Youngren third in 2005 debut

Scott Youngren made his 2005 Irwindale Speedway debut March 12 and finished third in the first Auto Club Late Model race of the season.

Youngren, who qualified third and started the main event on the outside of the third row after the inversion wheel was spun, came from the back after fourth-lap contact to complete the race with his third-place finish.

“We made the race exciting because we were coming up through the field,” Youngren remarked.

Youngren finished fifth in the 2004 Late Model season standings. He returned to the track with the 2004 Monte Carlo he drove last year, and he retained all of his 2004 sponsors, specifically Costello’s Auto Repair, MR Tile and Marble, On-Ice Graphics, Jim Pyre Plastering, Racecar Factory, Rancho Racing Transmissions, Ron’s Rear Ends, Shower Pan Man, The Sign Station, Stone Truss Company, and Youngren Construction. He also added Brian Burch Construction to his 2005 sponsors.

“That was neat to keep everybody the same again,” he said of maintaining all of his 2004 sponsors.

Youngren’s 2004 pit crew included Bret Anderson, Ron Chubb, Tony Green, Joe Murphy, Rain “G-Dogg” Salinas, and T.C. Steingrube. Steingrube was Youngren’s 2004 crew chief, but Anderson and Green, who joined the crew during the 2004 season, will split crew chief duties this year. Steingrube will remain on the crew, as will all of Youngren’s other 2004 pit crew members.

Murphy’s daughter, Erica, is new for the 2005 crew. “It’s great to have her because she works hard,” Youngren remarked.

Youngren surpassed the 14th-place finish of his 2004 debut, but that required some work of his own. “Fourth lap I got into a guy in front of me and I spun him out,” Youngren explained.

Since Youngren was involved in the contact which caused a yellow flag, he was placed in the back. “I went from there all the way up to third place,” he said.

Although Youngren had to move through traffic while the leader did not, Youngren kept pace with the lead car. “I never lost distance between me and the leader. I always closed it,” he noted. “We definitely had the best car out there.”

Youngren wasn’t able to reach the final two cars in front of him, but he reached the podium which eluded him in 2004 until the seventh race of the season.

“Starting the season off third, can’t complain about that at all,” Youngren said.