Defending ARCA/CRA Super Series Champ, Travis Braden Ready For Return Bout With ARCA Midwest Tour
WVU Engineering Student looking for redemption in second Border Wars event (Special from Travis Braden Motorsports)
May 22, 2014
Wheeling, West Virginia (May 22, 2014) – After leading the first 44 laps of Border Wars I
- 7-Up 150 at Toledo Speedway (OH) back on April 12th, electrical problems forced
Defending ARCA/CRA Super Series Powered by JEGS Champion, Travis Braden out of
the race. In the next race at Anderson Speedway (IN) on April 26th, the same electrical
problems again reared its ugly head forcing the Wheeling, West Virginia driver out of that
race as well.
With a month off between events, the 20-year-old and his Travis Braden Motorsports
Team have been working non-stop going through the machines in the race shop to make
sure nothing out of the ordinary happens again. The next race on the schedule is the
second Border Wars race with the ARCA Midwest Tour; The Calypso Lemonade 150 at
the fast 1/2 (0.500) mile semi-banked paved oval of Illiana Motor Speedway, located
southeast of the Chicagoland area in Schererville, Indiana. A Memorial Day Monday, May
26th date is one that Braden is ready for.
"The very young 2014 has been a lot of good and bad already for us. With starting to work with an entire new team and group of guys, I kind of expected us to take a few races to get in a grove and find a place where the crew understands my feedback and can make changes." Explained Braden. "But this turned out not to be the case, yet we have no results to show for it. At Toledo, the car began to lose power while leading and our day ended early. While we were disappointed that we didn't get a chance to battle for the win, we were at the same time very happy that our car was so strong and knew it was a sign of good things to come." He added.
"We went through the car and found a few issues that we repaired, thinking it would fix the issue with the car losing power going into Anderson." Braden continued. "When we got to Anderson, everything went just fine in practice. Anderson has always been my weakest track, but we worked our way up to the top seven or so with 30 laps to go. I was thinking that if we could get a top five after starting last at by far my worst track that would be great. Unfortunately, around lap 100 the car suddenly started to shut off exactly like it had done at Toledo." He explained.
"That was a little more frustrating. Issues like that are very hard to deal with because they are impossible to track down with any kind of certainty and can linger for many weeks, but we thought we had found the problem after Toledo." The Mountaineer State driver offered. "Now we are looking to go into our third race and get some redemption after letting a strong finish in Border Wars I at Toledo slip through our fingers. We have done everything in our power to make sure any possible problem areas are addressed so that we should not have any more ignition problems."
As for racing at Illiana, it's a track that Braden has never seen before, but his knack for doing well at new tracks will, according to Braden, hopefully carry over one more time. "I have never been to Illiana before, but from what I hear it is the type of track that will fit my driving style very well. If we can come out of this race with a good run, it will get us back on track for the rest of the season." He ended.
During the 2013 season, he collected four victories on his way to the title. Those wins came at Winchester Speedway (IN) on June 29th, Auto City Speedway (MI) on August 16th, Kil-Kare Raceway on September 15th and Lucas Oil Raceway (IN) on September 29th. His four trips to victory lane were a part of his eight top fives to go with 10 top 10 finishes. He led an impressive 308 laps in ARCA/CRA competition, second only behind three-time series champion, Johnny VanDoorn who finished with 565. He also picked up a win in the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour back on June 14th at Berlin Raceway (MI) in the Berlin 100 Presented by Boyne Machine Company & JEGS.com.
For the rest of the 2014 racing season, Braden’s widely popular #01 Chevrolet, sporting his college colors and decals; West Virginia University as he will also carry additional sponsorship support from; Braden’s A-1 Towing & Collision as well as RememberTheMiners.org, Stoney Hollow Tire, Elms Grove Eagles #1891, A.D. Baker Construction, M.P.H. Promotions, and Travis Braden Motorsports.
For more information about Travis Braden and the entire Travis Braden Motorsports operation and to inquire about additional sponsorship opportunities for the upcoming 2014 campaign, please call Car Owner, Don Braden at: (304) 215-5026. You can also go to the brand new and improved Travis Braden Motorsports Website located at: www.travisbraden.com as well as the Facebook Fan Page at: www.facebook.com/TravisDBraden and finally on Twitter by clicking on: www.twitter.com/TrBRaden
