Less than 10 hours after Bret Holmes took the checkered flag at Lucas Oil Raceway for an eighth-place finish in the Lucas Oil PowerPEX 200, the Munford, Ala., native was back on track — this time at Winchester Speedway for a full day of testing.
“No rest for the weary” would be a fitting description of the No. 23 team right about now.
But sleep deprivation isn’t new for this group. The team has been working overtime to achieve a goal it has set from the very beginning — to be the best.
The race Friday night at Indy was in some ways a watermark for the team’s season, and Saturday’s test session was another day to get a closer to the goal.
After Holmes qualified 10th for the race, he battled a tight racecar early (a familiar problem that has plagued the team all season), but after two stops, crew chief Sam Schram and the team freed up the No. 23 enough for Holmes to make a fantastic sprint from 13th to sixth.
“We started out with a car that just could not race because it was so tight,” Holmes said. “The difference this time was we were able to make some changes that worked and actually got the car to a point where it was too loose. That hasn’t happened all year. I think we are right there on the line of where our car needs to be to compete for top-5’s and better. I am happy with our progress right now.”
Holmes was able to stay around and inside the top-10 the rest of the evening as he battled with fellow points competitors and tried to solidify his night with another consistent finish. He is currently only four points behind Gus Dean in the SCOTT Rookie Challenge Points battle after this weekend’s event.
“It was a good race overall, but we still aren’t where we need to be or want to be,” Holmes said. “That is why we’re up bright and early testing the next day at Winchester. This team has hunger and drive to be the very best, and we won’t stop working as hard as possible until we meet our goal.”
Holmes and the team will make a quick turnaround this week before heading up to Pocono for the ModSpace 150 Friday afternoon. Holmes managed a 14th-place finish at The Tricky Triangle back in early June.
“I hope we can really improve on that last time we were at Pocono, Holmes said. “That was one of our worst races (from a speed standpoint) this season. I think if we can just continue to get a little better every week, then we can find a good finishing spot in points and hopefully take home the rookie points race as well.
“We just have to focus on getting better every day.”
BHR PR
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