By: Fast Time Media
11/16/23... Perris, California: Saturday Night, AJ Bender would be in action for the final time during the 2023 USAC CRA season. It would be potentially the final race of his season & he'd look to have a strong end to the season.
AJ started the night out with time trials. He'd go out & lay down a pretty solid lap. Out of 29 Non Winged 410 Sprint Cars, he'd end up timing in 6th quickest overall with a time of 16.613.
He'd then go out for the heat race & would roll off from the inside of row three in the 5th spot. A dead end issue when being pushed off made it tough for AJ. He'd have no breaks, but still be able to move forwards. AJ would go from 5th to finish in the 2nd position.
Going out for the feature, AJ was slated to roll off from the outside of the front row in the 2nd starting spot. Unfortunately, his feature would come to a quick end. He'd pull off thinking he had a rear end issue but it turns out that the new LR they put on was unbalanced.
"Qualifying went good, time in 6th which was great becuase that potentially could put me on the pole for the main. Heat race I started 5th and when I pushed off the bolts on the rear brake cabiber sheared off the rearend, so I had no brakes. I was still able to get to second by the end of the heat race. But we had to change the rearend before the main started. Luckily my crew and I were able change it in time. I started 2nd but only ran a couple of laps before pulling in ending my night with a DNF."
It was a tough ending to what was looking to be a solid ending to the season for AJ. Unfortunately, it was brought to an early end & saw AJ end the night with a DNF
AJ would like to thank his team & all of his supporters.
Next Race: TBA
2023 season stats: 30 events, 26 features, 1 win, 8 top-5's, 15 top-10's
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