Richmond race report

track reporting by Speed


THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY ! AS BOB WINS, JAY CRASHES AND SPEED SPINS

Richmond International Speedway (6/1/2001) - temp report - Well were off and racing when Stenzo go's three wide in turn one on the first lap when the #28 car comes down and just bumps Stenzo spinning him down into the #18 car. As this happens Jay hits the #12 car up into Coyote bring out the first caution of many to come. On this yellow Jay comes in to fix his bumper and top off his tank rejoining the field in 28th position. The race re-starts on lap 6 with Bob leading and Coyote, Stenzo and Speed now running in 16th, 17th and 18th.

On lap 8 Coyote hits the #8 car and Speed has to jump on the brakes, almost hitting the #40 car which runs into Coyote before he can stop. Now as Speed is stopping Stenzo hits him but there is no damage to either of there cars. All of this brings out the 2nd caution of the night. On lap 10 Coyote pits under this yellow to fix minor damage to his car and rejoins the pack in 26th position. Jay has worked his way back up to 17th place from an earlier spin. They go green on lap 14 with Stenzo and Speed up to 12th and 13th position. The next yellow comes out when Jay pulls down on the #9 car and spins sideways to a stop. With all the smoke on the track Coyote hits the #25 car which hits the #17 car and then the #10 car. Coyote would have to pit again to fix more damage on his car on lap 17 and would re-start in 24th position. He would be the last car on the lead lap now with 11 car a lap or more down.

They would go green again on lap 20, when on lap 28 Speed would come down on the #25 car while racing Stenzo for 4th place. As Speed spins down the track to a stop the #25 car spun up the track into the #1 car smoking up the whole track. With smoke everywhere's, Jay runs a low line and hits Speed broadside blowing his engine. (as seen above) Jay had been running in 9th when he got this unfortunate DNF. Jay was only six points away from catching Stenzo in the points. Under this yellow Speed pits for tire and fuel on lap 31. On lap 35 the #99 car cuts down on the #8 car and spins him out with no yellow flag flown. On lap 38 the #33 car cuts down on the #40 car and as they both slide up the track. The #9 car hits the #24 car and they hit the #26 car bring out another caution. On lap 49 Stenzo pinches off the #25 car which slides up the track as Stenzo slides down to the inside wall. Stenzo pits to fix minor damage to his car and new rubber on this yellow.

Stenzo on lap 55 drives under the #99 car and slides up into him and bounces into the #6 car bring out yellow #6. Under this caution Coyote and Stenzo pit. On the re-start which was on lap 61, Stenzo with new tires drives under the #10 car and slides into him bring out another caution. We go green again on lap 67 with Bob still leading and Speed in 2nd place. Until lap 69 when Coyote bumps the #10 car. Coyote slides sideways stopping some of the cars bring out another yellow. Under this caution Bob finally relinquishes the lead to Speed. Coyote comes in after flat spotting his tires on lap 71.

Then on lap 90 Stenzo hits the #28 car bring out the yellow flag, but with some good driving manages to come out of his spin and still hold on to 4th place. On the re-start on lap 95 Speed bumps the #22 car which was the race leader at the time. Speed spins down to the inside wall and manages not to hit anything and comes to a stop. Coyote must not have heard his spotter say "CAR LOW" has he hits Speed just like Jay had done early in the race. This Causes Coyote to spin going from 11th to 20th place. Speed and Coyote both pit under this caution for new tires and adding some wedge to there cars. They pit again on the next lap not loosing any positions as they were the last cars on the lead lap in 20th and 21st. Speed's pit crew having problems with the damage on Speed car get him out of the pits late as the green flag fly's.

The green flag was dropped on lap 98 with Stenzo as the new race leader until lap 128 when Bob reclaimed the lead. Bob would go on to win his 4th race of the season with Stenzo in 2nd. Coyote with a lot of rubbing and banging fights his way back up to 4th. As for Speed this would be the first time this season that he didn't finish in the top 10 but he pulls off a 13th place finish after a bad pitting decision.