Chase Cabre on Gateway Electrical Failure: 'Very Disheartening'

It was setting up to be a statement victory for Chase Cabre and Rev Racing on Saturday in St. Louis.

One race removed from a ninth-place finish and back injury at Bristol, Cabre and company earned their third pole of 2019 at Worldwide Technology Raceway in preparation for the Monaco Cocktails Gateway Classic 125 presented by the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame.

“We’re not out yet. There’s still three races left and anything can happen,” Cabre said after qualifying. “Twenty-two points is a lot, but at the same time, a simple mistake or something happening could put us right back in the hunt.”

Unfortunately, the luck didn’t go Cabre’s way.

After leading the opening 67 laps from the pole, Cabre came to pit road under the scheduled break and experienced electrical issues. The issue could not be fixed during the break, and he wound up going multiple laps down, seeing his chance at a win go out the window.

“They seemed to fix it, I don‘t know what it was,” a dejected Cabre told NASCAR.com. “It just sucks.”

When the checkered flag flew, the Tampa, Florida native finished seven laps down in 13th, his worst result while running at the finish this season.

Racing-Reference: Chase Cabre Career Statistics

“Very disheartening,” he continued. “These guys out way too much time into our car, they really — Josh and Glynn spent 40 hours in a matter of three days working on this thing to try and get it ready to come here and to be as fast as it was is awesome, but to have a little bit of bad luck, I guess when it‘s not meant to be, it‘s not meant to be. I guess we‘ll get ready to go to Loudon, we were fast there last year and we‘ve had speed there this year, all year really. It just is tough to swallow.”

So disappointed and disheartened. My guys worked 40 hours in 3 days to make this thing a rocketship. Led the first 65 laps then had an electrical issue. Sometimes it's just not meant to be but gosh it is hard to swallow that one.

— Chase Cabre (@CabreChase) August 25, 2019

Cabre knew his chances at the championship were relatively bleak, given Sam Mayer and GMS Racing’s advantage this season. Post-race, though not over yet, he reflected on the what could have been.

“Just bad luck throughout the season really bit us,” Cabre said. “It sucks. We really, really put a lot of time into these cars this year to try and make them as good as they can possibly be. Proud of my guys, we‘ll keep on going to Loudon, we‘re chasing a couple wins.”

The next K&N Pro Series East event, the Apple Barrel 125 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, will take place on Saturday, September 21. Earlier this season, Cabre won at NHMS with Mayer finishing second.