Brendan Bauman Photo
PETERSEN MEDIA: Friday night at Jacksonville Speedway, Paul Nienhiser was able to nurse a cut right rear tire to the finish line as he finished fourth with the Midwest Open Wheel Association (MOWA) at his home track.
“We were pretty fast all night long, and after a rework of the track before the feature Scott Bonar and I made some really good adjustments, and we were rolling.” Paul Nienhiser said. “We got into second, but I cut my right rear tire with five or so laps left and just held on and slipped back to fourth.”
Lining up third in his heat race with MOWA using a draw show format, Nienhiser would run much of the race in third on a narrow surface until a last lap pass saw him pick up a second-place finish.
Securing a spot in the nightly redraw, Nienhiser found himself pulling the highest pill available as the six lined him up in the third row of the feature event.
Paying close attention to a complete track rework, Nienhiser and company would make some adjustments to the CAM2 Lubricants/Buffalo Wild Wing/Innovative Design backed No. 9x.
When the feature went green, Nienhiser got off to a great start as he quickly began working his way through the field in pursuit of his first win of the season.
As the track raced extremely well and put on a great show, Nienhiser moved into the second position as he closed in on the race leader. With five laps to go, Nienhiser would fall off the pace a little as his right rear tire began to lose air. Changing the handling of his car dramatically, Nienhiser would slip back to finish fourth, and realize he cut the tire down when he had a chance to investigate his issue.
Saturday night, Nienhiser and company followed MOWA to Fairbury, IL where they invaded the FALS for a night of racing action.
Having another quick start to the night, Nienhiser would line up fourth in his heat race. Able to work his way forward and secure a spot in the Dash redraw, Nienhiser’s third place finish did just that as he was locked into the feature event.
Lining up fifth in the Dash, Nienhiser flexed his muscle and improved his starting position drastically as he worked his way up to second to garner a third place starting position in the feature event.
Jumping into second as the initial green flag flew, it would be negated by a yellow and Nienhiser would have to try again.
With the second start also being waived off, the third time was indeed the charm as Nienhiser settled into third before racing his way into second.
Once in second, another yellow was needed and it bunched the field back up for a single file restart.
With the race leader using the top leading up to the yellow, Nienhiser saw an opening and shot slow to attempt to overtake the race lead. As Nienhiser pulled the trigger, the race leader made the turn to diamond off the corner and Nienhiser got on the binders hoping to avoid disaster.
Slowing up as much as he could, light contact was made between the duo and Nienhiser also caught a rut and went flipping as the leader was able race on.
Making the decision to forego the work area, Nienhiser’s night was over.
“On that restart I committed to throwing a slider as he had been running the top up until that point,” Nienhiser said. “As I made my move, I saw him turn down to run the diamond and I did everything I could to slow up and not ruin his night and I think I did a pretty good job of that. We did make slight contact, but I also caught a rut and tipped over. I hate it for my guys, but we have a fast car and I think we will win one of these really soon.”
Nienhiser would also like to thank Midland Performance, Kinney Racing Engines, Rockstar Wraps, Heartland Trailer Manufacturing, Robert’s Tire Center, and Stronghurst Collision for their support of the No. 50 car.
BY THE NUMBERS: Races-7, Wins-0, Top 5’s-2, Top 10’s-4
ON TAP: Nienhiser will be in Scott Bonar’s car on Thursday night in Eldon, IA with the Sprint Invaders before hopping back in the No. 9x on Friday at Jacksonville Speedway.
STAY CONNECTED: Stay updated with Paul Nienhiser by following him on Twitter @Paul_Nienhiser or by clicking over to www.paulnienhiser.com.
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