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WALTRIP GETS CAUGHT IN ANOTHER DRIVER'S MISHAP
JOLIET, Ill. - Michael Waltrip and the NAPA Racing team had to settle for a 36th-place finish during Saturday night's LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. The team's bad break occurred on lap 111 when rookie Patrick Carpentier hit the Turn 4 wall. Waltrip took evasive action to avoid Carpentier's car but ended up being hit by Jeff Burton. The contact sent the NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota sliding across the infield grass causing significant damage to the front splitter. The team worked vigorously throughout the race to enable Waltrip to make it to the finish.
"I have so many mixed emotions about tonight," said Waltrip, who started the 267-lap event in 28th place after qualifying was canceled on Thursday due to rain. "The NAPA team did a really good job this weekend to prepare our Toyota for the race. We've struggled at tracks like this, but I feel like we are finally gaining on it. I was racing with Jeff Burton on the lead lap and when we were coming off Turn 4, Patrick Carpentier hit the wall. I had to dodge Patrick and Jeff wasn't able to dodge me. We got crashed. For the rest of the night, it was all about survival. Not only survival, but we were trying our hardest to get all we could. We struggled. We worked on the splitter all night. We lost time versus patching it up. Whether you are me out in the car or Bobby Kennedy on the pit box or the team in the pit, it is very hard. It is very hard to think that every decision we made was correct. I think there was a time when Bobby thought the splitter would be OK and it wasn't. It caused us to lose some time. There was also a time when we came back to pit road to work on it and ultimately, that ended up being a mistake."
The LifeLock.com 400 got underway shortly after 8 p.m. ET. Teams were notified during the Drivers Meeting that a mandatory caution would be thrown on lap 35 and without interruption; Kyle Busch led the way to the yellow. Waltrip notified his team that his car was bouncing, otherwise it was OK. Crew chief Bobby Kennedy chose to make a wedge adjustment to shorten the car's travel. Track bar and air pressure were also changed along with bolting on four fresh tires and adding fuel. Waltrip returned to the track in 39th place.
The next green-flag sequence showed the NAPA Camry improving as Waltrip made headway to gain seven spots on the track. The car was no longer bouncing so it was better, but now it was tight off the corners. Another chance to make adjustments came on lap 48 when Denny Hamlin stalled on the track. The NAPA pit crew went to work on lap 50 to change the track bar and air pressure. Four fresh tires and more fuel was also a part of the service. Waltrip returned to the track in 32nd place and Jeff Gordon took over the top spot.
The race went back to green on lap 52. The NAPA Camry was not responding favorably in the early stages as it was backing in on entry and plowing off the corners. However, as the laps ticked away, Waltrip's lap times picked up placing the team just outside the top 25. Green flag pit stops soon began to take place on lap 92. The NAPA team chose to pit on lap 102 for a track bar adjustment, four fresh tires and fuel. Waltrip returned to the track and nine laps later avoided Patrick Carpentier's trouble, but was struck from behind by Jeff Burton. The contact brought out the third caution of the race.
From that point on, the NAPA team worked hard to keep Waltrip on track. The biggest challenge was repairing the front splitter that was located just below the front air dam. It sustained major damage when the car slid through the water-logged infield. The crew made repairs under caution on laps 114, 115, 143, 144, 178, 179 and 180. Their hard work allowed Waltrip to make it to the finish, but all and all, it was still a very disappointing night for the NAPA team.
"The reason why we ended up 36th is because we were racing hard with Jeff Burton and got caught up in an accident," added Waltrip. "We were able to compete with him and he's right up front in the points. He ended up with a 19-place finish which I think was a realistic result for us too.
"It's hard for me to just say, 'Everything is going to be OK. It will be fine'. You just want everybody to know that our heart and soul is into this. We are racing hard here and darn it, we didn't get what we deserved.
"Regardless, I will take positives out of what happened at Chicagoland. I know we ran better on this track than we have run at these types of tracks all year. I wish we could have kept our streak of finishing on the lead lap going. We've had four consecutive finishes on the lead lap and that's a really good accomplishment for us. That means a lot of good things are happening for us, so we'll get the streak back up and running at Indy."
Winning Toyota's its eighth victory of the season and his seventh was Kyle Busch. Rounding out the top-10 finishers were Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Greg Biffle, Tony Stewart, Brian Vickers, Matt Kenseth, David Ragan, Martin Truex Jr. and Ryan Newman.
Michael Waltrip Racing teammate David Reutimann turned in a solid performance to earn 14th place. Unfortunately for Michael McDowell, he was relegated to 43rd. McDowell was wrecked by Jason Leffler on the first lap, but was able to continue on after the team worked on the car in the pits.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is off this coming weekend. Teams will be back in action on July 27th for the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard on the hallowed grounds of Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Broadcast coverage of the 20th event of the season starts at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN and the IMS radio network.
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