October 13, 2003

Broken Wheel Stud Ends Lester’s Strong Performance at Texas Motor Speedway

On race morning, it appeared that Bill Lester and the No. 8 Strauss Auto Parts/The Club Team had avoided a possible race ending problem before the event even started. When the team arrived at the track to get the truck ready to race, they found that the engine had a broken push rod and would have ended their day in just a few laps.

The team went to work and put in a new engine before the race, but this would mean that Lester would have to give up his 12th place starting spot and move to the end of the field.

“We got really lucky finding the engine problem before the start of the race,” said Lester. “If we would have started the race like that, we may have finished 10 laps. So we really dodged a bullet with this one.”

When the race started, Lester rocketed up through the field from his 36th place starting position. By the end of lap one, he had moved to 24th place. When the trucks came around to finish 15 laps, Lester had moved the No. 8 truck into the 16th position.

Unfortunately, 21 laps later on the 36 circuit around the Texas Motor Speedway, Lester radioed into the crew saying he had a problem. He was racing for 13th position at the time, but he slowed down on the front straight-away. Over the next few laps, he came to a stop in the pits. The crew jumped over the wall thinking it may be a tire going down. When they got to the left rear tire, it only had one lug nut on it. The holes for the studs were wallowed out, and one of the lug nut studs was broken off.

The crew was forced by NASCAR to go behind the wall to fix the problem. They lost 32 laps while making repairs to the left rear hub assembly. When Lester returned to the track, he was in the 32nd position. When the race ended, Lester had picked up a few spots to finish a disappointing 28th place in a race in which he clearly had a top ten truck.

“I just can’t believe it,” said Lester. “The lug nuts just came loose and broke the wheel stud. It’s just hard to believe our luck some weeks. Well, we have three more races this year to get a good finish. Then it’s time to start worrying about next year and what’s going to take place. We’re going to go out with a bang these last three races. I know the guys on this team are not quitters and neither am I.”

Driver: Bill Lester, No. 8 Strauss Auto Parts/The Club Dodge Team
Starts Pole Wins Top Fives Top Tens Earnings Points Position
22 1 0 0 1 $ 226,030 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 10 20 142 of 146 Running 9,890
South Boston 24 23 248 of 253 Running 6,515
Texas 12 28 114 of 146 Running 6,935

Martinsville (Next Event)

Totals 3670 of 3833 (95.7%) $ 226,030

NEXT EVENT: The Advance Auto Parts 200 at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Virginia on October 18, 2003. The event will be televised live on SPEED Channel at 12:30 PM Eastern Time and also live on MRN radio at 12:30 PM Eastern Time.