WIX FILTERS LAP LEADER NOTES FOR THE DIAMOND HILL PLYWOOD 200 NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES RACE AT DARLINGTON RACEWAY, MAY 9, 2008.
Kelly Bires earned WIX Filters Lap Leader of the Race honors in tonight’s Diamond Hill Plywood 200. Bires led once for two laps and captured the honor for the first time this season. Bires is the eighth different driver to claim the WIX Filters Lap Leader award in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in 2008.
BIRES QUOTES: “The Clorox Ford Fusion was strong all night. I got into the fence, though, halfway through the race and we had to make a ton of pit stops and just recovered through it. We were still going to get a top-10 finish. We had tires there and I believe we could have got a couple more spots. I think it was the 5 car that checked-up on the frontstretch. I went to go around him and got hit in the behind, nothing I could do. Just a great day. The guys worked hard all weekend and we had a fast race car and nothing we could do with it.” MARK MARTIN TOOK RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACCIDENT. “I don’t even know what happened. The first time I seen anything was 5 looked like he was stopped on the frontstretch. I have no clue what happened. I know I had to check-up and got run into from behind. We had a great Clorox Ford Fusion all night long. I got a Darlington stripe about halfway through the race and recovered well. Got the car back underneath me and we’re making spots up. We had tires there at the end and were running in the top-10 and I believe we could have got another couple of spots there. It’s just a shame. I don’t know what happened up there. Someone got tangled up and went to go around them and got punted from behind. There was nothing we could do.” YOU RAN WELL AND EARNED THE WIX FILTERS AWARD. “You can’t look at that result right there as a disappointment. We had a fast racecar all night and won the WIX award.”
Bires was credited with a 24th-place finish in tonight’s race.
This is the second race that Bires has led in 2008. He led once for one lap in the Pepsi 300 at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway (race No. 6).
UNOFFICIALLY Bires is 14th in the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship standings.
Brad Keselowski leads Scott Wimmer by one race (3-2) in the WIX Filters Lap Leader standings.
WIX FILTERS LAP LEADER AWARD STANDINGS
Brad Keselowski 3
Scott Wimmer 2
Brian Vickers 1
Mike Bliss 1
Kenny Wallace 1
Dario Franchitti 1
Scott Pruett 1
Kelly Bires 1
WIX FILTERS LAP LEADER AWARD WINNERS BY RACE
EVENT DRIVER
Camping World 300 Brian Vickers, two laps
Stater Bros. 300 Mike Bliss, three laps
Sam’s Town 300 Brad Keselowski, 12 laps
Nicorette 300 Kenny Wallace, three laps
Sharpie Mini 300 Scott Wimmer, 12 laps
Pepsi 300 Scott Wimmer, 22 laps
O’Reilly 300 Dario Franchitti, one lap
Bashas’ Supermarkets 200 Brad Keselowski, nine laps
Corona Mexico 200 Scott Pruett, 36 laps
Aaron’s 312 Brad Keselowski, nine laps
Lipton Tea 250 None Awarded
Diamond Hill Plywood 200 Kelly Bires, two laps
