Columbus Chuck Etchells Racing Wrap-up

Whit Bazemore and the Kendall Motor Oil/Matco Tools Camaro Z28 Racing team had extra motivation for doing well in Sunday's final eliminations of the Pontiac Excitement Nationals. First, crew chiefs Tim and Kim Richards would be moving on after this event, ending their eight-year tenure at Etchells Racing. In addition, the team was looking to finally get their season going after an atypical slow start. Coming in following yet another strong qualifying effort, Bazemore faced Dean Skuza in the first round. Despite posting a quicker elapsed time of 4.956 seconds with a top speed of 306.95 mph, Bazemore was unable to overcome Skuza's starting line advantage, ending his day before it had a chance to get started.

"That's a tough way to end a difficult weekend. Overall, I'm happy for Tim and Kim (Richards) and the entire Kendall/Matco Camaro team that we ran well today. That '95 in the first round was a good lap. Unfortunately, and most importantly, we didn't get the win. I pride myself on doing my job as best I can, and I take it hard when we lose like that, which fortunately has not happened in a long time. This is a tough business, which never cuts you any slack.

"We'll have to put the events of this weekend behind us and look to the future. We have the Madison event in a few days, and we have to focus on doing well there."