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NASCAR-WCUP: Hillenburg Clears 'The Big One', LJ Racing Ready for Daytona

15 October 1998

Mooresville, N.C. -- The number 91 LJ Racing Chevrolet cleared a big hurdle Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, when driver Andy Hillenburg steered his car through the wreckage caused by an incident in the second half of the race. He gave the team what they needed most that weekend, a clean car to use at Daytona this weekend.

The LJ Racing team, led by veteran Crew Chief Doug Richert has had some pretty impressive numbers the past two months: qualifying in the first round 4 of the last 5 races (winning the Bud Second Round Fastest Qualifier in the 5th), and posting 2 top 15 and 3 top 25 finishes in the last 3 races.

Those may be every day numbers for some teams, but they are fought for and earned with sweat by the 91 team. The small crew works long, hard hours during the week, only to spend their entire weekend at the track under the same hard conditions. The last thing they needed this week was a bent up racecar.

"We're really happy with the way things went this weekend" said owner Joe Falk. "We have a good car, it's still in one piece and we can take what we have and what we've learned this weekend to Daytona. We're ahead of over a dozen teams in that respect."

"This is really our first full year on the circuit and we're very pleased that we're showing this kind of improvement in the second half of the season. We've shown we have the crew, the equipment, and the determination to be a front running team. The down side is, we really need that sponsor. This is not a new team anymore. We have the experience, we're in place and ready to win."