Lots of ups and downs for Harli White at the Fred Brownfield Classic last weekend. The race last weekend marked her inaugural trip to Washington’s Grays Harbor Raceway for the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour doubleheader.
Action began on Friday for Harli White, when she finished right where she started – fifth – in the opening heat race. That performance relegated her to a B Main, in which she maneuvered from fourth to second place to earn a transfer into the back of the main event.
On Friday night we didn’t have a good starting position in the heat race and that put us behind,” she said. “We had to run a B Main and we transferred out of that. The way the track was in the feature there wasn’t a whole lot of passing. The track rubbered up so it wasn’t real racy. It was out of our control.”
The track took rubber early after White gained a trio of positions to finish 16th.
On Saturday, Harli ended up with a much better pill draw, lining her up on the inside of the second row for the heat race.
I was able to pick up my first Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour heat race win,” she said. “We really needed that. To be locked into the show out of the heat race was a big thing. We got a good starting position starting fifth and we had a good car all night long.”
White earned the most overall heat race points to lock into the feature redraw. She pulled the No. 5 position to start the main event on the inside of the third row.
I got a good start in turns one and two and pulled up next to Aaron (Reutzel) down the backstretch,” she said. “Then I got ran over in turns three and four by another driver. It broke the left rear brake line. I restarted and thought I could pump up the brakes to get them to work, but I had to pull off because I had no brakes.”
Despite the issues, White was credited with a 22nd-place finish.
For the season, Harli White has competed in 33 races, but has yet to win an event thus far. She has earned four top five finishes, seven top 10 performances, and has finished in the top 15 fifteen times. Today she moves on to her next event, where she will make her debut at Gallatin Speedway in Belgrade, Mont., for the Grizzly Nationals with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour. White will have her t-shirt trailer with all apparel near the main grandstands both nights for fans who would like to purchase and support Harli White.