Special from Schoenfeld Racing
SPINDLE FAILURE DROPS DENNIS FROM 2ND
TO 22ND AT WINCHESTER
(Van Buren,
AR) In what was shaping up to be a magical run for Dennis at the
Winchester 400 on Sunday, mid-race mechanical problems dropped him
from second to twenty-second in the finishing order. During the
first 200 laps Dennis had made steady progress through the field
from his 17th qualifying spot.
“We had only
pitted once for right side tires and the car was really good
anywhere on the track,” Dennis commented. “As things settled out
approaching the mid-point, I had worked my way around David Stremme
and took over second behind race leader Rick Turner. Shortly
thereafter the car, which had been so good, started developing a
push entering the corners.” Little did Dennis know at the time
but
a component failure was about to end his amazing run to the front.
On lap 211 Dennis pitted for left side tires and a quick diagnosis
of why the car was pushing. That’s when the crew discovered the
broken spindle which sent the #43 Schoenfeld Racing Chevrolet to the
infield for the remainder of the day.
“Last year we
qualified 21st and during the race we made our way to 3rd
behind Kyle Busch before a rear hub broke. The high banks of
Winchester are brutal on equipment and unfortunately we’ve paid the
price two years in a row,” Dennis said. “They say that every cloud
has a silver lining it’s just unfortunate that some of our clouds at
Winchester include parts failures. I guess the fact that we can run
with the best Super Late Model drivers in the nation is our silver
lining, we just need a little luck to go along with it now.”
From lap 160 to
202 Dennis was running in the lead pack which included eventual race
winner, 14 year old Chase Elliott (son of Bill Elliott), John
VanDoorn (runner up), David Stremme and Rick Turner. “Our car was
good all day and we still had left side tires plus a full set of
sticker tires for the end of the race. There were only two cars on
the lead lap at the end of the race so I am convinced that if we
hadn’t had the spindle failure we would have given them a run for
the checkers,” Dennis continued. “We may not have been as fast in
any one segment of the race but I think we were faster over the long
haul.”
Dennis and the
crew will head back to Van Buren knowing that barring a component
failure, they can compete with the best. Dennis will repair the left
front damage, replace the spindle and go through the car with a fine
tooth comb in preparation for next month’s North/South Shootout at
Concord Motor Speedway Nov. 5-6. “Although Winchester was a
disappointment, our limited 2010 schedule has given us a great deal
of confidence for our ultimate goal of winning the 43rd
Annual Snowball Derby in Pensacola December 1-5,” Dennis mentioned.
We couldn’t do
this without our loyal sponsors and I’d like to thank each and every
one of them; Five Star Bodies, Kluhsman Racing Components, Rick’s
Used Auto Parts, Frost Oil Company, Comfort Inn of Pensacola Beach,
Clickcom.com, Motorsports Designs, CSM Corporation, Bad Boy Mowers
and Schoenfeld Headers. Join us at
www.dennisschoenfeld.com
for all the latest updates and photos.
