Wimmer overcomes tight conditions for strong run at Texas

Duraflame Ford finishes 11th

Ft. Worth, TX (November 6, 2006) – Scott Wimmer finished 9th in the first Texas race this season and looked to repeat that success this weekend.  Wimmer had a very tight Duraflame Ford for most of the weekend but with multiple adjustments during practice and early in the race, the car came around.  Wimmer fought through traffic and stayed up front, finishing 11th in the O’Reilly Challenge; his 7th top-15 in 14 Brewco Motorsports starts this season. 

According to Wimmer, during practice and qualifying the Duraflame Ford “felt a lot better than the numbers showed.”  The No. 66 Ford Fusion was “fabulous on entry and tight center off,” a complaint Wimmer would have throughout most of the weekend.  Wimmer qualified the Duraflame Ford 24th and told his crew “it felt a lot faster than that, we’ll be fine.”

Early in the O’Reilly Challenge, Wimmer said he was “real tight center and off.”  Running 22nd when he came in for his first pit stop, Wimmer received track bar and air pressure adjustments.  The team had problems fueling the car and the Duraflame Ford had to return to pit road on the following lap to top off.  Wimmer restarted 34th on lap 36.

The Duraflame Ford was up to 24th when the next round of pit stops came on lap 64.  Wimmer said he was “still a little tight center off but a lot better.”  Crew Chief Newt Moore called for air pressure and wedge adjustments and four tires and Wimmer restarted 20th on lap 73.  The Duraflame Ford fought through traffic on the following green flag run, shown as high as 13th on lap 119.  The first green flag stop came on lap 138.  The stops cycled through without incident.  Wimmer looked poised to break into the top-10 during the final 50 laps but the Duraflame Ford tightened up on him again and he finished 11th. 

“I wish we would’ve gotten a top-10 out of that,” said Wimmer.  “11th is a good finish, though.  The Duraflame Ford was really good for most of the day.  It started out really, really tight but Newt called for the right changes and it helped a lot.  Pit stops were awesome all day.  I was closing in on the 06 there in the last 50 or so laps but the Duraflame Ford tightened up and I just couldn’t catch him.  I would’ve loved another top-10.  I’m proud of these guys and I’m not going to complain about 11th.  We’ve had some really good runs this year.  We have two more races together and I want to go out with two more really strong finishes.”