HOMETOWN HEALING FOR THE WOOD BROTHERS/JTG TEAM

AT MARTINSVILLESPEEDWAY

NASCAR’s eldest speedway was kind to NASCAR’s eldest driver as Ken Schrader drove the No. 21 Little Debbie Ford to a 19th place finish in the Goody’s Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway. Schrader dodged trouble in 15 separate caution flag periods on the tight half-mile speedway just across the Virginia border and a scant 30 minutes from the Wood Brothers hometown of Stuart.

Rolling off the grid from a season-best fourth starting position, Schrader held his own for the first few laps until a slight bump moved him out of the groove. Martinsville Speedway, always known for its tight confines, got a little tighter Sunday with the four-inch wider Car of Tomorrow’s second event in 2007. Schrader reported that the car was good and crew chief Ernie Cope needed to make only the most minor of adjustments all day long.

Schrader ran among the top-20 for the first 100 laps of the 500-lap race, and his closest call of the day occurred just one lap later as he narrowly avoided the spinning car of David Stremme coming up off of turn two. After a fast and furious pit stop, Schrader inherited 15th place on the ensuing restart. He quickly moved up as high as 13th just 30 laps later. The No. 21 Little Debbie Ford turned the fastest lap times on the track during several points of the race. Schrader moved a spot higher to twelfth following another blistering pit stop on lap 218.

At the halfway point on lap 250, Schrader had the No. 21 Little Debbie Ford just outside the top-10 running order in 11th place. He reported that the car was still handling great—just a little loose into the corners. Schrader continued to run in the top-15 until a round of pit stops following a lap 338 caution. Several teams elected to only change two tires and the team was dropped back to 18th place.

All day long the skies were threatening rain and on lap 354, a brief shower moved over the track leading to a 30-minute red flag period to dry the surface. Just as soon as the engines died out, they came back to life and the remaining cars took the green flag again on lap 342 of the 500-lap event. Just prior to the restart, crew chief Ernie Cope brought the car down pit road for fuel only, in a bid to make it the rest of the way on gas if the event was to stay green. It was a healthy gamble, but the drivers refused to cooperate and just 15 laps later, the 11th caution flag waved on the day.

This time, Ken Schrader and the No. 21 Little Debbie Ford stayed out for track position and restarted the event from the seventh spot. Schrader couldn’t hang on after a few love taps from behind and he slid back to 19th place over the next 70 laps. He briefly fell back to 20th place for a long green flag segment as the final laps wound down, but crossed the line in 19th place for the team’s best finish of the year so far. Heading into the Easter Break weekend, it was a good feeling to nail down the respectable finish that had eluded the team thus far in 2007.

WHAT THE TEAM HAS TO SAY
Ken Schrader, driver of the No. 21 Little Debbie Ford:
“I think that’s about what we needed. I mean, we were better. We should have finished better. But this place is a struggle every lap and you have to be on top of your game out on the track and in the pits. The guys on this team performed all day. We didn’t have to make all that many adjustments on the No. 21 Little Debbie Ford.

It was a good all around weekend for us. We nailed it in qualifying and ran top-15 pretty much all day. The guys deserve it and these sponsors deserve it. We’re fighters and I think that’s showed the last few weeks and it definitely showed again today.”

FAST & FUN FACTS:
-Ken Schrader qualified in the fourth position and drove the No. 21 Little Debbie Ford to a 19th place finish on Sunday in the Goody’s Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway.
-Jimmie Johnson won the race, followed to the line by teammate Jeff Gordon,
Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. rounded out the top-five finishers on the day.
-Next weekend is an off-weekend for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, as the teams head into the Easter Weekend Break.

RACE INFORMATION:
What – Samsung 500 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race
When – Sunday, April 15th, 2:00 p.m. EDT
Where – Martinsville Speedway; 334 laps, 501 miles
Network – FOX Network; PRN Radio Network