| McFarland Competes in Camping World East |  Mooresville, NC (May 20, 2008) – After clicking off the third-fastest practice lap in preparation for the US Cellular 200, Mark McFarland and his No. 81 Knight’s Companies Chevrolet Monte Carlo looking for more than a 12th-place finish in Sunday’s NASCAR Camping World event at Iowa Speedway.
“I’m not sure what was wrong with the car in the race,” said McFarland after the event. “We couldn’t get it to do anything. We were up and down, we got up to fifth one time, then we fell back. I love the track here. I just thought we would have had a little bit better run than we did.”
A whopping 58 cars and teams were on hand for the 44 starting positions in the Camping World East-West combination event at the pristine seven-eighths mile Iowa tri-oval raceway.
After the solid practice, McFarland got a hint of things to come in the race when he clocked in with a disappointing 12th place run in qualifying with a time of 23.978 (131.370 miles per hour).
At the drop of the green, McFarland worked his way into the Top 10 pitting for fuel and chassis adjustments just past Lap 40. On the 90th circuit, McFarland guided his Pete Knight Racing Chevy back on to pit road for fresh rubber and fuel. Now back in the field, McFarland battled his way up to 12th in the final running order, one of 19 cars to complete all 200 laps. The effort was worth $1,925 in prize money to the Winchester, VA native.
“The field here was a lot tougher this year than last,” said McFarland. “Having the West Division guys here really made it a tough field. I thought the racing was great. I think I raced Peyton Sellers for 40 laps just back and forth. He’d pass me and I’d pass him. We ran side by side a lot. The track had multiple grooves. They need more racing there.”
McFarland was also happy to get 200 quality laps of seat time on the Iowa oval, the site of a USAR Hooters Pro Cup championship series event later this year.
“I’m looking forward to coming back here later in the season for the Hooters race,” said McFarland, who finished third in the USAR Hooters Pro Cup championship standings a year ago. “What we learned out here this weekend is really going to help us in the Hooters car. Wes (crew chief Wes Ward) learned a lot about the car and I learned a lot about the track.”
Next up for McFarland and his No. 81s Sears Tire Center Chevy will be the Sears Auto Center 150 at The Milwaukee Mile on Saturday, May 31. The event on the famed Wisconsin State Fair Park oval will be a USAR North-South Division combination race and will be part of a full day of racing that will also include Pole Day qualifying for the IndyCar and Indy Lights Series.
All tickets are just $15 for the general admission program which will see the Pro Cup cars take the green flag after the Pole Day events.
“This is going to be a big event for us,” said McFarland. “Milwaukee is close to Sears Auto Center corporate headquarters in Chicago and there are going to be a lot of people there. We’re going in early Tuesday to do some promotional activities with Sears. It’s going to be a great time. It would be a dream come true to win that event for them.”
About Sears, Roebuck and Co.
Sears, Roebuck and Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:SHLD), is a leading broad line retailer providing merchandise and related services. Sears, Roebuck offers its wide range of home merchandise, apparel and automotive products and services through more than 2,400 Sears-branded and affiliated stores in the United States and Canada, which includes approximately 935 full-line and 1,100 specialty stores in the U.S. Sears, Roebuck also offers a variety of merchandise and services through sears.com, landsend.com and specialty catalogs. Sears, Roebuck offers consumers leading proprietary brands including Kenmore, Craftsman, DieHard and Lands’ End – among the most trusted and preferred brands in the U.S. The company is the nation’s largest provider of home services, with more than 13 million service calls made annually. For more information, visit the Sears, Roebuck website at www.sears.com or the Sears Holdings Corporation website at www.searsholdings.com.
To find a Sears Auto Center location near you or to shop online, please log on to www.sears.com.
Have an opinion on
this story? Post a message on
The Southern Motor Racing Forum OR Send the Editor an E-mail!
|
