Non-Stop Cautions Slow Down
Kleenex®
Bristol, TN (April 4) –
A
very wet Bristol Motor Speedway on
Saturday caused for the Sharpie
Professional 250 to be delayed
until Monday April 4. This
setback only led to more
anticipation of what team members
and fans knew would be an intense
race day at the world’s fastest
half-mile. With no qualifying due
to rain, the field was set by
owner points, and the #27 Taurus
started 21st. Using a
good track position strategy, the
Kleenex® Racing Ford was in good
shape with a fresh tire advantage
going into the last 50 laps.
However, the team was
unfortunately unable to use this
advantage due to an extraordinary
amount of cautions, never giving
them a good chance to run. The
Kleenex®/Scott® products team
finished the race in 15th
place.
Returning to Tennessee this week
and racing a car that was once
again capable of ending up in
victory lane, Driver David Green
knew he would have no trouble
making gains from the 21st
position start. Slowly making his
way through the packed field, the
#27 was in 16th place
by lap 78 and the caution was
out. Crew chief Stewart Cooper
took that opportunity to bring the
car in for tires, gas, and an air
adjustment. Back out in 19th
place, the team knew they had to
come up with some kind of strategy
to gain better track position or
the chance of a top 5 finish would
be lost.
Gaining one spot to 18th
on lap 124 the yellow flag waved
and many of the top 10 cars took a
pit. With tires that were now 50
laps old, crew chief cooper made
the call to sacrifice fresh tires
for better track position.
Staying out on the track during
the caution, the #27 Kleenex® Ford
was now in 4th place.
Carefully handling the car, David
Green maintained his position, and
the yellow flag suddenly came out
again on lap 144. Knowing that
the car needed new tires, Cooper
still made the call to pit only if
the leader did in order to sustain
good track position. With the
leader staying out, so did the #27
gaining two positions in the
process.
Running up front in 2nd
place, the car was in desperate
need of a pit stop, but the team
didn’t want to sacrifice their
position. On lap 162, the caution
flag came up and this seemed like
their chance. Still choosing to
do what the leader did, the risks
were big. Fortunately, the leader
did pit, and the #27 came in for
its last set of fresh tires, gas,
and an air adjustment. The green
flag waved on lap 178 and the
Kleenex® Ford was now in 16th
place. With about 70 laps left to
go in the race, the #27 now had a
fresh tire advantage over most
cars on the track, and was ready
to run.
Just
a few laps later, the caution flag
was up again for an oil spill near
pit road. Taking a while to
reconcile the problem, the green
flag didn’t wave again until lap
197. Unfortunately, it wasn’t out
long as the cautions came on and
off continuously for the last 50
laps of the race, and the worlds
fastest half mile suddenly became
the slowest. The #27 was never
able to run for more than 5 laps
at a time under green, and this
set back left the Kleenex® team
unable to use their fresh tire
advantage to gain any positions.
Stuck where they were, the #27
Kleenex® Ford crossed the finish
line in 15th place.
David Green on Bristol: “I
thought everything was going to
fall into place after our last pit
stop,” said Green. “It’s always
hard to predict what’s going to
happen at a track like Bristol,
but our strategy was coming
together on those last 50 laps.
We had fresh tires; I just never
got a chance to use them. It
seemed like we only got to run
five laps at a time and I just
couldn’t make up any ground. If we
would have had more green flag
action out there then we would
have had a top 10 finish for
sure.”
Media Contact:
Stephen
Kirby
SMC 500
910-692-4600
skirby@smc500.com
