MILLERSTOWN, Pa. – Seven runner-up finishes paved the way for Zach Newlin’s first Pennsylvania Sprint Series championship in 2015.
An IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car career-best seven feature wins did the trick for him this year.
From Millerstown, Pa., Newlin registered 19 top five finishes in 26 PASS starts. He recorded three win at BAPS Motor Speedway and two each at Port Royal Speedway and Path Valley Speedway.
Third in the national point standings, he also collected another Pennsylvania State crown.
“I like all the tracks we run at. You can run a big half mile one night, then run a bullring the next,” Newlin said. “I’ve always been consistent at BAPS. We won twice this season at Port Royal, where I’d never won before, so that was special.”
“We’ve got a real good program going. We’re using both our experience and time in the shop to our advantage,” added the six-year veteran of the division. “We’ve got really good car counts in this series (better than 28 cars a night). We had the most wins we’ve ever had in a season and there were very few nights when we were not in contention for a top three or top five finish.”
That competition had Newlin primed for the RaceSaver Nationals at Eagle Raceway in September, where he won a heat race and qualified for the main event on opening night.
“Winning the series and state and finishing third nationally all speak for themselves,” he said. “The two biggest highlights for me this season were qualifying for Nationals on the first night and getting to work with Greg Hodnett on some stuff. That’s something I’ll never forget.”
Wins-7 Top Five Finishes-19 Starts-26
HIS CREW: Father Jeff, brother Lance, grandfathers Terrance Smith and Clarence Newlin, Kieran Moore, Jack Moore, Justin Borrel, and Brian and Scott Smith.
HIS SPONSORS: Dentdude Paintless Dent Repair of Mechanicsburg; Smith Concrete & Construction, Sweger’s Garage and Newlin Bar Service, all of Millerstown; Hershey’s Race Engines of Greencastle; Frank Shocks of Glenmore; Kevin Quirk Racewear of Carlisle; Blain Restaurant and Mt. Pleasant Farms, both of Blain; T & M Home Builders and J.W. Smith Auto Body, both of Elliotsburg; Heather Simms and Caldwell Banker Residential Realty of New Bloomfield; Water Treatment by Design of Lewisberry; Podium Awards of Newport; Advanced Septic Service of Landisburg; Kirbey Kitner Excavating of New Bloomfield; Strange Oval of Morton Grove, Ill.; Triple X Race Components of Arlington, Wash.; and Walker Performance Filtration of Sun Valley, Calif.