Raines Wrestles Home An 11^th Place Finish in the MBNA All-American Heroes 200

DOVER, DE (September 21, 2002)  With only eight events left in the 2002 Busch Series season, Tony Raines and the No. 33 BAYER Consumer Care Team headed to lightening fast Dover Downs International Speedway focused on continuing their streak of solid top-ten finishes.  However, after a second place qualifying effort placed Raines on the front row for Saturday's MBNA All-American Heroes 200, the day would end in with an 11^th place finish as mechanical misfortune would hinder the No. 33 Alka-Seltzer Plus Chevrolet's progress during the later stages of the event.

During Bud Pole Qualifying on Friday, Raines was the fifth car to role off the grid for his qualifying run and raised the bar by posting a fast time of 23.149 seconds at a speed of 155.514 mph.  Raines would be edged by just two tenths of a second as the No. 37 machine of Kevin Lepage would bump Raines to a second place starting spot, his best starting position of the season.

Following qualifying, Raines took to the track during the "Happy Hour" session and quietly posted the 10^th quickest time of the session.  The crew worked to fine tune the Alka-Seltzer Plus Chevrolet in preparation to make any final adjustments to help dial in the No. 33 machine prior to the start of Saturday's event.

On Saturday, Raines and the rest of the Busch competitors to the green flag under the back drop of nearly 90,000 waving American Flags to salute the start of the All-American Heroes 200.

Raines would quickly get to the bottom of the race track as spotter Brian Baumgardner cleared him into the low groove as Raines settled the Alka-Seltzer Chevy into the third place spot.  The first of only four cautions would be shown to the field when the No. 92 machine of Todd Bodine slammed the turn four wall on lap five.

"It is crazy loose in the center of the corners," replied Raines during the caution period.

"Be patient," radioed Crew Chief Michael Kadlecik.  "We talked about that being a possibility during the early going.  It should come to us the longer we run."

With the restart on lap seven, Raines would fall follow the No. 21 and 37 machines as he looked to wrestle the away the lead during the early going of the event.  Raines would loose nearly two seconds to leader Jeff Green and by lap 25 would back up into the fourth place spot as Jason Keller got by Raines coming off of turn two.

"It is still real loose in," radioed Raines.

However, Raines car would quickly begin to come to him as he moved back past Keller for the third spot on lap 43.  "You are running the quickest times on the track, " radioed Kadlecik.  "Just keep doing what you are doing."

Seven laps later, Raines would power past the No. 18 machine as he moved the Alka-Seltzer Plus Chevrolet into the second place spot and set his sites on the leader.  Both Raines and leader Jeff Green would hit lap traffic as Raines was able to cut down nearly a two second lead by quickly disposing of lapped traffic that seemed to be giving trouble to Green.  Raines would move onto Greens bumper on lap 70 when the caution flag would wave on lap 74.

Raines would hit pit road under the caution period to the tune of four fresh tires and a quarter turn down on the track bar in an effort to correct the slight loose condition Raines was experiencing.  The BAYER Consumer Care Team ripped of a 16.7 second stop and re-entered Raines to the track in the third place spot.

With the restart on lap 81, Raines would work to hold on to the third place spot as the race reached the 100 lap halfway point.  Raines had fallen nearly two seconds behind the leader in just 20 laps.

"I am really tight now right in the center of the corner," replied Raines.  On lap 113, Raines would give up two spots as the machines of Randy Lajoie and Scott Wimmer slid by coming off of turn four.  Raines would hold on to the fifth position until lap 140 when the caution was displayed for an accident involving Tim Fedewa and Kevin Grubb on the front stretch. 

Raines would enter pit road in the fifth spot.  The BAYER Consumer Care Team would slap on a set of "scuffed tires" in hope of returning the car to early race form when it looked like the car to beat.  Raines would loose two spots on pit road as he restarted the race from the seventh place spot on lap 144.

Over the next 30 laps, Raines' Alka-Seltzer machine would fall from seventh to 11^th as Raines fought to gain control on the loose handling characteristics he was experiencing with the car.  Raines would finish the race in the 11^th place spot as the race ended under the caution flag after an accident on lap199 involving the No. 25 and 38 machines on the front stretch. 

"It is disappointing," stated Raines.  "We had a strong car today and I think we had something for the lead cars.  We had a much better car than our finish shows.  Apparently the track bar on the Alka-Seltzer Plus Chevrolet came loose at some point and was causing the car to experience those severe handling problems.  We brought it home with a decent finish and we will move onto Kansas next week."

With that finish, Raines remains in the 11^th place spot in the overall Busch Series Drivers Point Standings.  Raines and the BAYER Consumer Care Team will head to Kansas Superspeedway this coming Saturday for the 28^th event of the season.