INDY RACE REPORT
- by Stenzo


STENZO FINISHES 13th, LEADS TEAM SPEEDLAN TO THE BRICKS

Indianapolis Motor Speedway (8/11/00) -- Although he finished 13th, Stenzo still managed to lead his three Team Speedlan teammates back to the “brick yard” after a tough and grueling race at the world famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway. After qualifying 6th, he quickly raced his way up to 3rd, before falling back to 5th during the green flag run. Then, thanks to a fast pit stop while under caution, he came out in 2nd behind Coyote, but because he pitted again, he restarted the race back in 18th. His race setup wasn't really dialed in quite good enough, because he was unable to ever challenge for the lead, and the field pressured him all day for position. But because there were 6 caution periods to slow the field, he was able to work his way back up to eventually finish 13th for the third time this year, marking his 15th top 15 finish in 20 races, allowing him to make up 21 points on points leader Speed and close the gap to “only”237 points.

Coyote started the race from the 13th spot, but found trouble early on, when he rear-ended another car that had checked up in turn 3, damaging the front of his car and causing him to pit for repairs. After falling back in the field, he was able to race his way back up to eventually grab the lead for 1 lap, when a caution flag flew and the entire field pitted while he stayed out. However, on the restart, he was unable to maintain the position, and slipped back through the pack, where he ended up finishing 14th. This marks the second time in as many races that he's finished in the top 15, and was able to make up 11 points on Bob in the series standings, closing the gap to 218 points.

Bob started at the rear of the field in 25th, and after the green flag fell, he patiently started picking off cars and making up positions until he was clipped while attempting a pass in turn 1, sending him into the wall, damaging his car and dropping him back to the rear once again, as the yellow flag flew to slow the field. After repairing the damage, he returned to the track and started another slow march back up through the pack, until he was wrecked again by another car while attempting an inside pass in a turn, damaging his car once more. Despite the damage to his car, he was eventually able to race his way up to finish 16th, narrowly missing what would have been his 12th top 15 finish this season.

Speed qualified 24th and chose to take it easy at the start, waiting to make any passes until the field had sorted itself out. And because he was back there, he was forced to take evasive action early on to avoid hitting other cars when Coyote made them all check up, which enabled him to pick up several positions. Later on in the run, he slid up into the wall exiting a turn, and slightly wrinkled his rear bumper, which slowed him a bit down the long straightaways and backward through the field. He eventually got pushed out in a turn while being passed on the inside, causing him to spin and hit the wall, dropping him way back and in danger of losing a lap. After pitting to repair his car, he was able to race back up to 13th, but got together with Earnhardt in a side-by-side race out of turn 2 and clipped the wall, damaging his car once again. The damage caused by the incident eventually dropped him back to where he finished in 20th, marking only the 6th time in 20 races this year he's finished out of the top 10.