{"id":14786,"date":"2024-05-24T08:45:07","date_gmt":"2024-05-24T13:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ascsracing.com\/?p=14786"},"modified":"2024-05-24T08:45:07","modified_gmt":"2024-05-24T13:45:07","slug":"andrew-deal-seizing-dream-opportunity-in-debut-season-on-national-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ascsracing.com\/news\/andrew-deal-seizing-dream-opportunity-in-debut-season-on-national-tour\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrew Deal Seizing Dream Opportunity in Debut Season on National Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Spence Smithback<\/em><\/p>\n When Caney, KS native Andrew Deal signed up to chase the 2024 American Sprint Car Series National championship, he knew he was in a now-or-never situation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just kind of at that point in life where, if I was going to do it, I need to do it now.\u201d Deal said. \u201cI\u2019ve got two little girls, and they\u2019re younger, so as they get older, life\u2019s going to become more about them.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n When he isn\u2019t racing Sprint Cars, Deal operates DFR Discount Tire in Dewey, OK \u2013 a business he started to help fund his racing dreams \u2013 and credited a newfound degree of flexibility with his day job as another reason behind his decision to go full-time.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMy shop\u2019s finally to a point where I don\u2019t have to be here 24\/7,\u201d Deal said. \u201cGot everything together, and after the end of last year, it was like \u2018well, might as well.\u2019\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n While Deal will be visiting many tracks on the 2024 schedule for the first time, he has plenty of Sprint Car knowledge to lean on. His brother-in-law is Wayne Priddy \u2013 a longtime crew chief in the 410 ranks.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHe helps me a lot with everything,\u201d Deal said. \u201cThat\u2019s what\u2019s been my edge. A lot of these tracks I\u2019ve never been to, but he\u2019s been to. So, he\u2019s helped me a lot with being prepared and what to expect at each track, and how to prepare for each track.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Tackling a national schedule for the first time is a daunting task for any race team, but especially for a two-man operation like the No. 15D team.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t have a crew, I don\u2019t have guys, it\u2019s just me and Dad,\u201d Deal said. \u201cI think the biggest thing is just going to be not wearing out, racing multiple days in a row without just being exhausted. It just takes so much time to do everything right. Just being prepared is going to be the biggest thing for us.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Deal wasted no time in making his presence known in the first two races of the season, collecting a Heat Race win and a second-place Feature finish in the season opener at Super Bee Speedway. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He followed that up with a seventh-place run at Red Dirt Raceway, placing him second in the standings entering a pair of races in his home state at Rush County Speedway (Friday, May 31) and Dodge City Raceway Park (Saturday, June 1). <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A weekend close to home can sometimes plays to a driver\u2019s advantage, but that won\u2019t exactly be the case next weekend.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI have never even seen Rush County,\u201d Deal said. \u201cI\u2019ve been to Dodge City a couple times, we\u2019ve ran a Non-Wing some, back when I was really young. I might have even ran a Midget there at one point in my life.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI think I\u2019ll be pretty comfortable on all the 1\/4-mile\u00a0bullring stuff. On the bigger stuff, it may take me a second to get back in the groove. For years, I\u2019ve just run Creek (County Speedway), Caney (Valley Speedway) and Humboldt (Speedway). I haven\u2019t went out of my little area here, just with the business and kids and stuff.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Deal will do more traveling than ever before in 2024 and has a few dates in particular circled on his calendar.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI actually haven\u2019t ran Knoxville, so I\u2019m looking forward to Knoxville (for the 360 Knoxville Nationals in August),\u201d Deal said. \u201cPaducah, it looks pretty cool, never been there. Excited to go out to Montana, I\u2019ve never been out there and raced.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n While Deal has aspirations of clinching the championship and Rookie of the Year award at season\u2019s end, the success of his inaugural year on tour won\u2019t be defined entirely by the box score.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMy Dad\u2019s getting older, and life doesn\u2019t last forever,\u201d Deal said. \u201cI wanted to basically go have some fun with my Dad and see some new tracks, travel a little bit, enjoy myself.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to keep racing and keep having fun, and we\u2019ll see where that goes.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n You can watch Deal and the rest of the ASCS National Tour stars when the season continues in Kansas at Rush County Speedway, on Friday, May 31, and Dodge City Raceway Park, on Saturday, June 1. For more information, CLICK HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch every lap live on DIRTVision<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Spence Smithback When Caney, KS native Andrew Deal signed up to chase the 2024 American Sprint Car Series National championship, he knew he was in a now-or-never situation.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m just kind of at that point in life where, if I was going to do it, I need to do it now.\u201d Deal said. \u201cI\u2019ve … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":234,"featured_media":14787,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[127,58,104,126,125,96],"regions":[21],"class_list":["post-14786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-american-sprint-car-series-national-tour","tag-andrew-deal","tag-ascs","tag-dodge-city-raceway-park","tag-rush-county-speedway","tag-sprint-cars","regions-ascs-national-series","infinite-scroll-item"],"yoast_head":"\n