Mike Bliss
No. 4 Open Joist Dodge Race Recap
The Mountain Dew 250
Talladega Superspeedway

Dodge Driver Mike Bliss fell victim to the Talladega massacre early into the Mountain Dew 250 at Talladega Superspeedway. After starting 14th and working his way through the field, Bliss realized something was not right with the Open Joist Dodge. “We are over heating,” said Bliss as the water temperature continued to rise. “It feels like a tire is rubbing or something.” On lap six Bliss was going into turn four when the Open Joist Dodge snapped right and headed straight for the outside wall totaling the Dodge. “We blew a tire,” said Bliss as he climbed from the wrecked sheet metal. The Open Joist Racing Team was unable to repair the damage and was forced to park the No, 4 truck in the hauler. Bliss finished 34th.

“Talladega is known for things like this to happen,” he said after the event. “We had a great truck, but I could tell something was going wrong. I started to back out of the pack when the tire blew. I thought to myself, ‘Oh this is going to hurt.’ Then I hit the wall. We couldn’t repair the damage. When you are going that fast and turn right into the wall, there is no controlling the vehicle. It’s unfortunate for us because we knew we had a great truck in practice.”

Todd Bodine won the The Mountain Dew 250 before an estimated crowd of 80,000. Rick Crawford, Johnny Benson, Jason Leffler and BHR teammate Dennis Setzer rounded out the top five finishers. The next event for the NCTS will be at Martinsville Speedway.