Kate Dallenbach scored a victory in her first start of the 2016 season at Hickory Motor Speedway earlier this year. Now, she’s hoping to score one more win before the conclusion of the 2016 season.
Dallenbach starts fifth in Saturday night’s Fall Brawl at Hickory Motor Speedway, a track that has been good for Dallenbach. However, she will have to beat some tough competition in Josh Berry, Mike Darne, Dexter Canipe, Jr. and Austin McDaniel, among others, if she will win on Saturday night.
“We’ve been practicing all day, working on the car,” Dallenbach said before qualifying on Saturday. “Finally got it very good. I’m pretty confident, know we’ve got a good car. I know that I’ve won here before and I can do it again. Basically, got to stay in it for 150 laps then, the last 50 laps, start racing for the win.”
Dallenbach has had strong runs in every race she has run in 2016 and either finished with a strong result or experienced misfortunes.
“Yeah, I think that win definitely helped set in motion for the future,” Dallenbach remarked. “We got better and better. It boosted my confidence, boosted the team’s confidence. Everybody, including myself, knows I can do this. All the other obstacles that get in the way, for instance, we raced at Tri-County last month, went from 25th to fifth and got turned.”
Her main focus is consistency. She knows she can run up front and win races, but with hopes of racing in NASCAR in the future, Dallenbach wants to consistently score top-five finishes.
“The win really gave me the confidence to know I can do this,” Dallenbach commented. “It’s just, being more consistent every week. We’ve been running pretty good out front, it’s mostly trying to stay out of trouble now.”
After Saturday night’s Fall Brawl, Dallenbach will set her sights on the Southeast Limited Late Model Series race at Myrtle Beach Speedway. She had a strong run going in the event last year before being caught up in some of the race’s 23 cautions.
“Myrtle Beach is our last race this year,” Dallenbach said. “Hopefully we can do the best we can, finish up front, win there. I know we’re good there, we’ve always been good there. Just, like I said before, sometimes other people are the problem.”
Her plans for next year are currently up in the air, but she is hoping to run more frequently in 2017 and get more seat time.
“Next year, I have no idea what our plan is next year, actually,” Dallenbach explained. “Hopefully, do the same thing we did this year, maybe get a few more races in. I definitely want to get more seat time. Definitely, finish this year strong and then, leave that as a good foundation for next year.”
Dallenbach, like many young racers, hopes to race in NASCAR in the upcoming years. Both her father, Wally, and mother, Robin, have competed in what is now known as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and she hopes to continue the family legacy – perhaps with some NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts in the next year or two.
“That’s what I really wanted to get into next is the Truck Series,” Dallenbach elaborated. “Hopefully we can make that happen. Just need to get some more sponsorship and stuff like that and hopefully we can get the Truck Series rolling.”
Dallenbach will start fifth in Saturday night’s Fall Brawl at Hickory Motor Speedway. Josh Berry qualified on the pole for the race over Austin McDaniel. Dexter Canipe, Jr. will start in third and Christian Eckes in fourth. Race22.com will have updates throughout the evening on Twitter (@race22) and complete postrace coverage following the event.
