Cabela's 250 - Mike Bliss Notes

MIKE BLISS
NO. 20 ROCKWELL AUTOMATION CHEVROLET
MICHIGAN QUOTES AND NOTES

Event: Cabela’s 250 Date: August 16, 2003
Track: Michigan International Speedway TV: TNT 1:30 PM EST
Laps/Miles: 125/250 Radio: MRN 1:00 PM EST

QUOTES

Driver Mike Bliss on driving at Michigan International Speedway…
“I am really looking forward to going to Michigan. This track reminds me a lot of California with a lot more banking. It has a good amount of grip and you can run multiple grooves as the race wears on. You really need a good handling racecar to get around this place.

This is one of the better paying races so we expect to see an influx of Winston Cup drivers in this race including my teammate Tony Stewart. With Tony in the race, we will have one more team to pull some information from to make us a little better. I really enjoy competing against the Winston Cup drivers. It helps to let me know where we stand against the competition.”

Crew Chief Tim Shutt on MIS…
“Michigan is one of those big horsepower & aerodynamic tracks. You really have to get your car down on the racetrack and you need the big horsepower to get the car off the corner. It is easy for these cars to become “aero-tight” in traffic, so you have to make sure your car can really drive off the corner.

This racetrack is so big, we tend to see a lot of green flag racing. This puts a lot of pressure on us to hit the setup early on because we won’t get a lot of chances to work on it. It also puts a lot of pressure on the crew to have good smooth stops, especially if they are under green flag conditions.”

NOTES

Last Race…Mike Bliss & the #20 team headed to Indianapolis Raceway Park in need of a good run. After an early draw and a loose qualifying run of 18th, Bliss struggled with his car throughout the evening. After his final stop, he charged from the 21st position to finish 10th. With that finish, Bliss recorded his 10th top-10 finish of the season.

IROC XXVII… Before racing at IRP in the Kroger 200, Mike Bliss participated in the fourth race of the International Race of Champions at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Starting 11th (due to being second in points), Bliss made an early run to the front of the field. Getting as high as sixth, Bliss felt the car continue to tighten up. By the time the checkered flag flew, Bliss had dropped back to the tenth position. With the 10th place finish, Bliss dropped two positions in the final point standings (4th). Overall, Bliss recorded one win & one second place finish in his four IROC races this year.

Chassis Info… This week the #20 team is bringing Chassis 2041. This will be the second race of the 2003 season for this car. Car 2041’s first race was at Chicagoland Speedway in July where it qualified 15th and finished 10th.

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