Negative, Mark Wertz, you were actually fastest on Friday in practice for the Hampton Heat 200 at Langley Speedway.
The five-time champion only turned three laps, posting the fastest mock-up run with a 16.318, but was actually more pleased with his overall practice day which came the day before.
“We didn’t want to get wrapped up in chasing what everyone else was doing today, didn’t want to change anything after yesterday so we sat on that and made a mock run at 4:30 and decided to sit and watch.
“We held onto P1 even after the track cooled, the balance felt the same from yesterday to today, and very happy our No. 55 seems to be running well. I don’t want to jinx it but it seems like a really good race car.”
He’s going to need to have one to fend off Connor Hall, who is leading both the NASCAR Weekly Series national standings and CARS Tour championship with numerous of those wins coming at Langley in both his family car and the Nelson Motorsports No. 22 he will pilot on Saturday.
“We’ve put our time in to be good here and are putting our best foot forward this weekend,” Hall said.
While Hall is the favorite, the fan favorite will always be Dale Earnhardt Jr., making his track debut this weekend.
“A lot of fun, great race track and an incredible field of cars,” Earnhardt said. “It’s going to be a great race tomorrow night, the Hampton Heat. They ain’t lying. It’s warm but I’m enjoying the track and have a good car but I think we can get better.
“Once we take the green flag, I think I can learn some more things to get better through 200 laps too.”
Earnhardt is at Langley because he’s always wanted to try it, but also because primary driver Carson Kvapil is in Indianapolis for the Xfinity Series race and his Late Model crew chief Bryan Shaffer asked him to do it.
“That made me feel good,” Earnhardt said. “They called me and asked. But I love that this is a four tire race. I love the long races where you have to save tires. And why that’s great is you might see a driver lose ground because they’re saving and they want to make it to the end. Others might want track position and up the pace and it forces the rest of the field to pick it up.
“I love races on old surfaces like this, long races, where it’s not hammer down for 40 laps. This race you have to be smart on throttle, you can’t slide the car early and you need to stay in the race. Keep your nose clean.”
That’s Hall’s goal too.
“I just want to stay out of trouble. I want to be in the top-5 the last 50 laps and have a good shot at the end.”
Ditto Wertz.
“I want to stay out of that hornet’s nest,” he said.
What about defending winner Brenden ‘Butterbean’ Queen?
“We’re on that top secret Lee Pulliam Performance plan,” Queen said. “We feel like we have a really good race car. We have more raw speed than I thought on tires. We have good long run speed and that’s what it takes to win this race.”
Queen isn’t even expecting to mock up nor qualify well.
“If I do, that’s a bonus,” he said. “I’m going to take the green flag and race the track. I’m not going to get caught up on what everyone else is doing. Some guys feel like they have to take the lead or get caught up racing someone else and forget the bigger plan in place.
“That’s what it means to have Lee Pulliam in your corner because he keeps you straight and reminds you to keep your tires on it.”
The Hampton Heat will feature a record 38 cars and a sold out crowd. It will also air live on FloRacing for those who were unable to snag a ticket.
Matt Weaver is the owner and founder of Short Track Scene. Weaver grew up in the sport, having raced himself before becoming a reporter in college at the University of South Alabama. He also has extensive experience covering NASCAR, IndyCar and Dirt Sprint Cars.
