Cool City Customs 200 Race Report

OVERVIEW

posted on June 14, 2008

Flat Tire Spoils Top-Five for Mitchell

Brooklyn, MI (June 14, 2008) – A flat right-front tire brought a hasty end to a top-five run for Marc Mitchell. The rookie from Tallahassee, Fla. was running in fourth-place in the closing stages of the Cool City Customs 200 at the two-mile Michigan International Speedway when his Goodyear Wrangler cut down, forcing him to make an unscheduled pit stop. The Ergon team kept the No. 15 Toyota on the lead lap for the remainder of the event, allowing Mitchell to come home in the 22nd position.
Mitchell started the race from the outside of row six. His truck was “a little free” in the initial stages, so crew chief Doug George called for minor track bar and wedge adjustments to loosen up the Ergon Tundra when the team made its first pit stop, lap 38.
Marc returned to the track under green flag conditions and was competing for 13th-place when the caution flag waved on lap 45, bringing an end to his progress. Because it had only been eight laps since the team’s last pit stop, George called for a “fuel only” pit stop. Mitchell reported that his truck was a tick too free, so the crew made another round of wedge and track bar adjustments to loosen it up. Mitchell entered the lineup in fifth-place.
When the race returned to green, lap 51, the trucks with fresh tires took advantage of Mitchell’s older Goodyears and dropped him back to ninth-place. He remained in the top-10until the next caution period, lap 59. George called Mitchell into the pits for his final scheduled stop of the day. The Ergon crew changed the #15 truck’s tires, topped off the fuel cell and made track bar and wedge adjustments to loosen up the truck. Several trucks only changed two tires, or took fuel only, which moved Mitchell into 17th-place for the restart.
When the race went green, lap 63, Mitchell began a mad dash towards the front. The Ergon Tundra was the fastest truck on the track and he began picking off one truck after the other. On lap 71, he cracked into the top-10, and broke into the top-five seven laps later. On lap 92, while running in the fourth position, Mitchell brushed the outside retaining wall when he was exiting Turn 3. The incident pressed the right-front fender against the tire, causing it to blow two laps later. The caution waved as a result of the episode, allowing the #15 team to change his tires under the yellow flag. Mitchell remained on the lead lap for the remaining six laps of the event, finishing in 22nd-place.
“It was an awesome truck today,” said Mitchell after the race. “The Ergon Tundra was turning some awesome laps. We were running in the top-five and top-10 all race long. We definitely had a top-five in the bag today.
“I was trying to get too much out of the truck. I thought I might have been able to pick up one more position, so I kept pushing the truck harder and harder. I finally pushed it too hard and I tagged the wall. It wasn’t hard, but it was enough to press the fender in. Next thing I know, we had a tire going down.

“I hate it for the team. They gave me an awesome truck and did an awesome job in the pits today. We deserve a better finish. I know we can run this well again, though. It won’t be long and we’ll be back in the top-five competing for wins.”