Lexington, OH – D&N Motorsports found themselves on the podium in their first USTCC race this year with a second-place finish in today’s sprint race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
The No. 24 Saturn, driven by Dennis Short, qualified second on the 2.25-mile road course, but a mix-up by the race officials on the starting grid left him at the back of the field for the start. With Dennis furious about the mix-up, Crew Chief Don Short spent the warm-up lap trying to calm his driver down before the start of the race.
At the wave of the green flag, Dennis started his charge through the field. Don kept him informed of his progress, and after several laps, the No. 24 was back in the hunt. Dennis radioed in that he had the second-place car in site. Lap after lap, the D&N Saturn closed in on the second-place Ford Taurus SHO. Qualifying only one-tenth of a second in front of the Taurus, Dennis knew that it was going to be tough to get around him. As he pulled up on the bumper of the Ford, he was able to get a good run on him out of turn two as they headed down the backstretch. They went through turn three side by side as they raced toward turn four at about 125mph. As they reached the braking zone for turn four, Dennis drove the No. 24 Saturn hard into the braking zone and managed to out-brake the Ford Taurus to take over second place. After taking over the position, Dennis was able to slowly pull away from the Taurus. Unable to reach the Audi A4 in first place, Dennis brought home the first podium finish for the D&N Motorsports team in the United States Touring Car Championship.
D&N Motorsports will next travel to Le Circuit Mont Tremblant in Quebec, Canada for Round Six of the USTCC.
DENNIS SHORT, OWNER/DRIVER NO. 24 SATURN SW2: “We were very pleased with our results this weekend. The car is still underpowered, but the suspension package we have felt good. We had some issues with our axles and wheel bearings in the past, but we made a few changes over the winter, and so far, things are holding up well. This was my first time at Mid-Ohio and I have to say it’s a challenging course, but a lot of fun to drive.”
DON SHORT, CREW CHIEF, NO. 24 SATURN SW2: “I’m thinking about having the officials put him (Dennis) at the back every race; that was a pretty impressive drive to come through the field like he did. He wasn’t happy, but once I got him settled down, he was able to focus and get to work. It’s been a good weekend. We made some set-up changes throughout the practice sessions, and it would seem we went in the right direction. Now it’s time for a beer!”
