Kristen Bumbera looking good after NASCAR Grand National debut

Kristen Bumbera piloting the No. 40 TXI Chevrolet garnered a successful 11th place finish in her NASCAR Grand National Division debut in the Allstate Texas Thunder 150 last week.

Bumbera was the only female driver in the race.

Against the field of men, Bumbera qualified 13th out of 24 cars; including current point leader Mike David.   

“Our plan was to keep it simple - qualify and finish the race, which I thought we did very successfully, said crew chief David Riggs. “She showed lots of poise and talent and received many compliments.  The NASCAR officials were very impressed with her driving on a tough bullring like this and the fact that she avoided so many wrecks and finished on the lead lap with the caliber of these drivers is a great accomplishment.”

The Texas native was never lower than the 16th position and running a steady race.  Despite a few on track incidents, she managed to run a steady race, and show her moxie. On lap 98, Bumbera’s transmission lost first, second and third gears, which made the restarts for the remainder of the night very difficult.

Yet, she motored on.

Before the race was over there were two more incidents, which she managed to overcome. avoid both wrecks without any further damage.  One sent her flying through the infield grass, which caused a scoring error as she didn’t pass by the start/finish line on the racing surface.  NASCAR made Bumbera line up at the rear of the field with the lapped cars costing her valuable positions.  The error was corrected on paper after the race.

“I definitely had a lot of fun racing with this group of talented men,” said Bumbera. “Avoiding all the wrecks was challenging and I’m glad after all of that we were still able to have a successful night.  I had a front row seat to much of the action.  It seemed like things were happening right in front of me every time but I knew I would be fine with the help of my spotter.  I can’t wait to join these guys again in Irwindale.”

Bumbera’s next race is April 26th at All American Speedway in Roseville, CA where she is running a full season for Golden State Racing in the NASCAR Whelen Late Model Series and the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program.  Her next NASCAR Grand National race will be the 4th of July in Irwindale, California, with Next Generation Racing.  For more information about Kristin visit www.kristinbumbera.com and www.goldenstateracing.com.

"I have grown up around racing all my life, with my parents and friends," said Bumbera. "I never remember asking my parents if I could race, it was just an understood thing. At about the age of 7, I started racing go karts, and then progressed to Super-Mini-Cups, and now late models."

Bumbera is part of NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program. She was chosen after a successful 2007 season in the ASA Pro Late Model Series, where she earned five top-fives and 11 top-10s, and became the first female to ever lead the point standings in a Texas Late Model series.

When she's not racing, Bumbera is a junior at Houston Baptist University.

by Linda Przygodski
Contributing Editor
AskPatty.com

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The Texas native was never lower than the 16th position and running a steady race.  Despite a few on track incidents, she managed to run a steady race, and show her moxie. On lap 98, Bumbera’s transmission lost first, second and third gears, which made the restarts for the remainder of the night very difficult.

Yet, she motored on.

Before the race was over there were two more incidents, which she managed to overcome. avoid both wrecks without any further damage.  One sent her flying through the infield grass, which caused a scoring error as she didn’t pass by the start/finish line on the racing surface.  NASCAR made Bumbera line up at the rear of the field with the lapped cars costing her valuable positions.  The error was corrected on paper after the race.

“I definitely had a lot of fun racing with this group of talented men,” said Bumbera. “Avoiding all the wrecks was challenging and I’m glad after all of that we were still able to have a successful night.  I had a front row seat to much of the action.  It seemed like things were happening right in front of me every time but I knew I would be fine with the help of my spotter.  I can’t wait to join these guys again in Irwindale.”

Bumbera’s next race is April 26th at All American Speedway in Roseville, CA where she is running a full season for Golden State Racing in the NASCAR Whelen Late Model Series and the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program.  Her next NASCAR Grand National race will be the 4th of July in Irwindale, California, with Next Generation Racing.  For more information about Kristin visit www.kristinbumbera.com and www.goldenstateracing.com.

"I have grown up around racing all my life, with my parents and friends," said Bumbera. "I never remember asking my parents if I could race, it was just an understood thing. At about the age of 7, I started racing go karts, and then progressed to Super-Mini-Cups, and now late models."

Bumbera is part of NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program. She was chosen after a successful 2007 season in the ASA Pro Late Model Series, where she earned five top-fives and 11 top-10s, and became the first female to ever lead the point standings in a Texas Late Model series.

When she's not racing, Bumbera is a junior at Houston Baptist University.

by Linda Przygodski
Contributing Editor
AskPatty.com

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