New Car, Top Ten, and Hard Charging Round Out Weekend

PHENIX CITY, AL - A strong race at BuckShot Speedway and a big ninth place finish at East Alabama Motor Speedway now places Caden fifth in the points in the Schaeffer's Spring National Series.

On the weekend of March 31st and April 1st, Caden Mullinax and his Mullinax Racing crew continued their campaign in the Schaeffer's Oil Spring Nationals Series with rounds four and five. Both races took place in Alabama which was a nice change of pace for the team.

Thursday saw the team travel an hour south of their shop to BuckShot Speedway, where they planned on practicing for the next day's $7,553-to-win race. This practice session would not only serve as good track time for the team but also serve as the testing grounds for the team's new Black Diamond.

The first few sessions Caden dialed in his black and gold Longhorn, but once that was over with it was time to make the on-track debut of his new Black Diamond. The team made two sessions with the new car in order to shake it down and prepare it for Saturday's race at East Alabama.

A total of thirty-two Super Late Models would show up to compete to be in the twenty-two car feature event, and the field was no slouch. All of the series regulars showed up in Clanton, plus a few heavy hitters like Sam Seawright, Dillon Tidmore, Ashton Winger, and Jason Hiett.

Caden chose to run his trusted Longhorn at BuckShot even though he knew that he would be down on power during the race. The team kept the new Black Diamond at the track as a back-up car if needed.

During qualifying Caden put down a solid lap, putting him eleventh fastest in group A, meaning that he would be starting one spot out of the transfer spot in the B-Main. When the green flag dropped Caden noticed a bad noise coming out of the engine and instantly pulled to the infield of the track, suspecting engine trouble.

His suspicions were proven correct when he got to the pits and the team worked rapidly to try to repair the issue and prepare the new Black Diamond for the feature event, as Caden had a points provisional. The team repaired the engine in the Longhorn and Caden started in the twenty-first spot in the feature.

The feature was a battle of attrition where Caden would advance eight positions to finish a very strong thirteenth. During the race Caden avoided two pile-ups and once the track slicked off he started running similar lap times as the leaders.

After Friday's race, it was time to travel down to East Alabama Motor Speedway in Phenix City to run 53 laps for $10,053. At EAMS Caden was met with a high banked, high speed race track where he would make his new car's racing debut.

When qualifying came around the team made a few adjustments on the car that did not pan out the way they had expected it to and this placed Caden near the back of the field. Caden was forced to start his heat race on the back row, but this time the team corrected their previous adjustments and he went forward, finishing ninth and locking in an eighteenth starting slot.

When the green flag dropped for the feature event Caden started his charge towards the front of the pack. Before the first caution he had already moved up to fourteenth and by the second caution he was in twelfth.

Caden was able to stay on the lead lap the entire race and made his way up to tenth with two laps to go. When the leaders were coming to the white flag the car in front of Caden, Kenny Collins, pulled off of the track with a blown tire which gifted Caden the ninth spot, thus making his top ten finish even sweeter.

This big finish in a brand new race car gave the team the confidence that they need for the upcoming races. Caden now sits in the fifth spot in points, battling it out with Hayden Cowen for the Rookie of the Year award for the series.

Next up on the schedule are two big races that will make the team travel more north than they have ever traveled before, Virginia. Round six of the series is a $10,053 to win race at Wythe Raceway in Wythe County, Virginia, and the second is the $21,000 to win Lil Bill Corum Memorial at Tazewell Speedway.

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