stupid . They were fast and we were just out there . Dad and I went back to the drawing board and looked at some stuff and regrouped and said we got really good horsepower . We need to be doing a better job . We need to make better runs . We need to figure something out to get back on his level . We don ’ t have to be faster than him . We ’ ve got to be close and give ourselves a chance on race day . We need to be right there with him , right ?
We went back and we went testing and made a change in two runs , loaded it back up , and said , “ I think we got something for them .” At that point , I texted [ PDRA race director ] Tyler Crossnoe , and I said , “ They ’ re all in trouble now .” You could see how much of a rollercoaster it was in the beginning of 2020 when I thought we were golden . Then I thought we were done . Then I thought we were good again .
That winning streak you went on was incredible . It wasn ’ t just the car ’ s performance . You were also winning on holeshots , doing a really good job driving . How rewarding was that to win those three races in that fashion ?
It sucks as a tuner , right ? I have pride there too . As a driver , I love it . You ’ re doing your job . In my opinion , if you ’ re doing your job you should win multiple rounds on a holeshot in Pro Stock because Pro Stock is a class where you ’ re close . You ’ re within a hundredth or two hundredths of most cars out there . As a driver , you ’ re going to be the make or break on a lot of rounds . The difference to where you could be from one to four in points at the end of the year .
If you want to win , you have to do your job at those times and it doesn ’ t just mean leaving with the guy and if you outrun him , you win . It means on those close rounds where you ’ re going to be within a hundredth or two of them , you have to let the clutch out first . To do it against extremely tough competitors , to do it multiple times , was rewarding .
With that being said , I had my fair share where I let it out a little too quick .
The second GALOT race win sealed up the championship . How long did it take for that to sink in , to realize that you had accomplished that goal ?
Well , I went into the race saying , “ We could do a number of things here . We could hold our current lead just by pacing JR Carr . We can give up the lead by sucking . Or we can go put a stranglehold on this thing and call it right now .”
JR was the pair out in front of me and he lost . That took a tremendous amount of pressure off me first round . At that point , I got a little bit more tardy on the starting line than I had planned . We were lucky to squeak that one out but I stepped up my game for the next two rounds . We got the win and I don ’ t know when it exactly sank in . Half of that reason is because the PDRA didn ’ t officially announce it for a day or two . I was waiting for that official announcement .
Once it was announced and it was official that we had it sewn up , it was a pretty good feeling . Let me rephrase that . It was an amazing feeling , especially if I look back at the mindset I had . Maybe it was 15 years ago , I ’ d say , “ Man , I wish one day that we would be able to get a car together and qualify with these Mountain Motor Pro Stock guys .” The same guys that I was watching race in the mid-2000s , I ’ m running against some of those same guys , some of the same drivers and crew chiefs .
I ’ m able to say my rookie season as a Pro Stock racer I was able to lead the championship chase and collect it .
Having secured the championship after the GALOT race , did that take away the sting of going out early at the World Finals ?
At the World Finals , our whole goal was to go out there , test and try some stuff on the race car because we were racing the whole year . We weren ’ t necessarily changing too much . We didn ’ t want to lose the combination we had , but we knew there was still a little bit of room for improvement .
HOLESHOT
THROUGHOUT THE 2020 SEASON , PLUCHINO MADE A HABIT OUT OF LEAVING THE STARTING LINE FIRST AND HOLDING THE LEAD THROUGH
THE FINISH LINE . HE WON THREE ROUNDS ON HOLESHOTS IN PDRA COMPETITION .
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