---

Pressley Toughs it Out at Darlington

24 March 1998

Darlington, SC -- Jasper Engines & Transmissions driver Robert Pressley continued to improve the team's performances so far this season recording Jasper Motorsports' best finish of the season with a 20th place finish in Sunday's TranSouth Financial 400. Pressley also improved his position in the point standings leaving the track "To Tough To Tame" in the 32nd position, up two positions from 34th following the Primestar 500 a few weeks ago.

Not even an air gun failure and a stuck throttle could keep Pressley from running to the front. "We really had to work hard to get this one," Pressley said after the race was over. "The car was really good. We didn't make a chassis change all day. We went up a half pound one time on air pressure and that was about it. I think we had about a 12th-place car today, we just didn't get the breaks we needed to keep it there."

Jasper Motorsports Crew Chief Michael McSwain echoed his driver's thoughts. "If we hadn't had a gun go bad during one of the pit stops, we might have been able to keep from losing a lap. Then Robert radioed in and told us the throttle was sticking. He ran almost 65 laps that way. The one break we had was catching a caution so we could work on the car. As it turned out, the throttle return spring bracket had broken and it turned out to be a pretty easy to fix. We lost a few positions, but Robert got most of them back before it as over. He fought all day long. He passed the 18 car for position with two laps to go. It's hard to believe this is our best finish this year. So many things went wrong. Just wait till we have a good day!"

Next week marks the start of the short track portion of the NASCAR Winston Cup Series schedule with a trip to Bristol, Tennessee. The 1/2-mile Bristol Motor Speedway will host the Food City 500 on Sunday, March 29th. Practice begins on Friday morning with qualifying scheduled for Friday afternoon.