Qwik Liner 350 Report - Andretti Finishes Fourth

OVERVIEW

posted on September 20, 2008

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (September 20, 2008) – In his first race driving the Ergon Tundra, John Andretti yielded the No. 15 team’s best finish of the season. Andretti scored a major comeback in the Qwik Liner 350, overcoming a loose handling truck to take the checkers in fourth-place at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The effort marked the team’s first top-five of the season.
In the beginning stages of the race, few would have given Andretti a chance at reaching the top-15. His truck was “loose, loose, loose” all the way through the turns and preventing him from improving his 23rd-place starting position.
Crew chief Doug George called for several adjustments during the preliminary caution periods of the event. George ordered adjustments to the truck’s track bar, wedge, air pressure and spring rubbers throughout the first half of the race. “We just couldn’t get it tightened up,” said Andretti. “We made some whole sale swaps to the Ergon Tundra, and it was still too loose to drive. I couldn’t touch the gas without it wanting to spin out. We adjusted nearly everything on the truck. At first it didn’t seem like we were going to fix it, but all of the sudden, it started clicking.” The team made a major track bar adjustment during the caution period on lap 76 and Andretti’s lap times improved substantially. After the tweak, the Ergon Tundra began running lap times consistent with the leaders.
Riding in 20th-place on lap 83, all that Andretti lacked now was track position. George remedied the situation with a gutsy call on the ensuing caution, lap 96, opting to leave his driver on the track and not service the vehicle. “John was running great lap times on the previous run and we had enough fuel to go to the end,” said George regarding his pit strategy. “It made since for us to stay out and pick up some spots when everyone else pitted.”
Andretti inherited the lead for the following run. On lap 102, Andretti led the parade to the green flag. Despite having older tires than the rest of the field, Andretti held strong over the remaining 46 laps and used his veteran poise to stay in the top-five. The Indianapolis native charged hard, dodging several late-race accidents, to come home in fourth-place.
“What a great team effort,” said Andretti after the race. “All of the crew did a fantastic job tonight. The Ergon Tundra was super loose, but nobody gave up. Doug(George) kept tuning and tuning on the truck and got it up to speed. It was pretty sporty in the second half of the race.
“Doug made a great call when he decided not to pit. We gained a ton of track position and it gave us clean air to race in. Everything came together perfectly tonight. I want to thank Ergon and Billy Ballew for the chance to go racing.”