SHELBY AMERICAN RACE REPORT
Race Summary: The No. 43 Valvoline team was forced to the back of the field for the start of the Shelby American at Las Vegas Motor Speedway due to an engine change that took place prior to qualifying on Friday. When the green flag flew for the start of Sunday’s event, Allmendinger began to communicate to crew chief Mike Shiplett that the car was handling extremely loose. In addition, the engine of his Ford Fusion was running hot in the early laps and Allmendinger was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop to clean the grill on Lap 27. During that stop, Shiplett called for the first of many chassis adjustments made throughout the race in an effort to tighten up the car. Unfortunately, the team lost several laps in the process and returned to the track in the 40th spot. Allmendinger’s car remained loose throughout the event and the team made the most of every opportunity to make handling adjustments, but could never quite get it to the driver’s liking. Allmendinger never stopped battling his competitors, however, and the No. 43 Ford was able to take the checkered flag in the 25th spot.
Allmendinger on the Las Vegas Event: “I’m not sure exactly why, but we just missed the set up we needed to have to be successful this weekend. Mike Shiplett and this Valvoline crew worked really hard all day to make the handling better for me, but we just couldn’t get it to where it needed to be. That was certainly a hard-fought 25th-place finish, that’s for sure. It just proves you can’t give up during these races and that’s one thing our Richard Petty Motorsports team just won’t do. We’ll put this one behind us, head to Atlanta and see what we can do there.”
The following is the finish position of the other Richard Petty Motorsports drivers:
Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 9 Budweiser Ford 9th
Paul Menard, driver of the No. 98 Moen/Menards Ford 17th
Elliott Sadler, driver of the No. 19 Stanley Ford 27th
Date: March 7, 2010
Race: Kobalt Tools 500
Laps: 325 Laps/500.5 Miles
TV Information: 1 p.m. ET on FOX
Radio Information: 1 p.m. ET on PRN and Sirius/XM
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