CONCORD, N.C. Hello everyone, this is Alex Murray, driver of the Shamrock Auto Care No. 22 in the U.S. Legends Car Pro division at the Bojangles’ Summer Shootout.
It’s been a wild and crazy opening to the summer so far, and it’s hard to believe we’re already a third of the way through this year’s series!
So far this year’s Shootout hasn’t gone as our team had planned, at all. Round One threw a big curve ball at us – mainly because we’ve never run with the Pros – so it was a big step-up for us as a group and me as a driver.
The race was postponed and went virtually green to checkered on Tuesday, because of a thunderstorm that struck right as we were getting in our cars the first Monday night.
The race was a good one overall – I qualified 9th out of 13 – but we had been struggling with the car and felt that because I was running with the ‘big boys,’ that we would need to step our game. We finished 10th in the first feature, but hoped for more if we could get the car better.
Round Two, on that same Tuesday, was basically all the same for myself and my team – we struggled in qualifying but had a fast race car in the race.
On lap 5 we were turned after racing clean and hard with the No. 3 car of Drew Brown. I guess he just didn’t like the fact he couldn’t get by me fair and square, so he felt the need to turn me around.
After that incident, I fought my way up to sixth after a few cautions, but after a caution on lap 12 or 13, I restarted sixth and I got turned in front of the whole field. I’m just glad we are “Pros,” because I have no clue how I didn’t get hit!
Round Three was a whole different race for myself and my team. Following the Monday practice, we fought a very ill-handling car and couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Luckily we were able to find it after qualifying on Tuesday, and were able to contend for a top five.
Our biggest problem was just that we didn’t have a car that could pass.
The team and I just held our heads high and hoped for the best going into the race, and we managed to come home with a 10th place finish in that race as well.
Without the crew behind me, I would not be doing as solidly as I am my first year in the Pro class. I have to thank everyone who turns a wrench on the car and works with me as a driver, including Shamrock Auto Care, Adam, Justin, my dad and Coach Tom!
We’re on track for Round Four tomorrow night, with heat race action kicking off at 5 p.m. If you haven’t ever come out to see what the Shootout is all about, come check out the racing at Charlotte Motor Speedway – and say hi if you pass the No. 22 trailer.
If you can’t make it out to the speedway, check out www.goprn.com for information on the internet pay-per-view broadcast for this summer’s racing, or follow Alex Murray Racing onFacebook or his website
(www.alexmurrayracing.com) to keep up with the latest news on me and my team.
Thanks to the fans for all their support! Let’s go racing!