Tony Raines Matches Career Best in Thunder Valley With an
Eighth Place Finish
BRISTOL, TN (August 23,
2003) Friday night's Food City 250
at the Bristol Motor Speedway caped the end of a successful weekend for Tony
Raines and the Bayer Consumer Care Team. On Thursday, Raines piloted the No. 33
Alka-Seltzer Morning Relief Chevrolet to a 14th place starting spot
by turning a lap of 15.699 seconds at a speed of 122.224 mph around the high
banked, .533-mile oval. Raines' performance would give him the opportunity to
select a pit stall on the front stretch pit area for the first time in seven
previous trips to Thunder Valley.
Following qualifying,
Raines hit the track for the teams' final practice session in an effort to fine
tune the car for Friday's 250 lap event. After making minor adjustments to the
cars spring, shock and suspension set-up, Raines would end the session by
posting the fourth fastest time on the board as the team looked to continue its
streak of solid performances that has become the standard since Raines' third
place finish in Kentucky back on June 15th.
As the sun set over the
Tennessee Mountains, Raines and the rest of the Busch competitors tightened
their belts for has traditionally been one the most exciting Busch events of the
season. High speeds, high banking and fender rubbing action makes 250 laps
around Bristol a difficult game of survival.
Just 13 laps into the
event, the first of seven cautions on the evening would put the field under
yellow for a single car spin in turns three and four. Raines, who had already
moved into the 12th place spot, radioed that the car felt "a little
too tight" during the early laps of the event. The second caution of the
evening would fall on lap 23 for debris, as Raines would continue to inform the
team of the cars worsening tight handling condtion.
Raines would avoid trouble
on lap 34 as he worked to clear the lapped machine of Larry Gunselman while
trying the hold off a challenge for position by the No. 34 car of Steve
Grissom. Shortly after passing Gunselman's No. 94 machine, Gunselman would
slide into Grissom on the backstretch as Grissom attempted to follow Raines'
path around lap down traffic. The incident would collect the solid performing
cars of Grissom, the No. 4 machine of Mike Wallace and the No. 25 car of Bobby
Hamilton Jr.
"This thing should look
like a triangle with everything I have hit already," exclaimed Raines to his
crew under the caution period. Raines was referring to a few fender-rubbing
incidents with other competitors that had taken place in the first 34 laps as he
battled to advance his position on the race track.
Spotter and team owner
Brian Baumgardner had a different point of view of the action. "I think you
mean everything and everyone that has hit you."
The restart on lap 50 would
be short lived as nearly 12 cars would be involved in the fourth and most
spectacular caution of the evening. The No. 38 machine of Mark Green was nudged
out of the groove as the field headed into turn one following the restart, this
began a chain reaction as drivers began to step on the binders to avoid the
spinning car and left most cars with little or no place to run. Luckily, all of
this action happened behind Raines as lady luck continued to bring good fortune
to the Bayer Consumer Team.
With the restart on lap 55,
Raines focused on directing the Alka-Seltzer Chevrolet into the top-ten as he
positioned himself into the 11th place position. However, Raines'
tight handling condition would prevent him from moving up any further on the
track as he fell to the 14th place position on lap 117.
Lap 146 would be a roller
coaster ride for the Bayer Consumer Care Team as the race leader, Jimmy Spencer,
moved into Raines' rear view mirror. Spencer would overcome Raines' No. 33
machine coming off of turn four, however, shortly after crossing the start
finish line, the caution flag would wave for a spin on the backstretch. With
the leader, Spencer, not taking the caution, Raines was able to get around the
No. 1 Yellow Freight machine to stay on the lead lap. It was the break the team
needed as the track had been under green flag conditions for nearly 90 laps and
Raines tight handling condition was hampering his ability to successfully
progress his position on the track.
Under the caution period,
Raines headed down pit road to the attention of his crew. After pulling a
spring rubber out of the left rear and taking two rounds of wedge out of the
right rear wedge bolt, the No. 33 Alka-Seltzer machine was down and away with
four fresh tires and a tank full of gas. Raines would restart the race in the
11th place spot on lap 153. There were only 13 cars on the lead lap
at the time of the restart.
Raines and the field would
run only 20 laps until the sixth caution would fall for debris on the track on
lap 173. Raines was still experiencing a tight handling condtion with his car
and elected to come back down pit road in an effort to loosen the car up through
the center of the corner and off. The Bayer Consumer Care Team went up three
rounds on the track bar and added an additional two rounds down on the right
rear wedge bolt. The team also slapped four fresh Goodyear Eagle tires on the
No. 33 machine for the final run at the checkered flag. Raines would restart
the event in the 12th place spot.
It wouldn't take long for
the final caution of the evening to fall on lap 181. This time Raines would be
involved as he and fellow competitor Tim Fedewa made contact coming off of turn
four. The contact sent Fedewa spinning down to the inside retaining wall as
Raines continued on unharmed.
Over the final 65 laps,
Raines would battle his way all the way up to the eighth place spot as he worked
over the cars of Kevin Harvick and Randy LaJoie to push into the top ten.
Raines would consistently click off laps between the times of 16.2 and 16.4
seconds as the adjustments seemed to have the desired effect on the cars
handling characteristics.
Raines would finish the
event in the eighth place spot, matching his career best finish at Bristol Motor
Speedway that came in the fall event of 2001. With this finish, Raines remains
in 12th place in the overall driver point standings and sits just 85
points behind Stacy Compton in the 11th place spot with just 10
events remaining in the season
Raines will head to the
historical Darlington Raceway this coming Labor Day weekend. Raines posted a
seventh place finish at this track back in the spring. The next Bayer Consumer
Care sponsored event will take place on Friday night, September 6th
at the Richmond International Raceway.
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