September 22, 2003

Bill Lester Running Tenth When Front Suspension Fails

Bill Lester and the Strauss Auto Parts/The Club Dodge was running in the tenth position with 15 laps remaining in the event, when a front left suspension part failed on the truck, dropping him out of the race and into a 28th place finish.

“Racing is just cruel sometimes,” said Lester. “We did everything right this weekend to get a top ten, and once again, something takes it away from us. The guys had the truck running pretty well, and the fuel strategy worked in our favor too. I really thought we had a top ten finish in the bag if I just did my job. Not so. I went into the turn, and the steering wheel turned to the left six inches too far. I knew I had something major wrong. I came down pit road, and the guys determined it was a left front suspension part failure. We would have fixed it, but by the time we were done, the race would have ended. I felt bad because I thought it may have been a result of the contact with the wall on lap one, but as it turned out it, was something totally unrelated to that hit.”

Lester and the No. 8 Team held the torch in qualifying for BHR by putting the No. 8 truck in the top ten for the start. One lap into the race, that track position was lost when Lester hit the wall. It appeared to have damaged the truck pretty badly, but for some reason, it did not slow it down one bit. On lap 14, Lester pitted on the first caution for fuel, tires, and repairs.

Over the next 50 laps or so, Lester made his way back up through the field. When the leaders started to pit for fuel, Lester was running in the 14th position. When Lester finally had to pull down pit road for fuel, he was running in the fourth position.
Following the final caution of the day, Lester was running in the tenth position with only 11 drivers on the lead lap. It appeared that the team was on their way to their second top ten finish of the season. That is when the unthinkable happened. Lester slowed on the track, entered pit road, and then went to the garage area.

“Well, I guess we’ll get another chance in Las Vegas next week,” said Lester. “I’m pretty disappointed right now, but when I get to the track on Thursday of next week, I will have forgotten about this week’s misfortune.”

Driver: Bill Lester, No. 8 Strauss Auto Parts/The Club Dodge Team
Starts Pole Wins Top Fives Top Tens Earnings Points Position
19 1 0 0 1 $ 202,690 13th

Race-by-Race Run Down:
Location Start Finish Laps Status Money Won
Daytona 8 18 97 of 106 Accident $ 15,165
Darlington 15 12 144 of 147 Running 9,465
Bakersfield 23 13 255 of 255 Running 8,190
Martinsville 17 19 250 of 250 Running 9,315
Charlotte 1 15 135 of 136 Running 11,890
Dover 15 11 198 of 200 Running 13,750
Texas 13 12 167 of 167 Running 13,165
Memphis 14 26 128 of 200 Running 8,990
Milwaukee 23 12 198 of 200 Running 10,215
Kansas 2 10 167 of 167 Running 14,000
Kentucky 9 12 150 of 150 Running 14,940
St. Louis 14 22 141 of 160 Accident 9,190
Michigan 5 11 100 of 100 Running 12,275
Indy 23 28 191 of 200 Running 7,090
Nashville 7 16 148 of 150 Running 8,640
Bristol 18 19 195 of 200 Running 9,315
Richmond 14 30 143 of 200 Accident 6,365
Loudon 12 13 200 of 200 Running 10,040
California 7 28 85 of 100 Suspension 10,690
Las Vegas (Next Event)
Totals 3166 of 3288 (96.2%) $ 202,690

NEXT EVENT: The Las Vegas 350 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada on September 27, 2003. The event will be televised live on SPEED Channel at 9:00 PM Eastern Time and also live on MRN radio at 9:00 PM Eastern Time.