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Fastenal Team Turns Top-25 Start into Top-10 Run at Memphis
October 25th, 2008 - Memphis, TN
Source: CGRFS PR
Kevin Hamlin and the No.40 Fastenal Dodge Team charged their way toward the front of the 43-car NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) field Saturday at the Memphis (Tenn.) Motorsports Park, racing as high as fourth and maintaining a top-10 run the majority of their effort, before a spin on lap 151 sent the No.40 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (CGRFS) Dodge slamming into the outside wall between turns three and four. The impact damaged the blue and white Dodge beyond repair and sent the Fastenal Team back to the truck with a 35th-place finish. |
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Lining up 22nd to take the initial green, Hamlin and his CGRFS team were picking up spots throughout the entire first 125 laps of the race. Just 40 laps into the show, Hamlin was inside the top 15 after utilizing an early yellow flag to top off with fuel and to take four tires along with right-rear air pressure and wedge adjustments.
From there, the team proceeded to race up to fourth place by lap 111, before stopping under green to make its second stop of the day for four tires, fuel and a slight air pressure adjustment. Unfortunately, an untimely yellow waved less than 10 laps later that knocked the majority of the field off the lead lap, including the Fastenal Dodge. With just five cars on the lead lap, the No.40 Dodge stood in 10th place, two laps off the lead lap. Crew Chief Brad Parrott was looking to see how his team could rebound from the untimely yellow, when Hamlin radioed in to say there was something wrong with his race car.
Then, it was on lap 151 when the team realized their blue and white Dodge had spun out on the track and received major damage from the incident. After evaluating the wrecked car in the garage, the team reluctantly called it day in 35th place.
The Fastenal Team will head to Texas Motor Speedway next weekend to run the O’Reilly Challenge on Saturday, November 1. The 200-lap race is scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m. ET with live coverage on ESPN2.
Kevin Hamlin: “We got behind the eight ball a bit in first practice, but the Fastenal guys thrashed to fix the right-rear corner for final practice. We didn't qualify like we wanted, but Brad [Parrott] and the boys gave me a car to drive from 22nd to fourth. We either had a tire going down or a funky set because the car went from being the fastest and second-fastest car on the track to being so free I was just hanging on before it jumped away from me getting into three. It was my privilege to drive the Fastenal Dodge this week, and for this race team.”
About Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates
With 14 wins in 2008, the team is enjoying its most successful season in history as it continues to add to its tally of 103 trips to victory lane. Chip Ganassi created his own one-car IndyCar team in 1990 and established a partnership with a new sponsor, Target. Today, his teams include two IRL IndyCars, and along with Felix Sabates he has two cars in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, one entry in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and a Daytona Prototype in the world of Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series racing. Ganassi’s IndyCar teams have amassed six Championships and 64 wins since 1994; his NASCAR teams have 12 wins and two Rookie-of-the-Year titles; and the Grand American team has won three Rolex Series Daytona Prototype Championships and are the three-time defending Champions of the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Chip Ganassi Racing operates out of state-of-the-art race shop facilities in Indianapolis, Ind., and Concord, N.C., with a corporate office in Pittsburgh, Pa.
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