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Each team makes changes in the off-season, not knowing if they are choosing to make the correct changes.
For Steve Blackburn and his team, Steve Blackburn Motorsports, they certainly chose to make the right changes as Blackburn finished fourth in the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 at Daytona International Speedway. The finish marked the first top five of his ARCA Racing Series career.
““Man, that was a lot of fun, but incredibly hectic there at the end,” Blackburn says. “We had a good car from the moment we unloaded. We didn’t have to make many adjustments to it and that’s a huge credit to the guys on this Steve Blackburn Motorsports team.”
The weekend at Daytona as a whole was good for the driver of the No. 94 Harley Davidson Pikevile/Pop’s Chevrolet Buick Cadillac Honda of Prestonburg Chevrolet as he would lead the opening 52-car practice.
In qualifying, Blackburn timed in the fifth quickest lap at 49.416 seconds. However, both drivers on the front row had their times disallowed, giving Blackburn the third quickest lap. This marked the best start of his career, as his previous best was 11th (Kentucky and Talladega).
Blackburn began his day, solidly keeping himself in the top five till crew chief Gary Hostettler brought him down pit road under a lap 14 caution, causing him to restart in 30th. He didn’t stay back there for long as he was back in the top 15 by lap 30.
Once past the halfway mark of the race, Blackburn continued his charge through the field, finding himself in the top 10 with the caution came out on lap 69 for a multi-car wreck. Some of his fellow competitors chose to pit so therefore Blackburn was able to restart the race with five laps remaining in the fifth position.
On the last lap while Blackburn was trying to make a move, both leaders ran out of gas, causing Blackburn to make a quick move to get around them, but also allowing both Bobby Gerhart and Drew Charlson to get by.
In the shuffle through the final stretch, Blackburn would cross the line in the sixth position. However, ARCA officials would drop both Brett Hudson and Nelson Canache down the running over after passing below the yellow line. This would allow Blackburn to score his fourth place finish.
“We came in early for fuel and really had to work hard to get back to the front,” he says. “When we did I thought we were sitting in a prime position to maybe make a move with Kimmel (No. 68) if we could but then the No. 4 and No. 32 ran out of fuel and everyone went scattering. This is the first time I’ve taken the checkered flag at Daytona and man that feels awesome. The car is in good shape, so I think we’re going to Talladega.”
For more on Steve Blackburn and SBM, please log onto steveblackburnmotorsports.com.
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