Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown Practice

David Hanging Out At Richmond International Raceway On Practice Day

Thanks to the help of Sponsors, Fans and Friends, David was able to put a package together to race at the Richmond International Raceway for the Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown.  The sponsor contributions and donations from everyone else has made it possible for David to participate in this race.David and the entire David Polenz Racking Team truly appreciate the opportunity afforded by everyone who helped. David Polenz Racing has teamed up with Robert Bruce Racing and Moon Racing Enterprises to field a car for the Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown.  We feel that with the relationship we have had with these two teams in the past, that we have put together a competitive package.  We are very excited about the possibilities that this relationship can bring, and we look forward to having a strong run at the race next Thursday.  

Practice Day at Richmond International Raceway 

We headed to the track early on Wednesday morning, only to arrive and have it raining, quite heavy at times, and chances of getting on the track looked pretty dismal.  But we sat it out from 7 AM – 12 for the rain to stop and another hour and a halffor them to get the track to dry. 

At 1:30 it was time for David to take to the track, for the first time ever at Richmond International Raceway. And since we have never been on a track this size before, we made a lot of changes to the car and just wanted to go out and run some decent laps and shake the car out to make sure we didn’t have any problems.  Shortly after David came up to speed, we realized David had a pretty serious tire rub; two laps later, we blew the left front tire…not really how we envisioned this going.  Fortunately he didn’t get into the wall or do any damage, and we were able to make adjustments to the car to get rid of the tire rub. 

We bolted on 4 new tires and went out to start trying to make some competitive runs.  David’s laps were very respectable, being within 1/10th of a second of the fastest car there.  We went out for several rounds of practice, improving on our lap times each time and things got better and better as David got a feel for the track. 

With the 47 best late model stock car drivers in the country on hand, every time everyone went out the lap times got better and better and it made for a very exciting day.  Also on hand, were Denny Hamlin and Jeff Burton and by days end, we were running within 1/10th of a second of their lap times.  At the end of the day we were very happy with the car and we’ve been having team discussions for improvements to be made when we go back Thursday for the race.  I’m sure with the team we have put together we will be able to improve lap times and be very competitive when we go back for the race. 

All in all it was a very exciting day for David and the whole team. Just so everyone knows this is the very first track I took David to a Sprint Cup race; and it is our favorite track to watch a race…this time around we are honored to be taking the laps ourselves.  If someone told me 17 years ago today, when David was laying on the bleachers falling asleep, that we would be here, I would have laughed in their face. 

Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown

Next Thursday we will be taking to the track for the last few tries to make adjustments to the car in preparation of Qualifying Thursday night. 

Once we have qualified our way into the race, we will be racing against drivers such as Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart, Jeff Burton, Kyle Busch and Michael Waltrip, amongst others.  The race will be televised live on the Speed Channel at 8 PM. 

Below is a picture of the David Polenz/Robert Bruce Racing #33 Late Model making laps Richmond International Raceway.  We got this deal put together in such a short period of time we didn’t have time to get all the sponsor logos put on for the practice.  By the time we return to the track for the race, the car will be all lettered up with all the sponsor logos.

Thanks to all that have helped make this dream come true!