KNOXVILLE, Iowa – For much of the season, Rico Abreu found himself having to endure questions from many onlookers about why he and his No. 24 team’s performance had been off its usual level.
Since the calendar turned to the month of August, however, Abreu has finally been able to put many of those questions to rest.
Abreu kicked off the month with a thrilling performance with the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55, holding off potent title contender David Gravel to win the Ironman 55 at cash the $20,000 winner’s check that came with it.
He took the lead on lap 22 and then held Gravel and Tim Shaffer at bay for the dumbbell trophy, a moment that he said helped all the stress of his rocky road this season begin to melt away.
“It’s been no secret that we’ve struggled this year, but a big win like this makes all of the hard work and sacrifice worth it,” Abreu said. “I can’t thank my team, as well as all of my partners enough for their hard work and dedication this season. We’ve had some tough times, and some frustrating times, but they never gave up. They stood behind me and never surrendered. That’s the true definition of teamwork.”
If that weren’t enough, Abreu kept the momentum right on rolling during the 58th annual 5-hour Energy Knoxville Nationals this past week at Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway.
He finished second on his preliminary night, trailing only eventual Nationals champion Brad Sweet and earning enough points to lock into Saturday night’s championship feature.
Abreu started 13th but had worked his way into the ninth position when he got into the outside wall in turn four and flipped, ending his night and leaving him with a 24th-place finish despite a show of speed.
“You’re just running so hard here at Knoxville and having to keep such a fast pace, that it’s easy to make mistakes,” said Abreu of the incident. “I just got too high and it got away from us. My car felt really good, though. I was pretty happy with what we had to work with.”
Even though his Knoxville Nationals didn’t end with the flourish he wanted them to, Abreu still took plenty of positives away from the showing he and his team put on the table during the week.
In fact, he said the last 10 days have gone a long way to completely turning his year around.
“The last two weeks have been season-altering for us,” noted Abreu. “To go from an Ironman victory to qualifying for the Knoxville Nationals A-main is pretty awesome. We certainly struggled during the early parts of the season, but this has certainly altered our attitudes for the better. I can’t say enough about this race team and what they are capable of doing. They never give up. They are mentally strong and keep pushing even when things get bad. I owe all of my recent successes to them.”
“(Crashing out) wasn’t how we wanted to end our Nationals run, but that stuff happens. At least we were right there battling for a top-ten spot,” Abreu continued. “I was racing as hard as I could. On a stage that like, you can’t wait around. We’re proud of our accomplishments and excited to keep moving down the road. Hopefully we can build on this and finish the season really strong.”
