THE WINSTON


- by Speed


SPEED ALMOST TAKES ALL THREE

Lowe's Motor Speedway (5/26/00) -- The three race shootout started with two 30 lap races with 12 cars and one 10 lap shootout with only the four speedlan members.

Race one started with Stenzo on the pole, but finished 8th after getting loose in turn one with Speed on his back bumper. Speed, went on to win. Bob, who started in front of Speed in 5th place, fell back to 10th after hitting the wall coming out of turn two. Coyote finished 11th with a loose car, do to a lack of time to work on his setup.

The 2nd race started with Speed at the back of the field because he was the only one to finish on the lead lap. And worked his way up to 2nd by lap six when a yellow came out. Stenzo, the pole sitter, was in 1st place when they went back to green. Speed went low in turn one and Stenzo went high and they both met in turn two with Speed almost hitting the inside wall, but gathered it up but fell back to 12th place once again. And with Coyote in 11th place, Speed started his march to the front again, but ran short on laps not able to catch 2nd place Bob or 1st place Stenzo and had to settle on a 4th place finish.

The final race was a ten lap shootout with just the four TEAM SPEEDLAN members. Speed got a good jump while Coyote stayed low in turn one. Letting Stenzo "the winner of the second heat" get a good run on Bob. But Bob and Stenzo got together in turns one and two, with Stenzo getting loose and hitting the outside wall and would have to pit for repairs. Stenzo loosing laps in the pits and this would bring his day to an end. While Bob in 2nd place would try to run down Speed with only a couple of laps to go. But ran out of time. With Coyote getting 3rd place for the final heat race. Coyote learned what his competition will be doing for the Coca-Cola 600 and with some new changes in his race team, mainly new equipment, he will be a big factor at next week's race and the rest of the 2000 season.