2/25/2015
Matt Covington
Covington Looking Ahead To Round Two In Florida At Bubba Raceway
Covington Motorsports – TAMPA, Fla. (Feb. 24, 2015) – Matt Covington’s 2015 season started off with a lot of speed but unfortunately circumstances hampered the opportunity to fully showcase that.
Matt and his Covington Motorsports team had a roller coaster weekend during the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour events at East Bay. With the checkered flag waving on Saturday night the three day event results would be a solid top 10 on the first night, followed by a missed setup on Friday, and an accident on Saturday that handicapped what looked to be a strong start to the season.
“I felt like we had good speed and potential looking back on the weekend,” Matt said. “Whenever there are 70 cars that show up to a race, you have to have a lot of things go your way and have speed in your car at the same time. I wish we wouldn’t have had the setup deal on Friday, followed by the accident on Saturday, cause without those we would have been in a better position for strong runs and top 10s all three nights in my honest opinion.”
The event weekend started on a positive note for Covington on Thursday, who advanced from seventh to fourth in the heat and got the passing points needed to start up front in the B. Matt rallied from fifth to first in the B main to transfer into the main and start off the year in the 19th position for feature. Covington charged from 19th to 9th in the main and finished off the first night of the triple header weekend with a solid run and top 10.
“We were fortunate to have a fast race car all night long on Thursday and things went our way despite the deep pill draw,” he said. “We definitely started off fast and on a positive note despite the circumstances and looked to have a good weekend going for us after Thursday I felt.”
Unfortunately the Covington Motorsports team did not have the same fate on Friday though, as Matt struggled in the heat and lost a spot. The negative passing points forced Covington into the nights B main. With the B main underway, it became apparent that Matt and the team had missed the setup as the track took rubber. Covington was not able to move to the front and get the positions he needed to transfer into the nights A main.
“The race track took rubber quickly in the B main and we were just way too tight,” he said. “We freed the car up some before the race but obviously not enough and just missed the setup. It was a bummer deal because it cost us a starting spot in the feature and we missed out on using a provisional because of some other national guys were in the same boat as us.”
With the events format, Covington’s Thursday and Friday results put him in one of the qualifiers followed by a B main on Saturday.
Matt was able to finish 3rd in the qualifier and transfer into the final night’s B main which gave him a chance at transferring into Saturday’s main event. Finishing with a transfer spot in the B, Covington secured a starting spot in Saturday’s $10,000 to win feature.
With the feature underway, Matt mounted a charge toward the front and worked himself into the 13th position by the mid-race point. Covington’s luck would change as he got together with another car running right outside the top 10 which caused damage to his Triple X mount. Able to continue with damage to the nose wing and suspension, Matt would have to restart from the rear after the incident. Matt would do what he could to fight the wounded car but unfortunately not have the handling he needed to move back up towards the front and have to settle for the 18th finishing position.
“We were pretty good all night long on Saturday,” Matt said. “We had the bad luck Friday night, which put us in a bad overall point’s position, and had to run the B on Saturday. But after getting out of that and starting in the back of the feature, it was obvious we had enough speed to work our way towards the front and was running right outside the top 10 before the accident happened. That was unfortunate and the end result cost us a good finish. We restarted in the rear but with a wounded car and without a nose wing we didn't make it up very far and ended up 18th."
Covington will return to action with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour this Friday and Saturday at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Fla.
“I am looking forward to this weekend at Bubba Raceway and hoping for a solid run,” Matt said. “It’s going to be one of those deals where we’ll probably have 50 or so cars there and have to be on our A game. I’ve never raced there and we are going to have to be quick learners and get up to speed very quickly.”
Matt and his Covington Motorsports team would like to thank all partners who have helped make the 2015 season possible and look forward to the continued relationship throughout the year: T&L Foundry, Triple X Chassis, A-Rock Materials, Winters, Brodix, C.G. Martin Company, Factor 1 Racing, All-Star Performance, Outlaw Wings, Pro Shocks, DMI Components, Keizer Wheels, ButlerBuilt, Simpson Race Products, GME Steering, Wesmar Racing Engines, Bob Hurley RV, Eaton Industrial, Maxwell Oil, and Schoenfeld Headers
2015 STATS: Starts-3, Wins-0, Top 5’s-0, Top 10’s-1
ON TAP:
2/27/2015 Bubba Raceway Park - Ocala, FL
2/28/2015 Bubba Raceway Park - Ocala, FL
LIVE RACE COVERAGE: Visit http://www.RacinBoys.com for free, live audio (Select Pay-Per-View video) during the season to catch all the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour events.
MERCHANDISE: 2015 Shirts Available now on the website or in the trailer! There are a few 2014 shirts left and on sale also and can be picked up at the track or shipped from our website www.mattcovingtonracing.com.
STAY CONNECTED: For all the latest news of Matt Covington during the 2015 season, visit his website, www.mattcovingtonracing.com, like him on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/mattcovingtonracing, or follow him on twitter, @mattcovington95.
Submitted By: Matt Covington