Raines Grabs a 21^st Place Finish in Charlotte

CONCORD, NC (May 25, 2002) With track temperatures soaring to nearly 140 degrees, Tony Raines tightened his belts in preparation for the Carquest Auto Parts 300 at the Lowe's Motor Speedway in what was expected to be an exciting 200 laps of racing.  Raines and the Bayer Consumer Care Crew were focused on improving on last weeks tenth place performance in Nazareth in an effort to gain momentum as the series nears the mid-way point of the season. 

By the time the smoke and exhaust had cleared from nine cautions on the day, Raines was able to steer clear of all major accidents as he piloted the No. 33 Alka-Seltzer Chevrolet to a 21^st place finish.  Following his finish, Raines remains 18^th in the overall driver point standings.

With the sun brightly shining and temperatures in the mid 70's, Raines hit the track Friday afternoon to complete two laps of timed Bud Pole Qualifying that would determine the field for Saturday's event.  Raines was the 16^th car to roll out for his qualifying run.  Raines and the team would settle into a 25^th place starting spot after circling the 1.5-mile quad oval in 30.332 seconds.  "I was just a little too loose getting into the corner," stated Raines following his run.  "That lap should put us securely in the field.  I guess we will know exactly what we have when we put it in race trim during the final practice session."  Ron Hornaday captured the pole and set a new track record with a scorching lap of 29.655 seconds.

Raines and the team would find confidence for Saturday's event during the "Happy Hour" session late Friday afternoon.  Raines would end the final practice session by posting the 14^th fastest lap on the board.

"Green, green, green," radioed spotter Brian Baumgardner to Raines as the field roared to the start of the Carquest Auto Parts 300.  With the track temperature rising, both spotters and drivers knew that they would have to be on their toes as the track would become slick, greasy and treacherous.

After the first caution flew for a four-car pile-up in turn four that collected the No. 11, 12 and 34 machines, Raines reported a vibration that occurred when he applied brake to the car.  "Did you guys bleed the brakes this morning?" Raines asked Crew Chief Michael Kadlecik.  "Yes we did," replied Kadlecik.  "Try and work them in under the caution."  The problem was not reported for the remainder of the race.

The race would be under the green flag for only seven laps when the second caution of day would give the Bayer Consumer Care Team the opportunity to bring Raines down pit road to top the car off with fuel and pull a piece of tape from the front grill in an effort to lower the engine's water temperature. Raines would restart the race in the 27^th position.  Over the next 20 laps, Raines would search to find a handle on the No. 33 machine until the caution flag flew for the third time in the first 50 laps of the event.

"I am loose on the entry and tight in the center and off (the turn)," radioed Raines to his crew.  "I seem to be tight when I run up top and loose when I run on the bottom." 

"I think we can pull that left rear spring rubber," replied Kadlecik.

"I don't know, let's just fix it," commented Raines.

Raines brought the Alka-Seltzer Heartburn Relief Chevrolet to the attention of his crew running in the 28^th position.  The crew would make a track bar adjustment as well as pull a spring rubber out of the left rear in an effort to correct the handling problems Raines was experiencing on the track.  The crew also slapped on four fresh Goodyear tires and filled the No. 33 car with fuel.  All of this was completed in less than 18 seconds.  Raines re-entered the track in the 28^th position.

After the restart on lap 46, Raines would begin to charge through the field as the car looked to be responding to the changes made on the previous pit stop.  Over the next 15 laps, Raines would pick up 11 positions as he moved into the 17^th place position.  "Now you are getting it done," echoed Baumgardner.  "You are cooking with fire now."

Raines would run here until the caution flag was shown to the field when Jimmy Spencer tagged the wall in turns three and four on lap 61.

"I am still a little too tight," radioed Raines.  "I can run low in turns three and four, but you might want to drop the track bar another round to fix the problem in turns one and two."  Raines would remain on the track during the caution period.  He would restart the race on lap 65 in the 16^th place position. 

Lap 76 would once again bring out the caution flag for an accident involving car No. 94.

Raines would follow the leaders down pit road with a little strategy up his sleeve to gain valuable track position.  "Two tires, two tires," shouted Kadlecik to his crew.  The Bayer Consumer Care Crew hustled to service the car with a quick, two-tire stop that vaulted Raines from 16^th to the 6^th place position.  The two-tire stop placed Raines within sight of the leaders and would work to tighten the cars handling characteristics through turns three and four.

The half-way point of the race would find Raines running strong in the seventh place position as he battled to hold off cars who had the upper hand of four tires compared to Raines' two.  Raines sliced and diced with Jack Sprague, Mike Mclaughlin and Kevin Grubb lap after lap as he fought to stay within the top-ten. 

A caution for a five-car accident in turn four that collected the No. 47, 40, 5, 66 and 26 machines was displayed to the field on lap 106.  Raines was running in the ninth place position when the green flew for the restart on lap 112.

However, the restart would bring unwanted trouble as Raines would drop eight spots over the next ten laps as the car began to loose its grip, especially in turns three and four.

"Don't get frustrated on us," radioed Baumgardner.  "We have 75 laps to go.  We will be able to get four tires on it soon enough." Unfortunately, the track would stay under green flag conditions for the next 30 laps as Raines fought to stay on the lead lap and hoping for a timely caution.

"I am fluctuating," radioed Raines concerning his fuel pressure.  "I am coming in."  Raines hit pit road on lap 153 for four tires and fuel.  However, by having to pit under the green flag, Raines lost two laps to the leader and was now being shown in the 19^th place position.  

The race would stay green until a spin in turn three on lap 192 brought out the ninth and final caution of the afternoon with only eight laps remaining.  Under this caution period, Raines elected to come to the attention of his crew to take on four fresh tires for the final five-lap shootout.  The decision would prove costly as no other competitors would follow Raines' lead down pit road.  Raines re-started the race in the 23^rd position and was able to pass two cars in the final five laps to notch a 21^st place finish in the Alka-Seltzer Chevrolet.

"We were extremely tight," exclaimed Raines following the race.  "We weren't too bad on the short runs, but the long runs just killed us.  We got out of sequence with the leaders and had a long green flag stop which hindered us today."

"I don't know what we are doing wrong.  Last year we ran well and this year we just can't seem to hit our marks."

"The two tire stop was a good call to gain track position if we could have kept it, but nothing seemed to work today."

Raines and the No. 33 team will head to the lightening fast Dover Downs International Speedway next weekend for the 14^th Busch Series event of the 2002 season.  In addition to running the Busch event, Raines will attempt to qualify a BACE Motorsports entry for the Winston Cup event scheduled to run next Sunday.

The next Bayer Consumer Care sponsored event will be the June 15^th race at the Kentucky Speedway.