Atwood, Brewco’s No. 27 Shop Towels® Ford Qualify on Front Row in Dover

Early Trouble Leads to 29th Place Finish

Dover, DE (September 25, 2006) – Hopes were high for Brewco Motorsports’ No. 27 Shop Towels® Ford Fusion Saturday in Dover after Casey Atwood’s second-place qualifying effort. However, contact with the wall early in the race halted the team’s charge toward a solid finish, leading to a 29th place effort in the Dover 200.

The weekend practice sessions started off slowly, but the Brewco team found the speed they needed, moving up from 26th fastest in the first session to 13th fastest in the second.

“We weren’t great in the first practice,” Atwood said, “but we really picked it up for the second one. (Co-Crew Chief) Stewart (Cooper) and the guys made a lot of changes that I knew would help us out quite a bit in the race.”

Atwood would start the race on the front row in second place – the best starting position for the No. 27 Ford this season – with a time of 23.504 and a speed of 153.165. The entire Brewco team was excited for the race, but unfortunately that excitement would not last long. On lap 11, Atwood was attempting to make a pass on the No. 35 car, when he lost control of the Shop Towels® Ford Fusion.

“The 35 got real close to me on the outside, which took the air off my spoiler and got me loose,” Atwood said. “I did my best to save it, but I still ended up making contact with the wall.”

Heavy damage to the right front fender led Cooper to bring the No. 27 Shop Towels® Ford down pit road each time there was a caution early in the race to let the Brewco crew work on the car. 

“The Brewco guys gave me such a strong car,” Atwood said. “But after the accident, no matter what we tried in the pits, I just couldn’t pass guys on the track. I was tight in the center and loose off for pretty much the rest of the race. I tried everything I could, but I just couldn’t get into the corners like the other guys could.”

“We worked on our Ford Fusion the whole race, but because of the damage - and the fact that Dover is an aero-sensitive track - it never really was the same car we started with,” said Cooper. “On the positive side, the team was really fired up this weekend and Casey is improving as well. We feel like we have a lot of momentum, and we’ll take that to Kansas.”

Next for the No. 27 Brewco team will be the Yellow Transportation 300 at Kansas Speedway on Saturday September 30. The No. 27 Ford will bring its special pink VIVA® Towels/Breast Cancer Research Foundation paint scheme to the track this weekend. Television coverage of the race begins at 3:00 pm EST on TNT.

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