Tony Raines Looks to Make Some Noise in Thunder Valley

Previous Event:  On Saturday, Tony Raines found favor in the eyes of the "lady in black" as he piloted his No. 33 Chevrolet to a seventh place finish at the historical Darlington Raceway.  Raines, who qualified tenth for the event, ran among the leaders for the entire race while battling a tight handling condition on the race car.  "We qualified well and raced well," said Raines.  "We were able to use our notes from Rockingham to produce a good run at Darlington.  This seventh place run will help us carry some momentum into Bristol."

Bristol Stats:  In six previous starts at the .533 mile, high banked Bristol Motor Speedway, Raines has an average starting position of 26^th.  His best start at the speedway came back in the fall of 2000 when he qualified 16^th for the Food City 250.  While Raines currently holds an average finishing position of 21^st, his performance at the Bristol bullring isn't reflected in his finishes.  His best career finish at Bristol was an eighth place run in last years fall event.  That posting stands as his only top-ten finish in Thunder Valley.

Current Standings:  After only four events, Raines currently sits 17^th in the Busch Series Point Standings with zero wins, zero top-five finishes, two top-ten finishes and over $84,000 in winnings.  As a result of last week's seventh place run at Darlington, Raines advanced eight positions in the point standings.  With 405 points accumulated over the span of four races, Raines now sits just 74 points out of tenth place in the standings.

Raines' thoughts on Bristol:  "I compare Bristol a lot to a race track that I raced on in ASA.  Anderson Speedway in Anderson, Indiana is a quarter-mile, high banked speedway with narrow straights and real tight corners.  We used to run 400 laps there and it was just a blast.  When I came to Bristol for the first time, it reminded me of Anderson with the exception of the concrete.

Its fun and exciting.  You run and entire lap in around 16 seconds and you have 42 other drivers out there doing the same thing.  It is nothing short of controlled mayhem.  Things happen fast.  You go there and run as hard as you can, get your car to drive comfortable and hope for a little luck.

Best way to race Bristol:  "Bristol is a tight racetrack, but if you get calmed down and get in a rhythm, you can just sit there and run lap after lap.  If you make it through the first 25 laps, things usually get pretty good for a while.  There is really only one groove and that's on the bottom. If a car is not handling well and a driver has a hard time keeping it down, it makes it pretty easy to driver under them and make the pass.  Getting into the turns is the trick.  To me, everything takes place right in the center of the corner.  Once you have gotten into the corner, you've gotten the thing to turn and you pull the trigger; it's gone.  The middle third of the corner, which is only about 50 to 75 feet, is where everything happens.  Unlike some other race tracks, you don't have time to move the car around and wait for it to catch up.  Everything happens right in the middle of the corner, if it's good, you run good laps.  If it is not, you are stuggling and you are going to be worn out by the time the race is over.  Like Darlington, if you go there and race the race track, get in a rhythm and not hit the wall or any cars that are parked then you will come out of there with a top-ten"

Physical Strains at Bristol:  "It's not too bad.  It's rough and you bounce around the seat a little bit.  Running 500 laps, which I have never done, would probably be a lot more tiring.  If you calm down, relax, sit back in the seat and start clicking off laps, it is not too bad.  By the time our race is over (250 laps), I am just getting going and wishing we could run a little longer."

The Fans:  "The neatest thing about Bristol is that the bleachers are almost stadium like.  I think it is probably the happiest 100,000 race fans because they are all in a good seat and they can see everything that takes place on the track.  They are pretty vocal.  They enjoy their racing and we enjoy putting on a good show for them."

Most Memorable Moment at Bristol:  "My most memorable moment at Bristol is probably one of my most embarrassing.  I hit the wall and knocked the steering out of the car.  I was just going to turn and come down pit road, but instead the car kept on turning and I had no brakes so I just ran slap into the side of the Bristol Fire Department truck.  We had Alka-Seltzer on the car for the race.  The announcer said "What a headache, plop, plop, fizz, fizz, 'ole what a relief it is."  It was headlined on ESPN, so it was definitely not one of my better moments, but nothing I could do about it."