You know when you were a kid and your slightly younger brother or sister got a something for Christmas that you wanted or needed? It made you mad. Of course it did, what’s fair is fair right? Well we have had that this week in the racing world. Dillon Bassett racing Martinsville? Older brother Ronnie Bassett Jr. was having none of that.
Dillon was at the track last week at the test, trying to work deals. But older brother Ronnie Jr. was nowhere to be seen. That’s because he was worried… about Ronnie Sr.
“Dillon said he was going to the test to find a ride and I thought about going but I knew dad would be mad if I wasn’t in the shop working on these K&N cars for Dover,” Bassett said with a laugh. “Then after a while dad said… why didn’t you go? I was like ’cause you would be mad I thought!’ Dillon came back empty handed so I didn’t feel as bad about it, but I still wanted to race.”
As the week went on Dillon found a ride and another deal he was working fell into Ronnie Jr’s lap. Turns out that one of the deals he was talking to involved driving Robert Tyler’s machine. Here on Thursday and about 2:30, that deal that Dillon had talked about doing, came together For Ronnie Jr as he will drive Tyler’s car at Martinsville next weekend for the Valley Star Credit Union 300.
“I got in touch with Robert today and we worked it out pretty quickly,” said the elder Bassett. “I’m excited to have the opportunity, I love this race and I think it owes me something. Bad luck has not really shown how good we have been here. It’s a Permormancenter car that has good stuff on it and, with veteran Brad Brinkley calling the shots, on it we should be fine, I feel really good about it.”
Bassett talked about the transition from the K&N car to the Late Model while sitting in the rain at his hotel at Dover.
“It will take me about one short practice to get used to it again,” said Bassett Jr. “The K&N car, you can drive it deep in the corners because when you hit the brakes, it stops. The Late Model, you have to push it to the floor, it stops just fine but it’s a totally different feeling. Everything will be fine though. I just hope I’m not sitting here till Tuesday trying to run this K&N race,” said Bassett Jr. laughing, but I know he’s very serious about that too.
You usually see car counts drop a tad from rainouts for some races on the rescheduled dates, but this is no regular race. It’s the grandaddy of them all, it’s Martinsville where getting a clock is the most important thing in racing that day. And no way Ronnie Jr. was going to sit there and watch his brother try his hand and him not show his.
