News/September 2002

AS SEASON WINDS DOWN, EXCEDRIN QUICKTABS RACING TEAM LOOKS TO DOVER AND BEYOND

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (September 16, 2002) – Fresh off a successful two-day testing session at Kansas Speedway and then a rare weekend off, the Excedrin QuickTabs Racing team heads to Dover (Del.) International Speedway this weekend for the running of the All-American Heroes 200. With just eight races remaining on the 34-race 2002 NASCAR Busch Series schedule, thoughts of the championship race begin to weigh on everybody’s minds.

Todd Bodine and the Excedrin QuickTabs Racing team stand less than 100 points out of the top-10 in the NASCAR Busch Series owner point standings. The Herzog Jackson Motorsports team has finished in the top 10 in each of the two previous years it has competed in the series and would like to pull off a hat trick. The team sits solidly in 12th place, a position it has held since the middle of August.

“It’s important for the future of any team to finish in the top 10,” said Bodine. “Sponsors are in short supply these days so you better make the ones you have happy. We’ve got a win and a pole so I would consider it a successful season, but this is a better team than where we stand right now in points and we’ve got eight races left to get back where we belong. We had a couple of problems in June and July that really hurt us, but we aren’t ready to give up and we’re pretty determined to make sure this Herzog Jackson Motorsports team gets the recognition it deserves.”

Crew chief Tony Liberati and the team have prepared HJM-12 for this weekend’s event at Dover (Del.) International Speedway. This is not the same car the team ran in the earlier event at Dover, or on the concrete of Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. The team has opted to bring the car which ran at Pikes Peak (Colo.) International Raceway in July and at Darlington (S.C) Raceway two races ago. Bodine drove the car to a 17th place finish after encountering a flat tire and a carburetor problem in the rain-shortened event in Darlington, South Carolina. The team’s day also ended early in Pikes Peak, so there’s no telling just how good this particular car really is. Bodine and Liberati hope that it’s up to the challenge of the Monster Mile in Dover, Delaware.

The Excedrin QuickTabs Racing team finished 12th in the spring race on the 1.0-mile oval in Dover. Bodine and Jimmy Spencer made contact just past the halfway point of the event, which caused minor front-end damage to the No. 92 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Despite the damage, Bodine was able to hold off a late-race charge from Joe Nemechek for a top-15 finish.