Tony Raines Rockingham Race Report

Rockingham, NC-The Bayer Consumer Care Racing team and driver Tony Raines visited the North Carolina Motor Speedway this past weekend and competed in the Sam's Club 200. 

After practice on Friday morning, the crew knew something was wrong with the motor because the Alka-Seltzer Plus car was posting slow times. The crew immediately went to work trying to locate the problem. What they found was water in the oil, and a necessary motor change had to be made before qualifying. The Bayer Consumer Care Racing crew was very quick to make the change and was able to get Raines out to complete his qualifying laps. With no practice on the new engine, Raines was able to secure the 16^th fastest time.

In the early stages of the race on Saturday, Raines had moved up to the 14^th place, but radioed in to the crew that the car was somewhat loose. The caution was thrown on lap 91 and Raines was called into pit. The Bayer Consumer Care Racing team went to work making the changes for the car to handle better. With a great pit stop, Raines returned to the race in the 13^th spot.

Raines continued to race with the leaders, but was not able to gain many positions. He maintained a median of 14^th place for several laps until lap 195 when the caution was thrown for an incident in turn 2. With only two laps to go in the event, Nascar made the decision to stop the race so the last two laps were not finished under the yellow. After the cleanup was over, Raines knew that the car was low on fuel and a pit stop had to be made in order to finish the race. As Raines and other leaders made their way down pit road, Raines' car had ran out of gas and was coasting to his pit stall. The crew refueled the car just enough for him to finish the race.

Raines finished the event in the 22^nd spot and one lap down. Kenny Wallace won the race, while Kevin Harvick clenched the Nascar Busch Grand National Championship.

With only one race remaining in the 2001 season, Tony Raines and the Bayer Consumer Care Racing team head to the Homestead-Miami Speedway this next Saturday sixth in the point standings.