Grimes, Iowa (September 11, 2010) – After nearly a six week hiatus, Brett Moffitt, Joe Gibbs Racing development driver, returned to his racing roots and competed in the 2010 IMCA Super Nationals in his family-owned dirt car.  Moffitt, who had previously continued to compete in select dirt car events after turning to the asphalt circuits, was unable to get much seat time in his dirt car this summer, due to commitments in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East for Joe Gibbs Racing.

“Racing at Super Nationals is awesome,” Moffitt said. “I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss it.  There is a lot of competition here that normally I wouldn’t see, so it’s fun to mix things up with some new drivers.”

Qualifying for the event is no easy task.  182 entries tried to make the 30-car field of Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMods.  Just to qualify for the main event was an accomplishment in itself.

“It’s so tough to make the feature here because of all the cars,” Moffitt said.  “One small mistake can lose your shot at making the field in an instant.”

Moffitt qualified for the main event through two qualifying runs on Tuesday.  He began by winning his heat race by half a straightaway.  Heat race winners advanced into A-Mains, and only the top 10 cars from each of three A-Mains eventually made up the 30 car field for Saturday night’s feature.  Moffitt finished sixth in his A-Main on Tuesday night, which earned him a coveted starting spot in the feature.

Moffitt hoped to have a solid finish this year, since last year, while battling in the top-ten and working his way up through the field, he experienced a mechanical issue that forced him to pull off the track, and he was unable to finish.

For the Saturday night feature, the field of 30 cars took the green flag three abreast, with Moffitt in the middle of the sixth row, giving him the equivalent of a 17th place starting position.  With the cars three-wide at the start, exercising patience and staying out of trouble were critical in the early going.  It wasn’t long until he had worked his way into the top five, but on a restart, Moffitt got tied up in a crash and was forced to fall back to avoid becoming part of the next yellow.  Luckily, Moffitt’s car was not damaged, and he again worked his way back into the top-five, earning a hard-fought fifth place finish.

“We had a decent night,” Moffitt said. “I really would have loved a win, but considering how tough this race is, I’ll take it.”

 

Tags: brett moffitt , joe gibbs racing , imca super nationals

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