Race Stories

May 1, 2004 - Indianapolis Raceway Park. The first race of the season was rained out.

May 8, 2004 - Indianapolis Raceway Park.

It was a beautiful day without the threat of any rain in the forecast. After a 15-minute practice session, Matt decided the car needed an adjustment before qualifying.

With 17 cars in the field, we qualified 9th. That had us wondering if his decision was the correct thing to do. Matt said that the car felt great and he was sure the car would work in the feature.

With IRP on a tight schedule we had 30 laps or 20 minutes to run the feature. Matt started inside of row 5. The field came out of turn 4 at an even pace when the green flag dropped. By lap 2 he was working his way through traffic. An early yellow flag had him holding the 6th position. When the race resumed, he once again made his move through the field up to the 4th position. On lap 10 the race was red flagged due to a crash in turn 2 by #35 Colin Toland and #15 Terry McDermott. Due to the mandatory safety equipment, both drivers were unhurt, even though their cars were severely damaged. After a lengthy delay the race was back on. He made a pass on #22 Mike Springer for 3rd place. On lap 14 the caution flew again when #73 Neil McClelland spun and backed it into the wall, this set-up a green, white and checker flag finish (shortening the race by 13 laps). With #04 Doug Della leading, #7 Justin Claugherty in 2nd and #21 Matt Byrne in 3rd. Matt passed #7 Justin on the backstretch coming to take the white flag. Time was running out but, Matt’s call on the adjustment was justified, as he caught #04 Doug Della, the leader on the last lap coming out of turn 4. He moved along side of Della when the car got slightly loose, ending the day with an impressive 2nd place finish.