NASCAR Cup

Andy Lally race report

Texas

Edited: Apr 11, 2011, 12:05 AM

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Andy Lally, TRG Motorsports Chevrolet

Lally Finishes 32nd in Interstate Moving Services Ford at Texas

Denton, TX, (April 9, 2011) - Andy Lally drove the TRG Motorsports No. 71 Interstate Moving Services Ford Fusion to a 32nd place finish in tonight's running of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NASCAR) Samsung Mobile 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Andy Lally, TRG Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

After successfully making it into the field on his qualifying time, Lally ran a calculated race that he deemed a successful first outing for the team's new Ford package. Unfortunately the team witnessed a few surprises which set them back in the order. The first was a blown right front tire on lap 92. That caused the team to pit and lose several laps. As the laps ticked away the No. 71 Interstate Ford Fusion and Lally got stronger and stronger. The Northport, New York native was running lap times comparable to the leader. Late in the race Lally reported a severe handling problem due to a tire imbalance causing a late race stop and more track position.

"The car got better as the race went on," Lally said. "The last couple of fuel runs I was really excited. I didn't have to try that hard to go fast. It felt like my road race car. I was able to get it into the corner and it would turn. It was a little free in the turns, but a comfortable free. The track came to us as the race went on. I was working with Paul (Clapprood, crew chief) on the adjustments and it kept getting better. We had a couple of unlucky breaks, like the blown right front tire. I was in the marbles and down to third gear just trying to keep it off of the wall without locking the tires. We had another tire issue on our second to last stop that really upset the handling and we had to come back in.

As frustrating as parts of the day were, I think we showed we had the pace to run with the top guys in the second half of the race and I was happy with that aspect. We came here with one car and half of a back-up car. Although the result doesn't show it I am excited to go to the next race knowing that we have a good car and it will only get better."

I think we showed we had the pace to run with the top guys...

Andy Lally

Team owner Kevin Buckler had his team working hard all week to have a successful debut with their new Ford Fusion.

"What a week," Buckler said. "The guys put in nearly a weeks worth of work at the shop Monday and Tuesday to get the new Interstate Moving Services Ford Fusion ready for this race. We did not have all of the necessary parts on the car for our first race, but we made the switch over to the Ford Fusion. The Roush guys were great and helped to keep us out of trouble. We had a half built back-up car in the truck, so we had to rely on our rookie Andy to qualify on time and keep the primary car in one piece. He did an awesome job. In the race he and Paul had the set-up right and really nailed it at the end. As the sun went down the car and track came back and Andy was running lap times comparable to the front guys. The last two stints we were the class of the single car teams and working our way up. I thought it was a very positive first step with our new program. Our team has the greatest up-side potential of any team in the garage. As we build up our Ford fleet and our experience it will only get better. Our new partners at Interstate Moving Services really made this possible this weekend and we are looking forward to Talladega next weekend."

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will travel to Talladega Superspeedway for the Aaron's 499 to be run on Sunday, April 17.

-source: trg

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