When John Freeman teamed up with FitzBradshaw Racing before New Hampshire just a couple of weeks ago, he could have never have imagined things would go as well as they’ve went. Unfortunately though, Freeman doesn’t have the finishes to show for himself and his new team, a trend that continued at Dover International Speedway on Friday night after getting involved in an accident and finishing 23rd in the Sunoco 150.
“We sat on the outside pole and had an awesome car all race long,” said Freeman. “We just rode around in third and could just catch them at a whim. We were trying to conserve tires so we could be there at the end. We got behind when we got caught speeding in the pits. It’s the big topic in NASCAR on any level right now. I followed a guy all the way dead on his bumper all the way out. We got caught speeding, but then we came back from it and were just breezing through the field. We were going to have an incredible car for the end.”
And Freeman was showing it. The 19-year-old was working his way through the field and heading towards the front when he got tangled up with the #40 of Matt Kobyluck. Freeman’s car came up across Kobyluck’s nose and hit the outside wall, briefly getting off the ground before coming to rest in turn one.
John got into the wall after coming up through the field at Dover Int'l Speedway. (Howie Hodge photo)
“We just had a restart and had a great run coming up through the field. I was passing Kobyluck and I was told ‘clear’ and started moving up (to get back in the groove). I guess he had gained some momentum up high coming out of turn four and got a bumper on the outside of me. We came up and Kobyluck stayed in it. We got turned around and put in the wall. It was a pretty hard hit.”
It was a great turnaround, despite the disappointing finish, for Freeman and the team after having to turn the #22 around after getting caught up in the mess that was New Hampshire a week before.
“Ron Otto and these guys just did an amazing job with this car and I can’t say enough about that and these guys putting it back together from last week. I was happy to be able to put this car up front for them. This was the car we ran in New Hampshire and it they turned it around real quick to get it here. The car had some major damage on it from new Hampshire and turned it around and came up here and we almost had a win. I just can’t say enough about these FitzBradshaw guys. I wish we could have put the car where it deserved to be today because these guys deserved a victory lane celebration.”
Now, Freeman will wrap up the year by going both left and right at Lime Rock Park in the Mohegan Sun Busch East 200.
"We are heading to Lime Rock next week and try and get a good run there. Hopefully we will go to Irwindale Speedway (for the Toyota All Star Showdown) after that. It feels so great. It takes such a load off as a driver to step into a car that you are confident is capable of running in the top-five. At that point it is just a matter of how I am going to get it there. I just can’t put that into words.”
For more information on John Freeman please contact Matthew Dillner at (704) 455-2051 and be sure to check out John’s website, www.johnfreemanracing.net.
