Busch Talk
by Brad Baker-Busch Grand National Driver and Catchfence.com Staff Writer
10/25/2002

Hi Race Fans,

For those of you who don't know who I am, my name is Brad Baker. I have been asked by Catchfence.com to keep you updated with the latest from Baker Racing and most importantly the NASCAR Busch Series. I am proud to be working with my fellow competitor, Lyndon Amick, who is also writing a NASCAR Busch Series Column for Catchfence.com

Last week was a good weekend for the entire Baker Racing team. We weren't sure what to expect going into the weekend, but by Sunday night, all our fears had vanished.

The NASCAR Busch Series headed to Memphis Motorsports Park, which is about 3 hours from Nashville. It was NASCAR's fifth trip for the NASCAR Busch Series to Tennessee, and it was the first race and only race this season in Elvis Pressley's hometown.

When we unloaded the #28 Chevrolet, I was ready to get on the track. I had total confidence that our misfortune at at Lowes Motor Speedway, where we suffered engine problems between practice and qualifying and were unable to make the field, were behind us and we were going to put our Chevrolet in the field.

The car was really decent all weekend. We were a little tight throughout the weekend, and we were making considerable improvements from each practice session. With solid practice speeds in the books, the entire team was confident that we were going to make the race.

The car was really good in qualifying. While we did not start where we wanted to for the race, we were in the show and that is all that mattered.

Mother Nature would play a huge role on Saturday, as she would invade the Memphis area and drench the speedway all day. While NASCAR had hopes that the weather would clear and we may have been able to get the race in, Mother Nature won in the end, and we were stuck in Memphis another night. We would take the green flag early on Sunday Afternoon.

When we arrived at the track on Sunday, the weather was much improved. The track was dry, and by 1:00pm EST the Sam's Town 250, with 43 of the best NASCAR Busch Series drivers in the world were ready to battle for the trophy.

We really had a strong run in the car all day. We had our handling problems from time to time, but we were consistent with the leaders and we stayed on the lead lap almost to the end. We saw a lot of "hard" racing throughout the course of the event; one situation saw Greg Biffle slam hard into the wall.

I saw a lot of the accidents happen right in front of me, and I was lucky to escape all of them. While the checkered flag saw young racing talent Scott Wimmer take the win for the second time in the month, we crossed the line in 17th just on lap behind the leaders.

The NASCAR Busch Series will head to the very fast track of Atlanta Motor Speedway, and unfortunately the Baker Racing team will not be there. It should be an exciting race for everyone to watch.

We are working our 2003 NASCAR Busch Series plans right now, and I promise to come back to Catchfence.com in the very near future to keep you all informed with my thoughts of the NASCAR Busch Series race, the championship fight and of course any news coming out of the Baker Racing stable.

Enjoy the Aaron's 312 on Saturday and keep smiling.

Until Next Time

Brad Baker

You can reach Brad Baker at: bbaker@catchfence.com