Double the Pleasure

Two days of racing at Kentucky Speedway brings Raines his second third place finish at the 1.50-mile facility

The official time for the Kroger 300 at Kentucky Speedway was listed as 2 hours, 21 minutes and 33 seconds but in reality from the drop of the green flag it would take over 19 hours before the field would see the checkered flag. It was also a long road to a third place finish for Tony Raines and his Bayer Consumer Care Team this weekend.  After heavy rains halted the race at lap 86 on Saturday night, Raines and company would have to return on Sunday for the completion of the event, scoring their best finish of the 2002 season.

Raines returned to Kentucky Speedway, where he had finished in third position in the inaugural event at the 1.50-mile facility in 2001.  The BACE Motorsports Team brought back the same car they had run the previous year at the track looking to repeat the strong performance.

The weekend started with a disappointing qualifying run resulting in the 30^th starting position with a lap time of 31.851 seconds at a lap speed of 169.539.  Rookie, Scott Riggs took the pole with a lap time of 30.887 seconds.  Raines would bounce back in Friday's final practice placing his Aleve Chevrolet in the 12^th spot after rain once again would play a factor, shortening the Happy Hour session.

With the drop of the green flag Saturday night in Kentucky, Raines began his charge to the front of the field.  The first caution flag of the race would come out on lap two after Stanton Barrett spun in turn three.  Raines took the restart on lap four in the 28^th position and by lap sixteen, the No. 33 Aleve Chevrolet had moved into the 23^rd position. 

On lap 24, crew chief Michael "Dover" Kadlecik asked his driver how his Chevrolet was performing. Raines radioed to his team that his car was tight off of turn two.  It would be just eight laps later that the second caution of the race came out after the No. 36 piloted by Hank Parker, Jr. found the wall in turn one and with the field under yellow, Raines brought his Chevrolet down pit road to the attention of the Bayer Consumer Care Team.  The No. 33 Chevrolet received four fresh Goodyear Tires and a full tank of fuel as well as a track bar and an air pressure adjustment to free up the tight condition that Raines had been fighting in the turns.  Two positions were picked up on pit road after a strong pit stop by the No. 33 Team and Raines took the green flag for the restart in the 21^st spot.

There would not be much time under the green flag for Raines to see how the changes made on pit road affected his Aleve Chevrolet before the yellow flag would fall again for a spin in turn two.  Caution came over the track on lap 42.  "It feels tighter than it was before [the changes]," Raines radioed to his team during the caution period.  "I'm not sure if the tight condition is worse or if it just because I've been in heavy traffic."

Raines would not pit during the caution and resumed the race in the 18^th position.  In less than twenty laps, he would advance his Aleve Chevrolet five positions moving into the 13^th spot.  Also on lap 55, he recorded his fastest lap time of race thus far.  The fourth caution of the race fell on lap 70 after the No. 18 machine hit the wall between turns three and four.  Raines again would radio that the car was still "a little tight off [the turns]" but again decided the condition was not serious enough for a trip to pit road. 

Raines took the restart in the 13^th spot passing the Randy LaJoie's No. 7 machine for 12^th on lap 76 and would battle with the No. 19 and No. 40 machines for several laps as he made his way closer to the top ten.  The fifth caution of the night fell on lap 82 after a multi-car accident occurred in turn four and on the frontstretch collecting four cars.  The green flag would not drop again before the rains came causing the race to be red flagged on lap 86, just 14 laps short of the half way mark.  Raines and the No. 33 Team elected not to visit pit road during the caution laps before the rains and advanced into the fifth position.  After more than a two hour rain delay where efforts were made to dry the track, the skies opened again and NASCAR decided to restart the race from lap 87 at 1:00 pm on Sunday.

"Guys, you have to put yourself back in this race as if we've just raced 86 laps without taking any time off," Kadlecik radioed to his team as the engines fired for the second time of the Kroger 300 at 12:55 pm on Sunday.  "I know that's hard to do but I know you can do it.  We'll be coming down pit road as soon as it's open."

Raines pulled his No. 33 Chevrolet down pit road on lap 88 for four scuff tires and a full tank of fuel.  The only adjustment that was made was an air pressure adjustment returning the tires to the same pressure they had been at the start of the race Saturday night.

Raines retuned to the track in the 21^st position out a total of 36 cars who would take the restart.  He took the green flag on lap 90 from the 20^th spot after the No. 23 was black flagged.  Once again, Raines wasted no time moving to the front, picking up eight positions before the half way point at lap 100.  On lap 105, Raines radioed that the car was tight beginning in the middle of the turn as well as coming off of the turns. Caution would fall for the first time on Sunday and the sixth time of race after a two car accident in turn two.  Under the direction of Kadlecik, Raines came down pit road to add a rubber in the right rear to try and correct the handling of the No. 33 and for fuel only.  The decision to pit positioned Raines as one of only a handful of cars that had a chance to finish the race without having to return to pit road for fuel.

Raines took the restart on lap 121 in the 17^th position and moved quickly to the high groove on the track passing a line of cars that did not get a good jump on the restart, propelling the Aleve Chevrolet into the 13^th spot after only one lap.  On lap 145, the lead cars were forced to begin to pit for fuel during green flag conditions.  The No. 92 and No. 2 machines pitted first with the No. 46, 87 and 60 cars pitting on lap 151.  Raines continued to pick up spots on the field as the lead cars continued to file down pit road. 

By lap 158, the No. 33 was in the fourth position.  Raines passed the No. 4 of Mike Wallace for the third position on lap 166.  Scott Riggs currently held the top position with a strong lead of almost eight seconds before the second place car of Jamie McMurray.  Riggs' team believed that he would be nine laps short of completing the race on fuel.  Kadlecik had decided that the No. 33 would push the envelope and attempt to finish the race without returning for fuel.

The fuel strategy would only last for a few more laps as the caution fell on lap 173 for debris on the backstretch.  The first and second place machines of Riggs and McMurray would pit as would the No. 33.  Riggs and McMurray would only take fuel and make adjustments to their cars.  Raines would pit on lap 175 for four tires and fuel. A stellar pit stop by the Bayer Consumer Care Crew would return Raines to the track in the sixth position.   The No. 60 car of Greg Biffle took over the lead with the No. 92, 10, 27 and 12 cars rounding out the top five. 

With the restart on lap 178, Raines made a charge to the front. He passed the No. 12, 27 and 10 cars within three laps of the restart moving into the third position.  Todd Bodine in the No. 92 machine passed the No. 60 of Greg Biffle on lap 190 for the lead and the caution flag fell for the final time of the race on 195 for oil on the track.  The race would be red flagged and the restart would fall on lap 198.  The No. 23 of Scott Wimmer moved passed Raines in the No. 33 machine on the restart but Raines would regain and hold the third position for the finish of the race. 

Bodine and Biffle would battle for the win for the final three laps all the way down to the checkered flag which they crossed side by side with Bodine winning by only three-thousandths of a second.

"This year has been pretty tough for us so this is a great finish for us," Raines stated.  "It seems we've been running well all season and have had things happen out of our control so hopefully this helps to turn things around for us."

"Last night I thought we had a pretty good car," Raines continued.  "At the start of the race today it seemed tight in the center of the corners and tight off so we had to make adjustments during the day.  I think the car was still pretty good but we probably were not as strong as the No. 92 car."

"It looked like a pretty exciting finish in front of me," Raines stated when asked about Biffle and Bodine racing door to door for the win.  "Actually it was pretty exciting until Biffle spun in the grass right in front of me and I thought that I was going to wreck the car in the last 150 feet of the race.  I had no doubt they were going to wreck, I just wish they had started earlier," Raines joked.  "You know with those two participants, that was a guaranteed crash."

Raines advanced two positions into the 16^th spot in the NASCAR Busch Series drivers' point standings, 294 points out of the top ten.  Team owner Brian Baumgardner also gained positions in the owners' point standings passing three teams into the 19th spot.

The No. 33 Team and the NASCAR Busch Series will have a well-deserved weekend off before they head to The Milwaukee Mile on June 30.  Raines considers The Milwaukee Mile as a home track advantage after living there during his career in ASA. The race will be aired on FX and broadcast live on MRN.