[JessicaJ]

Tyler Nelson Earns Near Top Ten at Camfield Memorial
By Jessica Jenkins

Seven weeks after his most recent start at Macon Speedway, Tyler Nelson was back Saturday at the 1/5th mile for the final time of 2017. Once more in Jack Harris' #91 after a run from Nebraska to Missouri in Cappy Mason's #47, the young racer had modestly high expectations for the night of POWRi national midget racing.

Putting up the fourteenth quickest time on his fourth circuit around in hot laps, Nelson was set to line up on the pole of heat 3. Firing off with the newest USAC Silver Crown victor to his outside, Nelson was moved to second place by the end of lap 1. Sticking to the high side, the racer in the white and blue car with bright orange numbers put himself if a clear spot for the majority of his heat. Looking as though he was closing some on the leader during the last couple laps, Nelson was handed a second place in the final heat race.

Based off passing points, Nelson easily made it straight into the Feature in his Spike chassis and pulled into the outside lane of row five before the green flag. The caution quickly flew on lap one for a pileup involving the car in ninth spot. For a full restart, Nelson now moved to the inside line, only to find that wasn't the quickest way around the track. Intense competition in the middle of the field forced Nelson back a handful of spots before he got his momentum back. A couple more restarts moved the Indiana resident a few spots up the order. Nelson then sailed around the outside line, working the cushion and beginning to track down the car ahead of him. A red flag and one more yellow temporarily slowed the main event and saw the 91 restart from thirteenth in both cases. Gluing himself right back to the cushion, Nelson closed up on a huge gaggle of cars as the race reached the final ten laps. One final yellow moved the 20 year old up to 11th where he zipped quickly around the central Illinois track as he considered how best to get by the side by side action ahead of him. The laps quickly ticked off and at the checkered flag, Nelson was credited with 11th place in the 2nd annual Camfield Memorial.

Nelson later recapped his night, detailing, "We came in here and finished second in my heat race to the fastest car here in practice, so I felt like we did our job in the heat race. I held my own and I felt like we had a good battle in the Feature. It was a pretty good run. Obviously, we always want better, but I think Jack and I are kind of finding out a little bit what each other wants out of the car. I mean, it's going to take a while to get that dynamic worked out, but I think we are making big strides and the more we can finish and finish in the top ten, or close to it, the better we're going to be. It all just takes time and we are making progress. I'm very happy with what Jack's given me and I'm happy that he continues to work with me and we continue to get better finishes out of it."

Thinking about the line he was running, Nelson reflected, "It was up on the cushion tonight and I felt like we held our own there. Felt like I got some good experience up there. I haven't run the cushion here very often, so it was a little tricky coming out of the backstretch. It kind of tabletops there and it's real easy to get into the wall, so it's definitely very treacherous and I felt I did a pretty good job up there. It's all just experience and learning and I think we figured out that I settle down a little bit and [am] able to make the car work better for me. I just think when the track goes slick, we have a little more to gain there and that'll come. The finishes will come, we just need to keep going and having good nights."

Thank you to Harris Racing and the whole crew for working all night to tune the car as well as Kaiser Wheels, Advance suspension and Wilwood Brakes for their continued support.

Nelson's schedule has him looking forward to Labor Day weekend for back-to-back nights at Montpelier Motor Speedway and Kokomo Speedway. While he declared it is "really nice running for other people", the kid from Kansas is excited to finally get back into his own #88 that has been out of commission all summer while waiting for a new motor. He admits "there's a lot of stuff that needs to happen between now and then with getting the new power plant and all the accessories for it", but he is very hopeful it will be ready by September 2nd. Check on his Facebook fan page @TylerNelsonRacing to keep up to date as race weekend draws nearer and for pictures from Saturday night.