ROCKINGHAM, N.C.– Scott Speed’s first race at the high-banked Rockingham Speedway was short and not-so-sweet. Speed’s No. 2 Red Bull Toyota was collected in a multi-car incident on lap 10 of the inaugural Carolina 500. Eddie Sharp Racing’s Red Bull crew worked feverishly on the car for over 100 laps, returning to the track and finishing the day in the 35th position.
“Today just wasn’t what we had hoped it would be,” said Speed. “We certainly hoped that we would carry the success from last week here. Unfortunately, we were caught up in the first big mess of the day and just did what we could to lose as few points as possible. I just want to thank the team for all their hard work today. We’ll put this behind us and look forward to Kentucky next weekend.”
Following a conservative qualifying lap, Speed took the green flag for the Carolina 500 in the 25th position. By lap 10, Speed climbed into the top-15. Poised for what was anticipated to be a very good afternoon, Speed was collected in the lap-10 melee resulting from a spinning lapped car on the backstretch.
The crew brought the car to the pit to ascertain the damage, consequently taking it back to the garage for repairs. The team replaced the right-front suspension, fixed the radiator, and cut off all of the damaged sheet metal. The Red Bull Toyota returned to the track following 110 laps of garage-time.
Back on track, Crew Chief Patrick Donahue encouraged his driver by tracking and reporting the number of laps and spots that the No. 2 was gaining. Restarting in the 45th position, the hard work of the Red Bull crew paid off as the No. 2 Toyota Camry gained 10 spots, climbing to the 35th position by the race’s end. It was still a costly finish, Speed fell four spots to the eighth position in ARCA RE/MAX Series championship points, 220 points behind leader Matt Carter.
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