Catchfence

“Finishes 21st in NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Debut”

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (September 21, 2010) - Perseverance was the name of the game for Scott Stenzel in the New Hampshire 125 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Friday evening. An unavoidable incident in front of Stenzel and a flat front right tire marred his NASCAR K&N Pro Series East (NKNPSE) debut with damage to the right rear of his No. 37 Spraker Racing / Yellow Stripes Making the Driver Chevrolet. He endured the incidents and completed the race in the 21st position.

The event began with the lone 90-minute practice session on Thursday morning. Stenzel got bad luck out of the way early, as he spun coming on to the track for his second run. With the spin behind him, Stenzel posted a 27th-fastest practice lap of 31.544 seconds (120.746 mph). He then laid down a qualifying lap of 31.744 seconds (119.985 mph), enough for the 27th starting spot.

Shortly after NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying concluded on Friday, the NKNPSE took the stage. Stenzel was optimistic that he would fulfill his main goal of gaining seat time and completing his NKNPSE debut at the one-mile racetrack. He took the green flag for the New Hampshire 125 from the 27th position. The Orlando, Fla., resident avoided trouble when the first yellow flag flew for a car hitting the turn two wall hard.

Utilizing the comfort he gained from practice, Stenzel worked his way to the 15th position by the second caution of the night on lap 32 for a single car spin in turns one and two. Most of the leaders took the opportunity to pit on this caution. Stenzel and his Spraker Racing team decided to stay out, gain track position and build knowledge racing near the leaders.

As the Spraker Racing crew talked to their driver during the caution period, crew chief David Ifft decided it was best to pit in the extended caution period and race the racetrack instead of the leaders. Stenzel drove down pit road on lap 37. Utilizing Stenzel’s friend and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver David Starr’s pit crew, Stenzel had a quick stop and got back on track for the restart.

The field went back to racing on lap 39. An accordion-effect happened on the restart, and Stenzel was clipped in the left rear quarter panel, which bent the spoiler down. Receiving damage, Stenzel drove the No. 37 Chevrolet down pit road for the crew to pull out the fender.

When he returned to the track, the car began to push going into the corner, chattering the right front tire, and was loose in the center of the corner. As the field was green-flag racing from lap 51 to lap 75, Stenzel did not have a chance to come down pit road to fix the condition. He battled the handling until the fourth caution of the day flew.

When the field went back to green on lap 80, Stenzel was in the 15th position once again. The caution flew for the fifth time for an incident on the restart and lifted on lap 85. By lap 100, Stenzel had a right front tire go down. He saved the car and the fender, and brought the No. 37 down pit road for service. He came back out two laps down but raced with the leaders, mirroring their lap times. With two green-white-checkered conditions, the No. 37 ran out of fuel but finished in the 21st position 11 laps beyond the scheduled 125 laps.

“It was a strong car,” explained Stenzel. “We definitely could have come up with a top-10 if we didn’t get caught up in the wreck at the beginning. We came out wanting to finish the race and get good seat time and experience. Within that experience, we were thrown everything but the kitchen sink. We had a flat right front, ran out of fuel during the second green-white-checker, I had to drive through about five wrecks, and I had to drive a car around the racetrack with damage.’

“There was a lot thrown at me that you don’t normally experience in a race,” continued the 30-year-old. “To get through and still finish decent like we did was very productive. We got to race with the leaders, pass a lot of cars, race in the third position and we didn’t wreck. I had a blast being able to run with the frontrunners. Most importantly, we got seat time and exposure for the Yellow Stripes: Making the Driver TV show. For my first NASCAR race at a mile track, I was very happy with the race. I think everybody did a wonderful job.”

Spraker Racing will return to NKNPSE racing next weekend for the Sunoco 150 at Dover International Speedway for the final race of the season.

- Activ8 Communications Press Release