Zachary Tinkle Survives Ring of Fire at Madison International Speedway to Retain Championship Lead

PARK RIDGE, Ill. - Aug. 19, 2017 - PRLog -- After a tenuous night the previous week at Rockford Speedway, Zachary Tinkle went to Madison International Speedway with the intention of maintaining his championship standing and increasing his lead, if possible.  This track is called the Ring of Fire for a reason… it's easy for a driver to beat himself. Practice went fairly well though the car seemed sluggish. Multiple cars were clearly having handling issues on the track.

Practice video:  https://youtu.be/vgf2mybRZ-A

Adjustments were made to the fuel system in hopes this would alleviate the issues with the slowness of the car. This didn't seem to help a lot by the time it was time for the super cups to get on the track for qualifying. Tinkle qualified 5^th.  In spite of the issues, Tinkle is still in the lead as fastest qualifier for the season.

Qualifying video:  https://youtu.be/Or3gttc3iSs



Even though he didn't qualify at the top of the board, Tinkle discussed with his crew chief simple changes to help with the handling of the car and to be able to ride out the day as best as possible – especially after seeing how handling was affecting all drivers on the track.  Tinkle started P4 in the heat race. Because the heat race doesn't count for points, he decided to make sure the car came off the track in one piece and ready for the feature. Sure enough, caution came out by the #75 car with just a couple laps to go. On the restart, Tinkle hung back and finished the race in 5^th place.

Heat race video:  https://youtu.be/4VAK_a22dUY

Tinkle started P4 in the feature race. After several laps, he was passed by the #13 who was the fastest qualifier of the night.  After back and forth, he maintained this position through a caution by the #75 and the restart. With just one lap to go the #8 car in the P2 position spun in turn 2. Caution came out and ended the race with Tinkle finishing P4. This finished increased in championship lead by one point.

Feature race video:  https://youtu.be/ffQCTeDQmFo