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Nazareth
Speedway
Stacker 2 200
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Location: Nazareth,
PA
Shape: Oval
Distance: 1
mile
Turn 1 Banking: 3
degrees
Front Straight: 800
feet
Turn 2 Banking: 4
degrees
Back Straight: 1,200
feet
Turn 3&4
Banking: 6 degrees
Banking,
Straightaways: 2.7
degrees |
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Nazareth Motor Speedway |
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Mid-Week Report
 Eleven
laps at Nazareth, some crumpled sheet metal and a 31st place finish
is not the report I wanted to file this week.
Unfortunately for the Harrah's Racing Team, we were in the wrong
place at the wrong time following the first caution at Nazareth
Speedway last weekend. After bringing out the second caution, we
spent 62 laps in the garage before we could return to the track to
run the remainder of the Stacker 2 200.
Two-thirds of the way through a tough stretch of short-track events
that I knew would be one of the biggest challenges we faced this
season, the Harrah's Team had posted a pair of top-20s on tracks
(Richmond & New Hampshire) where we hadn't been very competitive last
season. We were looking forward to applying what we'd learned to our
run in Nazareth when we were spun by Ricky Hendrick on lap-11 --
that's way too early for a group of drivers running mid-pack to get
impatient. To quote Elliott Sadler's interview after he was treated
likewise in The Winston, "I might not be Jimmy Spencer, but I'm not
going to forget who did this to us."
It was a disappointing end to a weekend that started out awfully
well. We ran in the top-15 in both practice sessions and started 20th
when the rains washed away qualifying. The car was a little off in
the early stages of the race but I knew that Jon Wolfe and the crew
would make the right adjustments on the first stop – we never got the
chance. The guys on the Harrah's crew worked really hard to replace a
bent lower control arm and a broken tie rod and get me back out on
the track to salvage some championship points, but we were looking
for a lot more.
On to Charlotte...
Charlotte is a special place for the drivers and teams in NASCAR.
It's a chance for a full weekend of racing, with the option of
sleeping in your own bed. It's also an opportunity to race in front
of friends and family that watch you on television about 30 other
weekends during the year. |
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