Schrader Chicago Review

SCHRADER 42ND AT CHICAGOLAND; NOW 33RD IN POINT STANDINGS

Chicagoland was tough on the #21 Little Debbie Ford team and driver Ken Schrader. A clutch and power problem during a green flag pit stop midway through the race resulted in the loss of three laps, and when the event ended on a green, white checker the car was listed 42nd on the results tally.

When Ken was ready to leave the pits, the clutch failed and the car stalled. The team tried pushing it to get it restarted, and it didn't work so they had to push the car back to the #21 pit. By the time Ken restarted the car with the secondary electrical system he had lost three laps.

After the race Schrader described the incident saying, "When I come into the pits for a pit stop I didn't worry about pumping the clutch; I pumped the brakes. But, the transmission can't downshift without the clutch, and when I put it in gear (to leave) it wouldn't release all the way so it killed the motor. Then, for whatever reason it wouldn't start on box 1 or box A."

The Little Debbie crew worked on a number of set-up changes all weekend, but could not get the car adjusted to perform for the driver in either qualifying or race trim. Ken was 30th on the speed chart during the first practice session, 32nd in the second, and 34th in Happy Hour.

An early draw -- seventh -- meant qualifying in the heat of the day Friday afternoon, and

Schrader's time was only good enough for the 40th place starting position.

Sunday morning the team went back to work on the car, and when they discovered after the race started that it wasn't going to be as competitive as they hoped, Crew Chief David Hyder opted to stretch fuel window as far as he could. Even though they lost a lap on the first stop coming in after the majority of competitors had pitted, the team calculated they might be able to get through the event with one less stop than the leaders.

And, it might have worked if the other problem had not occurred.

During one of the late race cautions, a dejected Hyder said, "We can't have any luck can we? The car is handling pretty good now -- it's a 15th to 20th place car."

The green, white, checker finish came as the result of contact between Jeff Gordon, who was running second and the leader Matt Kenseth with four laps remaining in the event. After the race Gordon admitted that he hit Kenseth, but said he didn't mean to wreck him.

When Kenseth ran out of gas before he could get to his pit after the incident, Schrader was going to try to assist him down pit road, but Kenseth's pit was close enough to the fourth turn end of the track that Schrader's help was not necessary.

Gordon won the race, and on the final lap Kenseth and Casey Mears wrecked. Matt finished 21st and Mears wound up 25th.

The top three in points were unchanged following Chicagoland. Jimmie Johnson still leads. Kenseth is second and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is third.

Ken dropped two spots to 33rd.

The NEXTEL Cup Series travels to the northeast for the Lenox Industrial Tools 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway. The 317.4-mile event will be televised live by TNT with race coverage beginning at 1:30 p.m. (EDT) on Sunday, July 16. The green flag is scheduled for 2:10 p.m. Radio coverage will be provided by the Motor Racing Network (MRN) over it's network of radio affiliates.

Chicagoland Top-Ten 1. Jeff Gordon 2. Jeff Burton 3. Kyle Busch 4. Kevin Harvick 5. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 6. Jimmie Johnson 7. Reed Sorenson 8. Kurt Busch 9. Clint Bowyer 10. J.J. Yeley 42. Ken Schrader

Points after Chicagoland 1. Jimmie Johnson 2651 2. Matt Kenseth 2600 3. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 2394 4. Jeff Burton 2327 5. Kasey Kahne 2303 6. Mark Martin 2291 7. Tony Stewart 2274 8. Kyle Busch 2265 9. Kevin Harvick 2253 10. Jeff Gordon 2219 33. Ken Schrader 1445