Author Archive for: MrAddicted2Dirt

Keen started his night at The Grove with a subpar qualifying run, putting him 7th in his eight-car group.  However, he quickly proved it’s not all about qualifying.

The Carlisle, PA native raced to a 5th place finish in his heat race to secure the final transfer position into the night’s 25-lap finale.   For Keen, it was his third consecutive A-main, which notably have come at three different tracks.  That is a positive sign.

At this stage of his young 410 sprint car career, every main event means an extra 25 to 30 laps of seat time.  That is valuable experience.  Not only does it allow the driver to learn what works and what doesn’t concerning his driving and his car’s setup, but he also gets to learn from those around him.  Even getting lapped has its benefits if you are paying attention.  Getting to watch how Danny Dietrich or Anthony Macri wheel their machines in front of you can be very valuable.

Keen raced inside the top twenty through the midpoint of Friday’s feature event, then slipped backward a few spots.  He eventually recovered some track position to finish 21st officially.

“It never looks good on paper that we went backward, but we made pretty large gains on our feature setup that made us a lot more competitive and more up to race speed.”, Keen shared.

“We didn’t just give up spots but guys had to race us to get by. I was happy with how much better the car felt but we still have work to do. For only our second time in a 410 at the grove, I was pleased with our performance. We will keep working hard to start moving forward!”

With 27 cars on hand at Port Royal Speedway, Keen’s pill draw put him on the front row of his heat race.  It took three attempts to get the race under green.  

When the action finally got rolling, Keen settled into 3rd for the first few laps.  He later slipped back a couple of spots at the hands of two veteran drivers who worked their way past the 410 rookie.

Keen held on to the 5th and final transfer spot to earn 25 more laps of education in the A-main.

“I knew it was gonna be a tall task to hold off really good cars behind me. I eventually found my groove around the top but slipped to 5th before I finally figured it out.”, Keen said of the heat race.

Keen started 14th in the feature and dealt with some of the same challenges he faced in last week’s feature, learning how to manage the rhythm of the longer race.  After falling as far back as 20th at one point, Keen made some forward progress and finished 18th. 

“I felt like we got better on entry and through the corner. Finished two spots better than last week’s feature, so that’s an improvement.”, Keen shared after the feature.

“We’ll keep working at it and get better every week.  Thanks again to my team and to all our marketing partners who support us!”