August 11, 2003

Pit Stop Gamble Costs Bill Lester a Top Ten Finish

Bill Lester and the No. 8 Strauss Auto Parts/The Club Dodge Team led 15 laps enroute to a very deceiving 16th place finish in the Federated Auto Parts 200 at Nashville Super Speedway.

“We had a great truck tonight, but we gambled on pit strategy and it bit us,” said Lester. “I can’t tell you how great that truck handled. We could race with just about anybody. It’s hard to be too disappointed about the finish, but knowing what kind of truck we had and where we could have finished is a little tough. We’ll get ‘em next time though. I’ve never been to Bristol, where we race next, so this should be very interesting.”

Lester’s weekend started out outstanding when he posted a seventh place qualifying effort, after running in the top ten in practice for most of the day. When the race started, Lester moved up quickly, jumping into the fifth position right from the start. When the caution came out on lap 28, Lester stayed out on the track as the leaders pitted. The team had decided to gamble on the race. Traditionally, the races at Nashville Super Speedway don’t have very many cautions. The team knew that they could make the race a one stop deal, so they committed to stop on lap 75 and go the distance. This would let the No. 8 team stop one time to everyone else’s two stops. If it worked, then they could be in a position to win the race.

When the race restarted on lap 32, Lester was leading. He pulled away from the second place man on the start. He led 15 laps before the No. 1 truck, with new tires, caught him for the lead. Lester began to yield positions to the trucks that pitted for tires, but when everything settled out, he was still running in the top seven. On lap 75, the No. 8 team came to pit road for their only stop of the night. The team changed four tires, added 22 gallons of fuel, and sent Lester back on track. He rejoined the race in the 21st position.

Eleven laps after the stop, the unthinkable happened, a caution flew, devastating the No. 8 team’s plans. From that point on, Lester just ran as hard as he could to gain as many spots as he could before the end of the race. When the checkered flag flew, Lester had moved back to 16th place.

“It’s just one of those things,” said Lester. “If the race would have gone caution free until the leaders pitted, we would have been in the winner’s circle. It was just a gamble, and we took it. Maybe next time it will pay off for us.”

Lester and the team remain in the 13th position in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points standings. They are now 105 points behind Matt Crafton for 12th position.

Driver: Bill Lester, No. 8 Strauss Auto Parts/The Club Dodge Team
Starts Pole Wins Top Fives Top Tens Earnings Points Position
15 1 0 0 1 $ 166,280 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 (Next Event)

Totals 2471 of 2588 (95.4%) $ 166,280

NEXT EVENT: The O’Reilly 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee on August 20, 2003. The event will be televised live on SPEED Channel at 8:30 PM Eastern Time and also live on MRN radio at 8:30 PM Eastern Time.