Justin Larson Wins His First Super Late Model Race
08/17/2010 - With thoughts of the Governor's Cup at New Smyrna fast approaching, Justin decided to take his Reno Power/Eternal Hybrid Water Heaters/Thunder Bay Motors #88 Chevrolet to New Smyrna Speedway this past Saturday to race in the Brighthouse 50. After practice was concluded and the cars were preparing to qualify, a major rain storm dumped an enormous amount of water onto the track. After about a 90-minute delay the cars hit the track for qualifying with Justin qualifying in the seventh position. The pill inversion was seven, putting Justin on the pole for the start of the race.
With the green flag flying, he took the lead going into turn one and extended that lead by about 12 car lengths. The race would go green until lap 34, when the caution would wave for the first time. Justin commented, “We didn't need that caution,” as he knew the pressure would be on with the cars gathered back together for the restart. His choice to pick the outside lane for the restart paid off, as once again, he took the lead and continued to extend it over the second place car of Tim Russell. The caution flag was displayed again at lap 41. Having led the entire race up to this point, Larson could almost taste victory. He was only nine laps away from his first career Super Late Model victory. “I just kept telling myself to hit my marks and I would be fine,” Justin said.
On the restart, Larson would continue to dominate until he made what could have been a costly mistake. Coming off of turn four heading for the white flag, the #88 dipped his left front tire down on the water soaked apron, causing the car to get a little loose. With Russell in hot pursuit, there was no margin for error as he was now on Justin's back bumper. Timmy would race Justin hard the final lap, with the two making contact coming off of turn four to take the checkered flag. It would be Larson by a half car length at the stripe to take his first career Super Late Model victory and first ever victory at New Smyrna Speedway. “It took me a few minutes to gather my thoughts and realize that we finally made it to victory lane,” an excited and overwhelmed Larson stated. “We've had some bad luck lately and have been working hard getting the car back together and finally our hard work has paid off.” Larson was joined in victory lane by an excited family, crew, and sponsors.
Larson would go onto say, “This definitely gives us some confidence going into the Florida All-Stars tour race in September and the Governor's Cup in November.” The Reno Power/Eternal Hybrid Water Heaters/Thunder Bay Motors Super Late Model will be on display in Winter Haven, FL on August 26th at the Green Products Expo event, and will also be at the Green Home Wamalama Expo in Sarasota on October 2nd. Justin will be available for autographs, photos and questions at both events. Stop by the Reno Power/Eternal Hybrid Water Heaters booth to check out “The highest efficiency & cleanest burning water heater on the market”. Eternal is engineered to outperform all water heaters.