Gresham Has Bumpy Ride In ASA Southeast Battle
FOR IMMEDITATE RELEASE
MONTGOMERY, AL (July 26, 2009) – A subpar qualifying run led to a less than expected finish for Max Gresham in Saturday’s American Speed Association Southeast Asphalt Tour Gateway 100 at Montgomery Motor Speedway.
“We had the car pretty good in practice,” said Gresham, who wound up qualifying 21st and finishing 25th in the event on the half-mile Montgomery oval. “I don’t know if I communicated what I needed to get the car set up before qualifying, but we were way off and qualified back in the pack. When that happens, you are usually in trouble.”
Gresham, the ASA Southeast division points leader heading into the event, quickly found out just how much trouble he was in as a first-lap crash had him and his No. 7-11 Gresham Motorsports stocker headed to the pit area for repairs.
“At the start of the race, I stayed back a little bit just to let things shake out,” Gresham stated. “The car to my outside filled the hole in front of me and I lost the buffer I had. Just about then, there was a spin as we went into Turn 1 and while I spun to miss the wreck, a car behind me didn’t get checked up in time and he knocked the rear end out of our car. Gene (Gresham Motorsports crew chief Gene Roberts) and the guys did a great job of getting the car back together and got me back on the track in just 18 laps. The car was pretty hurt and after that, I was just trying to stay out of the way.”
Even that didn’t work out well for the 16-year-old 11th-grade student at Woodward Academy in College Park, GA.
“We got caught up in another wreck around Lap 70,” said Gresham. “After that, we just decided to park the car for the night and not tear it up anymore.”
While the finish was disappointing for Gresham, he also was philosophical about the evening’s results.
“I feel like we’ve had a chance to win every ASA race we have gone to this season,” said Gresham, who will wheel a Joe Gibbs Racing entry in the NASCAR Camping World East Series Edge Hotel 150 at Adirondack International Speedway in New Bremen, NY this Saturday. “Even when we crashed at Cordele (GA) and didn’t finish as well as we wanted to at Pensacola (FL), we had a good car and a chance to win. This was the first time all season where we just missed it. You’ll have that sometimes.”
Gresham will return to ASA action at Anderson (SC) Speedway on Saturday, August 8.
Meanwhile, this Saturday’s Edge Hotel 150 NASCAR Camping World East Series race will roll off Saturday with practice at 12:15 p.m. Qualifying is set for 4:15 p.m. with the 100-lap headline event at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time. The NASCAR main event will be followed by ASA and Allison Legacy feature events.
To learn more about Max Gresham and Gresham Motorsports, please log on to www.greshammotorsports.com.
For information about sponsorship/partnering with Max Gresham and Gresham Motorsports, please contact Tony Gresham at tgresham@greshaminc.com.