Accident Cuts Comeback Short; Mitchell Finishes 25th After Spin At ORP

OVERVIEW

posted on July 25, 2008

After struggling in the early stages of the Power Stroke Diesel 200 at O’Reilly Raceway Park, Marc Mitchell and the Ergon Racing team performed a hard fought comeback. Despite going one lap down to the field in the beginning phases of the race, the #15 team battled their way back onto the lead lap and were primed for a top-10 finish. Unfortunately, their progress was halted on lap 174, when the #81 truck lost control and spun out the Ergon Tundra. The incident left Mitchell with a 25th-place finish.
Mitchell started the race from the 19th position. His Toyota Tundra was too tight in the early goings of the race and he began losing ground to the leaders. The #15 truck was pushing up the track late into the turns and preventing Mitchell from getting back to the throttle. On lap 84, while running in the 23rd position, the lead pack caught up to Mitchell and sent him one lap down to the field.
Crew chief Doug George took advantage of the next caution period, lap 113, to change the Ergon Tundra’s tires and make adjustments. The crew performed track bar and wedge adjustments to loosen up the truck. Following service, Mitchell rejoined the field in 25th-place. George’s changes improved the truck’s handling and had Mitchell fighting to get back on the lead lap.
On lap 152, Mitchell received the “lucky dog” pass for being the first truck one lap down when the caution flag waved. George called Mitchell into the pits for one last set of adjustments to the Ergon Toyota. The team performed more track bar and wedge adjustments and sent Mitchell back onto the track in 22nd-place.
The race returned to green on lap 158. Mitchell reported his truck was “its best yet” and began a dash towards the front of the pack. Mitchell made quick work of the three trucks ahead of him and set his sights on the top-15. Unfortunately, while battling with the #81 truck, the #81 machine got loose underneath Mitchell and made contact with his truck. The #15 Tundra went spinning into the outside wall. At the time of the wreck, Mitchell was in 17th-place.
The #15 truck suffered damage to the rear-bumper and rear-quarter panels of the vehicle. The crew made quick repairs, but not before Mitchell lost two laps to the leaders. Mitchell was relegated to 25th-place, where he finished the race.
“The team worked so hard today and made a great comeback,” said Mitchell. “I had a tight truck early on, but Doug made some great calls in the pits and we were pretty sporty at the end of the race. I think we would have finished in the top-10 had we not gotten wrecked. I don’t know what happened to the 81 truck. He must have gotten loose and tagged me. I gave him plenty of room, but I guess it wasn’t enough. I spun into the wall and that ruined our day. It was all starting to come together up until that point. I hate it for my team. We definitely deserved better than this.”