Story By: BOBBY CHALMERS / CP RACING – EAGLE BRIDGE, NY – Chad Pierce finally got the finish he has been wanting this season. The veteran campaigner had the stars align last Saturday as he brought his H. Sausville Construction #83 home with a solid third place finish in the 358-Modified feature at Lebanon Valley.
For Pierce, the good finish was something he and his team desperately need as the season moves into the summer months.
“It’s definitely amazing what a good run does for a race team,” Pierce said. “It was so much fun to lead laps and run up front. We still need to get a little better, but hopefully we can build off this finish.”
Pierce started the race by leading the first nine circuits of the 24-lap Small Block feature before getting passed by eventual winner Brett Haas. He then stayed with the top drivers in the event to bring the car home with a podium finish.
“The car was very good,” he said. “I got a touch tight in turn one and two as the race progressed but we were very good overall through the race. Congratulations to Brett (Haas). He was fast all night long. I just need to be a little more aggressive and the car needs a few more ponies under the hood.”
The former Valley track champion, however, was very happy that he put his string of bad luck behind him and was able to get the type of finish his car’s performance has dictated.
“The last three weeks, this team has made some great strides in our performance without getting the results,” he said. We were running second and got taken out. Then, we were running sixth and had the mishap. This third place finish proves helps to proves that we’ve been fast. We finally got a finish to show it.”
Chad currently sits 14th in Small Block Modified points at the speedway, 22 points out of the top 10.
The next event on the CP Racing Team’s schedule will be Saturday night at the “Valley of Speed” when Anderson Equipment & Sysco presents another great night of action. Gates open at 5pm.