[JessicaJ]

First Kokomo Grand Prix Earns Two Solid Finishes for Nelson
By Jessica Jenkins

Pulling into Kokomo Speedway last Saturday for the first of a doubleheader weekend, Tyler Nelson and his white #88T were ready to get on track. In just his second appearance at the 1/4 mile track, Nelson had realistic expectations for the two days of racing.

Pacing 17th in hot laps, Nelson laid down the 27th quickest time out of 35 cars on his two qualifying laps. That speed sent him to the third heat on the inside of row 3. He stuck to the inside early before moving to the top and taking sixth place around halfway, wrapping up the 10 lap heat in that position, missing the transfer by just two spots. Now starting ninth in the last chance race and needing to finish top six to make the feature, the 20 year old began charging hard at the drop of the green flag. He raced up to seventh early in the twelve lap race and set about catching up to the final transfer spot. With a couple laps to go he gained sixth and then raced decisively past one more competitor to claim fifth place, putting himself into the feature. Starting 22nd alongside shop-mate Gage Walker, Nelson began to maneuver his way through the tricky lines of the racing surface. At lap ten he brought the caution out after getting his tire cut down and spinning to the inside of turn 4. After quickly replacing the tire, he rejoined the field and survived a couple yellows to move into 19th with 12 to go. With the checkered flag waving, Nelson stayed ahead of leader Brady Bacon and wheeled around the last lap to claim the 19th position.

Returning for night two of the Kokomo Grand Prix, Nelson used his experience from Saturday to springboard into an even better Sunday appearance. He qualified a solid twentieth with a best lap time of 13.869. That included him in the invert and lined him up outside pole of the fourth heat. The quicker cars in qualifying that were placed behind him quickly raced past, leaving him racing for seventh place. He regained one of those spots and restarted fifth after a yellow flag. He still held that position with three to go and kept it all the way to the checkered flag. Rolling off 6th for the B main, the driver from Kansas City endured three tries at the green flag and was running just inside the top ten when the race finally got a few laps done. Moving up to seventh, he set off full speed to retake the final transfer spot. Staging an intense back and forth battle to make the feature, he took the spot for himself with one to go and raced off to make the Feature for the second night in a row. Starting three spots better than night one in the main race, from the 19th position, Nelson maintained his place in the field through three cautions before halfway. From that point on he began gaining spots and two cautions later was sitting in 16th. When the checkered flag finally fell, Nelson had moved up another stop and earned his first top 15 in Kokomo with the car he described as "good".

On the heels of that action packed weekend, you can expect to find Nelson at the Montpelier Motor Speedway, once again in his own #88T Spike chassis this Saturday, April 15. Looking to build on the momentum from Kokomo, he has every opportunity to pick up a great finish on a gorgeous night of racing in Northern Indiana.

To see pictures of Nelson's recent races or keep up with where he'll be racing over the next few weeks along with other exciting upcoming news, 'like' him on Facebook @TylerNelsonRacing or follow him on Twitter @TylerNelson88.