Raybestos Rookie Nationwide Series Final Practice speeds Franchitti 21st
Clauson 23rd
Keselowski 36th

Raybestos Rookie Bryan Clauson was involved in an accident in the final minutes of today’s final practice session for the Sharpie Mini 300. Clauson will use a backup car in today’s race after posting the 23rd best overall speed.

BRYAN CLAUSON, No. 41 POLAROID DODGE: WHAT HAPPENED? “I don’t really know. I just kind of got down in there and the rear just kind of came around on me. Not sure if I clipped the apron or if it was a matter of getting in there a little different than I had all week. It really stinks to have that happen right at the end of practice. We had made some good gains all day on our Polaroid Dodge and had it pretty good there and was just making the last couple of laps and unfortunately that happened. The car was good. The car was really good. We had gotten it really competitive we thought and we were running some really good lap times on 50, 60-lap tires. We thought we were pretty close to where we needed to be and we were kind of wrapping up stuff there at the end and now we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO COME HERE FOR THE FIRST TIME? “It’s pretty tough. It’s tough because hundredths are two or three spots here and every little spot you mess up at just costs you that much more. It’s a lot like your local track, Saturday night, high banked speedway. We’ve raced at places like Winchester and Salem and those places are fairly similar to a lot of places that I’ve been so I kind of took a liking to it right away. It’s definitely got some tough spots and obviously I found one of ‘em.”