Coming off a successful Circle K Grand Opening in Clover, SC this past Friday, Matt Long Racing was riding a lengthy streak of consistent performances into Saturday’s NDRA event at I-77 Speedway in Richburg, SC. In addition to their one victory, the team had completed every lap of every race in the 2012 season and boasted an impressive streak of seven consecutive top 5 finishes. This past weekend offered the team’s first blemish on their season and left them hungry for a return to the top.

After a frustrating performance in time trials, Long lined up 11^th on the starting grid for the feature event. After avoiding major damage in an early race incident ahead of him, Long raced his way up to the 6^th spot early in the opening laps. “We had a good race car Saturday night”,explained Long. “We slipped up a little in qualifying and that really hurt us because we were on pace for a top 5 starting spot.” He wouldn’t be as fortunate in the next altercation as trouble emerged on a restart leaving him nowhere to go to avoid the incident. With significant damage to the nose and body, Long retired the car for the evening. “Its part of racing and I know these kind of things happen. It still hurts, especially when you have a good car. It will definitely take a lot of work, but we will be ready for our next event.

While the team is off this weekend, they are already looking ahead to a return trip to The Dirt Track @ Charlotte for the Circle K NOS Energy Outlaw Showdown. This blockbuster event is scheduled for Friday May 25^th and will feature the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars along with the NDRA Late Models. For more information you can visit www.charlottemotorspeedway.com

With two solid finishes this past weekend at 311 Speedway and Wythe Raceway, Circle K driver Matt Long has extended his streak of top 5 finishes and placed a second win of the season well within his grasp.  This past Friday, Long qualified 5th among the 33 entries and recorded a 5th place finish in his first visit to 311 Speedway in almost a year.

On Saturday, the team ventured to Virginia’s Wythe Raceway.  Wythe is one of Long’s favorite tracks.  With numerous wins under his belt at the high banked ½ mile oval, one could understand his excitement in returning.  After a brief rain delay, Long qualified 7th and raced to 3rd in the caution free event.

“We had a very solid weekend”, explained Long.   “There were a lot of cars at 311 and even though the racing groove was only one lane in the feature, 5th was a solid finish for our first trip there this year considering the caliber of competition.  We had a really good car Saturday night at Wythe as well.  We made our way from 7th to 3rd just past halfway in the feature.  However, the event went caution free and we didn’t have enough time to run down the leaders.  I am pleased with the effort and consistency our team has shown this year and I am looking forward to this weekend!”

The team will join marketing partner Circle K this Friday for the grand opening of their store in Clover, SC (900 Bethel Street) from 2pm– 6pm.  On Saturday, the team will travel back to I-77 Speedway in search of their second win of the season as the track hosts a $2000 To Win NDRA touring event.

I-77 Speedway has been pretty good to the Circle K Team and this past Saturday night was no different.  In their two previous trips to the Chester, SC venue, the team scored a win and a runner up finish.  After narrowly missing out on capturing fast time honors, Long lined up on the outside of the front row alongside veteran Ron Parker.  Parker grabbed the early lead and set the pace while Long looked to draw close to the race leader.  While Long experimented with different lines and angles, it was Parker’s turn to visit victory lane as he held off Long for the win.

After opening up with a respectable 7^th place finish at Carolina Speedway in the Skyler Trull Memorial, the team has now reeled off FIVE consecutive top 4 finishes.  “We know it is unrealistic to expect to win every single race.  However, we have found a good baseline set up and so far we have achieved our goal of being in the mix at every single event.  If we continue to run this competitive, we will get our fair share of wins this season.”  Up next for the team is a double header at 311 Speedway (May 4^th) and Wythe Raceway (May 5^th)

After showing the Circle K #25 at last Friday’s Indian Trail, NC Grand Opening, the team headed to Carolina Speedway for an NDRA weekly event.  The team was plagued early in the evening by a small mechanical failure.  However, they quickly corrected the problem and rebounded to qualify 4th in the 20 car field.  In the feature, he quickly made a bid for the 3rd position before falling back in line to patiently watch the battle ahead of him.  In the end, it was a 4th place finish and another solid night of Friday night racing at Carolina Speedway.

On Saturday, the team returned to I-77 Speedway in hopes of repeating their victory of the previous week.  Long qualified 2nd and lined up for the feature on the front row alongside fast qualifier Chris Cantrell.  Long quickly drove to the lead in the early laps with Cantrell in hot pursuit.  An intense battle ensued as the drivers at one point traded positions for the lead.  With only a handful of laps remaining, Long found himself in the lead with local driver Ben Watkins in pursuit.  Watkins, making a calculated but risky move on a challenging track surface, slid by Long on the outside as the end of the race neared.  Long quickly rebounded and drove back up beside Watkins in an effort to regain the lead.  However, he fell just short of repeating his win and settled for a runner up finish.  “I was surprised that Ben was able to get his car to work up there”, said Long.  “When he got by me I tried the line he was running and was almost able to regain the lead.  It was an exciting race, I congratulate him, and overall this is another great run for our team.”

Matt Long and his Circle K Polar Pop Racing Team traveled to the I-77 Speedway in Chester, South Carolina this past Saturday for their $2000 to win NDRA Pepsi Blowout Grand Opening event. Matt unloaded a car that proved to be very fast in hot laps. “Our car was as good as it had ever been since we have had it. I knew we had a good shot 2 laps into hot laps.” Long commented. Long backed-up his feeling by besting the 16-car field in time trials. “The lap felt awesome. I knew that it had to be the pole. The car was perfect and I felt like I really hit it just right and as it turned out, we got the pole.” Long said.

Long started the feature alongside a strong running Steve Banal and the always tough veteran Ron Parker. At the drop of the green flag Long was able to grab the advantage and assume the point. However, Parker quickly moved to 2nd and would not go away easy. Over the course of the feature event Parker and Long raced door-to-door. But lap after lap Long was able to repel Parker’s advances. “They put down some new clay at I-77 and the track got pretty rough but it sure made for an interesting race. I loosened the car up way too much for the feature and it nearly cost us a win.” said Long. But Long would not be denied as he crossed the checkers ahead of Parker and Banal to take the first win of the 2012 season.

“It sure feels good to get going this early in the year. We have had a really good car every time we have raced so far so I hope this is just the beginning of the winning for this year. I appreciate that Ron ran me as clean as he could. We rubbed on each other quite a bit but that was more about the track conditions than anything else. This win comes at a really good time for our partners at Circle K too. We are going to be headed over to Indian Trail, North Carolina with them for a new store grand opening. This will be the first Circle K Store to feature the new Polar Pop Fountain Drinks and we will have the car over there helping them promote the new store. And this win gives me an even better chance to get the word out about that.” Long concluded.

You can check out Matt’s #25 Circle K Polar Pop Rocket Race Car at the brand new Circle K Store Grand Opening this Friday, April 6th from 2 to 5 PM. The new store is located at 1071 Chestnut Lane in Indian Trail, North Carolina. As for his racing schedule, Long plans to return to Carolina Speedway in Gastonia, North Carolina on Friday night after the Circle K Grand Opening. As of now the schedule for Saturday is still up in the air. Matt is qualified for the NDRA Carolina Crown event at Lancaster Speedway in Lancaster, South Carolina but he is slated to start deep in the field. Long has not ruled out returning to I-77 on Saturday and it will likely be a last minute decision.

Matt would like to thank the following for their continued support of his Circle K Race Team : Circle K Convenience Stores, Heintz Performance, VP Racing Fuel, Integra Shocks and Springs, Port City Racing, FK Rod Ends, Kooks Custom Headers, Raceceiver, JM Adams Oil, Q Racing Oil, Franklin Racing, Dirtwrap, Jim Cook Transmissions, K&N Filters, Stock Car Steel, SRI Supplies, ButlerBuilt, City Chevrolet, Valken Racing Wheels, Flag to Flag, MD3 Noses, Team Clay, KELCAR Motorsports Media, J&J Race Cars, Brembo Brakes, Fragola Performance and Simpson.

Race fans can keep up with Matt Long and his Circle K Racing Team in several ways. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattLongRacing or you can “friend” Matt Long Racing on Facebook or you can simply point your web browsers to the all-new www.mattlongracing.com<http://www.mattlongracing.com> . There you will find a fully up-to-date schedule as well as information about the team and their sponsors. The latest Circle K Team apparel will also soon be available via the site or at the Circle K Team Hauler at the track.

For more information including store locations visit the Circle K Company website at www.circlek.comhttp://www.circlek.com

“We struggled in qualifying at Carolina last week”, stated Long.  We rebounded to win our heat race and had a good car in the feature.  Track position is crucial in crate racing, especially at Carolina and Lancaster.  Now that we’ve rediscovered the set up, we feel much better about our chances to qualify at or near the front of the field.”

After the short off-season, Matt Long and his Circle K Race Team are set to get the 2012 season started. Long and his team will once again field a Rocket Chassis with Circle K as the primary sponsor. Long will begin his 2012 campaign on March 9th and 10th at Carolina Speedway in Gastonia, North Carolina for the 12th Annual Skyler Trull Memorial. “That race is pretty important for us in this area. The Trulls are great people and they have put together a wonderful charity event it memory of Skyler. It holds a lot of prestige and its definitely one that we would like to win or at least run well in since it’s right here in our backyard.” Long said.

Long and his team have planned a very busy month of March. After the Skyler Trull event the team will compete in the $3000 to win NDRA Road Show event scheduled for March 16th and 17th at Lancaster Speedway in Lancaster, South Carolina during the Carolina Crown event there. After the Carolina Crown Long plans to return to FASTRAK Racing Series Competition at Cleveland County Speedway in Lawndale, North Carolina on March 23rd and 24th during the Southern 100 which features a $2000 to win race Friday night and a $2500 to win race on Saturday night. “March will definitely be busy for me and the guys. All of those races are two-day shows so we will be at the track a lot.” Long added.

Long is very enthused and proud that all of his 2011 sponsors have returned for the 2012 season. “That is such a great feeling for our team. Every single partner that we had is coming back and that really a testament to our entire team. We work hard to promote our partners’ brands and services. We are very fortunate that we have such a great group to work with again. I honestly believe in every single company that is on the side of our car.” Said Long. Long plans to maintain a similar schedule to that of his 2011 campaign concentrating on mostly NDRA and FASTRAK tour events. “We are excited about 2012. There are lots of races scheduled and some we are thrilled about. FASTRAK has a race at Eldora and I am excited to get to race there again along with the new format for the FASTRAK World Championship that will be televised. This should be a great year.” Long said.

Long and his team are very pleased to have long-time sponsor Circle K back for 2012. “Circle K has been such a great support to us for all these years now with GazZu and most recently with ThirstBuster. I can’t say enough how much they mean to our team and our success. And all of our great product sponsors give us that parts we need to win races and stay competitive. We have such a great package. I am just proud to represent all these folks and I won’t them to know how much we appreciate them allowing us to do that.” Long said. Keep an eye out for Long’s #25 Circle K ThirstBuster Rocket at tracks throughout the southeast for Chevrolet Performance Late Model events.

Matt would like to thank the following for their continued support of his Circle K Race Team : Circle K Convenience Stores, Heintz Performance, VP Racing Fuel, Integra Shocks and Springs, Port City Racing, FK Rod Ends, Kooks Custom Headers, Raceceiver, JM Adams Oil, Frankland Racing, Dirtwrap, Jim Cook Transmissions, K&N Filters, Stock Car Steel, SRI Supplies, ButlerBuilt, City Chevrolet, MD3 Noses, Team Clay, KELCAR Motorsports Media, J&J Race Cars, Brembo Brakes, Fragola, and Simpson.
Race fans can keep up with Matt Long and his Circle K Racing Team in several ways. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattLongRacing or you can “friend” Matt Long Racing on Facebook or you can simply point youir web browsers to the all-new www.mattlongracing.com<http://www.mattlongracing.com/> . There you will find a fully up-to-date schedule as well as information about the team and their sponsors. The latest Circle K Team apparel will also soon be available via the site or at the Circle K Team Hauler at the track.

For more information including store locations visit the Circle K Company website at www.circlek.com<http://www.circlek.com

Concord, North Carolina – Matt Long and his Circle K Racing Team are set to close out their 2011 racing in December at East Bay Raceway Park in Tampa, Florida. The 7^th Annual GM Performance World Championships sanctioned by the NeSmith Dirt Late Model Series is scheduled for December 1^st through the 3^rd. The 100 lap feature event, which runs in conjunction with the Performance Racing Industry Trade Show in Orlando, will pay $10,000 to win. “We were trying to decide between East Bay and Swainsboro to end the year. We have been to Swainsboro a few times recently so we decided to try East Bay this year. It made the most economical sense. We were going down to the PRI Show anyway so it just makes sense to take the car and race. There will be a lot of our sponsors and friends in the area for PRI so it will be nice to be able to race where they can come down and support us”. Long said.

Long and his team are fresh off the FASTRAK Grand Nationals Finals which were held at Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tennessee. Long entered the final two nights locked in a tie for the 7^th position overall. Matt didn’t get the finishes he had hoped for mustering a 12^th and 19^th in the final 2 events. His Volunteer troubles relegated him to a 12^th place overall finish in the final standings which still garnered him a $3000 check from FASTRAK. “We had some bad luck in those final two races. I just can’t seem to get any luck at all when we race at Bulls Gap. We had a good car both nights but we had the flat in the one feature and got turned in the other. But we had a solid effort and we were in the hunt at least. We picked up a pretty good payday and we will just keep moving forward.” Long commented.

2011 has been an up and down year for Long and his team but he is proud of what they have been able to accomplish. “This year was tough in a lot of ways. We didn’t win nearly as many races this year as we did in 2010 but we still ran well. There were several races I feel like we should have won but we just had small issues that kept us out of victory lane. The competition has really picked up in our area too. There are 8 or 10 guys that are capable of winning everywhere we race at. When I hurt my hand I figured I was out for the rest of the year and put us even further behind. But my doctors did a great job with getting me put back together and I feel like we rebounded well after taking a few weeks off. I am happy with what we have done this year. We can always improve and that’s our plan; just keep working hard and improving our program.” Long concluded.

Matt would like to thank the following for their continued support of his Circle K Race Team : Circle K Convenience Stores, Heintz Performance, VP Racing Fuel, Integra Shocks and Springs, Port City Racing, FK Rod Ends, Kooks Custom Headers, Raceceiver, JM Adams Oil, Q Racing Oil, Franklin Racing, Dirtwrap, Jim Cook Transmissions, K&N Filters, Stock Car Steel, SRI Supplies, ButlerBuilt, City Chevrolet, , Valken Racing Wheels, MD3 Noses, Team Clay, KELCAR Motorsports Media, J&J Race Cars, Brembo Brakes, Fragola, and Simpson.

Race fans can keep up with Matt Long and his Circle K Racing Team in several ways. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattLongRacing or you can “friend” Matt Long Racing on Facebook or you can simply point youir web browsers to the all-new www.mattlongracing.com . There you will find a fully up-to-date schedule as well as information about the team and their sponsors. The latest Circle K Team apparel will also soon be available via the site or at the Circle K Team Hauler at the track. For more information including store locations visit the Circle K Company website at www.circlek.com

Upcoming Circle K Racing Team Events:

December 1-3 – PRI Show – Orange County Convention Center – Orlando, Florida

Thursday, December 1 – East Bay Raceway Park – Tampa, FL – NeSmith World Championships    

Friday, December 2 – East Bay Raceway Park – Tampa, FL – NeSmith World Championships

Saturday, December 3 – East Bay Raceway Park – Tampa, FL – NeSmith World Championships

Long built on his momentum from the previous FASTRAK event at Wythe Raceway for the make-up of the rained out Dirt Late Model Super Nationals. Long turned in a qualifying effort good enough for 11^th quick overall. After scoring a flag-to-flag win in the NOS Energy Drinks Heat race, Matt drove his Circle K sponsored Rocket up to finish in the 5^th position when the final checkered flag flew. “It is amazing to me.  I know I keep saying this but it’s true, I had the best car that I have ever had at Wythe. I don’t know if I had anything for Watts but my car was awesome. We didn’t have a caution the last half of the race. I believe if we could have caught a caution we could have finished better than we did.” Long added.

Long and his team will now turn their attention on the 2 races this coming weekend at Volunteer. “We have always run good at Volunteer but we don’t have the finishes to show for it. We have had a few mechanical issues and got caught up in some wrecks that kept us from having the good finishes. But we hope we can turn that around this weekend. We would love to be there Saturday night leading the points or really close. We are going to up there and give it our best shot and see where we end up.” said Long.  

Matt would like to thank the following for their continued support of his Circle K Race Team : Circle K Convenience Stores, Heintz Performance, VP Racing Fuel, Integra Shocks and Springs, Port City Racing, FK Rod Ends, Kooks Custom Headers, Raceceiver, JM Adams Oil, Q Racing Oil, Franklin Racing, Dirtwrap, Jim Cook Transmissions, K&N Filters, Stock Car Steel, SRI Supplies, ButlerBuilt, City Chevrolet, , Valken Racing Wheels, MD3 Noses, Team Clay, KELCAR Motorsports Media, J&J Race Cars, Brembo Brakes, Fragola, and Simpson.