June 10, 2006
Rougemont, NC

“Rookie of the Race” at Orange Co. Speedway

After testing at Orange County Speedway, in Rougemont NC, the weekend before; driver and crew were all excited about heading there for the 50 lap Allison Legacy race on Saturday. The first practice session had Josh running top ten speeds in the Horizon Technologies/Conterra Ultra Broadband Monte Carlo; however, he felt the car was a little tight and asked crew chief Blake Harris to free it up just a little. After several small changes, and two practice sessions, the car seemed very competitive and was ready for qualifying. Josh went out 21st out of the 27 cars that took time for the event…and EVERYONE was ecstatic when he ran a great lap and qualified 3rd, just barely missing his first ever pole.

A slow start let Josh settle into 5th place in the opening laps of the race and he would sit in that position for some time, and had a great view of one of the best races of the year. The top five broke away early with the top four running almost 20 consecutive laps side by side…two deep. Following a restart just after half way, Josh started to get pressure from two cars behind, including a car that has won three of the first seven races. He held them off for 10 laps, and continued to stay with the leaders, until pushing up off of turn four and letting the two cars get the inside line. Now running 7th, Josh ran with the leaders until the finish…crossing the line with the lead group and posting his best finish to date in the Allison Legacy Series and receiving “Rookie of the Race” honors as the highest finishing rookie.

The 7th place finish moved Josh up three spots in the point standings, to 10th place…just 17 points out of 8th position.

Josh on Saturday’s run: “I was really excited about returning to Orange County Speedway, it’s a great track. We tested there last weekend and felt like we could be really good during this race. Blake worked with Tim and Adam Taylor on the set up…and they hit it almost perfect. It got a little tight at the end of the race…but overall the car was right where I needed it to be. It was great to qualify in the front like that; I learned a lot running with those guys that are winning each week…I’ve felt for a while that, with the right set up, we could run with them. I’m hoping that this will be a turning point for us on the season and we can gain momentum from here.”

The Allison Legacy Series returns to action on Friday night, June 16th, at Friendship Speedway in Elkin, NC. Qualifying for the 50 lap event will begin at 7:15pm with the features starting at 8:00pm.