Food City 500 - Ken Schrader Notes

Schrader Says 1 800 CALL ATT Key To Bristol
That is, keeping the quarterpanels on the car

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Following a solid run at the tricky 1.366-mile Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, Ken Schrader and the #49 1 800 CALL ATT Dodge team head to the grueling .533-mile, high-banked Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway this week for Sunday’s Food City 500.

“Putting tracks like Darlington and Bristol back to back has to be a fabricator’s nightmare,” Schrader said. “I can’t think of two tracks that can tear up sheet metal more than Darlington and Bristol.”

The short Bristol track requires little along the lines of aerodynamics but even at a rough-and-tumble speedway like the bowl-shaped speedway, keeping the car “clean” is a major part of the battle.

“Making sure you can still read that 1 800 CALL ATT on the quarterpanels at the end of the day is more than just 500-lap marketing,” Schrader said. “You want to keep that sheet metal off your tires, and you want that protection between your tires and other cars. There is a lot of beating and banging going on, and you take your share and give your share. Still, in the back of your mind you have to remember you need that car to finish the race.

“Sometimes doing that is easier said than done,” he added. “I’ve finished races there where you couldn’t read 1 800 CALL ATT on the hood, much less the quarterpanels. And sometimes you don’t have much of a choice as to who hits you, or who you end up hitting. But at the end of the day, the better you can read that sponsor’s name, probably the better day you had.”

Patience is a virtue - most of the time.

“You have to be patient. You have to take your time. It’s those guys who are losing their patienc who start rooting and gouging 100 laps into the race and, next thing you know, you have a pile of cars in one of the turns,” he said. “Now, if you get caught in traffic and you hear your spotter telling you the leader is coming up on you, all of that goes out the window. You root, you gouge, you do whatever you can do to stay in the lead lap.

“Stay in the lead lap all day at Bristol, and you’ve had a pretty good day. The problem is everybody already knows that, and they’re rooting and gouging along with you,” he added.

1-800-CALL ATT is the car’s primary sponsor for six races, with AT&T appearing as an associate sponsor for the remaining events. Primary sponsorship by 1-800-CALL ATT will also include first-half season races at Talladega, Ala.; Martinsville, Va.; and the July race at Daytona Beach, Fla. The brand has been on the car for races at the Bud Shootout and Daytona 500, as well as last week’s NASCAR Winston Cup race at Darlington, S.C.

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