FREEMAN RUNS IN TOP FIVE, BUT HAS TROUBLES, AT THOMPSON
NASCAR Busch East rookie John Freeman finished 19th in his first race at Thompson International Speedway (CT) on Thursday night.
That sentence might seem to tell the entire story. After all, a top 20 finish when visiting a tough track for the first time isn’t anything to be ashamed of. But the final rundown doesn’t even begin to tell the story of Freeman’s race. It was an up and down affair when the young driver ran as high as fourth, got caught in a wreck not of his own doing, battled back and then had a flat tire drop him back in the field near the finish.
“The car was really fast, we were just trying to get some laps on the board and trying to save our stuff for the end,” said Freeman of his plan for the race. “We started out a little bit loose and when the track tightened up, we were getting better. We would have had a really good car for the end.”
But while running in the top five, that all changed.
“The car behind us said that they lost their brakes and caught us in the left rear. That spun us around and even though I saved it for the most part and only lost three spots, we had a lot of damage to the front end. That gave us a little aero push.”
Still, Freeman didn’t give up.
“With 10 laps to go, we were restarted 10th on the outside, which was the fast groove. We had some slower cars around and probably would have gotten up to sixth or seventh. Nobody could hold it on the bottom anymore and that outside lane was going to take off on the last restart.”
In the end though, Freeman was cursed with the same type of bad luck that has plagued him all season long.
“The lights went off on the pace car and we had a right rear tire go flat. That is number four in a row when it comes to bad luck for us.”
Overall though, the young driver was excited about what he was able to accomplish at Thompson.
“This was my first time stepping foot here,” said Freeman. “It was fun to be able to mix it up with the Mike Olsens and the Mike Johnsons out there. I just wish that we could have been there for the end.”
