Sometimes in racing, a driver and team just have everything going their way. Nothing can keep them down no matter the track or the competition. Tim Russell has had streaks like that in his racing career in several different series from Pro Late Models, Super Late Models and now even in the ARCA RE/MAX Series.
In racing, though, sometimes a team has an off night, as well. It’s impossible to win every time out, so every once in a while it’s normal to be a little off in a race. Unfortunately for Russell, Friday night’s Sunbelt Series race at Orlando SpeedWorld was his time to have a rough night. Even when he and the #36 Rinnai-sponsored Super Ltae Model team did not have the kind of run they were hoping for, they were still able to salvage a top-10 finish out of it. Russell finished eighth.
“We were just off for some reason,” said Russell. “We didn’t have the car right all race. Then I screwed up with two laps to go and got in the back of a car and that cost us two positions. It was just an off weekend for us, but you’re going to have those in racing.
“We’re going to go through the car and getting ready for the next race so that we can come out with both guns blazing next time. Qualifying went decent. We thought we were going to have a top-five car in qualifying but I just bottomed out real hard in turn three and lost a tenth or so there. I started ninth and just worked to sixth but it was an off night. We’ll just take what we’ve got, keep our heads high and move on to the next race.”
Russell has his sights on getting back to victory lane when he next hits the track on September 30th at Columbia Motorsports Park (FL) for another Sunbelt Series SLM event.
