RPW Exclusive: Timing Was Everything For Danny Dietrich To Find Victory Lane At Port Royal Saturday

Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – PORT ROYAL, PA – Sometimes, timing is everything.

Danny Dietrich figured that out first hand on Saturday afternoon during Port Royal Speedway’s 410 Sprint Car 2024 season opener.

It was evident that his #48 Gary Kauffman Racing Maxim was a tad bit better, but not by much, compared to defending track champion Devon Borden who held the lead from the drop of the green flag in the lid-lifter. However, he just couldn’t find a way by.

Both drivers were running the same line, right around the bottom of the extremely fast but ultra-slick Port Royal, PA track. After starting 11th and charging to the runner-up spot, it appeared as if Dietrich was going to have to settle for second on this day.

“I could drive to his rear bumper and I was like if I could just get him to miss the rubber, just once,” Dietrich said. “Then, I’d miss the rubber. Luckily, I was able to hold on to second when I’d miss it.”

Then, the caution flew with two laps remaining, and the veteran saw his shot, and took it. Dietrich used the restart to his advantage, gluing himself to the rear bumper of Borden’s #23 and narrowly sliding between the leader and the inside guardrail entering turn one to grab the top spot and ultimately the win.

“I just timed if off of (turn) four perfect,” he said. “When he was going to fire, I fired and I was able to keep the momentum all the way through the cone. I knew there was only going to be one way to get him.”

That’s when the veteran used his multitude of laps around the Speed Palace to get around the young racer Borden.

“It was just experience,” he said. “It was just a lot of experience racing and we’re pretty good at these tracks here at Port Royal.”

Dietrich was in no way throwing any shade on how well Borden ran on Saturday. He just made the right move at the right time.

“Devon did a good job,” he said. “His car was definitely set up different than ours. You could tell by the way he had to drive it.”

It was also evident that Dietrich was excited to grab his first checkered flag of the season at Port Royal to kick off the 2024 season at the track.

“Man, this is awesome to win opening day here at the Port Royal,” he said. “I think the track was pretty good, all things considered. With all the rain we had, props to the track for getting us here today. Hopefully I made that one exciting for everyone at the end.”

It was by no means an easy day for Dietrich. He and his team had work to do after problems in early hot laps Saturday caused the Kauffman team to scramble.

“We had all sorts of stuff on this car that’s different,” he said. “After warm-ups, we changed pretty much the whole car…wings and all kinds of stuff. This was kind of like a test session today and it’s just great to get to victory lane when you do stuff like that.”

Getting a win so early into his 2024 season has Dietrich pumped for what’s to come.

“It means a lot to get park it in victory lane here at Port Royal,” he said. “It’s pretty freaking cool and I want to thank all of the fans that braved the cold to come out today as well as everyone that supports this team. There’s a lot of people who played a big part in this, especially my guys, who busted their butts all day to get us to the victory stage.”