“I always look forward to racing at Irwindale”
Kyle Neveau has competed in 21 consecutive events for the Spears Srl Southwest Tour Series. With next weekends “Spears Manufacturing 100 presented by Earnest Performance”, Neveau will continue that streak, which finds him fifth, behind Jacob Gomes, Scott Sanchez, John Moore and Cole Moore. Start #22 will come at his home track, Irwindale Speedway. The facility has been the site of his biggest successes in the series, but also some of his biggest heartbreaks. The ½-mile master will be looking for the former, as the series prepares for Round #4 on July 18th.
The SRL opened the 2020 season at Irwindale with the $25,000-to-win “Sunrise Ford All-Star Showdown presented by the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame”. Unfortunately for Neveau, the final result was similar to the first Irwindale event of 2019. Neveau was fast, timing 8th of the 33 cars that appeared. But a 22nd place finish was even worse than his crash induced 16th the previous season. Neveau would love to see a rebound similar to 2019, however. The driver from San Clemente, CA rebounded for a strong fourth-place run, after qualifying in the top-five.
As the series moves to Irwindale on July 18th, Neveau is looking forward to returning to his hometrack. He will also be looking to shred the heartbreak and embrace his successes at the ½-mile oval, where he has two top-five’s and three top-10’s, in five SRL appearances.
“I always look forward to racing at Irwindale”, Neveau stated. “We haven’t always had luck there, but we usually have good speed. It’s one of those tracks where you can move around and try different lines to get the car to turn, if you have to, and I really enjoy racetracks like that. I’m just going in with the mindset of doing the best we can, and continuing to work toward improvement until the end of the race Saturday. I think if we do that, and things go our way, we’ll have a good day.”
A good day for Neveau would be a $5,000 victory, thanks to the “Winner’s Bonus” sponsored by Earnest Performance. But with the stiff competition, a top-five would also be a success, as Neveau assessed.
“We really want to win, but a top-five would also be good.”
The 2019 top-10 finisher in the All American 400 at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, feels fortunate to be able to compete in each event on the SRL schedule. It takes a lot of hard work and effort to be competitive in the series, and Neveau is thankful to his team and sponsors for his opportunities.
“I have to thank our guys for all the work they do to make it possible. There are a lot of sacrifices made, to commit to running a series like this full time, and I really appreciate that because we all have lives and obligations outside of racing. I also want to thank W.A.R. Shocks, Axalta Automotive Refinish, Gordon Frasier CPA, and Santa Monica Brew Worksfor all their help. Lastly, thanks to all the officials and sponsors involved with SRL for making the series possible, we’re very fortunate to be able to race in such a well-run organization.”
The ”SPEARS Manufacturing 100 presented by Earnest Performance” is Round #4, of the ten-event season for the series. The series will be joined by the Spears Modified Series, SouthWest Tour Truck Series and the Pro Late Models. The early schedule on Saturday finds practice for all divisions beginning at 10:20 AM, with Qualifying slated for 2:10 PM. The National Anthem is set for 4:00 PM with the Feature Events to follow. For those not in attendance, the weekend’s event will be live streamed on www.SpearsRacing.TV.
