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LONG POND, Pa. - The NAPA Racing team with driver Michael Waltrip was relegated to a 43rd-place finish in Sunday's Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 after its Toyota engine expired. Waltrip felt something was amiss shortly into the event, and on lap 17, the driver radioed in to say the engine dropped a valve or broke a piston. The NAPA Toyota remained on track when the caution flag flew on lap 21 to gain five bonus points before being forced behind the wall on lap 24 due to the engine problem.
"I am extremely disappointed," said Waltrip who started 42nd. "I think it broke something under the hood. It didn't run right from the get-go. It's really disappointing after our wreck last weekend in Indy, and then to have this problem here, it's unfortunate. It hasn't been a good stretch of about four races for the NAPA Toyota. We were on a pretty good roll where I was happy, and then we hit this bad stretch.
"Our car was handling pretty darn good, and we thought we had a good chance at having a good run. We got behind the wall early."
The 200-lap event saw a red-flag condition for rain that lasted 45 minutes with approximately 60 laps to go. Once the race resumed, it was all about fuel mileage and strategy. The driver that faired best was Carl Edwards. Edwards rolled the dice and had enough fuel to take the checkered flag for the fourth time this season.
Rounding out the top-10 finishers were Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, David Ragan, Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, Mark Martin, Jamie McMurray and Jeff Gordon.
Michael Waltrip Racing driver Michael McDowell finished 24th, while David Reutimann, who was running just outside the top-10, fell short on the gas mileage gamble. He ran out of fuel on the final lap and had to settle for 30th.
Next Sunday, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series embarks on its second and final road-course event of the season, the Centurion Boats at The Glen at Watkins Glen International in New York. Broadcast coverage of the 22nd event of the season gets underway at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN and MRN radio.
Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 Unofficial Results:
http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2008/21/data/results_unofficial.html
Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 Lap-By-Lap:
http://www.nascar.com/2008/races/lapbylap/08/03/lap.by.lap.pocono2/index.html
NASCAR Sprint Cup Driver Standings (Waltrip - 32nd):
http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2008/data/standings_unofficial.html
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