Tony Raines Talladega Race Report

Talladega, AL-The Bayer Consumer Care Racing team and driver Tony Raines competed in the Subway 300 this past Saturday at the Talladega Superspeedway.

The Talladega Superspeedway, a 2.66-mile tri-oval, is the largest of four superspeedway tracks on the Busch Grand National Circuit. The draft on this track is very important, and patience is the virtue. This track requires the restrictor plate rule for all of the cars. Restrictor plate racing is known for its spectacular crashes, and when one happens in the pack, it's hard to miss.

Tony qualified on Thursday securing the 25^th starting position, making this his best qualifying run at this track. Pole sitter, Joe Nemechek, had a faster time, at 50.4-seconds, in a Busch car than the Winston Cup pole sitter, who clocked out at 51.8-seconds. The time difference is due to a NASCAR rule change that states that a Winston Cup car must run a Wicker Bill, a small wing installed directly behind the windshield on the roof of the car, which runs from the drivers side to the passenger side, at all superspeedways. This allows a more even "playing field" to all the competitors. NASCAR has not yet mandated the Busch cars to run by this rule.

On race day, the sun was shining down on the bright yellow #33 Bayer racecar, when the green flag was thrown around noon. Tony Raines was very fast, passing cars that were ahead of him in the early stages of the race. Raines was up 5 positions by lap 9.

On lap 24, Tony radioed into the crew that his window net had come down. Crew chief, Michael Kadlecik, was requesting that Tony come into pit and have it hooked back up, when the caution came out for the first time of the day. Raines made his first pit stop on lap 26. While the Bayer Consumer Care Racing crew was servicing the car, putting on new tires and refueling, they also found that the hook for the window net had broken. A tie-wrap was used to install the window net back into the upright position. Unfortunately, with this complication in the pits, Raines returned to the race in the 31^st place.

By lap 82, Tony had worked his way to be the last car on the lead lap, in the 23^rd position. Just a few laps later, the biggest incident of the day occurred. Two cars got together in turn 4, causing a chain reaction to the cars behind them. After the smoke cleared and the cars stopped spinning, a count of at least 18 cars were involved in some way. Tony was among those cars, but was able to drive the car down pit road. After the crew assessed and fixed the heavy damage to the rear end and the entire right side of the car, Tony was able to stay on the lead lap and be in 16^th.

In the later stages of the race, Tony was able to gain 2 more positions and finish in the 14^th spot.

"Everyone on this team has done a great job," team manager, Joe Pelham said after the race. "I hate that we got caught up in the wreck, but the guys did a terrific job in putting the car back together and getting it back out on the track. This team is doing so well, and it wouldn't be possible without all the help that Bayer Consumer Care gives us," Pelham continued. "This team is back on track thanks to the crew chief, Michael Kadlecik, the team owners, Bill and Brian Baumgardner, and to the engine builder at Amick Motors."

Tony is 13^th in the series point standings, and only 36 points away from breaking into the top 10.

The circuit heads out on the long haul to the California Speedway for the Auto Club 300 this coming Saturday.