Engine Woes Spoil
Schrader’s Day

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Ken Schrader and the No. 70 Hunt Brothers Pizza team had their strong run at Talladega Superspeedway cut short when the engine gave up on Lap 142 of Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 resulting in a 42nd-place finish.

The weekend started well for Schrader and team. Having to qualify on time for the race, Schrader took his Chevrolet Impala SS out last, needing to be faster than three cars to make the show. Schrader was up to the challenge, not only beating out the slowest three cars, but besting the times of 44 of the 46 cars that attempted to qualify.

Lining up in the third position on the starting grid, Schrader kept his Hunt Brothers Pizza car in the Top-5 throughout the early stages of the race. When the field pitted under the first caution flag of the day Schrader stayed out on the track to lead a lap and gain the associated five bonus points.

When Schrader pitted on the next lap, the team put on four tires and removed the oil line wrap that helps keep the engine oil warm prior to qualifying. Ordinarily it is removed prior to the race, but NASCAR impounded the race cars following qualifying at Talladega and no work could be done until the race was underway.

Schrader re-entered the race at the tail end of the field and continued to post competitive lap times until the car began losing speed around Lap 51. “I was able to keep up real easy and now I can’t do it,” Schrader reported over the radio. “The engine feels solid and the gauges read okay. I don’t think there’s any problem, all of a sudden it just isn’t as fast,” he said.

Unable to keep up with the draft, Schrader eventually went a lap down to the leaders before the engine went away with 46 laps remaining in the race.

“It is disappointing to have such a promising weekend end this way,” Schrader said. “We really had something to race with today. I’ve been around a long time and one thing’s for sure, this sport can be very unforgiving. It’s a tough business,” he said.

Heading into Saturday night’s race at Richmond the No. 70 team finds itself 37th in the owner points standings, 75 points behind 35th. Johnny Sauter will pilot the No. 70 Haas Automation Chevrolet at Richmond.