|
All
Press Releases by Deborah Renshaw
July 25, 2005
Deborah Renshaw Survives Elements in Memphis
Millington, TN – Deborah Renshaw battled the
heat on her first visit to the Memphis Motorsports Park but
she kept her cool and managed to guide her No. 8 EasyCare
DODGE to a 24th place finish in the running of the O’Reilly
200 on Saturday night.
“We really battled out there all night,” stated
Deborah. “We had a top-15 truck for sure but we had a
flat tire there with a few laps left and we lost all of our
track position so we settled for the 24th spot. I battled
a tight truck for the most of the night but we kept adjusting
on it and it was pretty decent there the last 50 laps or so.
The heat was not real bad until right there at the end with
the two red flags that they put out – but that was also
a blessing as they brought us some water and I needed that.
”
In sweltering heat during the day on Saturday, Deborah turned
her first laps around the .75-mile track during two practice
sessions. Her and the BHR2 team were happy with the handling
of their truck and set their sights on qualifying. Deborah
would qualify for the 200-lap event in the 26th position.
Before a large crowd on a hot evening, the green flag flew
and the No. 8 DODGE truck would fall back a handful of spots
while fighting a “tight” condition. An early caution
in the race allowed for Deborah to come down pit road for
an early track bar adjustment on her truck. This adjustment
seemed to really help and she started to cautiously work her
way through the field. Some early pit strategy had her in
the 19th position on a lap 37 restart but that turned out
to be not the best place to be as a few laps back under green
Deborah was spun out from a truck directly behind her. Deborah
almost had it saved and did a great job from keeping the truck
off the wall. She would immediately come down pit road for
four fresh tires and return to action in the 32nd spot.
“I got hit in the left rear by the truck behind me and
I almost had it saved,” said Renshaw. “That was
just some short track racing I guess but track position was
so important out there tonight and we had used a little strategy
to gain some of it but that lost it all for us.”
Deborah would work the middle part of the race in trying
to regain that lost track position and came down pit road
once again for service on lap 115. With one more adjustment
made for the handling on her No. 8 DODGE, Deborah would see
herself start to move forward in the field one more time and
get inside the top-20 with 50 laps remaining in the race.
She would remain in that position until a right front tire
failure sent her lightly into the wall and brought out the
final caution of the evening. Once again, Deborah would loose
her track position as she came down pit road for a new right
side tires. With the customary short track action in the NASCAR
Craftsman Truck Series, a green-white-checker finish would
see Deborah come home with the 24th place finish.
“That was great short track racing out there tonight,”
said Deborah. “We were better than 24th place tonight
and for my first visit to the track I am happy with our performance.
The heat made it a little difficult there at the end but in
all it was not that bad. The guys on this BHR2 team endured
the heat all day and still put together great stops for me
tonight. We had a great team effort tonight and we should
all feel good about that.”
Deborah and her team will enjoy a week off before heading
to Indianapolis Raceway Park for another short track battle
under the lights on Friday August 5th.
|
