Jake Teague
Coming into Friday night’s United Crate Racing Alliance event at 411 Motor Speedway, Jake Teague led the series standings even though he had not yet scored a win during the 2015 campaign. The Petros, Tenn. driver has used consistency to place himself ahead of the other competitors on the circuit in points.
“We’re doing good,” Teague said in an interview with InsideDirtRacing.com. “I guess you could say we’ve been real consistent but we’re still looking for that win, that’s what we’re going for. We’ve had a good start to the season in the UCRA stuff, and even in that one (non-series)race at Smoky Mountain that we almost won.”
Racing in a series calls for a driver and team to get the most out of each night at the track in order to maximize the number points from each race. To achieve that objective, preparation during the week is the key in preventing the smallest of parts from failing and causing a disastrous finish. Teague and his team dedicate much of their week to having their car ready for the next racing weekend.
“There’s a lot of work during the week to make sure nothing breaks,” the 23-year-old driver explained. “And you just try to be smart. You might not make that bonsai move at the end of a race. We still want to win a race, but you don’t take bad chances.”
Teague’s finishes in the UCRA events held so far in 2015 have been the model of consistency. Two second place results have combined with finishes of third, fifth, sixth and eleventh to place the young driver ahead of his rivals.
Another aspect of racing in a series as opposed to competing on the same few tracks week in and week out is the unknown of speedways never before seen. Teague takes steps prior to each race to arm himself with the knowledge he needs to be successful at each new venue.
“I just try to take each one the same as far as what I’m going for because it’s different going to all these different racetracks,” he declared. “I try to call a few people to see what I’m up against or watch a few videos online to see if I can tell anything about it. But most of the time we just try to roll in the same way to most every racetrack. We’ve been pretty good with that so far.”
Jake Teague’s #117
