Lehner Sees Off-Season Work Pay Off
Jack Lehner had a career performance at Volusia Speedway Park with consistent sevenths, sixths and seconds. (Photo by Chris Owens)
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — Jack Lehner knew he had to work in the offseason. To chase his first win in the Super DIRTcar Series, he “rebuilt everything”.
He saw those first steps almost pay off at the Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals as he watched his first win vanish on the last lap last night. However, his performance at Volusia Speedway Park helped him leave with confidence.
“When it comes to (Mat) Williamson and (Matt) Sheppard and so on, sometimes we can race with them, sometimes we can match them, but it always feels like they’re a little bit faster than me.” said Lehner. “Last week I had the feeling that we were on an equal footing with them. I felt like we were right there with them. It just came up on elbows, which is really encouraging… I think if we can get ourselves into those positions consistently, we’ll get our wins.”
After 10 laps fighting Williamson for the lead, Lehner went into the final lap with a large lead over his competitor. However, lap traffic blocked the free view in turn one. Making a split-second decision to dive to the end of the track and hope for a run around a slower car, but his hope faded when the slower car stopped its run and allowed Williamson to pass him around the outside.
“Running there in the middle, if you hit it right, it’s fast,” Lehner said. “But if you missed it a bit, it was really slow. In my mind, I didn’t want to miss it and put Matty (Williamson) on the ground there. But at the same time, I don’t think I want to get stuck there behind a lapped car and leave the middle open to him. There was a little gap with Jimmy, that’s just my thought process,
“I just put a lapped car between me and Williamson what I thought. Let me hit and try to bring this thing home. It just didn’t work out like that.”
While missing out on victory, Lehner had a consistent run across the three races, finishing seventh, sixth and second, giving him good momentum for the 2023 championship season that begins March 31-April 1 at Atomic Speedway.
“It gave me a lot of experience running with these guys, being in that position and being the leader with a handful of laps in lapped traffic,” said Lehner. “I’ve been in those positions at the weekly race stuff, but maybe not so much at the Super DIRTcar Series.
“It gives me more experience and makes me feel more comfortable in this position and hopefully I can make better decisions once I’m in this position.”