An ailing David Stremme was forced to climb out of the #14 Navy Accelerate your life Dodge Charger halfway through the Telcel-Motorola Mexico 200 Sunday. J.J. Yeley filled in for the last 40-plus laps and directed the car to a 22nd place finish. Stremme visited the infield care center prior to the race for flu-like symptoms, but still climbed aboard his Navy Dodge for the beginning of the race. Starting 36th, Stremme slowly climbed through the field over the first quarter of the 80 lap race, reaching as high as 19th on lap 14. After a green flag pit stop on lap 15, Stremme radioed his crew that his illness was getting worse. He battled the sickness along with the other 42 drivers in the field for the next 20 laps, falling to 36th in the process, before finally yielding the car to Yeley on lap 37. While Stremme was taken to the infield care center to be treated for the illness, Yeley sailed the Navy Dodge through the field over the final half of the race, finishing in 22nd, one spot behind teammate Tim Fedewa. Carlos Contreras, who wheeled the third FitzBradshaw Racing entry in the race, hovered among the top-10 all day before gear box problems with seven laps to go forced him from the race. With the 22nd-place finish, Stremme moved from 19th to 14th in the driver points standings, 233 points behind leader Kevin Harvick. Stremme said: “It was really hard for me to tell the crew that I had to climb out of our Navy Accelerate your life Dodge. We showed early in the race that we had a good race car and I was looking forward to having a great finish in my first career road coarse race. However, as the race went on, it was clear that my illness was not going to allow me to finish. Thankfully, J.J. (Yeley) was able to step in and direct our car to a positive finish.”(FitzBradshaw Racing PR)(3-7-2005)
