Finchum Starts Off 2009 with a Strong Winter Heat Series Showing
Tennessee Racer Looking to Duplicate 2008 Multi-Championship Season in 2009
Over the course of a driver's racing career, obtaining multiple victories during a single season can sometimes be a difficult task. Obtaining multiple championships in one year can be next to impossible, but for Chad Finchum, the 2008 season garnered up a massive amount of victories in the Bandolero Young Guns division as well as multiple championships, placing the Tennessee racer on the fast track to success in motorsports.
Saturday, after moving up to the Legends Car ranks, Finchum completed the eight-week Winter Heat Series at Lowe's Motor Speedway with a fourth-place finish in the Young Lions division, placing him third in the overall points standings. Finchum went to the track hoping for the victory and the title, but a top-five in the final race and in the points standings is nothing to shake a stick at, as he drove the back half of the series with a broken wrist.
"We came here hoping to win. We had a good car," said Finchum. "When we rolled the car off the trailer, my dad found a lucky penny, so the whole team was really excited today. I was on the verge of winning the first heat, but didn't get it. In the second heat, the toe got knocked out on the first lap, so we didn't make progress in that race. We started third in the feature and was running fourth the whole race. We were passing for third, but the car I was passing cut the course in the esses and the officials didn't see it, so we wound up fourth. It was a pretty good day."
In 2008, Finchum went on a rampage in the Bandolero Young Gun division. He took championships at Lowe's Motor Speedway (NC) in the Winter Heat Series and the Summer Shootout, Orlando Speedworld (FL) in the Winternationals, and won the Nationals event at the Speedrome (IN), as well as the overall INEX Young Guns national title. With over 30 wins in five states, the young racer accomplished just about everything possible in the Bandolero ranks.
"The most memorable moment would probably be the Concord (NC) race where we ended up in the wall about four or five times, but ended up coming back and winning the race," said Finchum. "That right there stands out in my mind the most. All of the championships and wins mean a lot, but that one race was probably the most memorable.
"2008 was our second year running the Summer Shootout. The first year we didn't do real well. We came into the 2008 Summer Shootout looking to just win a race; that was our goal. We ended up winning the first race and were real happy. We were real confident after that, and that set the tone for our whole year in our #19 Embassy Suites Charlotte-Concord Golf Resort & Spa Bandolero."
Late in the 2008 season, Finchum switched focus to the Pro Challenge Series. In his first start, he was competitive right off the hauler, netting him a fourth-place finish. He also jumped in a Legends Car at Atlanta Motor Speedway (GA) and won his first sanctioned race in the Chargers division in front of a large crowd on NASCAR weekend. This year's Winter Heat Series was his first multi-race championship chase in the Legends Car ranks.
"The step from Bandoleros to Legends Cars was a huge step, even though they are in the same league. The cars are a whole lot different and you have to drive them different. The Legends is a hard series. We came out here to the Winter Heat hoping to back up our championship last year in the Bandolero with a Legends championship this year, but we came up two positions short. Hopefully we can get a few more championships down the road."
During the fifth round of the Winter Heat Series, Finchum was running third on the final lap and was swept up into an incident as the leaders wrecked in front of him. The incident snapped his wrist, forcing him to race the rest of the series with a brace and cast. Still, though, the determined teenager drove through the pain for a solid finish to the series, which included a victory.
Finchum will use the next few weeks to rest up before heading to Florida for the Winternationals. Last season, Finchum dominated the Bandolero Young Guns division events, winning all five races during the series. This year he is looking to do the same in the Legends Young Lions division, as well as winning the two Pro Challenge Series events held at the track the same week.
"This year we are running Pro Challenge and Legends Cars," explained Finchum. "In fact, we are going to go to Orlando Speedworld with our Legends Car for Winternationals and we are going to take our Pro Challenge and run it too. We are going to be busy down there in Florida. Hopefully we do not tear up either car and will be able to get multiple victories in both cars."
Finchum will return to the seat of his #19 A-1 Finchum Heating & Cooling / Embassy Suites Charlotte-Concord Golf Resort & Spa Legends Car and his Pro Challenge Series car for the Winternationals at Orlando Speedworld, held February 10th-14th.
For more information on Chad Finchum, please contact Jason Buckley at (704) 788-2134, and be sure to check out Chad Finchum's website at www.chadfinchum.com.
