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Scott Wimmer Finishes 16th in Penalty-Filled Scott Wimmer was once again one of the biggest movers of the race in this weekend’s Meijer 300 at Kentucky Speedway, leading his first lap of the season with Key Motorsports and racing competitively throughout the night, but pit road penalties, which plagued nearly half the field in a string of 27 speeding violations, left the No. 40 Westerman Companies Chevrolet just outside the top-15.
Wimmer took the green flag from the 30th position after locking himself into the race with a lap time of 31.760 seconds, but quickly proved just how strong the No. 40 Westerman Companies Chevrolet was under race conditions. Only nine laps into the 200-lap race, Wimmer had maneuvered into the 21st position, then broke
into the top-20 with only a dozen laps behind him, never looking back as he remained in the top-20 for the rest of the evening. 50 laps into the race, Wimmer had worked his way up to 16th, and told the Key Motorsports crew that he was pretty happy with his car, though it was a bit snug in the corners. After a 44-lap green flag run, the team would have a chance to adjust the No. 40 when the caution flag flew on lap 71. Wimmer brought the Westerman Companies Chevy down pit road, but after completing his stop, Wimmer, along with six other drivers, was sent to the tail end of the longest line for excessive speed exiting the pits. When the caution flew once again just a few laps later, crew chief Gary Showalter called Wimmer back into the pits to top-off on fuel, anticipating another long green flag run. Showalter proved correct as the race remained green, with pit stops beginning on lap 137. Able to stay out longer than his competitors due to the extra fuel, Wimmer advanced through the field as cars pulled off the track to pit, taking over the lead on lap 146. After collecting five bonus points for leading a lap, Wimmer brought the Westerman Companies machine into the pits for a full-service pit stop. Once again Wimmer was tagged for being too fast exiting, one of 11 cars penalized on that cycle, and was forced to make a pass-through under green and lose a lap. Now running 18th, Wimmer continued to race hard for the remaining 50 laps, running times competitive with the leaders and picking off two more competitors before taking the checkered flag just outside the top-15. This weekend’s 16th place finish bumped Key Motorsports’ No. 40 up to 30th in the NNS owner points, effectively locking the team in for Saturday’s race in Milwaukee. With Scott Wimmer stepping out of the No. 40 to race for JR Motorsports, Aric Almirola will slide behind the wheel for Key Motorsports for this and four other races this season. “Overall we had a really good day. We got caught speeding on pit road a couple of times, I’m not sure what that was all about, it seemed like a lot of guys were, but that kind of ended our good day,” said Wimmer. “I thought we were going to have close to a top-10, but to come home 16th, that’s good…It put us back in the top-30 in points. I’m disappointed in how we qualified, but we’ll work on that and hopefully get better and be ready for the next time I get in the car.” The NASCAR Nationwide Series runs under the lights once again this Saturday in the NorthernTool.com 250 at The Milwaukee Mile. RECAP:
Date: June 13, 2009 Track: Kentucky Speedway NEXT ON SCHEDULE: Date: June 20, 2009 Track: The Milwaukee Mile Event Name: NorthernTool.com 250 TV: ESPN2, 7:30 PM ET Radio: MRN, 7:30 PM ET
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