Casey Smith Sets Track Record at Five Flags Speedway

Austin, TX 4/13/09- A newly ground down surface, meant to lessen tire wear, greeted twenty eight race cars at the Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida for race one of the 2009 Blizzard series. While the track grinding proved to reduce tire wear, it gained speed which was as evident as ever during qualify. Casey Smith hailing from Austin, Texas set a new track record with a time of 16.648 around the abrasive half mile oval.

After never really having a stranglehold on the track the way he has on many tracks in the Florida-Alabama racing scene it was rewarding for Smith to finally find some speed. Smith had this to say when asked what it felt like to set a track record at a place as famous as Five Flags. “I know it may have shocked a lot of people but we have a really good car here tonight and no one has worked as hard as this Casey Smith Racing team has on getting better at Pensacola, so to set the track record is more rewarding than you can imagine” said Smith.

While the track record was the hype for Smith, his performance during the race wasn’t anything to forget about. Casey led the first sixty laps of the 100 lap event before getting shuffled back to fifth during pit stops. A lapped car cost the #99 machine a few positions in the closing laps before Smith would have to settle for a seventh place finish.

The following night, the team traveled to Mobile International Speedway for the second leg of the weekend’s Gulf Coast series championships. A third place qualifying effort was as good as the Texas native could muster but it was more about his dominate race effort that caught everyone’s attention. A caution in the final twenty laps ended Casey’s straight away lead over second place but more importantly it put him within wrecking distance of his competition, in particular Augie Grill who is known for his rough driving style. That was all it took for Smith to see a good night go bad thanks to some rough driving by Grill. A disappointing fourteenth place finish was the result as the many in attendance didn’t see the best car win.

“That’s just the Grill’s for you; hopefully one day he will figure out you can actually pass someone without getting into them. If he wants to race like that then that’s cool because sometime soon the roles will be reversed and I’ll remember this and he’ll be the one sitting in the pits,” stated Smith, the former Mobile Miller Lite super late model series champion.

For all the latest news on Texas native Casey Smith visit his website at www.caseysmithracing.com. For pr and web related issues with Casey Smith Racing contact Chris Ragle with Tex Motorsports Marketing at cragle02@yahoo.com or call 704.706.3666