LOUDON RACE REPORT
- by Stenzo



STENZO INHERITS THE WIN!

New Hampshire International Speedway (7/14/00) -- As many drivers often say, they'd “rather be lucky than good,” which explains how Stenzo managed to claim his fourth win of the year this weekend. Actually, he was a little of both, as he ran up front most of the day, but pure luck proved to be the determining factor in the win. While running in third, a late race incident between the two leaders, Bob and Speed, brought out the last of 7 caution flags, and left the door wide open for Stenzo to pass by with only two laps to go to grab the checkered flag. After starting 6th, Stenzo worked his way toward the front, but was unable to grab the lead until most of the field pitted under caution, while he stayed on the track to lead 2 laps. Then, after pitting, he fell back in the pack, and had to work his way back toward the front to put himself in position to eventually steal the win. This marks his third career win in five races at this track, and the 10th top 5 and 10th top 10 finish of the season. With the win, he managed to close the gap from 321 to 253 points behind championship points leader Speed.

Bob started from the third spot, and quickly established himself as an early threat, trading positions with Speed to lead a total of 30 laps. After finishing second in his last visit to NASCAR's northernmost track, he was in the lead with only two laps to go, looking like he was in position to claim his second win of the season, when he got bumped from behind by Speed while exiting turn 2, sending his car sliding sideways, while Speed was sent head-on into the inside wall, bringing out the final caution of the race. Meanwhile, Stenzo zipped by and grabbed the lead, as Bob gathered himself back up to finish second for the fourth time this year, extending his third-place points lead to 178 points over fourth-place Coyote.

Coyote had a bad qualifying run and had to start from the back of the pack in 25th, but slowly worked his way up through the traffic toward the front. Although he never managed to lead the race, he was determined to break the streak of bad luck that has plagued him mercilessly throughout the first half of the season, taking advantage of the caution periods to improve his car's handling, and patiently gained positions throughout the event. Due to the late race incident with Speed and Bob, he ended up finishing 5th, marking only his fifth top 5 and eighth top 10 finish of the year.

After a very fast qualifying lap, Speed started from the outside pole, and wasted no time grabbing the lead once the green flag fell to start the race. He quickly demonstrated that he had the car to beat, leading a race-high 67 of 105 laps, easily earning the 5 bonus points for leading the most laps for the sixth time this year. He and Bob put on quite a show up front, trading the lead back and forth several times until they both pitted for fuel and tires, turning the lead over to Stenzo. After Stenzo pitted, it was back to the “Speed and Bob Show,” as the two racers continued their battle for the lead until Speed made an uncharacteristic mistake with only 2 to go, impatiently attempting to pass Bob low while exiting turn 2, bumping him a little too hard and causing himself to slam head-on into the infield wall, seriously damaging his car. The wreck dropped him from second to 17th place, where he limped across the finish line the last car on the lead lap. After an incredible first half of the season with 9 wins in 18 races, this marks only the third time he's finished outside of the top 5, and only the fifth time out of the top 10.