Civil Air Patrol Racing
Ashton Lewis, Jr. Race Preview
Lowe's Motor Speedway
Little Trees 300
October 10, 2003
CAP Racing Notes & Quotes
Last Race - (Mr. Goodcents 300)- Lewis, Jr. and the No. 46 Civil Air Patrol
Racing team posted a 6th place finish at Kansas Speedway, their 8th top-10
of the season.
Standings - Lewis, Jr. remains 13th in the NASCAR Busch Series Drivers'
Points Standings. Team owner Ashton Lewis, Sr. moved up one spot to 14th in
the Owners' Points standings.
Ashton Lewis, Jr. on Lowe's Motor Speedway:
"Lowe's Motor Speedway has a personality all its own," said Lewis, Jr. "I
struggled the first few times I raced on it but over the last two years feel
like I have gotten a better handle on it. It's a very unforgiving race
track. If you make a mistake, you're going to pay for it. If you overdrive
it, you'll either lose a lot of positions trying to get back in it or you'll
wreck. This will be our first event under the lights at Lowe's and I think
that will make it even more exciting for the drivers as well as the fans.
However, with this track being so sensitive to temperature, finding the
right set-up could be tricky. The cooler temperature at night will make it
seem like a completely different place. The first practice is at noon with
qualifying in the afternoon and happy hour at night. As the day progresses
our set-ups will change and we will try a number of different combinations.
Happy hour will be key and unfortunately we only have 45 minutes. I think
those that tested here for the two days last week will definitely have the
advantage.
I expect the Civil Air Patrol team to have a strong run Friday night. We're
taking the same car that we have raced the last two weekends at Dover and
Kansas where we finished 6th and 7th. This is definitely the best car we've
ever taken to Charlotte so I can't wait to see how it will perform. We're
still looking to get that first win, especially for the Civil Air Patrol who
has supported us for two years. I think this weekend would be a great place
for that to happen."
Ashton Lewis, Jr. on Last Weekend's Confusion on NASCAR's New Yellow Flag
Rules:
"Those that saw the number of people waiting outside the "blue truck" last
weekend in Kansas after the race knows that we have a problem. We were hurt
twice by the confusion surrounding the new rule. We passed the 8 car before
the second to last caution moving us to 5th, but we forced back to 6th
before the restart, as NASCAR wasn't sure that we had passed him before the
caution. Then it happened again on the final lap. I applaud NASCAR for
putting this new rule into affect, at least from a safety standpoint.
However, they are going to need much more than just the tv footage to rely
on. If the rule is that cars freeze their positions the second the caution
lights come on, NASCAR needs a way to accurately determine where each car is
at that given moment. Whether it be to install stationary cameras at
various areas of the track or installing the loops under the race tracks.
There has to be a reliable indication of where the cars are at the second
the caution comes out. We feel like in reality we finished fourth last
weekend yet we were scored as finishing sixth. That's the difference in a
top-five as opposed to a top-10 and about $12,000."
Equipment:
The No. 46 Civil Air Patrol Racing team will compete with chassis No. o4
this weekend in the Little Trees 300. Chassis No. 04 has been carrying
quite a workload as this is the car Lewis, Jr. has driven in the last two
events at Dover (7th) and Kansas (6th).
