Tires Hurt Joanides at Madera

  Nick Joanides and the Colorfast, Jackson Race Cars Monte Carlo looked to rebound at Madera after a huge disappointment at Phoenix. They new the toughest challenge would be just making the race, with over 30 cars attempting to qualify for just 16 spots. Qualifying times from first to 16th are typically very close and Saturday was no exception as the difference from the pole to not making the race was just two tenths of a second. The team spent practice just working on qualifying and it paid off as they posted their best qualifying effort in nearly four years with a 5th place run.

Typically Nick and the team set up the car for long runs, however with Madera's history of having alot of cautions due to it's small layout, the team chose to be more aggressive with tire pressure so the tires would come in faster for the short runs. Unfortunately the the plan backfired as there was only one caution through the first 100 laps of the race. With the team being aggressive with the tires, the long runs caused the tires to build up far too much air pressure, about 8 lbs more than the recommended pressures, resulting in the car being extremely tight in the middle and extremely loose off the corner. These conditions forced Nick to run the high groove, which was not the optimal groove. Nick fought furiously for each position but as each green flag lapped passed the tire temperatures continued to increase with Nick just trying to hold on. The end result was a disappointing 11th place finish. The finish moves Nick into 23rd in the point standings after running in just one of the first two races.

The team heads to Mesa Marin Raceway in two weeks where they have always been one of the cars to beat. Mesa Marin is also the site of Nick's career best finish and where he won is first Bud Pole Award, so they look forward to having a great run there and begin their climb up in the standings.