ATLANTA RACE REPORT
by Stenzo
track reporting by Speed


GOOD FRIDAY IS GOOD LUCK FOR STENZO ON FRIDAY THE 13th!
Stenzo Dedicates First Season Win to The Memory of Jesus and Dale Earnhardt

Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton, GA (4/13/01) -- Stenzo proved that the age old superstition of bad luck on Friday the 13th is just that - a superstition - as he claimed his first race of the 2001 season in dominating fashion after leading 105 of 130 laps.  When he climbed out of his car in Victory Lane, he was quick to proclaim that in observance of Good Friday, he was dedicating this win to the memory of Jesus, and also to Dale Earnhardt, who tragically died earlier this year in the Daytona 500.

The race got off to a good start until lap 4 when Bob, who was running in 9th, nicked the left rear fender of the 88 car while coming out of turn 2 and slid down onto the apron then back up onto the track again.  He managed to save it from wrecking, but the rest of the field got all stacked up behind him.  Then as he was getting back up to speed, he got together with the 31 car coming out of turn 4 and scrubbed the wall, wrinkling the rear bumper of his car.  Meanwhile Jay, who was running in 29th, had to stand on the brakes to avoid the slowed cars, but he tapped the 36 car, bounced off the outside wall, and spun down to the apron with damage to the nose of his car.  Because the caution flag did not come out, he fell way behind the pack, and with a damaged car, he ended up falling a lap down to leader Stenzo by lap 22.  Then on lap 32, he slid up into the 22 car which spun out, but again no yellow came out to slow the field.  He decided to pit on lap 34 to fix his damage, which dropped him two more laps down in 30th place.

Green flag pit stops started on lap 51 when Bob decided to short pit and come in to fix his damage, which dropped him from 14th place to 27th place, two laps down.  Speed hit the pits on lap 61, just as Bob got together again with the 31 car and hit the outside wall, this time losing a tire and forcing him to have to pit again for repairs.  On lap 64, Stenzo and Coyote came in to pit, but as they were pulling onto pit lane, the 43 car got together with Bob in his pit stall, causing Stenzo and Coyote to have to take evasive action in order to get into their pit stalls for service, which slowed Coyote's pit stop down significantly, causing him to return to the track in 19th position.

The first caution flag came out on lap 83 for a wreck between Jay and the 26 car.  Jay was running the high groove through turns 1-2, while the 26 car was down low, and when the two cars exited turn 2 they came together on the same piece of track, which caused Jay to slam into the outside wall, damaging his car once again.  Everyone came to pit road while under caution except Stenzo, who stayed out in 2nd place.  On the restart, the field bunched up at the start-finish line, and Speed tapped the rear of the 9 car, then clipped the right rear of the 5 car, which spun in front of the 9 car and Coyote, who had no place to go (see photo above).  Coyote then bounced off the 9 car and caromed through the dogleg grass and slammed hard into the inside wall, blowing his motor and promptly ending his day.

During this caution period, Speed stayed out and moved up into 8th place as the field went back green on lap 94.  Then on lap 98, while racing with Speed and the 24 car, the 77 car cut down a tire and lost it in turn 1, spinning up into the outside wall.  As the 24 car lifted to avoid the spinning 77 car, Speed clipped him and spun out in turn 2, dropping from 4th to 11th.  Fortunately for him, he did not hit anything nor receive any damage, so as the third yellow flag of the race flew to slow the field again, Speed was able to maintain 7th position when the race went back green on lap 102 with only 28 laps to go.  He would try to run down the leader Stenzo, but was only able to close to within 1.5 seconds, forcing him to settle for 2nd place.  The big race over the final five laps was with Jay and the 15 car racing for 25th position.  Jay just couldn't quite get the catch him and would have to finish in 26th position, one lap down.  Bob finished five laps down in 27th place, and Coyote took 29th place with his first DNF of the season.