Raines Pilots the Aleve Chevrolet to a 16^th Place Finish at MIS

BROOKLYN, MICHIGAN (August 17^th, 2001)  After posting a third place finish in last season's event at the Michigan International Speedway, Tony Raines and the Bayer Consumer Care Team were excited about returning to the two-mile speedway in hopes of finding victory lane in the Cabela's 250.  Raines would quickly find his way to the front of the field until handling problems shortly before the half-way point of the race forced the Indiana native to nurse the Aleve Chevrolet home to a 16^th place finish.

On Friday, inclement weather conditions pushed Busch Series qualifying back to a 4:15 pm starting time and Raines looked to notch a solid starting spot for Saturday's event.  Raines would take to the track by posting a timed lap of 40.273 seconds at a speed of 178.780 mph.  That time would place Raines in the 35^th place spot for the start of the Cabela's 250.  "It's not exactly where we wanted or expected to be," stated Raines.  "We will have to make the needed adjustments for race trim and go from there."

On Saturday, Raines went straight to work on the field from the drop of the green flag as he looked to gain valuable track position early in the race.  Raines powered his Aleve Chevrolet toward the front by gaining 13 positions in 12 laps when the caution was given to the field for a spin in turn four. 

"We need to find about two tenths worth of speed to be a leader," mentioned interim crew chief Doug Richert to his driver via team radio.

"Yeah, I am just a little tight in the throttle in turns three and four," responded Raines.  "I can run the middle to the bottom but I think the top groove may be the place to be by the end of the race."

Under the caution, Raines elected to follow the leaders down pit road for four fresh Goodyear tires and a full tank of gas.  The Bayer Consumer Care Crew completed this service to the Aleve Chevrolet in 17.85 seconds and returned Raines to the track in the 16^th place spot. 

Many teams chose to only take no or two tires under this first caution.  This would play in Raines' favor, as the track would stay green for the next 44 laps.  Raines would battle the machines of Joe Nemechek, Jimmy Spencer and Jaime McMurray as he piloted the No. 33 Aleve ride into the top-ten for the first time on the afternoon.  By lap 40, Raines found himself running in the ninth place spot while quickly gaining ground on those drivers running in the seventh and eighth place spots.

Raines would radio that the car was "tightening up" on lap 51 as he fought to stay inside the top-ten until a much-needed caution was shown to the field for debris on lap 58.  

"I am tight, tight, tight," radioed Raines.  "It was tightening up pretty bad and was getting worse toward the end of the run."

Under the yellow, Raines hit pit road in an effort to free the car up through the center of the corner as the Bayer Consumer Care Crew would take one and a half rounds of wedge out of the left rear in addition to a set of sticker tires and a full tank of fuel. 

"The car just got real tight all of a sudden," radioed Raines to his crew.

Raines would restart the race in the 13^th place position on lap 61 and would immediately recognize that something was amiss with the Aleve Chevrolet over the next couple of laps. 

"I am terribly tight and I don't know what to do to fix it," stated Raines.  "Those changes didn't help at all."  With this in mind, the No. 33 crew began to fear that something might have broken in the Aleve Chevrolet's suspension area.

Even while trying to direct an ill handling racecar, Raines was still able to hold on to the 13^th place position when the caution flag was shown to the field on lap 78 for debris.

With the caution out, Raines directed the Aleve Chevrolet to the attention of his crew where the Bayer Consumer Care team would make wholesale changes to the car in an effort to correct the tight characteristics the car was demonstrating.  The crew placed a spring rubber in the right rear and went up two rounds on the track bar.  Raines was down and away in 19.1 seconds.  With fresh tires and new changes to the car, Raines would hopefully have what he needed to grab yet another top-ten on the season.

Raines restarted the race in the 17^th position and would pilot the Aleve Chevrolet up to the ninth place spot with just 20 laps remaining in the race.  However, over the final 15 laps, the tight handling condition that had be Raines' thorn all day would once again give the him trouble as he slowly dropped out of the top-ten to a 16^th place finishing spot.

"The car started off like a rocket ship," stated Raines following the event.  "I don't know exactly why it tightened up as quickly or bad as it did.  Something may have broken.  We gave it a great effort, but I would have liked to see where we could have finished without having to battle that tight condition for most of the day."

With that finish, Raines remains 12^th in the NASCAR Busch Series driver standings with 2492 points to his credit. 

The Busch Boys return to the high banks of Bristol Motor Speedway this coming Friday night for the Food City 250.  Raines will look to better his 11^th place finish he captured here during the spring event.  The action begins at approximately 7:30 pm Friday evening.