Instead, Bickle came home sixth behind winner Steve Carlson, runner-up Matt Kenseth, Adam Morrissey, Nathan Hasleu and Travis Sauter.

“I guess it you could say it hurt us that I don’t do this full-time anymore,” said Bickle. “If so, I’d know more about these tires and the way they react without bleeder valves in the wheels. I’ve always run in divisions that use them and I’m not quite sure why this one doesn’t. Without them, you don’t really know how much air pressure to run at the start of the race. You just have to guess what you are going to need. If you start the race out bad, you are going to finish bad. With the bleeders, you start the race strong, your car doesn’t change and you finish the race strong.

“Still, I had a good time and to run sixth after not racing for more than nine months was a good finish for us. We’ll take what we learned here and go on to the next race we have scheduled – the Nationals at Slinger. I think we’ll be even better there and definitely have something for them.”

Bickle will return to the driver’s seat on Tuesday, July 15, for the Miller Lite Nationals at Slinger (WI) Superspeedway. The event is one of five high-profile races this season for Bickle, a two-time Nationals champion and the 1989 Slinger regular-season titlest. The green flag is set to wave at 7 p.m. Central Time.

Unofficial Finish –

1, Steve Carlson; 2, Matt Kenseth; 3, Andrew Morrissey; 4, Nathan Hasleu; 5, Travis Sauter; 6, Rich Bickle; 7, Chris Wimmer; 8, Steve Rubeck; 9, Tim Schendel; 10, Dave Feiler; 11, Steve Holzhausen; 12, Kyle Busch; 13, Chad Wood; 14, Frank Kreyer; 15, Andy Monday; 16, Tony Stewart; 17, Dan Lensing; 18, Jonathon Eilen; 19, Dan Jung; 20, Nick Hammer; 21, Jeremy Lepak; 22, Bobby Wilberg; 23, Zach Riddle; 24, Eugene Gregorich Jr.