Mitchell Captures Top-20 at California Speedway

OVERVIEW

posted on February 23, 2008

FONTANA, Calif. (February 23, 2008) – For Marc Mitchell, the combination of long green flag runs and a sub-par starting position made for a long day at the California Speedway. Over the course of the San Bernardino 200, the field became too spread out on the two-mile oval for the Ergon Chevy hunt down the lead pack. Still, Mitchell drove from the back to capture a 20th-place finish.

Friday’s qualifying session was cancelled due to rain. The field was set according to last season’s owners points, which put Mitchell 31st on the starting grid.

When the race got underway, Mitchell quickly picked up four positions. His progress was halted on lap four, when the caution flag waved for a spin on the track. Mitchell relinquished his position and entered the pits to top off his fuel cell.

Mitchell was sitting in 28th-place for the restart on lap 9. Once again, he shot up the chart. This time he reached 25th-place before the yellow flag waved again on lap 13. Mitchell reported that the Ergon Chevy was “a little free off” so his crew serviced the truck with four scuff tires, fuel and a track bar adjustment. Several teams opted not to pit, which put Mitchell in 30th-place for the restart.

The race went back to green on lap 18. Mitchell cruised through traffic up to 19th-place. The third caution of the race ended his run on lap 44. The Ergon Silverado was still “loose off” keeping Mitchell from carrying his momentum off the corners. Crew chief Doug George called for four tires, fuel and another track bar adjustment to remedy the handling of the No. 15 truck.

Green flag racing returned on lap 49 with Mitchell riding in 20th-place. Unfortunately, there weren’t any other caution periods to bunch up the field. The long green flag runs allowed the field to separate. Mitchell held strong to finish the race in 20th-place.

“I wish we had the chance to qualify for the race,” said Mitchell. “This was a great truck the Ergon team prepared for me. I was able to pick off a few trucks each time we had a restart, but we didn’t have very many cautions today. California (Speedway) is two miles long and there’s not very much banking, so the cars just get so spread out. I just ran out of time to catch them. I feel like we could have finished in the top-15 if we had been able to start up front.

“I can’t wait for Atlanta. I’m sure my team will give me just as good a truck as we had today and we’ll be able to show what we’ve got.”