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Tuesday, March 6
Vegas finish didn't reflect solid run
By Royce McGee
Special to ESPN.com
Las Vegas is supposed to be a city of fun and good luck, but that didn't really ring true for the Lowe's team last weekend.
We struggled pretty hard Friday, mainly because we got behind a bit when we had to make some adjustments to the Lowe's Chevy before practice. Practice started and we were still working on the car, so we ended up with very little time on the track before we qualified. To add insult to injury, qualifying didn't go very well for us and we were forced to take a provisional starting position. Using a provisional is very unlike Mike Skinner and the Lowe's team, especially two weeks in a row. We usually qualify very well.
|  | | Mike Skinner and the Lowe's Chevrolet team had the dominant car at last spring's Atlanta race. |
We knew we had a long way to go to get to the front in the race, so we focused intently on the race set-up during Saturday morning's Happy Hour. When the garage closed that afternoon, Mike and all the guys thought the Lowe's Chevy was a pretty decent race car.
When the green flag waved Sunday morning, we started working on improving the car's handling by making slight chassis adjustments. Mike concentrated hard on each and every lap and moved into the top 15. The pit crew did an awesome job most of the day and consistently picked up positions for Mike. Late in the race, he was running in 13th, came down pit road and they sent him back out on the track in the 10th position.
Just when things started to go our way, we think we got an odd-ball set of tires on a pit stop late in the race. The Lowe's Chevy had been a little loose on the run prior to that, so we made a small chassis adjustment. No more than five laps later, Mike radioed in that that set of tires was much tighter. Because the race had so many long, green-flag runs, we were forced to stay out for the next 60 laps before we could pit under green again.
When Mike came down pit road for the last time, the guys had one of their worst pit stops all day and we lost four or five positions on the track. That really hurt us because it was so late in the race and the field was so stretched out that it was hard to catch up again.
Although we finished 18th, the Lowe's Chevy definitely was competitive and could run with the other cars on the track. Our finishing position wasn't reflective of how well we ran before that last pit stop. Unfortunately, we had that slow pit stop probably when it mattered the most.
But we're not letting the last two races get us down. Atlanta, one of our historically better tracks, is coming up this weekend. We finished sixth there in November after taking our only provisional starting position of the season.
But the March 2000 stop at Atlanta is the one that sticks in the mind of every Lowe's crew member. Skinner had led 191 of 325 laps and the Lowe's Chevy looked like the best car on the track all day. The green flag had just dropped after the final caution of the day and we were second or third after that pit stop with less than 20 laps remaining. Mike drove to the front in a lap or so and was going for it. No more than two laps later, he radioed in that the motor blew up. A rod bolt in the engine had broken.
Standing there at that moment, you could feel the agony of every single guy. It was terrible -- 10 times worse than losing your favorite pet when you were a child. We'd run strong and been dominant all day because the guys had done their job on pit road, just as Mike had done his on the track.
We weren't worried about whether or not we could outrun the other guys. We knew we had them covered. The question was how far in front of them we wanted to stay and still be comfortable. Then some little one-dollar motor piece failed us. We'd done all we could do and we still came up empty-handed.
If there was any good to that Sunday afternoon, it was that NASCAR thought our Chevy was the best one. Although we didn't finish well, they picked the Lowe's Chevy to take to the wind tunnel. We went back to the shop and told the guys that if NASCAR didn't think we were a good team, they wouldn't have taken our car.
Yes, I feel like the Lowe's team has a score to settle with Atlanta Motor Speedway. We're looking to go back to Atlanta and be a very competitive team. We've got a great bunch of hardworking, dedicated guys on this team. And we feel like Atlanta owes us.
Royce McGee is the crew chief for Mike Skinner and the No. 31 Lowe's Chevrolet on the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. He will be providing a weekly diary to ESPN.com throughout the season. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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