“Sunoco National Tour rookie earns third podium finish of season”
Ortiz, the leading rookie in the Sunoco National Tour, qualified fourth even though he only had a few laps of practice.
“We didn’t have much practice as we were working on a lot of new things with our Camaro,” Ortiz stated. “The crew worked overtime preparing our car after the tough weekend at Nashville, but I knew that I had a car to win.”
“The race started pretty crazy when I got spun for no reason,” Ortiz continued. “Then, I got the black flag for supposedly leaking fluid. After a pit stop to check on the problem, I had to start in the rear of the field.” Then, Ortiz began his march back to the front.
“The car was perfect and I started coming pretty fast through the field,” Ortiz added. “Then, I felt like I was losing power. Another trip to pit road and the crew discovered that a sparkplug wire was broken. I had to finish the race on seven cylinders, but I still had a strong enough car to finish third.”
The third-place finish was the third podium of the 2010 Sunoco National Tour for the Puerto Rican driver. Ortiz finished third at the season-opening race at New Smyrna Speedway and a second at Rockingham. With only three races remaining on the 2010 schedule, Ortiz leads the rookie standings.
“I want to thank the BD Racing with Sterling Marlin crew for all the hard work they did on my Camaro this week,” Ortiz concluded. “Everyone on our team is looking forward to Milwaukee this week. We had a great setup for the earlier race at The Milwaukee Mile. I got my first pole in the SNT at Milwaukee, but had issues in the race. So, I feel like I have ‘unfinished business’ to take care of this week.”
As Ortiz mentioned, the Sunoco National Tour heads to The Milwaukee Mile this week for the Wisconsin 150. Practice and qualifying will be held on Saturday, September 11th, with the 150-lap race set for a 4 PM start.
- BD Racing with Sterling Marlin Press Release
