Wimmer avoids trouble, finishes 21st in caution-plagued Lowe’s race

Concord, NC (October 16, 2006) – Scott Wimmer returned the Duraflame Ford this weekend at Lowe’s Motor Speedway for what would turn out to be a test of persistence and determination.

The Duraflame Ford Fusion was a handful during first practice with Wimmer complaining of a bad chatter in the front end.  The Brewco Motorsports crew made countless changes between practice sessions.  Their hard work paid off as Wimmer excitedly told his crew chief “atta boy Newt, you got her fixed!” at the start of final practice.  There was still work to be done, but the team felt they finally hit on a strong setup for the race.     

 

Wimmer started the Dollar General 300 33rd, but he wouldn’t stay there for long.  Running 28th when the caution flew on lap 20, Wimmer made his first pit stop of the night.  The Duraflame Ford was “a little tight off of four and free off of two.”  Wimmer received a track bar and air pressure adjustment and four fresh tires and restarted the race 35th.  Wimmer stayed out when the leaders pitted under the following caution and restarted in a race-high 4th place. 

“Too tight” was the only report of the car’s handling during the subsequent long green flag run.  Wimmer was 15th when the time came for green flag pit stops.  The Duraflame Ford came in on lap 89 but when the caution flew just six laps later, Wimmer was caught two laps down. 

The cautions continued to get the best of Wimmer and crew chief Newt Moore’s pit strategy.  Wimmer stopped under green on lap 172.  Another caution came out 11 laps later, again causing Wimmer to lose a lap. 

Despite the bad luck, the Duraflame Ford was running times competitive with the leaders.  At the end of 200 laps and nearly three hours of racing, Wimmer and the Duraflame Ford Fusion were 21st. 

“We just couldn’t catch a break tonight,” said Wimmer.  “The car was really good there for most of the race.  It was a world away from practice.  These guys worked really hard and the handling was just night and day from first practice to tonight.  This race has a tendency to go green for long periods of time and Newt was right calling me onto pit road under green when he did.  The cautions just fell at the wrong times for us and we never could get those laps back.  Everyone here’s holding their head up, though.  Everyone worked really hard.  We had good pit stops all night and it was a better night overall than the results indicate.”