John Salemi rebounds at Thompson with a 10th place run
Rochester, NH (6/30/06) NASCAR Busch East Series driver John Salemi was in need of a good run at the Thompson Speedway. After a strong first race, John has been the victim of bad luck and an accident in the two previous races of the 2006 season. With a shorter schedule this season, there isn’t much room for error. Salemi knew that it was time to get the #15 Waste Management/BG Environmental/Daddy’s Hot Sauce/Dennis Ciotti Racing Products Chevrolet finishing strong. Thompson was an important race for the team and everyone stepped up to get things going in the right direction on Thursday night.
Practice for the Pepsi 100 started Thursday afternoon with a neutral handling race car for the Nashua, NH driver. “We unloaded pretty well this week. Jason and the guys did a lot of work in the shop this week getting ready. We got bitten last week with the alternator, so we were hoping to have a good run. The car was just a little free coming off of the turns, but we worked on it and got it better,” said John. “We were concentrating on our race setup for most of the day. I wanted to be as close as possible to start and not rely on a changing track conditions.” Salemi used the two practice sessions to his advantage and was happy with the car when practice ended in the afternoon.
John hit the track for the first of two qualifying laps around the 5/8 mile Connecticut oval. “We have been working really hard with our qualifying package and still have a ways to go with it. Starting towards the front is crucial in this series, even more so on these shorter tracks,” Salemi recalls. “We have been starting mid-pack in the races so far and it really makes it tough to get up front.”
On both of John’s qualifying laps the car was noticeably loose coming off of the turns. “We were sideways in two on both laps, which really hurt us.” John qualified the #15 car in 17th position and would take the green from the inside of the 9th row.
Just as he has done in the previous races this season, Salemi was able to advance multiple positions early in the race. John was able to move into the top-15 in the early laps of the event and settle into the lead pack. “We really needed a good run this week, so I had to be there at the end. I wanted to settle in, keep the nose clean and get some laps behind us,” said Salemi. John was successful with his plan, but not without some close-calls.
On a mid-race restart, cars stacked up in front of Salemi and it took some great driving to recover. “I don’t know what happened. Everyone took off and then almost came to a stop,” Salemi recalls. “Someone got into the back of me and I got into the car ahead of us. Before I knew it, I was sideways and pointed towards the pits. I was able to save the car from spinning, but we lost some spots.” The #15 car had some damage on both ends, but nothing was serious and John was able to continue.
During the second half of the race, Salemi slowly made up the ground he had lost on the restart. “We had a great run in the second half of the race and moved back up through the field. The handling on the car was excellent, I just got the brakes too hot. I had another close call in 1 and 2, but we made it through without any problems.” When the checkered flag fell, Salemi had worked his way up to 10th place and scored a much-needed top-10 to get his season turned around and headed in the right direction. “I am very happy with the way the race went tonight. I wish we had some more laps out there, I think we would have been able to move up even more. We really needed a strong run and hopefully we can build some momentum for the rest of the season. We have a strong team and are capable of much more than this, but I’ll take it.”
The NASCAR Busch East Series returns to the track Saturday July 8th at the Lake Erie Speedway in North East, PA. The Local Dodge Dealers 150 will take the green flag at 7:30pm. Sponsorship opportunities are still available with the #15 team. For more information please visit the team website @ http://www.johnsalemiracing.com or email marketing@johnsalemiracing.com
