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Press Releases by Deborah Renshaw
October 24, 2005
Grit and Determination Fuel Deborah Renshaw at Martinsville
Martinsville, VA –Fueled by grit and determination,
Deborah Renshaw behind the wheel of the No. 8 Heritage Dodge
had a strong run during the Kroger 200 at the Martinsville
Speedway Saturday afternoon.
Renshaw quickly gained steam from her 27th place starting
position and with heads-up driving, avoided the multiple collisions
on the racetrack during the 200-lap event. Battling a tight
race truck, she went a lap down but the “lucky dog”
award put her back on the lead lap where she stayed the rest
of the event.
“What an awesome day,” Renshaw said. “I had
a lot of fun out there today. I felt that I was on my game
except my truck was very, very tight. Shawn (Parker, crew
chief) explained that I wasn’t the only one having the
same trouble so I knew I just needed to hold on and get the
best finish I could.”
Renshaw showed her stuff after the Parker-led pit crew gave
her the adjustments she needed. She continued to work her
way through the field gingerly maneuvering through both slower
truck and lapped trucks which would eventually put her inside
the top-15 late in the race. Renshaw times kept improving
and by lap 150 her times were 2/10th faster than the leader
while she was running 25th.
“My spotter, Fat Boy did an awesome job today,”
Renshaw explained. “He was right on it when there was
trouble on the track and I was able to clear the accidents.
At one point they were telling me my times were faster then
the leader and that was cool. I had an excellent truck and
those BHR2 guys in the pits had some awesome stops.”
Strategy and patience helped to keep Renshaw away from the
accidents and assisted her in breaking into the top-15. .
Renshaw gained respect of veteran drivers in the field by
racing clean as she battled with them for position on a track
that is very difficult to make a pass. She had just passed
Rick Crawford for the 15th position and was headed to take
away 14th from Johnny Benson when contact with Brendan Gaughan
sent her spinning and bringing out the caution. Renshaw restarted
in the 27th position with less then 20 laps to go and managed
to pick off another spot from Jimmy Spencer bringing home
a 26th place position.
“I’m disappointed because I knew we had a top-15
truck,” Renshaw said. “I knew I passed (Rick) Crawford
clean for the 15th spot and I was up on the wheel ready to
take away the 14th spot away from Johnny Benson when Brendan
(Gaughan) got into me. He immediately apologized. I was mad
at the heat of the moment but you know its just short track
racing at Martinsville. I had so much fun out there and really
feel I gained some respect from my fellow competitors by racing
clean. I was up on that wheel all day and the truck was just
so fast. This BHR2 team has just gotten better and better
this year and with four more races coming up I plan on some
pretty impressive runs in those races.”
Renshaw and the rest of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
head into the final four races of the season starting next
week at the Atlanta Motor Speedway for the running of the
EasyCare Vehicle Service Contracts 200 Saturday, October 28th.
Live coverage begins on the SPEED Channel at 3pm EST and at
3:15pm EST on MRN Radio Stations and their affiliates.
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