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Tom Sheehan and LTK Insulation Technologies Team Rock Their Way to P12 at Big Machine Music City Grand Prix

August 7, 2023

Nashville, TENNESSEE – August 7, 2023 – Tom Sheehan’s performance and results continue to heat up during the dog days of summer. As the mercury rises, Tom and the No. 97 LTK Insulation Technologies Ford Mustang team continually bolster their efforts. Just like LTK Insulation’s commitment to rise above the bar, "The Ironman" consistently exceeds those standards.

Ahead of Round 9 of the Big Machine Spiked Coolers TA2 Series season, Tom tallied a competitive P13 at Road America. The New Hampshire native ranked P18 in the standings 41 points away from a three-way tie for P14.

From the onset of the Nashville race weekend, Mother Nature threw some curveballs with the TA2 field. On Friday, rain washed away the morning practice session while the afternoon practice presented intriguing conditions.

With the 2.17-mile, 11-turn street course drying, Tom posted a competitive P13 results with valuable on track time in practice. Although Tom qualified P20, the Granite State racer was ready to duke it out in “The Music City.”

Once race day arrived, Tom rolled his sleeves up like a professional mechanical insulator covering difficult conditions with LTK’s quality products. In this case, the familiar yellow No. 97 LTK Insulation Technologies Mike Cope Racing Ford Mustang kept cool under the pressure of racing around an unforgiving street course with precision.

Although Tom dropped to P21 on Lap 4, he drove to P19 two laps later before the race’s first full course caution. Following the Lap 10 restart, Tom drove up to P16 in eight laps before the second full course yellow.

On Lap 23, green flag racing resumed with Tom advancing to P15 before another caution four laps later. With the 75-minute time limit approaching, the race was shortened from 46 to 38 laps.

Essentially, the race became a nine-lap sprint to the finish. On Lap 30, Tom, who restarted P15, picked off three positions just two laps later.

Like LTK Fast-Fit Insulation products,Tom’s unmistakable ride was reliable, adaptable and sturdy. More importantly, Tom tallied a strong P12 finish, his best result at Nashville and second highest of 2023.

After the race, Tom debriefed about his competitive outing at the treacherous street course.

“The Nashville event is always exciting,” Tom said. “There’s not a lot of track time. Conditions this weekend changing a lot. We just had to adapt. It was our first weekend running exclusively with Mike Cope. Great experience for me, the Mike Cope Racing team made great changes to the setup all weekend. In qualifying, we didn’t have it where we wanted it, but I wasn’t discouraged at all. We knew that the car was working really well. We just had to get it tuned up to what the track was going to give us.”

When asked about strategy for the 100 mile sprint race, Tom shared his thoughts.

“We were just smart about restarts and kept the car clean. We had a 10 lap shootout at the end and picked off a couple of guys. To come out of here with a car that’s not torn up, with a P12 finish for the No. 97 team and LTK, it’s a day We can build on. A P12 is a solid run for the team. It’s outstanding to stay out of trouble, We’ll take it.”

Additionally, Tom considered the changing track conditions that he and his peers faced versus last year’s race weekend.

“Last year, the track temperature was pretty consistent throughout the event. Tom said. “We didn’t have much change. We had a lot of sunshine and dry running. Every session was dry last year. The INDYCAR series were able to put down a lot of rubber. We were able to rubber this place in. That really makes a difference on your setup and potential for the car.

“The place never rubbered in with all the weather that came through. We were basically on a changing, green track for the whole entire weekend. It always makes it challenging for the guys to figure out what this track wants. Quite frankly, it got better as the race went on as our rubber got put down from what was washed up. That’s the nature of street courses. They’re not used every day. It’s pretty special.”

The Nashville event was the first race weekend under the new partnership between Team LTK and Mike Cope Enterprises. Sheehan and the No. 97 LTK Mustang are excited to join the Cope program and continue to grow a successful relationship competing in TA2.

With two solid weekends in a row, Tom and the TA2 field enjoy a four week break. Then, on the weekend of Sept. 8-10, 2023, the action resumes with Round 10 at Watkins Glen International.

In Tom’s eight prior starts at the legendary road course in upstate New York, Tom scored a career best second in 2012. Watkins Glen is one of Tom’s stronger circuits with two top five results and four top 10 finishes in his TA2 career.

Round 10 of the 2023 TA2 season starts off two test sessions on Friday, Sept. 8 followed by two, 15-minute qualifying sessions on Saturday, Sept. 9.

Then, Tom and his TA2 comrades battle the full, 3.4-mile Watkins Glen layout for a 30-lap or 75-minute race slated from 11:05 a.m. ET to 12:20 p.m. ET on Sunday, Sept. 10.

This year, Trans Am races are available for live streaming on Trans Am and SpeedTour's YouTube channels, with full playbacks immediately available after the race. Additionally, the races can be seen in edited, 60-minute features broadcasted on MAVTV's Thursday night primetime slot at 8 p.m. ET.

Follow Tom’s social media channels via his Facebook page, Damon Racing, Instagram account (@TomSheehanTA97), and Twitter account (@TomTA2_97). For more information on LTK Insulation Technologies and the line of high-quality products, please visit https://ltkinsulationtechnologies.com.

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