FitzBradshaw Racing on board with Drive For Diversity FitzBradshaw Racing has embraced NASCARs Drive For Diversity initiative by hiring two interns who will work in the teams day-to-day front office and with its on-track performance operations starting Thursday. Stacy Sowell, an African-American, is a first-year graduate student majoring in English at North Carolina A&T University. She will focus the majority of her attention on team travel and sponsor relations. Michael Walker, also an African-American, is a senior Mechanical Engineering major at the University of Virginia. Walker will aid the team in car setup. We are in the marketing business, and it is quite evident that the United States is comprised of many people from all walks of life, said FitzBradshaw Racing co-owner Armando Fitz, a Hispanic long involved in the sport. Additionally, with NASCARs rise as a national sport and the tremendous amount of coverage the sport receives on national television, it is apparent that there is a need to reach all pockets of the population. Terry [Bradshaw] and I are excited about our companys efforts to showcase the teams diversity push.
Chevrolet has built a comfortable lead in the Bill France Performance Cup standings for manufacturers in the NASCAR Busch Series. Chevrolet has nine wins and 103 points following last Saturdays win by Kyle Busch (No. 5 Lowes/ShopVac Chevrolet) at Lowes Motor Speedway, to 75 points and three wins for Ford. Dodge is in third place with 56 points and one win, with Pontiac in fourth, with 52. The standings are determined by a scoring system in which the highest-finishing manufacturer receives nine points, the second-highest gets six, third-highest receives four and fourth-highest receives three.
Jason Lefflers #00 team claims Charlotte McDonalds POWERade title The Haas CNC Racing crew of Jason Leffler won the McDonalds POWERade Drive-Thru Pit Crew of the Race Award for last Saturdays CarQuest Auto Parts 300 at Lowes. The Brewco Motorsports crew of David Green (No. 37 Timber Wolf Chevrolet) leads the season standings, with Lefflers crew in second place.
ON THE RIGHT TRACK
Mike Bliss (No. 20 Rockwell Automation Chevrolet) improved the most positions in last years spring race at Dover, after starting 22nd and finishing ninth. Bliss, Bobby Hamilton Jr. (No. 25 U.S. Marine Corps Ford), Kasey Kahne (No. 38 Great Clips Dodge) and Ron Hornaday (No. 2 ACDelco Chevrolet) all scored top-10 finishes in both races last year at Dover. Casey Atwood (No. 14 U.S. Navy Chevrolet) collected the second win of his NASCAR Busch Series career at Dover in September, 1999. Robert Pressley (No. 47 Clorox Ford) won both Dover races in 1992. Joe Nemechek (No. 87 Cellular One Chevrolet) set the NASCAR Busch Series track qualifying record at Dover last spring with a speed of 156.747 mph. He went on to win the event. Matt Kenseth (No. 17 One-A-Day Carb Smart Ford) is tied with two other drivers for second on the list of top-five finishes at Dover, with six, while Jason Keller (No. 22 Miller High Life Ford) is tied with four others for third on that list, with five. Keller is also tied with two others for third in top 10s, with nine. Mike Wallace (No. 4 GEICO/Sport Clips Ford) won at Dover in June 1994.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
It was a bizarre turn of events that led to Todd Bodine scoring the first win of his NASCAR Busch Series career. Ernie Irvan was leading the June 1, 1991 Budweiser 200 with less than four laps to go when his engine let go on Lap 197. Irvan spun, bringing out a yellow flag that would end the race under caution. Davey Allison, who had never won a NASCAR Busch Series race, took his turn at the point. Allison, however, dropped off the pace with a fuel pickup problem and came to a stop just short of the start/finish line on the next-to-last lap. Bodine eased by to post the victory.
Fast Facts
What: MBNA America 200 (Race No. 14 of 34 in the NASCAR Busch Series).
Where: Dover International Speedway, Dover, Del.
When: 1 p.m. (ET), Saturday, June 5.
Track layout: 1-mile banked concrete oval.
Race length: 200 miles/200 laps.
Posted awards: $994,751.
TV: FX, 1 p.m. (ET).
Radio: MRN, XM Satellite.
2003 winner: Joe Nemechek.
2003 polesitter: Joe Nemechek.
Pre-race schedule (all times local): Friday Practice, 9-10:55 a.m.; Qualifying, 1:10 p.m.; final practice, 45 minutes following conclusion of NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Race.(NASCAR PR)(6-2-2004)
