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BUSCH: Nashville Saturday Notes

BellSouth Mobility 320 Saturday notebook By Brett Borden NASHVILLE, Tenn. (April 3, 1999) Notes and quotes from Nashville Speedway USA, site of Saturday's BellSouth Mobility 320. Nashville Speedway USA President and promoter Bob Harmon ...

Edited: Apr 16, 2008, 12:40 AM

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BellSouth Mobility 320 Saturday notebook By Brett Borden

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (April 3, 1999) Notes and quotes from Nashville Speedway USA, site of Saturday's BellSouth Mobility 320.

Nashville Speedway USA President and promoter Bob Harmon announced Saturday that he will be stepping down from those duties at the conclusion of this season. Officials at Dover Downs International Speedway, which owns Nashville Speedway USA, said no timetable has been set yet on selecting or announcing Harmon's replacement.

Justin Labonte's NASCAR Busch Series Grand National Division debut was a disappointing one, as the son of two-time NASCAR Winston Cup Series champion Terry hit the wall on Lap 20. The driver of the No. 44 Slim Jim Chevrolet did not know the cause of the accident afterwards. "I'm really not sure," he said. "I just lost it or got a little help from behind. I just lost it, the radial just jumped up and bit me. I was trying to pass another car and it broke a little loose. When I tried to save it, it sent me into the wall."

Dale Earnhardt Jr., started from the Bud Pole, went backwards after about 12 laps, then came back to finish a respectable 9th at the finish. It was a recovery that kept Earnhardt's spirits up, if not his points. "We're disappointed we didn't run better than we did after qualifying so well," Earnhardt said. "We struggled with the setup a bit. Worked on it during the race, but we were so far behind and the car was not competitive enough to run up front. So we just rested in a role of running in the top 10. I guess that's pretty good considering how bad the car was driving at first. So we can go home satisfied, not happy, but satisfied and go on to Bristol. We run pretty good there."

Kevin Lepage said his car went fast in qualifying even though it felt slow, so he was very excited to start Saturday's race. Unfortunately, the brakes went against him. Lepage finished 39th "You can't run Nashville without brakes," he said. "We lost our brakes on the first lap of the race. I was hoping it would come back around a little later down the line, but it didn't work. Two weeks in a row we're one of the first cars off. It's pretty bad. We had a great start on the season, but it's going downhill fast."

Randy LaJoie was having a good solid run in the No. 1 Bob Evans Chevrolet, but for the second time in three races, motor problems did him. LaJoie wound up finishing 38th. "We had a good car and we were running well all day, but then the engine blew," he said. "It's our second motor in three weeks (Darlington was the last one). We haven't had engine problems in two years. It's disappointing, but we'll go back and regroup for Bristol."

Source: NASCAR Online

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