Pepsi 300 - Mike Bliss Notes

Mike Bliss
No. 20 Rockwell Automation Chevrolet
NASHVILLE Quotes and Notes

Event: Pepsi 300 Date: April 12, 2003
Track: Nashville Superspeedway TV: FX 4:00 PM ET
Laps/Miles: 225/300 Radio: MRN 3:30 PM ET

QUOTES

Driver Mike Bliss on driving at Nashville Superspeedway…
“I can’t wait to go racing at Nashville. The concrete surface and the length gives this track a personality of it’s own. It almost reminds me of a small Las Vegas. I will probably spend a lot of time early getting used to the track in a car. The trucks are really forgiving. You have to be careful with these Busch Cars, because they can get away from you in a hurry.

Nashville is such fast racetrack. It seems that the longer the race is run and the more rubber that is laid down, the faster the track gets. You really have to make sure you car is handling well because on a long green flag run, you can go a lap down to the leaders in a hurry.”

Crew chief Tim Shutt on “White Lightning”…
“I have been looking forward to going to Nashville for quite some time. It is the first handling track we have visited in a while. At Talladega, it is all luck; Texas is all speed, and Bristol is just beating and banging. Nashville you have to spend a lot of time on the shocks and springs. You really have to roll your car through the corners. Add that to the fact that the long front stretch makes the gear selection critical. The last couple races here, we have only seen one groove of racing so that will put a lot of pressure on our guys to have really solid pit stops.”

NOTES

Last week at Talladega…Mike Bliss recorded his third top-five finish of the 2003 season. After qualifying seventh, Bliss remained in the top five all day until he was forced to pit with seven laps remaining for a splash of fuel. In the closing laps, Bliss drove from ninth to fifth before the caution would fly on lap 115.

Drive it like a Truck!… Mike Bliss’s lone start at the Nashville Superspeedway came last year in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ Federated Auto Parts 200. Bliss went on to win the pole with time of 30.501 and then passed race leader Ted Musgrave with 10 laps remaining to drive to his fourth win of the 2002 season.

Truck success… In three Busch races at Nashville Superspeedway, graduates of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series have won all three races. Greg Biffle, Scott Riggs and Jack Sprague all scored their first Busch Series win at Nashville. Mike Bliss hopes the trend continues as he heads to Nashville looking for his first win of the 2003 season.

Chassis Info… This week the #20 team is bringing Chassis 1833. This will be the first race of the 2003 season for this car. During the 2002 season, Car 1833 has been used on intermediate tracks such as Nashville, Charlotte and Gateway. Following the 2002 season, this car was reskinned from a Pontiac to Chevrolet.

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