Bayer Consumer Care Racing Recap

Engine Trouble Regulates Raines to a 36th Place Finish in Homestead

HOMESTEAD, FL (November 16, 2002) Heading into the NASCAR Busch Series season finale at the Homestead Miami Speedway, Tony Raines was looking to end the season on a high note by capturing a solid finish in the Ford 300 before turning his focus to his rookie campaign in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series in 2003. However, an ill handling racecar in addition to a loss of engine power due to the failure of two cylinders forced Raines to park the Alka-Seltzer PLUS Chevrolet on lap 131 and finish the day in the 36th place spot.

Raines' and the team struggled to find the right qualifying set-up for Thursday afternoon's time trials as the No. 33 Alka-Seltzer PLUS Chevrolet was forced to take a provisional starting spot for only the second time this season. Raines' lap of 146.723 mph at a time of 36.804 seconds placed him in the 37th place spot for the start of the 200 -lap event. However, Friday morning's "Happy Hour" practice session would prove promising as Raines and the Bayer Consumer Care Team finished the session with the tenth quickest time on the speed charts.

With unusual cool temperatures and the threat of rain looming, the 43-car field roared to the drop of the green flag with pole sitter Jeff Green leading the way into turn one. Raines quickly went to work on the tail end of the field, teaming with fellow competitor Shane Hmiel in an effort to gain valuable track position during the early stages of the event. It wouldn't take long for Raines to experience the beast that hinder the No. 33 machine for the entire afternoon.

"I am pushing hard in the center of the corners and off," radioed Raines to crew chief Michael Kadlecik on lap 15.

The first caution flag of the afternoon would fly on lap 20 for a single car incident involving the No. 5 machine of David Green. Under the yellow, Raines would follow the leaders down pit road in an effort to correct the cars tight handling condition. The Bayer Consumer Care crew made right and left side wedge adjustments in addition to topping off the fuel tank. The decision to take no tires allowed the Alka-Seltzer PLUS Chevrolet to return to the track in the 15th place spot and gained the team its much needed track position.

With the restart on lap 25, Raines would quickly discover that his "tight" handling problems on the car had not gone away. "The nose of the car is sliding something awful," replied Raines as the Indiana native dropped from 15th to 30th in a matter of ten laps.

With the caution flag once again waving for debris on lap 35, Raines would once again hit pit road. This time the Alka-Seltzer PLUS machine was fitted for four fresh tires, a spring rubber in the right rear, a spring rubber out the left rear and a full tank of gas. Raines would re-enter the track in the 36th place spot with the hopes that these wholesale changes to the car would aid the car's performance.

The restart on lap 37 would began a 74-lap green flag run featured a cycle of green flag pit stops beginning on lap 85. During this run, Raines would run as high as eighth as the field cycled through their round of pit stops. With the car still suffering ill handling problems and a hint of engine trouble, Raines dropped onto pit road under the green flag on lap 94 for four tires and a left side chassis adjustment. Raines would return to the track running in the 31st place spot and one lap down to the leaders.

Lap 111 would bring out the third caution of the day for an accident involving the No. 54 machine of Kevin Grubb. Raines would once again come to pit road for four more fresh Goodyear tires and another spring rubber in the right rear.

Shortly after a six-lap caution for rain on lap 120, Raines' day would come to an end on lap 131 due to engine trouble. "I think the engine is going south on us," commented Raines via team radio. "We are down on power pretty bad."

After failing to meet minimum speed requirements, Raines was forced to pull the Alka-Seltzer PLUS machine behind the wall with a 36th place finish.

"It was definitely not the finish we were hoping for," commented Raines following the race. "The car was unbelievably tight. We just could not get the car to turn in the center of the corner at all today. We made a lot of changes to the car, but it never really responded to any of the changes we made to it. To run well here, you have to be able to run on the bottom of the race track and we struggled with that all day. We dropped a couple cylinders here at the end and that is what ultimately put us behind the wall. It is disappointing to end the season this way."

In addition, Raines and BACE Motorsports ended a three-year relationship with Bayer Consumer Care following the Ford 300.

"I would like to thank Bayer Consumer Care and the brands of Bayer, Aleve, Alka-Seltzer and Alka-Seltzer Plus for their support of our racing program over the past three years," stated Raines. "I have enjoyed our relationship and the opportunity to get to know the sponsors and customers associated with the program. I wish them nothing but the best in 2003 and the years to come."

Raines finished the season 12th in the overall NASCAR Busch Series Point Standings with 3804 points to his credit. Raines tallied five top-five finishes and 11 top-ten finishes in 34 events this season. Raines collected $673,720 in race earnings. The team's best run of the season stretched from the June event at Kentucky Speedway to the October event at Kansas Speedway. This 15-race run featured eight top-tens, five top-fives and only one finish outside of the top-twenty. This streak of strong runs vaulted Raines and the Bayer Consumer Team from 18th to in the heat of the battle for 10th place in the point standings. Raines' best finish of the season was a third place finish at the Kentucky Speedway.

"I am proud of this team," stated Raines. "We had to overcome a lot of adversity during the first of the season, but I believe we rebounded strong to bring home a respectable points finish. It is not what we were hoping for, but we will just have to work harder this off-season and come out swinging next year. I am looking forward to competing in the Winston Cup Series and we have a good bit of information from the races we made this year that will be able to help us get off to a good start next season."