Pocono 500
Pocono Raceway

More Bad Luck for Elliott, Finishes 38th at Pocono
June 19, 2000 - Once again, Bill Elliott had a battle with Lady Luck. After winning the battle last week, this time Elliott came out on the loosing end.

In baseball, you get three strikes and you're out. Today, Lady Luck threw Elliott three strikes and Elliott was out of the race early after losing an engine.

The Drive-Thru Crew once again had a very good car under Elliott this week, but circumstances beyond their control would dictate Elliott's fate. The car, Step Child, was very capable of a top-five finish.

Elliott used a two-tire stop by the Drive-Thru Crew in the first half of the event to make it into the top five. Yet while Elliott was running ninth, he ran over a piece of debris on the track. Strike One. The debris got lodged underneath the 94 Ford, causing smoke as Elliott dragged the foreign object around the track. Elliott would have to spend extra time on pit road as the crew inspected the car for possible damage and loose 10 spots in the pits.

Later, after a yellow-flag stop, Elliott felt a left-side tire rubbing. Strike Two. On the restart at lap 138, Elliott would have to dive into the pits again to get new left-side tires. Elliott would rejoin the race as the last car on the lead lap in 26th.

Finally, on lap 169, Elliott lost the engine. Strike three and Elliott was done for the day.

"The motor let go on the back straightaway there," said Elliott. "It's just one them days. It's just disappointing. This month has been one of them months. We've had a decent race car, but we have had absolutely no luck whatsoever."

Elliott would finish the Pocono 500 in the 38th position, 31 laps down.

The point standings now find Elliott in the 15th position with 1657 points, 217 points out of the top ten and 583 points behind point leader Bobby Labonte.

Next week, Elliott heads to the road course at Sears Point. As many of you know, Elliott's first win came on a road course and I could think of no better place to turn this streak of bad luck around!

Pocono 500 Postponed
The Pocono 500 has been postponed due to rain, the race will be ran on Monday morning at 10:00 am ET.

Pocono Qualifying Quotes
"The car just didn't handle well," said Bill Elliott. "We were just super tight, pushing the nose out. We took some things out to qualify and picked our time up, but we still didn't get the balance of the car right."

THINGS YOU CAN WORK ON? "Oh, we'll work on it until Sunday at one o'clock, when the next day will start. I guarantee you we'll still work on it."

Pocono Notes