California, but we fell short of that this weekend,” Meyers stated. “Calistoga was quite a race for us starting 20th and driving through the adversity to make our way into the top-5. It was great being back in my home state for the last month and I have enjoyed having all of our California based fans and supporters at the track have been great. My crew did a great job on the #14 GLR Investments, DDNi, Media Tile KPC. We are getting close to that first win of the season, so look out at Paducah and Pevely.”
Up Next
Next weekend Jason Meyers and his Elite Racing team will be making the trip east to their Brownsburg, Indiana racing facility. With an off weekend, next weekend the team will reconvene and reset before racing in the Midwest commences. On Friday April 15, the team will be racing at Paducah International Raceway in Kentucky, before traveling to I-55 Raceway in Pevely, Missouri on Saturday night April 16.
