Catchfence

Thompson, Conn. (July 12, 2009): Engine woes have not been a problem in the past at Andy Santerre Motorsports. But Saturday night, one small engine skip that they thought had been resolved stretched into a race-long issue for driver Brett Moffitt and the team. The teams perseverance and determination to finish the race paid off big dividends when they posted a top-10 finish in the Pepsi Full Fender Frenzy 100 at Thompson International Speedway.

“We went out in the first practice and had a skip,” explained car owner Andy Santerre. “We changed the plugs, went back out, and everything was fine. After qualifying we never got to try it again. We changed the battery, we changed plug wires, and everything during the race. We just don’t know what it is. This is the first engine problem I’ve had with the spec motor.”

Sixteen year old Moffitt set a fast time 20.665 seconds (108.880 mph) in qualifying despite spinning on his second lap. It was good enough to earn the tenth place starting position in the 100-lap race.

“I hit those bumps coming out of turn,” Moffitt said about the spin. “It just went around on me. I didn’t hit anything we basically just lost that second lap.”

Moffitt knew he had a good car underneath him and was confident for the race, but after the drop of the green, Moffitt was only able to maintain his position. The team opted to pit on the first caution at lap 12.

“We were way faster than everyone through the corner, but we’d lose it all on the straights. The motor just wasn’t running right.”

Moffitt pitted three more times before the halfway mark, but started to advance through the field following a lap 55 restart. The issue had not been resolved, but the team decided they would have to try and work through it.

“Once we knew we couldn’t fix it we decided it was time to see how high up we could get,” said Moffitt. “We wanted to get everything we could.”

Moffitt took the checkers with a tenth place finish on the lead lap. He is fifth in the NASCAR Camping World Series East point standings with one win, four top-five, and five top-10 finishes in only seven starts.

- Andy Santerre Motorsports Press Release