Tony Raines Kansas Report

Kansas City, KS-The Bayer Consumer Care Racing team had high hopes of having a good weekend when they entered into the 1.5-mile oval Kansas Speedway on Thursday morning. Driver Tony Raines was excited to be racing at the new facility and anticipated a good finish in Saturday's Mr. Goodsense 200. "I am very excited to be here," Raines said. "This facility is awesome."

An open practice for the Busch cars was held on Thursday. Raines showed the rest of the teams that he was going to be a threat in Saturday's race when he ran one of the fastest practice speeds of the day.

On Friday, Raines had some difficulties making the car handle during qualifying. "This is one of those tracks that you need to find the right line," crew chief Michael Kadlecik said. "With these new style of race tracks, you have to be dialed in to a tee to get a good qualifying run." Raines was the 37^th car to make his qualifying lap and posted a speed that would allow him to start in the 19^th place. "Pit strategy is going to get us to the front," Kadlecik said. "If the guys will perform well in the pits, and Tony stays out of trouble, we will have a top ten finish."

When the race got under way, Raines was able to maneuver around the cars in front of him and was running in the 15^th spot when a caution came out. Raines came down pit road to take only two tires and refuel and was back into the race in the 12^th spot. Raines made his way up to the tenth spot, but a few laps later fell back into 12^th. With several laps caution free, Raines knew he was getting low on fuel and a green flag pit stop needed to be made. Raines came into pit under green, taking on four new tires and refueling the #33 Alka-Seltzer Plus machine. After the rest of the field cycled through the pits, Raines found himself in the 11^th place.

Raines had worked his way up to the ninth spot when the final caution of the race came out. Raines and most of the leaders pitted. Other cars ahead of Raines opted not to pit and take a chance of going the distance with minimal fuel left. Raines made a gas only pit stop and returned to the race in ninth.

In the remaining stages of the race, Raines was very fast and had worked his way up to seventh. He finished the race in the seventh spot, but crew chief Michael Kadlecik feels the Bayer Consumer Care Racing team could have had a better finish. "We could have easily made it into the top three," Kadlecik said. "The farther up we came in the field the faster we got. With every lap that was completed the faster we got. It's just so hard when you have to start in the middle of the pack to get to the front. We sure had the car to do it. I knew with our qualifying time, pit strategy was going to be the key to get in the top ten. The guys did a great job in the pits and Tony did a great job driving. It was a good day, but I know that it could have been better, but I also know it could have been a lot worse. We'll take seventh."

Raines remains in the sixth spot in the point standings.

The Bayer Consumer Care Racing team will enjoy being close to home next weekend as they will compete at the Lowe's Motor Speedway this Saturday in Concord, NC.