Kevin
Cywinski
- 2004 ASA Champion
Kevin
Cywinski believed he could do it. Cywinski's team owner,
Joe Miller, believed he could do it. However, it took
nearly 30 minutes to find out if he really did do it. And
when the word came down, the celebration was on.
Cywinski and his Country Joe Racing team captured the
2004 American Speed Association (ASA) National
Championship on Friday evening at Atlanta Motor Speedway
(GA) on the heels of the team's ninth-place finish in
the 150 kilometer event. Cywinski's title was his
second-straight ASA National Championship and his third
overall. He won his first back in 1997.
“We've been very fortunate and we've been teamed with
great teams in ASA,” said Cywinski. “Back-to-back is
huge for myself and this entire team. It's something
that we wanted to do and looked at as a goal last year.”
Cywinski earned the title (unofficially) by just 10
points over Bryan Reffner, another former ASA Champion
With his third ASA Championship, Cywinski joins Mark
Martin, Mike Eddy and Butch Miller as the only drivers to
win three or more ASA National Championships in their
storied careers. Cywinski also became the first driver to
win back-to-back championships since Eddy did it in 1991
and 1992.
“To be in the same breath as those guys is amazing. I
grew up watching guys like Mark Martin and Mike Eddy. I
remember when I used to ride around on the lawnmower
cutting my grass at home and wondering what I had to do
to get in ASA. Now, here we are. This is just pretty
unbelievable.”
In his storied career, Cywinski has earned 15 ASA
National Tour victories and well over 100 top-10
finishes in just 142 starts. He was ASA's Rookie of the
Year in 1996. All three of Cywinski's championships
have come with the same crew chief, Mike Chaffee.
Cywinski began driving for Country Joe Racing when his
former team, LaFavre Racing, was purchased by Minnesota
businessman Joe Miller before the start of the 2003
season. Since then, Cywinski and Miller's relationship
has blossomed and resulted in two-straight championships
for the first-time team owner. World Leadership Group
joined the #1 team as their sponsor late in the 2004
season and the combination has been extremely
successful.
The championship run wasn't an easy one. The World
Leadership Group/Country Joe Racing No. 1 team struggled
through the late-season speedway races on the ASA
schedule, losing part of their near 120-point lead each
week.
“It wasn’t easy,” said Cywinski of the chase for the
title. “We got caught a little behind there early in
the race. All season long, our speedway program wasn’t
where it needed to be. But our guys worked on it hard
and it showed.”
At one point, Cywinski was all the way back in 30th
position with his closest competitors in the points
heading into the night, Reed Sorenson, battling for the
top spot.
I was more frustrated than anything," said Cywinski.
The #4 car Stephen Leicht) got a lap down and we worked
well together after that. We couldn't follow someone
very well. We needed to lead. (Leicht) worked with us
awesome. At the end, the #5 car (Jason Dietch) helped
us out. He pushed us by four of the cars we needed to
get by there at the end.”
Cywinski ended the night in the ninth position, giving
him enough of a cushion for the title.
