TOP-TWENTY FOR DAVE BLANEY IN THE TOYOTA SAVE MART 350 AT INFINEON RACEWAY IN SONOMA

Source: Bill Davis Racing Media Relations
Date: 06/23/2008

SONOMA, California – The Caterpillar Racing team followed up a respectable 16th-place qualifying effort on Friday at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. with a 20th-place showing in the Toyota Save Mart 350 Sunday afternoon. The top 20 effort was the fifth for the Bill Davis Racing crew in the past seven events.

The No. 22 Bill Davis Racing team was the 4th of 47 teams to take to the track for qualifying Friday afternoon. Blaney posted a speed of 91.158 mph around the 1.99-mile road course, which earned the team the 16th starting position for Sunday’s event.

The green flag waved for the start of the event, and several laps in veteran driver Dave Blaney communicated to crew chief Tommy Baldwin that the Caterpillar Toyota was very loose. Despite that and losing several positions in the early laps, Blaney was running laps as quick as the leaders just before the first caution flag of the day flew on lap 30. Baldwin called for four fresh tires, fuel and a track bar adjustment during the ensuing stop. Several cars opted not to make pit stops and Blaney returned to the track for the lap 33 restart in the 25th spot.

There were several different race strategies taking place during the first road course event of the season and once Baldwin knew the car could make it the remainder of the race on only one more stop, he called Blaney into the pits for fuel on lap 38. A full-course caution occurred on lap 70 with Blaney holding down the 22nd position. Though the caution threw off Baldwin’s strategy, he opted to bring the Caterpillar Toyota into the pits for routine service a wedge adjustment to help the handling of the machine, which Blaney said needed more forward bite. The 43-car field took the green flag for the restart on lap 75 with the No. 22 Camry lined up in the 28th spot.

The racing began to get serious with fewer than 10 laps to go and a multi-car incident involving several of those at the front of the pack occurred on lap 105. Blaney stood in 22nd place for the restart several laps later and another on-track accident on lap 109 forced a green/white/checkered flag finish. Blaney held his ground during the last several laps and took the checkered flag in 20th place. The top-20 finish helped the team pick up one spot in the NASCAR Sprint Cup owner points battle and the team now holds down the 28th position.

The Caterpillar Racing team will head to New Hampshire International Speedway next weekend for the running of the Lenox Industrial Tools 301. Qualifying for the event is scheduled for Friday, June 27. Coverage of the event is scheduled for a 2 p.m. ET start and will broadcast on TNT (television), MRN (radio) and Sirius Satellite Radio. Last season the No. 22 team started from the pole position for this event.

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