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Daytona II: Robert Richardson race report
Daytona Disappointment for Richardson, Jr. Daytona Beach, FL (07-04-08) NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Robert Richardson, Jr and the No. 23 R3 Motorsports team had a tough break this weekend for the Winn Dixie 250 at Daytona Beach International ...
Published: Jul 8, 2008, 2:32 AM
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Daytona Disappointment for Richardson, Jr.
Daytona Beach, FL (07-04-08) NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Robert Richardson, Jr and the No. 23 R3 Motorsports team had a tough break this weekend for the Winn Dixie 250 at Daytona Beach International Speedway. The Independence Day weekend event began with Richardson, Jr. qualifying the No. 23 Genie Doors Chevrolet Monte Carlo on time to secure the 29th position on the starting grid for Friday night's race event.
Early on in the race around lap 33, Richardson pitted under caution. After the pit crew made adjustments on the car, Richardson came across the radio to say "Tight-tight in center and all the way around." A few laps later, Richardson, Jr. informed that the car chattered thru turns one and two and ran wide open thru turns three and four. Richardson held onto the No. 23 machine in the back of the field fighting to stay in the 30th position. Around lap 72, Crew Chief Rob Jones called for a green flag pit stop to take gas and two right side tires - only to find that the handling issue was now reversed. Richardson came across in a chuckle "Good thru turns one and two and worse in three and four". Richardson continued to battle the car throughout the last few laps of the race and crossed the finish line with tires going down in the 31st position.
"If I had to summarize the weekend up in one word it would be disappointing", said a frustrated Richardson. "I am proud of my guys for sticking with me all through the weekend. It's just unfortunate that for the most part our practice got rained out; we didn't really have an ability to get out in any of the drafting sessions. We focused primarily on qualifying setups during practice because we had to qualify on time. There were pros and cons to the weekend. Pros being the guys worked really hard and got the car good enough to make the show on time - we beat a lot of good cars and made the race. The cons are obviously the car didn't really handle to our liking. We were fighting tight conditions all night long. We just couldn't get the front tires to hook up - it was just awful all night long. It was disappointing. As much hard work these guys put into this race they deserve a more rewarding race. It's just unfortunate this weekend turned out the way that it did."
Richardson, Jr. and the R3 Motorsports team will be traveling to the Chicago area this week for the next stop on their 2008 schedule for the NASCAR Nationwide Series Dollar General 300 powered by Coca-Cola at Chicagoland Speedway. For the first time in racing history the NASCAR Nationwide series will race under the lights at the 1.5 mile D-shaped oval.
-credit: robertrichardson.net
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