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GAMBLE ON EARLY PIT STOP PAYS OFF
WITH WIN FOR ANDREW MYERS AT IRWINDALE
IRWINDALE, Calif. (May 27,
2006) – A
gamble on an early pit stop paid off for Andrew Myers
as he was able to hold off a hard-charging Eric Holmes
by inches to win the King Taco 200 at Irwindale
Speedway on Saturday, May 27.
The victory gives Myers wins in two of the
three events he has entered while running a limited
schedule this year in the NASCAR Grand National
Division, AutoZone West Series.
It turned out that his team’s decision to pit
early was actually dictated more from circumstances
than pre-race strategy, Myers later explained. “Our
strategy was really based on the car’s performance
and where we ended up,” he said. “We started 12th
and got some laps under us. Basically, the car
wasn’t handling to my liking. It was very loose. It
didn’t have a lot of forward bite. So by about lap
50, I was burning up the right rear tire.”
Myers informed his crew of the situation and the decision was made to
pit early. “I talked to Jamie (Aube) on the radio
and told him we needed to make a change,” Myers
said. “They wanted to bring the car in as soon as we
could. Around lap 50, when we got that first yellow,
we decided to come in and take two right side tires
and gas it up and make the chassis adjustments.”
With teams limited to two new tires during the
200-lap race, Myers admitted he was concerned about
making the change too early. “That was the gamble
that we took,” he said. “I thought we took tires a
little early, but we needed to get the car good. We
got the car really tightened up and it ran great.”
While Myers was preparing for the stretch run,
many of his competitors were making an early charge to
get out front. Holmes, who won his first career series
Budweiser Pole Award with a qualifying run of 97.736
mph, led initially in his Sunoco Race Fuels/Paul Oil
Chevrolet. He was shuffled back early, however, with
series rookies Peyton Sellers and Brian Ickler each
charging out front. Mike David, who led the
championship standings entering the event, also ran
out front – one of seven drivers that swapped the
lead 10 times.
After making his early pit stop, Myers said he
was content to remain in fifth through the mid-stages
of the event – knowing the leaders would eventually
stop for fuel and fresh tires. “I wasn’t battling
too hard,” he said. “I was kind of hanging back,
because I knew that they had to pit. We just kind of
hung out.”
Tim Woods III, who also pitted early in the
event, initially inherited the lead when the other
leaders made their pit stops on lap 131. Myers guided
his Toyota of Escondido Chevrolet into the lead
shortly after the restart, however, and held Woods off
in restarts following several subsequent cautions.
Those cautions aided Myers in his run to
victory. “The car would run good for about 20 or 30
laps and then started to get a little free again,”
he said. “With the cautions, I could really cool the
tires off and charge hard again. It kind of worked to
my advantage.”
After the final restart with eight laps remaining, Holmes mounted a
charge for the lead. He was able to get by Woods and
charged alongside Myers. “I was better through one
and two and he was better through three and four,”
Myers recalled of the battle. “The last couple of
laps to go, he would sneak up on me coming off of turn
four and I would pull away again in one and two. That
last turn, he came down low and I stayed up high. That
was my plan. I didn’t want to pinch him off and get
into a wreck. I wanted to keep my momentum. I stayed
up high and he kept his momentum going and we just
barely got it.”
It made for the closest series finish at
Irwindale Speedway, as Myers won with a winning margin
of .016 of a second. The Huntington Beach, Calif.,
driver – who competed as a rookie in the series last
season – netted $7,063 for the victory.
The second-place finish by Holmes of Escalon,
Calif., matched his career-best series finish he
turned in at the season opener at Phoenix. Series
veteran Scott Gaylord of Lakewood, Colo., finished a
close third in the Oliver Gravity Separators/Denver
Seminary Chevrolet. Woods of Chino Hills, Calif., was
fourth in the Chino Hills Ford Ford – followed by
defending series champion Mike Duncan of Bakersfield,
Calif., in the Lucas Oil/Ron’s Rear Ends Chevrolet.
Completing the top 10 were Mike David, Steve Portenga,
Brian Ickler, Daniel DiGiacomo and Brett Thompson.
David retained his lead in the championship
standings. He tops the standings with 636 points,
followed by Portenga with 617, Holmes with 608, Duncan
with 565, Jim Inglebright with 557, Sellers with 547,
Thompson with 546, Ickler with 518, Gaylord with 516
and Johnny Borneman with 494.
The challenge for this year’s Sunoco Rookie
of the Year Award appears to be a wide open battle.
Seller, with 30 points, has a slight edge over Ickler
with 29 and Justin Loftin with 27. They are followed
by Eric Hardin with 20, Eric Humphries and Brian
Pannone each with 16, Nick Lynch and Daniel DiGiacomo
each with 15, James Bruncati and Spencer Clark each
with 14, Justin Fisher with eight, Bruce Betts with
four and Ed Watson with two.
The next event on the NASCAR Grand National Division, AutoZone West
Series schedule is the Blue Lizard Suncream 200 at
Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., on June 24. The
event is to be televised live in high definition on
HDNet. In addition, an enhanced replay will air on
SPEED.
For
Further Information Contact:
Kevin W. Green, NASCAR Public Relations,
661/392-8543, kgreen@nascar.com
Jeremy Davidson, NASCAR Public Relations,
386/253-0611, jdavidson@nascar.com
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