Bret Holmes Finishes 10th in Rain-Shortened Race at Salem Speedway

Bret Holmes and the No. 23 Holmes ll Excavation team finished 10th at Salem Speedway Sunday afternoon. Holmes started the scheduled 200-lap main event from the ninth position as rain showers began to creep in over the half-mile speedway. The Munford, Ala., native reported to the No. 23 team on lap 10 of a loose-handling condition. As the track temperature increased, the handling of Holmes’ red Chevrolet shifted to the tight side. He changed his line to help improve the handling but found little relief as sprinkles of rain began falling on lap 52. The first caution of the day waved on lap 88. Crew chief Shane Huffman called Holmes to pit road for four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment. The rain showers intensified as Holmes was preparing for the ensuing green flag on lap 95. By lap 101, ARCA Menards Series officials had brought the field down pit road and displayed the red flag for rain. With rain blanketing the Salem, Ind., area, race officials were forced to call the race at the halfway point, relegating Holmes to a 10th-place result. 

Start – 9th    Finish – 10th     Points Position – 3rd    

“I felt really good about going into this weekend. It’s a track that I’ve run well at in the past. We had a good plan heading into the race. We just got too tight in (turns) one and two. Shane (Huffman, crew chief) and I had a setup that we wanted to try but ran out of time with the weather. I think we just got a little too aggressive and tried to stay ahead of the rain. We had a tire going down and lost a lap to the leader before that caution flag came out. This definitely wasn’t the finish that we wanted. We know where we went wrong and know where we need to be when we come back to Salem (Speedway) later in the season. Two of my favorite tracks are coming up on the schedule. I’m confident we can put a whole race together and race up front. We just have to keep our heads up. We know what we did wrong. We’ll go back to the shop and look over our notes and get ready for the next couple of weeks.”

Bret Holmes Racing PR