Hanks Scores Top Five Finish At Fairgrounds Speedway
By: Devon Holder
Keeton Hanks and the Zaxbys Racing Team proved that perseverance pays off this past weekend at the Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville, Tennessee. Hanks was making his first start of the season in the ASA Late Model Series Challenge Division at the historic racetrack. However, Hanks was not happy with the handling of his Zaxbys Ford Fusion from the time the team unloaded the car.
Hanks spent all of the first practice on Friday chasing the handle of his car, making several trips down to the pit lane to allow the crew to make adjustments. However, after the first practice session, the team and Keeton agreed to roll the backup car out of the hauler to see if it could get around the 0.596 mile high banked oval.
The decision paid off for Hanks and the Zaxbys Racing Team; however it was not without more hard work. The team had to spend extra time getting the backup prepared to race, while Keeton had to spend the first few laps in the second session on Friday getting used to the backup car. However, Hanks did like the handling of the backup car better, so the team stuck with their decision and prepared to race on Saturday.
After turning laps in the backup car, Keeton would never find himself outside of the top ten on the speed charts in practice or qualifying on Saturday. Hanks qualified his Zaxbys Ford in the tenth position at a lap of 19.244 seconds. Once the green flag fell, Hanks began to steadily work his way up through the field.
By the time the race had reached its halfway point at lap 100, the Kentucky native found himself running in the fifth position. After a restart on lap 123, Hanks was all the way up into the third spot. However, Hanks would wind up falling to the fifth position by the time the checkered flag fell at the Fairgrounds Speedway.
You cant complain about a top five, stated Hanks after the race. We made a lot of improvements from where we were when we unloaded, but it still was not enough.
To find out more information about Keeton Hanks, log on to www.keetonhanksracing.com. You can also check out www.asalatemodels.com to get all the latest information on the ASA Late Model Series. The ASA Late Model Series is Americas Premier Short Track Series.