BAYER CONSUMER CARE RACING ROCKINGHAM RACE REPORT

Rockingham, NC-The Bayer Consumer Care Racing team competed in the Alltel 200 at the one-mile North Carolina Speedway this past weekend. All eyes were on "The Rock" last weekend; even non race fans watched and attended in honor of our fallen leader in the sports, Dale Earnhardt.

The NASCAR Busch Grand National Series had only one round of qualifying, which was held on Friday afternoon. Tony Raines, the driver of the #33 Chevy Monte Carlo qualified 18^th in the Alka-Seltzer car, while Greg Biffle, a newcomer in the sport, took the pole.

Racing from the beginning of the race, was a scramble to get to the front; however, only after the first lap, a few cars got together causing the first caution of the day to come out. Some drivers that were involved were Ryan Newman, Mark Greene, and Tim Fedewa. After a series of caution flags at the start of the race, Raines was making his way through the field. By lap 55, Tony had worked his way up to the 19^th position. Michael Kadelcik, crew chief, called Tony in for a green flag pit stop. With new tires and a tank full of gas, Tony was back in the race. Once the rest of the field cycled through the pit stops, Tony was running in the 12th position. Tony held onto that place for several laps, but then started losing positions. Tony then came into the pits and changed tires. Tony was sent back out only to be involved in an accident. "We were tapped from behind and it just spun me around,' Tony Raines commented about the accident. "We had a good car today."

With both ends of the car in poor condition, the Alka Seltzer Chevy was basically beyond repair with the few laps that remained in the race.

" I think that we had a top five car," Michael Kadlecik stated. "Our strategy is working in the pits and on the track. The first pit stop we had was great. We gained 11 seconds on the leader.  I know it is all going to come together for us."

Tony finished 38^th while Todd Bodine won the race driving for Buckshot Racing.

Watch Tony Raines and the Bayer Consumer Care Racing crew as they will compete at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway this next weekend in the Sam's Town 300.