SCHRADER FINISHES 16TH AT RICHMOND; MOVES UP IN POINTS
Ken Schrader - #21 U.S. Air Force Fusion – finished 16th in Saturday night’s Crown Royal 400 at Richmond International Raceway and moved up two spots in the point standings from 33rd to 31st.
Schrader lost the benefit of cooler air and track temperatures with a 3rd place qualifying draw on Friday. Even though he picked up significant speed over his fastest practice run it was only good for a 28th place on the starting grid.
After his two-lap run Ken responded as follows: YOU WERE TWO TENTHS FASTER THAN PRACTICE. “I had to (laughing). It’s time to qualify now and the track is cooler, so you’ve got to run better. I don’t know where that will be, but I’m guessing somewhere from 18th to 20th.” YOU MUST FEEL LIKE YOU DID SOMETHING RIGHT TODAY. “We tested here and were good. Then we went to Phoenix thinking that stuff would work and chased it all day long at Phoenix in practice. We finally hit it at Phoenix and brought the Phoenix stuff back, but we’re not seeing where these two tracks run the same.”
It took a while for the team to really get a handle on the set-up during the race, but in the end a motivated Schrader started picking off competitors and was up to 19th before the final caution flag flew on lap 388. With only eight laps remaining when the green flag came out for the final time, the Missouri native launched his Fusion past an additional three for his 16th place finish, one lap down.
“That was fun, and there is more coming,” Schrader said after the race. And Wood Brothers co-owners Eddie and Len Wood agreed.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. went to Victory Lane finishing ahead of Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick.
Jimmie Johnson stayed in first place in the point standings while Tony Stewart took over second and Matt Kenseth dropped to third.
The 11th event on the 2006 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series schedule is slated for Saturday, May 13 at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina. The 1.366-mile egg-shaped oval will host the Dodge Charger 500. Television coverage on FOX will begin a 6:30 p.m. The event will also be carried live over the Motor Racing Network (MRN) of radio affiliates.
Richmond Top-Ten
- Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
- Denny Hamlin
- Kevin Harvick
- Greg Biffle
- Kyle Busch
- Tony Stewart
- Carl Edwards
- Ryan Newman
- Sterling Marlin
- Clint Bowyer
16. Ken Schrader
Points After Richmond
- Jimmie Johnson 1521
- Tony Stewart 1466
- Matt Kenseth 1422
- Mark Martin 1345
- Kevin Harvick 1313
- Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 1305
- Kasey Kahne 1274
- Kyle Busch 1237
- Jeff Gordon 1216
- Casey Mears 1168
31. Ken Schrader 864
