Wilk Aims To Make Brainerd His Bridge
Posted by: Team Manager Bob Wilber
BRAINERD, Minn. (August 19, 2015) -- The Mississippi River runs through scenic Brainerd, Minn. but on all counts it bears almost no resemblance to the same Mighty Mississippi that carries massive barges past the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, nearly 700 miles to the south. In Brainerd, the soon-to-be mighty river is a clear stream, and the local bridges over it are merely overpasses. Tim Wilkerson will cross one of those overpasses when he arrives for this weekend's Lucas Oil Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway, but what he'd like to do is turn the Brainerd race into its own sort of bridge. He'd like it to be the span that carries him to a position in the 2015 Countdown to the Championship playoffs.
Wilk enters this weekend's national event only two points out of seventh place, where Cruz Pedregon currently resides. Looking the other direction, the Levi, Ray & Shoup owner/tuner/driver has a 51-point lead on both Robert Hight and Alexis DeJoria, who are tied for ninth, and a 124-point lead on Courtney Force, who is currently the odd driver out in a five-team duel for the final four spots. In recent years, such a bulge would make Wilk all but a mathematical lock, since the lead is effectively seven rounds and only eight rounds remain before the Countdown begins, but 2015 is not like recent years. This time, the rounds at the final regular-season race, in Indianapolis, will be worth 30 points instead of the standard 20.
"They made that change to get Indy back to actually being a special race and our biggest event, so that's a good thing, but first we have to do some good in Brainerd and maybe then we can go to Indy two weeks from now and let other drivers stress out over who's in and who's not," Wilk said. "There are lots of other ways to earn points, including the little bonus points for each session in qualifying and your points for whatever position you land in. If my math is right, I think it's possible to gain 19 points that way on some other driver at a typical race, even if both of you qualified and nobody set a national record. I don't know if that's ever happened, but I know we've never come close to running the table like that, during qualifying.
"We've earned some bonus points this year, and that's something we're proud of, but we generally have to get them here and there, rather than in bunches. So, the real focus has to be on the round wins, and I've been saying for five races now that if we just keep winning rounds, even one of them at each race, it's going to be nearly impossible for all three of the cars behind us to get by us. I'm not going to worry about it anyway, because I'm looking ahead and trying to figure out how I can get by a very good team led by Cruz Pedregon. That's my goal. Just keep playing offense."
If it seems like Wilk has stepped up his performance versus a year ago, the numbers do indeed tell that tale. At this point in 2014, Wilk had 14 round wins, three of which came with a runner-up finish in Bristol, he was 10th in points, and he had qualified in the bottom half of the field eight times. Brainerd would then become his ninth bottom-half slot, when he landed in the 13th position before exiting in round one. His low e.t. on the season last year was his 4.013 in Bristol.
This year, Wilk has 15 round wins, including the four that were part of his win at Atlanta, he is eighth in points and has qualified in the bottom half only four times. His low e.t. on this season is his career best, with the 3.971 he ran in Topeka, one of four runs in the threes he's posted so far in 2015. Perhaps most impressive has been his ability to run up front with the big boys when conditions are stout.
"We'll probably always be known as a hot-weather team, because we had a handle on that for a long time and those kinds of reputations stick with you," Wilk said. "But, I'm pretty proud of how we've run at places like Topeka, Joliet, Sonoma, and a few other tracks where the big multi-car teams could flex their muscles and knock them out of the park. We're right in the thick of that sort of stuff right now, and that's something we can hang our hat on a little bit, I think."
Wilk also knows he's heading to track and a region that were heavily damaged by a severe storm just a little more than a month ago. A gallant effort by the track's owners and a large army of local volunteers, who have been busily cleaning and repairing at the venerable track, have the facility ready to go. Brainerd International Raceway sprawls over more than 200 acres in central Minnesota's "Brainerd Lakes Region" and this weekend's national event draws from all over the upper Midwest.
"They got blasted pretty hard, from the pictures I've seen, and right after it happened I remember thinking that they'd never get it in shape for us in just five weeks, but apparently they've worked some miracles up there," Wilk said. "When you see a newspaper photo of a string of aluminum grandstands twisted around and tossed over the fence like they were made of balsa wood, you know they had plenty of damage.
"I'm sure it's been tough on the local businesses and resorts too, so hopefully when our big NHRA Mello Yello circus comes to town it'll ring some cash registers while we entertain some of the best fans in this sport. They come out in droves, and a lot of them are there for five or six days, camping at the track. We want to give them something to smile and cheer about."
Qualifying for the Nitro classes is scheduled to begin at 3:30 (CDT) on Friday, and if there needs to be a motto for this year's edition of the Brainerd event it might be "Every. Point. Counts."
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