With less than one week until the Miller Lite Salutes Wayne Anderson 200 at Riverhead Raceway, Pedersen's CheckerWon Motorsports is ready debut on Modified's biggest stage. The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.
Driver Allan Pedersen, who just turned 25 on Sunday, is very excited to get behind the wheel at Riverhead. Allan has 6 figure 8 wins and 3 legends car wins at the 1/4 mile bullring. Allan was the 2023 NASCAR Tour Modified Rookie of the year and is currently racing a NASCAR late model full time which he scored a top 5 in his first career start on May 4th.
We sat down with Allan and asked him 5 questions to see where the mindset is for the young driver and team going into this event.
Q: So what's the overall goal for this weekend?
A: I think realistically if we can finish the race in one piece then that would be great. There's really no expectations since we've never ran with this series. If we can finish the race and learn from it, then I think we'll look back on this weekend as a success.
Q: What's the most important factor to run a good race at Riverhead?
A: Track position gives you a lot more options as to how you run your race in my opinion. Starting in the back is tough because the leaders will come up on you before you know it. Hopefully I can put a decent time trial lap down and give myself some opportunity to pace myself early on.
Q: What's the biggest variable you want to see work out well?
A: I'd say tires since we've never ran this compound. I hope I can feel them out in practice and have a good idea of the grip level compared to the weekly compound. The other drivers are a big variable too, obviously I have to react on what's around me.
Q: With being a small team, what challenges outside of driving present themselves that people may not know?
A: I'm pretty involved with everything that goes on with the car. My dad does whatever he can. Chris Perry my crew chief spots for me and also manages tires with me among other things. Me and Chris basically set up the entire car too. John Meade the chassis builder and his brother George are always a phone call away if we have questions. My brother Artie helps supply suspension parts and anything else we need. We have a couple crew guys who come and work when they can. Danny O, Danny S, Mike and Anthony. There's a lot of moving parts that I try and manage but everyone who helps out does a great job at their tasks so that helps tremendously.
Q: Any other thoughts or feelings going into this race?
A: I'm just excited to see what we got. We've been trying to build a solid foundation over the last few years in a modified racing and I think this could be the beginning of the next step for us.
Qualifying starts at 6pm on Saturday May 18th. Catch the action in person at Riverhead Raceway or on Flo Racing.