Tony Raines Gateway Preview

LAST RACE (Tropicana Twister 300) - Tony Raines and the No. 33 BACE Motorsports Team salvaged an 18^th place finish at Chicagoland Speedway after a cut right rear tire on lap 132 caused the No. 33 to loose two laps to the leader.  Raines qualified his Bayer Chevrolet in the 27^th spot with a quick lap of 30.883 seconds.

LAST YEAR'S RACE AT GATEWAY - Raines and the No. 33 Team finished a disappointing 23^rd after engine trouble erased any hopes of a strong finish during the 2001 event at Gateway International Raceway.  The No. 33 Chevrolet started the race from the 13^th position, quickly moving into the top 10 where it ran until lap 119 when a valve dropped in the engine.  Raines finished the event 10 laps behind the leader.

STANDINGS - With his top 20 finish at Chicagoland, Raines held onto the 13^th place in the Busch Series drivers' points standings pulling within nine points of the 12^th spot. BACE Motorsports team owner, Brian Baumgardner currently sits in the 17^th position in Busch Series owners' points standings.

THE CAR - Chassis No. 30, the car that Tony Raines will drive at Gateway will make its fifth appearance of the season. This is the same chassis that Raines drove to a fifth place finish at the Milwaukee Mile. He also drove No. 30 at Las Vegas (accident), Richmond (engine) and New Hampshire (running).  No. 30 is a new car for the 2002 season, the first chassis ever built in-house at BACE Motorsports. 

HOME TRACK ADVANTAGE . Tony Raines spent Monday and Tuesday this week testing for the Brickyard 400 to be held on August 4.  As BACE Motorsports continues its limited Winston Cup effort for the 2002 season, the Brickyard will mark Raines third attempt to qualify for a Winston Cup event this season in the No. 74 StaffAmerica Chevrolet. The historic 2.5 mile racing facility rests just 200 miles south of LaPorte, IN -- Raines' hometown. For the first day of testing, Raines stood 17^th quick out of a total of 54 cars with a top speed of 175.925 mph. During the second day, he notched a top speed of 177.448 mph placing him 27^th quick.

FORE . Go to your local golf course and ask anyone playing what they're doing after they finish the 18^th hole and it's a good bet that they're not going to climb behind the wheel of a NASCAR Busch Series machine.  But that is just what Tony Raines and several other Busch Series drivers will be doing on Friday.  Raines is taking to the links prior to practicing his No. 33 Chevrolet at Gateway International Raceway in support of Series sponsor Anheuser-Busch as the company will be hosting a golf outing in their hometown.

TONY RAINES ON GATEWAY INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY . "We had a really good car here last year but engine trouble caused us to loose a lot of laps at the end of the race.  This track demands a strong set-up and that's hard to do because the corners are so different.  Turns one and two are tight in comparison to three and four which are sweeping turns.  The banking is also different in both ends.  I guess it you could call Gateway a big short track."

"The heat will definitely play a factor as well.  I think the teams and drivers will remember the how hot it was at Milwaukee, which has been the hottest race of the year so far, and hopefully everyone will be prepared.  I'm sure I'm not the only one who's thankful that this race is run at night."