Scott Wimmer Comes From the Back to Score 
Top-15 at Chicagoland Speedway

Key Motorsports earned its third top-15 of the season after a rough start to the weekend at Chicagoland Speedway. Despite limited practice time and an injured pit crew member, Scott Wimmer overcame a start at the rear of the field to finish 15th in the Dollar General 300.

After a difficult first practice, an engine failure and subsequent change at the beginning of NNS Happy Hour resulted in only a handful of practice laps before qualifying at Chicagoland Speedway. Wimmer laid down a lap time of 31.146 seconds on the 1.5 mile oval, good enough for 26th on the speed charts, but the use of a backup engine sent the No. 40 to the back of the pack for the start of the Dollar General 300.

It took only four laps after the wave of the green flag for Wimmer to race the StopRepairBills.com Chevrolet up to 29th place, and by lap 24 the driver had gained 20 spots. Continuing to climb the scoring pylon, Wimmer had advanced to 13th when it became time to pit after 56 green flag laps.

With a knee injury sidelining the team’s front tire changer, the No. 40 pit crew’s chemistry suffered. After a long green flag pit stop, Wimmer returned to the track in 22nd. When the first caution of the night finally came on lap 93, Wimmer had worked his way up to 20th, a position maintained by the crew when he brought his machine down pit road for four tires and fuel.

Green flag racing resumed just before the race reached the halfway mark, and the field remained green as pit stops began on lap 151. Once again Wimmer entered the pits in 13th position, but found himself in 20th by the time pit stops had cycled through. Wimmer immediately began earning back the spots lost on pit road, and the StopRepairBills.com Chevy was running 15th when the yellow flag waved for the second and final time on lap 186.

Maintaining his position once again during the caution, Wimmer battled heatedly after the restart, challenging the No. 98 of Paul Menard for 14th in the final nine laps, ultimately crossing the finish line in the 15th position.

“I thought it was a good weekend for us,” said Scott Wimmer. “We didn’t get a lot of practice…I think we got about 7 laps of practice total for the weekend. We had some issues in the first practice, but got those figured out, then there was everything we had to do with the engine in final practice. We had a real good car, and we had to start at the back and work our way up.”

“We had a few problems on pit road but we were able to overcome those,” Wimmer continued. “We lost our front tire changer to a knee problem this weekend and had to bring in somebody else, and whenever you have to change people up like that, it always hurts your stops. It feels pretty good starting 43rd and ending up running in the top-15. It felt like we had a car that we could have possibly run in the top-10 with. Overall not a bad weekend.”

Curtis Key’s No. 40 remains 23rd in the NNS owner standings after this weekend’s race at Chicagoland Speedway. Scott Wimmer’s 15th place finish opened a greater lead over the 30th place car, which now sits 210 points back.

The NASCAR Nationwide Series will hit the track for another night race this weekend in the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 presented by Ventrilo at Gateway International Raceway.

RECAP:

Date: July 10, 2009 Track: Chicagoland Speedway
Event Name: Dollar General 300 Start: 26th Finish: 15th Laps Completed: 198/200

Laps Led: 0 - Money Earned: $29,598 - Owner Point Standings: 23rd