Polenz Participates in Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown
David Polenz chats with Tony Stewart prior to the National Anthem Thursday.
After receiving an overwhelming amount of support in donations over the past couple of weeks, David Polenz was able to raise enough money to compete in the Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown Thursday, April 26th.
Rains kept the competitors off the track for the majority of the morning but around 11 a.m. it let up enough to put the jet dryers out on the track and activity in on pit road became evident.
When David hit the track for the first time the car had a misfire in the engine, not exactly the start the Polenz Racing Team had hoped to start the day. On the first lap of practice two cars were involved in a wreck which brought out the red flag.
The crew made the appropriate repairs after the misfire and David headed back out to the track. He made another stop after a few laps for adjustments and finished the practice round with the 23rd fastest time.
Following a 20 minute break, David went out for more practice rounds. At one point he had worked his way up to the tenth fastest, but ended the practices with the 20th fastest time heading into qualifying.
David headed out for qualifying lined up 18th, but the misfire in the engine continued to give him problems and he finished 33rd. The crew fixed the misfire and NASCAR officials sent David to the back of the field to start 35th.
The decision was made to hang back at the start of the race and it paid off right away. Going through turns one and two there was a wreck mid-pack and since David had hung back he was able to avoid the collision.
Following the restart David began making his way forward but began to complain the car wasn’t turning off the corner. As the race progress, Tony Stewart, who was the leader, was approaching David to put him a lap down but a caution was waved and David went to the pits for some adjustments.
David felt the car was handling better after the restart and was able to make several passes and work his way up to 21st position at one point. David finished the race 24th, which was a strong finish considering the Polenz Team put a deal together in three weeks to enter the competition and only had six days to prepare the car.
