NNS and NSCS...



05/24/2009



RAIN SHORTENS BOTH RACES FOR SPEED AT CHARLOTTE



+ RAIN PREVENTS SPEED FROM CRACKING TOP 10

Scott Speed backed up an impressive Nationwide Series run at Darlington with another Saturday night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, finishing 11th in the Carquest Auto Parts 300.

Two weeks earlier, Speed, driving the No. 99 Red Bull Toyota, finished 13th in his first go-around at tricky Darlington Raceway. He has three finishes of 13th or better in his past four Nationwide starts.

And the result could have been better, but rain came and for the first time shortened a Nationwide race at Lowe’s.

Speed’s No. 82 Sprint Cup crew at Red Bull Racing Team pitted the car under green with 50 laps to go, but an untimely caution flag waved two laps later and triggered a bizarre series of events. Only eventual race winner Mike Bliss didn’t make a green-flag pit stop, and he and Brendan Gaughan — by virtue of the free pass — were the only two cars on the lead lap, with a 10-car group restarting ahead of the leader on the tail end.

Speed was in that group, but he had only nine laps to fight for position before rain and a red flag stopped the race on 170 of 200 laps.

--

+ RAIN RUINS RED BULL’S RUN

NASCAR’s longest race was just that — long. Not in distance, but in days. And more than 24 hours after the scheduled start of the 600, rain denied Scott Speed the opportunity to show what his Red Bull Toyota had in store had the race gone the full distance.

The 50th edition of the 600, the Memorial Day weekend classic that every year runs on Sunday at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, was rained out and began at high noon Monday. Three times the race was stopped because of rain. The final time, after 227 of 400 laps, left Speed in 18th.

Speed’s No. 82 finished where it started, but he said the car was the best it has been all season.

“It’s amazing how you can run anywhere you want on the track when your car is good,” Speed said. “Seriously, this car was awesome. Definitely the best car we’ve had all year. I wonder what we could have done with it if we had gone the full distance.”