Fuente: © PPI Motorsports
http://www.ppi-racing.com/

NASCAR: PPI MOTORSPORTS: Tide Ride Ends Up Battered and Bruised at New Hampshire

Kvapil Force To Retire With Four Laps To Go To Finish 35th

/noticias.info/ LOUDON, N.H. (July 16, 2006) – A bizarre set of circumstances led to a 35th-place finish in Sunday’s running of the Lenox Industrial Tools 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway. It all culminated when Michael Waltrip came to a sudden stop on the track under caution-flag conditions after an altercation with Robby Gordon. Kvapil unaware of the incident was in the process of warming up his tires for the upcoming restart when he collided into Waltrip. The Tide/Downy Chevrolet Monte Carlo was damaged beyond repair and was forced to call it day. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch went on to capture his first race of the Nextel Cup season in overtime with a victory at the track known as the “Magic Mile.”

“I’m not sure what happened out there,” said Kvapil after climbing out of his badly damaged No. 32 machine. “I was weaving back and forth getting my tires ready for the final laps of the race and all of a sudden, Michael’s stopped dead on the track and I have no where to go. I slammed into him.

“It’s a shame. I think we had a decent car. We were shooting for a top-20 but that was challenged when Schrader got into me during the opening laps of the race. It wasn’t his fault. It was one of those typical short-track deals. It caused us to spin and hit the wall but the damage wasn’t all that bad. We raced as hard as we could to get our lap back but then there in the end; we got caught up in two more wrecks. I love this place but I’m glad to leave it after the day we had.”

The start of the race weekend fared much better. On Friday, Kvapil recorded the 30th quickest time during Bud Pole qualifying after participating in an afternoon practice (30.000 seconds or 126.960 miles per hour) session. The driver was pleased with his effort considering his qualifying lap was the best of the day for the Tide/Downy race team.

"We've been fighting it all day,” remarked the driver whose time was 29.825 seconds or 127.705 miles per hour. “We've been fighting the handling for most of the day, trying to get the car pointed in the right direction and it's a pretty typical problem here. But I’m pleased since it’s the best lap we've turned all day. It's not bad for the Tide/Downy Chevy."

Taking the Bud Pole was Ryan Newman with a time of 29.370 seconds or 129.683 miles per hour. It was the fourth pole of his career at the 1.0-mile oval.

Then on Saturday, the Tide/Downy team made respectable gains after recording the 28th (29.924 seconds 127.282 miles per hour) and 26th (29.956 seconds or 127.146 miles per hour) fastest times during the final two practice sessions leading up to the running of the Lenox Industrial Tools 300.

When the race got underway on Sunday, Kvapil was just getting settled in for 300 laps when the No. 21 car made contact with the Tide Ride. It sent Kvapil spinning into the wall on lap 19. The Tide Ride sustained damage to the left-rear of the car as well as its dry brake for the fuel. The pit crew worked quickly on laps 21 and 22 to repair the sheet metal especially in the area where fuel is added. The driver had to drop to 43rd place after getting as high as 28th place but overall, he said the car was not damaged too badly, and was very drivable.

The race restarted with the Tide/Downy Chevrolet recording impressive lap times. The only handling issue was it was tight before the center of the corners and into the gas. By the 80th lap, the driver had maneuvered his way up to 33rd place despite the earlier setback. However, for the pit crew, their biggest concern had to do with the car’s dry brake system. It had come loose during the wreck so the crew was hoping for a caution flag to have ample time to fix the problem. As luck would have it, and the only time during this race that luck was on their side, they were able to make repairs on laps 102 and 103. When the green waved on lap 106, Kvapil was in 38th place, one lap down.

During the next 100 laps of the race, the Tide Ride was rolling tight through the center of the corners. Tire wear also dramatically affected the way the car performed after 60 laps so on lap 166, the driver fell a second lap down. The result had Kvapil running against drivers Dale Jarrett, Michael Waltrip and Kyle Petty for position.

Lap 215 saw Kvapil being the fastest driver of the group that was down two laps. It put him in contention to get one of his laps back after Scott Wimmer was awarded the Lucky Dog. No driver at that time was down 1 lap so Kvapil was in line for the next Lucky Dog. Unfortunately, he fell two laps short of claiming the award when Jeff Green was put down a lap as the caution flag flew on lap 233.

“We just couldn’t catch a break,” elaborated the driver. “I thought we got the Lucky Dog and the way the cautions were flying, I believed we had an excellent shot at getting back on the lead lap. Unfortunately, our efforts to rebound from the early wreck began to deteriorate.”

While running in 32nd place with two laps to go, Kvapil had to take evasive action to avoid hitting the stopped car of Clint Bowyer. He managed to spin without hitting anything but the move took a toll on the tires so crew chief Gary Putnam had his driver come onto pit road to bolt on four fresh tires before the green-white-checkered finish. Upon returning to the track in preparation for the dash to the end, Kvapil suddenly came upon Michael Waltrip’s badly damaged machine. According to reports, Waltrip and Robby Gordon got together during the yellow flag … a possible retaliation occurred. Kvapil was unaware of the situation or the fact that Waltrip had come to a dead stop. The Tide Ride had no where to go but into the 55 car. This time, the No. 32 machine was damaged beyond repair and was forced to limp into the garage area as the final four laps in overtime were completed in the Lenox Industrial Tools 300.

“This whole day was down right bizarre,” concluded the driver. “I had to try and take evasive action two times in five laps. This whole day was weird and we just didn’t need it. I thought we were on an upswing starting in May but the last four weeks have been really tough on this Tide/Downy race team. Hopefully, our luck will start changing. We had a decent run at Pocono the first time around so maybe it will be good to us again. I certainly hope so.”

Following Busch to the checkered flag with their fuel gauges on red were Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, Mark Martin, Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Jeff Burton, Kasey Kahne, Jimmie Johnson and Scott Riggs.

Next week on the NASCAR Nextel Cup schedule is the Pennsylvania 500 on July 23 at Pocono Raceway. Back in June, the Tide team started 38th and finished 19th.

Unofficial Race Results:
http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2006/19/data/results_unofficial.html

Unofficial Owner Standings: 37th place – 155 points out of top 35

COMING UP NEXT:
Event: Pennsylvania 500
Location: Pocono Raceway
Date: July 23
Television: TNT at 1:30 p.m.
Radio: MRN & XM Satellite radio networks
Defending Race Champion: Kurt Busch
Defending Pole Sitter: Jamie McMurray

Qualifying is scheduled for Friday, July 21 at 3:40 p.m. notas_de_prensa_archivo