A Long Weekend at the Big House

Saturday's points race was an uphill fight from the green flag. The old motor was already letting go — it just didn't have the power — and Chris still wrestled the #66 to a 4th-place finish. The points took a hit, though. Visser won Saturday and stretched the gap from 6 to 13.

Then came Saturday night.

All season Chris has been running his year-one backup motor, because the brand-new GM motor he ordered started giving him fits early in the year. He sent it back to GM, and they sent it back saying everything looked good.

So the team made the call: pull the old motor, put the fresh one in, and go chase a World Championship on Sunday. They thrashed until 4 AM, grabbed a few hours of sleep, and were back at it to finish the install before a 9:30 shakedown.

The shakedown went great. For a little while, it looked like the gamble was going to pay off.

It didn't. The motor started cutting out again almost immediately — same problems as before. Chris had no choice but to run it. Mid-race it cut out in Cowboy Corner, the truck spun, and he pulled off the track. DNF in the World Championship race.

A 4 AM thrash for a motor that quit when it mattered most. That's a tough one to swallow.

The bright spot: Chris got seat time in the Class 11 Beetle on Saturday and had an absolute blast — he said it was hands down the most fun he had all weekend.

While we were running the Roadian ATX in the Glen Helen heat last week, Nexen Tire was at the other end of the thermometer. They just wrapped a ride-and-drive event for the N'Blue 4Season 2 at Big SNOW American Dream — an indoor ski resort in New Jersey — where distributors, retailers, and media got to drive the tire on real snow. In September.

Have you ever seen a stock car ripping up an indoor ski hill on tires you can run year-round? Now you can say you have:

Whether they’re on the track, on a ski hill, or on our daily drivers, Nexen Tire has had our back for the last 5 years. If you’re curious about the Roadian ATX, the new N’Blue 4 Season 2, or any of the other tires in Nexen’s lineup, you can bet that they’ll handle anything you throw at them, too. Find the fit for your car here:

Glen Helen owes this team one.

Last year the team came out early for a test day, blew a shock after a couple of laps, and spent the day rebuilding it instead of getting track time. The race weekend didn't go much better. Chris came into the weekend leading the points, qualified 7th out of 8, finished 2nd on Friday, and then lost the championship on Saturday.

So this year we came out to California early again to get it right.

Last Tuesday's test day lasted a couple of laps before the spindle/hub let go. Day over. An impromptu trip to Cole Mamer's shop got the #66 a brand-new spindle, and Thursday we were back at Glen Helen.

Thursday was the first solid test day Chris has ever had at this track. The Pro2s and Pro4s were out there chewing it to pieces, and Chris still ran a lap as fast as last year's fastest qualifier in his class. He's got more speed to find, too.

Thirteen points, two points rounds. That gap can disappear in a single weekend, and Chris knows it.