{"id":15024,"date":"2013-12-05T09:00:54","date_gmt":"2013-12-05T14:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/?p=15024"},"modified":"2013-12-05T06:57:08","modified_gmt":"2013-12-05T11:57:08","slug":"theriault-ready-another-crack-derby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/2013\/12\/theriault-ready-another-crack-derby\/","title":{"rendered":"Theriault Ready For Another Crack At Derby"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"austin<\/a>BKR Driver Learned From 2012 Rookie Effort In Snowball Derby<\/em><\/p>\n

MOORESVILLE, N.C. \u2013 Austin Theriault was thrilled just to have qualified for the race a year ago, but this weekend the Brad Keselowski Racing development driver has much higher expectations for the running of the 46th annual Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Fla., on Sunday, December 8.<\/p>\n

Theriault believes that the BKR No. 29 Checkered Flag Foundation Ford Fusion team has a much better plan in place than it did a year ago. Qualifying begins at 5:15 p.m. local time on Friday night, with the Snowball Derby going green at 2 p.m. Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the biggest short track race that everybody comes to,\u201d said Theriault, who finished 20th in last year’s Snowball Derby \u2013 his first appearance in the annual 300-lap Super Late Model race featuring NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers, touring series champions and some of the best short track racers in the United States. \u201cIt’s one of the marks on the calendar that you keep in the back of your mind 365 days of the year. Last year, we left here disappointed, but that night we had already refocused on coming back this year.
\n
\n\u201cWe’re more focused this year with more experience, and we have a greater sense of what we need to do to elevate our performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Theriault has three victories in the BKR No. 29 this season, but he’s less concerned about race setup heading into the four-day weekend at Five Flags Speedway than he is about qualifying on the semi-banked, half-mile oval. He needed to qualify through the last-chance qualifying race in 2012 to make the starting grid out of nearly 70 cars attempting to make the race.<\/p>\n

\u201cStaying on top of the track conditions is going to be important,\u201d Theriault said. \u201cThe track is going to rubber up with the number of cars that are here. I think a lot of people will just be working on qualifying until Saturday (practice). Last year, we missed the Top-30 by a couple of spots (in time trials). Luckily we raced our way in, but it’s so much easier if you qualify in the Top-30. It’s better if you can not put yourself in that position. A lot of bad can happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s going to be the key. In races this year, we’ve put a lot of emphasis on race setups and it can be detrimental in a race like this. It can be tough to focus so much on qualifying, but the way you have to think about it is that what you may lose by focusing too much on race runs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s better to be approaching Sunday with a little bit of an unknown than approaching Sunday by sitting in the grandstands because you didn’t have your priorities straight.\u201d<\/p>\n

With so many cars turning practice laps on the track over a period of days, track conditions can throw a team a curveball.<\/p>\n

On a hectic weekend with a busy schedule, keeping focused on the big picture is what Theriault believes will best benefit his bid to win the Snowball Derby.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s about slowing things down for us this weekend,\u201d Theriault said. \u201cIn the bigger races, it’s more difficult to do that, but it’s also more critical that you do. Everything seems to be fast-paced with four or five days at the track, and it can tend to confuse and get everybody working at a faster pace than you need to be working at.
\n\u201cIt’s important for everybody to do their job the right way and make sure everything’s good. It’s a lot better to do everything right the first time than have to do everything twice.\u201d<\/p>\n

And if he does it right the first time, it could lead to the biggest day of the 19-year-old’s racing career.
\n\u201cI’m really looking forward to it,\u201d Theriault said. \u201cThis is what you work for, and these are the types of races where you want to perform your best.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BKR Driver Learned From 2012 Rookie Effort In Snowball Derby MOORESVILLE, N.C. \u2013 Austin Theriault was thrilled just to have qualified for the race a year ago, but this weekend the Brad Keselowski Racing development driver has much higher expectations for the running of the 46th annual Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[15306],"class_list":["post-15024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-maine","tag-theriault"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15024\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}