This
past Saturday night
Maduske started 5th in a field of 9 cars for the running
of the inaugural UCAR race at East Carolina Motor
Speedway. Maduske's goal for last night was simple,
bring the car home in one piece with a respectable
finish. Little did he know that simple strategy of
finishing first would wind up with him finishing in
first place.
"As I sat in the car on the
ramp, I thought to myself, I am on the inside, but the
outside line is going to move forward and I need to get
there," Maduske lamented.
At the drop of the green, the
outside line didn't move as fast as Maduske thought and a
hole opened up in front of him. Maduske didn't think the car
would have enough power to get through it, but it came
through for the veteran racer and he took the lead on lap 2
of the 15 lap feature.
Maduske knew that Chris West
in car #25 would be the one to beat. He started right next
to him in 6th. His car was the fastest in every practice and
Maduske figured if he could follow him they could have
a good finish. Well, Chris was nowhere to be found at the
drop of the green, so Maduske began changing his plan.
"As
I said in the post race interview, I believed the outcome
would have been different if it was a 16 lap race, but 15 is
all it was and all it needed to be," Maduske commented, "I
really didn't think the car was strong enough to stay up
front for 15 laps, but it was and we came home in victory
lane for the first time in my career. A special thanks to
everyone who believed in me and knew we had a shot at
winning last night."
Source:
Michael Maduske
Posted: April 14, 2005
