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Pennzoil Dodge Race Preview: Raines Heads for Flemington

7 August 1997


Pennzoil Dodge Team Ready for Flemington

   Pennzoil Dodge driver Tony Raines' five consecutive top 10 finishes 
ended last week at Indianapolis Raceway Park (IRP) when the rookie 
driver cut a tire with 15 laps left in the race. 

   Raines hopes to begin a new streak at Flemington Speedway on 
Saturday. Flemington is known for its traditionally-tight short track 
racing, which should favor Raines. The Hoosier driver's first win in 
the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series came on May 24 on the 1/2-mile oval 
at I-70 Speedway in Odessa, Mo.  Raines has six top-10 finishes this 
year on tracks shorter than a mile.


Raines on...

...working to the front on a short oval like Flemington:

   "A lot of times at a track like this, everybody focuses on running 
on the bottom.  They never really try to go outside.  Sometimes, if 
you step out there, you find out that your truck works really well.  
If a guy is holding up the traffic, sometimes you might be faster on 
the outside."

...practicing in the outside groove on a short track:

   "You probably could work with the outer groove in practice a little 
bit, but you tend not to because you're too busy trying to get fast on 
the bottom so you can qualify well.  It seems to be one of those 
things you do during the race unintentionally.  You do it out of 
necessity and not by design."

...eight races in 10 weeks:

   "It is starting to wear on people and everybody is getting tired.  
But, it's the same for everyone  We need some time to work on the 
equipment and get caught up, but it's stretches like this that 
separate the `contenders from the pretenders.'  We're coming down to 
crunch-time in this 10-race run.  Now is when you need to really 
`knuckle-down' that much harder and get a couple of good finishes."  

...rebounding from a disappointment the week before:

   "We had a little bad luck there at IRP.  We cut a tire and got bit 
when we needed it the least.  That's the way racing goes.  It's 
frustrating, because we want the Pennzoil Dodge to run better than 
that, and that's what we're going to do.  Everybody stumbles on the 
way through the woods somewhere, and we feel like that was it for us.  
It just makes the Pennzoil team a little hungrier."  

For More Information
Contact: Al Larsen
Cohn & Wolfe
(404) 880-5267
al_larsen@cohnwolfe.com