GREAT DAY, BUT A TOUGH FINISH, FOR HACKETT AT MICHIGAN:
What started off as a day of milestones for Ryan Hackett and the Hackett Racing team ended early with a 22nd place finish in the Michigan 200 at Michigan International Speedway on June 13th. Ryan began the weekend on Friday by putting forth a strong practice effort that put him about mid pack on the speed chart. The team mainly focused on race runs and did not worry about qualifying too much considering they knew they were already locked into Saturday’s race. On Saturday, Ryan qualified for the race in 25th position. When the green flag dropped Ryan wasted no time working the American Spice Ford through the field. By lap twenty he was scored in 20th position. After a caution on lap 30 the team decided to stay out on the track and Hackett found himself as the race leader. He would end up leading three laps, his first laps led in NASCAR. After leading the race Ryan was consumed by trucks with fresher tires and he settled into 10th place where he remained for 8 more laps. Unfortunately, the great run came to an end as Ryan came off turn 4 and got loose, hitting the wall with the right side of the truck. He brought the truck into the pits as the team fixed some of the damage and sent Ryan back out onto the track, a few laps later Hackett radioed back to the team that the truck was still not driving correctly. Ryan took the truck to the garage area and after reviewing the damage was forced to cut the day short with a bit less than half the race to go. The day was not a complete loss however. For his efforts Ryan was awarded the “WIX Filters Lap Leader Award” for the race. It was also great to have the folks from www.americanspice.com at the race. The sponsor for the race brought a contingent of 10 people to the track, all of whom had a great day and received a ton of television, radio and at-track exposure for their company. They also brought some great t-shirts and some samples of their wonderful products as gifts for the team. Ryan and the entire Hackett Racing team hope that the relationship will continue in the future. Stay tuned for updates on when Ryan’s next race will be.
