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| Travis Kittleson Gets Podium Finish and Extends Rookie Points Lead | Saturday, April 19th 2003 - ASA - Travis Kittleson and the R/T Racing Team headed to the heart of racing, Charlotte, North Carolina, for the BF Goodrich 250 at Concord Motor Speedway. The team had high hopes for this race, after their last race at the blistering fast tri-oval half mile track. Two years ago Travis lead 81 laps and ran out of fuel with only 10 laps remaining and had to settle for an 8th place finish, Travis' first ever ASA top 10 finish.
Cloudy and rainy skies on Saturday forced the teams to shorten practice to one session only and due to the condensed schedule, qualifying was eliminated and the field was set based on owner's points. Travis started on the outside of row two in the fourth position.
Travis and the team had a lot of confidence going into this race, with his recent success during the first two races of the season and now returning to the track which "owed them one". Travis also had something to prove. There were other rookies and other teams who "insiders" thought would dominate in the ASA for 2003. Now there was this other "young gun" who didn't have the backing of huge sponsors or multi car teams. Many thought that Travis' top five finish at USA International was somewhat of a fluke. Then, in the inaugural race in Houston, Travis again stunned all the skeptics by posting another top 10 finish at a track he had never visited. A track that, with the exception of Travis, only the veterans were able to handle. Concord could prove to be the race where everyone realizes that Travis is for real.
Travis stayed out front running in the top five for the early part of the race. At lap 74 Travis came in early for fuel putting him into his fuel window while most teams stayed out on the track. Travis left pit road in 10th position and waited for the other drivers to cycle through their pit stops. Many teams still had not pitted when around lap 100, Travis came in again for tires. Travis left the pits only to be beaten out by current points leader Kevin Cywinski who only took on fuel.
This strategy left Travis out there with good tires and most teams still having to make another stop. All the while Travis had never dropped out of the top 10 and was always in contention. Around lap 190 a caution came out and Travis, while running 6th and many of the leaders heading down pit road, ended up in second place behind Glenn Allen Jr. When the green flag came out Travis had a great run and made the pass going into the third turn and took the lead on lap 203. Fellow Rookie competitor Reed Sorenson followed Travis and tried feverishly to get to Travis to pressure him. Apparently Reed had tried too hard as he started to fall back in the field. Travis held the point for nearly thirty laps when another caution came out and bunched up the field for another restart.
The battle for the lead had taken its toll on Travis' tires and it showed on the track. Turns one and two were his strong point but he was unable to get off of turn four. On lap 230, Travis was forced to give up the lead. Travis struggled with the handling but was able to protect his position and came home with his first podium finish after coming in second place.
The strong second place run padded his lead in the Rookie of the Year battle and moved Travis into third place in the overall points standings.
Travis and the rest of the Bob Steele Chevrolet R/T Racing team is preparing to head to Lanier National Speedway outside of Atlanta next Saturday night, April 26th for the Georgia 250. The event will be covered live on SPEEDCHANNEL.
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