News/October 2002

FRUSTRATING RACE IN MEMPHIS FOR EXCEDRIN QUICKTABS RACING TEAM

MILLINGTON, Tenn. (October 21, 2002) - It was a rough weekend for the Excedrin QuickTabs Racing team at Memphis (Tenn.) Motorsports Park.  Following a seventh-place qualifying effort, the team was forced to the back of the field before the start of the race due to an engine change.  Driver Tim Fedewa, in his second outing with the team, made the most of an unfortunate situation and finished the Sam's Town 250 in 20th place.

After posting impressive speeds in the two practice sessions leading up to qualifying on Friday morning, Fedewa turned in a speed of 116.149 miles per hour around the track during his qualifying run in the afternoon.  The No. 92 Herzog Jackson Motorsports Chevrolet was set to start in seventh place on the starting grid, the best start in both Fedewa and the team's history at the .75-mile oval near Memphis, Tennessee.

"This is a good opportunity to run with a good team," said Fedewa.  "We don't know where we all will be next year, but we can take advantage of today, and we did."  Unfortunately, shortly after the completion of the final practice of the day, the team made the decision to change motors, which would relegate the No. 92 Excedrin QuickTabs Chevrolet to the back of the field upon the start of the race.

On Saturday, Busch Series teams and fans awoke to rain showers which persisted throughout the afternoon.  NASCAR officials had no choice but to make the decision to postpone the race until Sunday.  Luckily, though earlier forecasts had called for rain on Sunday and heavy cloud cover blanketed the area, the race began as scheduled at 12:00 CT.  Fedewa picked up several positions in the early laps of the event and by the first caution on lap 13 was in 32nd place.  He continued to move patiently through the field before experiencing a tight handling condition.  Crew chief Tony (Rambo) Liberati made the decision to bring Fedewa in for a pit stop and on lap 47, the Excedrin QuickTabs Chevrolet was in for its first stop of the day.  The team went to work to change four tires, make a track bar adjustment and pull a spring rubber out of the right rear spring before sending Fedewa back out on the track in 29th place.

A yellow flag on lap 57 brought most of the leaders into the pits and Liberati elected to stay out on the track to gain track position.  Fedewa lined up in seventh place for the restart on lap 62, but continued to experience handling problems for the remainder of the event.  On lap 196, the No. 92 Monte Carlo went one lap down to leader Greg Biffle, who was setting a blistering pace.  Fedewa tried several times to make up his lap, but to no avail.  The team finished the event in 20th place, one lap down.

"The Excedrin QuickTabs Chevrolet was just a little tight all day," said Fedewa.  "The longer the run, the tighter it got and it was tough to get through traffic.  This is a good team, and we just had an off weekend.  The engine change didn't help the situation either forcing us to start from the back.  It kind of put us behind the game right from the start."

The NASCAR Busch Series heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway next weekend for the running of the Aaron's 312 on Saturday, October 26.  The race will be broadcast live on TNT and PRN radio beginning at 1:00 p.m. ET.