Kevin Conway and the ExtenZe Racing team walked away with a valuable reward from last Saturday night’s Sprint Showdown at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway (CMS) - knowledge to transfer to this weekend’s Coca-Cola 600. The leading Cup Series Raybestos Rookie of the Year contender and the No. 34 Wings/ExtenZe Racing Ford team are using lessons learned from the Showdown to get ready for NASCAR’s longest race of the season.
The team finished 18th in the All-Star weekend’s opening event last Saturday night and will adjust their car’s set-up from lessons learned to prepare for Sunday’s 600-mile event at the 1.5-mile oval.
In addition to last weekend’s track time, Conway has competed at CMS in both the NASCAR Nationwide Series (2009 - started 32nd and finished 24th) and the ARCA Series (2002 - started 23rd and finished 7th).
ExtenZe Racing Driver Kevin Conway Comments on Charlotte Motor Speedway and the Coca-Cola 600:
“The Coca-Cola 600 is a total race of endurance. For us, it’s our equivalent of the Rolex 24. You have to make sure your equipment lasts 600 miles and I have no doubt that our ExtenZe Ford Fusion will be there ‘til the end. You also have to make sure the driver is there for 600 miles and not put yourself in position early that takes you out of being there at the end.
“We can definitely take what we learned during the Showdown last weekend and apply it to the 600. We were really loose the whole race with the set-up we went with, so we know we’ve got to make some changes. But I know the whole ExtenZe Ford Racing team is going to work hard to come back with a better package for this weekend.
“The 600 is such a great event because not only is it the longest event of the year, it’s also here at home. It’s NASCAR’s home, it’s the team’s home, so it’s just a big deal. It’s a holiday weekend, a lot of people don’t have to go to work the next day, so it’s basically a big party.
“Charlotte Motor Speedway is one of the tracks I have the most laps at both from running ARCA races there, Nationwide cars there and also back to the quarter-mile track there having won track championships in the legends car series, won National Championships in the legend car series. So Charlotte Motor Speedway is definitely my home track and one of the places we look forward to the most.”
| 
|