ES: Loudon: Rogelio Lopez Thursday notes

Rogelio Lopez, Starting Ninth, Looking To Repeat New Hampshire Successes

Loudon, N.H. (June 26, 2008) - Rogelio Lopez has fond memories of racing at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in NASCAR Camping World East Series competition last fall. In that race, he posted the fastest lap in time trials to earn his first pole position in the series. He backed up that qualifying performance with a third-place finish in the race.

Lopez, from Aguascalientes, Mexico, had expected to bring a brand new car to NHMS' "Magic Mile" for the first of two races this year. That plan changed and an older car was pressed into service: the same car that won the pole and finished third last year.

"I'm pretty confident that it'll work well for us," he said. "The car got a little bit tight on the long runs in the race last year, but that happens to everyone here. We made some changes to try and fix that in the shop over the last couple of weeks, but you never know how those changes will work out until you get the car on the track and test them."

At the track, rain has adversely affected the schedule for practice and qualifying day. Qualifying has been cancelled and the field set by points, giving him the ninth starting position.

"Hopefully the rain will let us run a few laps of practice before we race," he said. "We're in the top ten in points so we'll be near the front to start. But everyone here needs some laps. There are guys here who have never run here before, and they need to get on the track to learn the track."

-credit: ajc