(3-3-10) - When Tom Hessert left Palm Beach Int'l Raceway (PBIR) Saturday afternoon, the Cherry Hill, New Jersey driver was feeling pretty darn good about his prospects headed to Salem Speedway for the next event on tour.

Hessert, in the no. 77 Cherry Hill Classic Cars-Cunningham Motorsports Dodge, was at the top of the charts all weekend at PBIR - fifth in practice, fourth in qualifying and fourth in the final finishing order. Not too shabby. That puts Hessert fifth in championship points headed to Salem, one of his favorite tracks on tour.

"We're off to a decent start; and we're headed to Salem; it's exciting," said Hessert. "We overcame a lot of adversity at Palm Beach. The outcome could have been a lot different."

Hessert started the race from the second row but got caught up in the first lap, first corner incident that stacked up many of the front-runners, including Hessert, who got shuffled way back to 22nd.

"We had trouble in the first corner.  We got bunched up on the start and shoved off the chicane. Everybody was getting into each other.  But we were able to rebound from that and from stalling the car."

In the early going, Hessert quickly regained his composure and maneuvered his was back to the front. With ominous skies overhead, Hessert had worked his way back into the top-10 by the 12th lap. In fact, before the rains had come, Hessert posted the fastest lap of the race. But a steady rain began to fall prompting teams to head for pit road on the 22nd lap of the 75-lap, 150-mile race to bolt on Hoosier rain tires.

"We were real fast while the track was dry, but couldn't completely get a hold of it under wet conditions. But overall, we had a great weekend with our first top-five finish."    

Hessert is the son of Tom Hessert II, a road racing veteran and former winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona.

"I grew up in road racing, watching my dad over the years. But, honestly, I haven't done much road racing myself, so I don't consider myself one of the road racing veterans in this series. I really have more of an open wheel background in sprints and midgets than anything else. But I learned a lot from my father, so I'm sure that's helped. I know I love racing the road courses, and can't wait to go to New Jersey."

But first, the team will head to open test sessions at Texas Motor Speedway on March 9 and Talladega Superspeedway on March 23-24.  The next race for the #77 team will be at Salem Speedway on April 11.

"I think Salem's going to be one of the wildcards in the mix. Anything can happen there and usually does. It's just a wild little track, but so much fun to drive. Never a dull moment. I've never had very good luck there, so I need to fix that; we're due. I've always run well there ...... feel I have a fairly good understanding of what the tracks needs. We just need some luck there. I ran open wheel cars there, so I have a pretty good understanding of the line around there. But it's still Salem, and so easy to get caught up. Love racing there."

Dakoda Armstrong Post PBIR Wrap-Up

Dakoda Armstrong and the #22 Cunningham Motorsports-Penske Driver Development team posted the 14th fastest speed in qualifying, after practicing 12th quickest. Prior to the race, an anxious Armstrong was contemplating the possibility of racing on Hoosier rain tires when he said, "Since I have not raced on a road course, this will be a new challenge for me. I learned a lot during the test right after Daytona. The possibility of having to race in the rain is something that I have not had to consider in any of my previous races. We need to stay out of trouble and learn from the experienced road racers."  Armstrong ran most of the day in the 14th-18th spot, finishing 14th. 

After the race Armstrong reflected on his road course experience.

"We stayed out on slicks for six laps after the rain started. While a couple teams came in under green, we were waiting for ARCA to throw the yellow. That set us back a little and with my lack of experience, I couldn't make it up. It was completely a new experience for me, with lots of challenges. We will run much better at the next race in Salem." Armstrong finished a career-best third at Salem in the fall of 2009. 

The #22 team has a busy month ahead with testing on March 9th at Texas Speedway and at Talladega Superspeedway on March 23rd and 24th. The next race for the 22 team will be the Kentuckiana Ford Dealers ARCA 200 at Salem Speedway on April 11th.