Henderson Overcomes Mechanical Failure at Knoxville to Earn Podium Finish at Huset’s

Justin Henderson highlighted a two-race weekend behind the wheel of the Mike Sandvig Motorsports No. 7 410 Sprint Car with a third-place finish on Sunday at Huset’s Speedway. He also scored a 22nd-place finish on Saturday at Knoxville Raceway following late-race mechanical issues that spoiled what appeared to be a promising night.

“We’ve got a ton of speed at Knoxville, and it shows every time we are there, but we can’t have nights like Saturday if we want to win a championship,” said Henderson. “Overall, it was a good weekend and I’m happy with the way the car feels. We’re going to find victory lane sooner than later.”

Henderson kicked off the weekend on Saturday at Knoxville Raceway where he qualified seventh quickest among 34 cars in attendance with a fastest lap of 16.318 seconds. He then advanced one position in a heat race to finish fourth and locked himself directly into the night’s A-main event.

“We’re continuously fast to start the night and we’re putting ourselves in a good position to be competitive,” he said. “That’s what you need to be successful and it’s nice to know you don’t need to worry too much about getting into shows.”

Lining up from the outside-third row starting spot for the feature, Henderson quickly advanced to the fourth position on lap two. After a multi-lap battle for the position with fifth-place driver Austin McCarl, he settled into fourth over the first half of the event. Following a restart with eight laps to go, he slipped back to fifth, but with two laps remaining he was able to advance back to fourth. Entering turn one on the following circuit, he broke a steering arm and was unable to control the car, so he came to a stop against the outside guardrail. He would not rejoin the field and as a result he was credited with finishing in 22nd.

“I don’t think we had anything for the top two guys on the track, so we were running right around where we were supposed to be in terms of speed,” said Henderson. “Unfortunately, we broke the steering arm there on the last lap and I lost brakes and couldn’t control the car at all. It stinks to see a top five go away there with only three turns remaining, but overall, we know that we had a pretty good car and aren’t far off in terms of competing for wins.”

The team next headed to Huset’s Speedway on Sunday, where Henderson qualified eighth quickest out of 26 cars in attendance with a fastest lap of 11.065 seconds before finishing where he started – second – in a heat race, He earned a spot in the re-draw as a result and drew the No. 6 pill to claim an outside-third row starting spot for the feature.

On a track that took rubber near the halfway point of the feature, Henderson was unable to mount any real charge to the front of the field. However, he was able to capitalize in key moments to advance three positions throughout the duration of the A-main to earn a third-place finish and a spot on the podium. The top five finish was the team’s third of the season in six total starts.

“It was really hard to get up speed early in the night as it was pretty slick,” he said. ” I found the rubber pretty quick in the feature and I stayed there most the race. I was able to pick up a few spots, but by then everyone was just locked to the bottom going as fast as we could go. Everybody is racing on equal terms, so I can’t really complain about the night, and I’ll take the third.”

Next up for Henderson and Sandvig will be another weekend doubleheader at Knoxville Raceway on Saturday and Huset’s Speedway on Sunday. Following last weekend’s disappointment at Knoxville, Henderson sits third in the track point standings. Meanwhile at Huset’s, Henderson sits in second in the standings and trails first by a mere 12 points.

Henderson also plans to compete for $3000 on Friday at Jackson Motorplex in Jackson, Minnesota in his own MAX Motorsports No. 83 360 Sprint Car and again at Knoxville on Saturday. If he can sweep the weekend in the 360 division, there is an added $3000 bonus on the line as well.

“This is a big weekend for us, and I look forward to it every year,” said Henderson. “Anytime I can get extra laps in my car it can only benefit me in Mike’s car. In recent season’s we have been really fast in the 360 division, so I’m hoping that we can pick up a few wins and some extra money this weekend and hopefully that will rub off on the 410 sprint car side of things too.”

WEEKEND RESULTS

May 15 – Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa – Qualifying: 5; Heat race: 4 (5); Feature: 22 (5)

May 16 – Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, D.D – Qualifying: 8; Heat race: 2 (2); Feature: 3 (6)

SEASON STATS

6 races, 0 wins, 3 top 5s, 4 top 10s, 5 top 15s, 5 top 20s

UP NEXT

Saturday, May 22nd, at Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa and Sunday, May 23rd, at Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, S.D.

SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Eszlinger Electric

Eszlinger Electric, founded in 1984, provides residential electrical services in the Sioux Falls, S.D. area. They offer free estimates, accept credit cards and are a licensed, bonded and insured company. To find out more information, call 605-271-8488 or 605-941-5087.

“Eszlinger Electric has been a great friend of the team and we’re grateful for their support for the past three seasons,” Team Owner Mike Sandvig said. “We could not do this without supporters like them and I’m glad to have them apart of our team.”

Sandvig would also like to thank www.powersports.com, Morton Buildings, GRP Motorsports, Heartland Kitchen Solutions, DeBerg Flooring, R2 Enterprise, GRP Motorsports, Team Enterprise Metal Fabrication and Powder Coating, Winters Performance, Schoenfeld Headers, BK Racing TI Components, SBS FK Shocks, Wings Unlimited, Keizer Aluminum Wheels, Hinchman Racewear, Rider Racing Engines, Maxim Racing Inc. and Simpson Race Products for their continued support.