Catchfence

DOVER, Del. (September 27, 2009) – In only his second race at the track known as The Monster Mile, Ken Butler III held his own against a tough field of competitors, including many stars from the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. He wrestled a loose Aaron’s Dream Machine for most of the race, but was still able to walk away with a solid 23rd-place finish at Dover International Speedway in Saturday’s Dover 200.

On Friday, Butler took some time to visit with fans at Jay Richards’ Aaron’s store in Dover, DE. “I enjoy meeting the fans,” said Butler. “It’s something small that I can do to say thanks for supporting me.”

Back at the track on Saturday it was all business. Though the day didn’t start off the way Butler was looking for, he remained confident. After qualifying a disappointing 33rd, Butler remarked, “That’s not good, but we’re gonna be OK. The car is setup to race well, which isn’t necessarily the same way it runs best in qualifying.”

When the green flag dropped on Saturday evening Butler immediately knew he would have his hands full. “It feels like the left front tire isn’t even turning,” he radioed in to his crew.

The loose condition would continue throughout the early laps, pushing Butler further behind the leader and under pressure from the leaders, which can quickly cost you laps at a short track like Dover.

Then on lap 83 Butler’s day would get worse when he missed pit road while trying to make a green-flag stop. He would eventually come in on lap 86, but the damage had been done. The Aaron’s Dream Machine was now four laps down.

Butler continued to battle his No. 23 Chevrolet for most of the afternoon, before it finally started to come around during the last 50 laps when he was running similar lap times to the top ten. Unfortunately, by that time it was too late. There simply wasn’t enough time to catch up to the lead-lap cars and Butler would have to settle for a hard-fought 23rd-place finish.

“When we started out, we were just too loose going into the corners,” Butler said. “The guys worked on the car and made it a little better each time we pitted. “Car was extremely loose entering both corners. I was holding on for dear life most of the race. The last pit helped, but we just ran out of time.

“I don’t have much experience here,” Butler continued. “So it was really important to get some seat time and bring home a decent finish. We turned a lot of laps, got a ton of experience and stayed out of trouble all day. We’ll definitely be able to build on this moving forward.”

Clint Bowyer won the event, with Mike Bliss, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards rounding out the top five.
The next race for Butler behind the wheel of the No. 23 Aaron’s Dream Machine Chevrolet will be the Dollar General 300 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway on October 16. ESPN2 will provide television coverage of the event beginning at 7:30 p.m. (ET).

- Butler Bros. Racing Press Release