Pop Secret 500 - Ken Schrader Notes

Ken Schrader Notes, Quotes: Pop Secret 500
"Could turn out to be a wild evening"

Ken Schrader and the #49 Schwan's Home Service Dodge team head to the two-mile California Speedway, located in Fontana, for Sunday evening's Pop Secret 500 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race.

Driver of the #49 Schwan's Home Service Dodge, Schrader is a native of Fenton, Mo. The busiest driver in major league motorsports, Schrader has raced on virtually every type of speedway in virtually every type of race car, and continues a winning career with BAM Racing, which fields the Schwan's Home Service team.

The team is owned by Beth Ann and Tony Morgenthau, investors from Coral Gables, Fla. Ms. Morgenthau, whose initials make up the name of the team - BAM Racing - is the only female car owner in motorsports to become involved without prior family connections. General manager Eddie Jones is a veteran of the NASCAR Nextel Cup wars, enjoying a championship career as a crew chief, mechanic and team leader. Crew chief Scott Eggleston is one of the few active crew chiefs in the business to have won a Daytona 500. Business manager Gus Larkin is a successful veteran motorsports marketer, and leads the corporate sponsorship activities.

The Schwan Food Company is a privately held manufacturer and marketer of fine frozen foods through its nationwide Schwan's Home Service home-delivery service, its Schwan's Consumer Brands North America retail grocery business, and its Schwan's Food Service Group foodservice unit. Headquartered in Marshall, Minn., Schwan's production and distribution activities in the United States and Europe employ 24,000 people. Among its well-known brands are Schwan's., Tony's., Red Baron., Freschetta., Pagoda., Mrs. Smith's., and Edwards..

The thoughts of Schwan's Home Service Dodge driver Ken Schrader heading into California:

"I'd be lying if I said it didn't feel a little weird spending Labor Day weekend in Fontana instead of Darlington. But what's done is done - and that's O.K. It's been my feeling all along that we should be racing at the nation's largest markets, and just on the other side of the valley sits L.A, so it makes sense.

"California Speedway is a great facility and a great track for racing - another two-mile track that's plenty wide enough to run two or three-wide in the corners. Racers tend to like plenty of room to race, and California offers plenty. We haven't been as successful at California as we would like to be, but this weekend offers a great opportunity to work on that. In the spring race the Schwan's Home Service team hung in there for a top-20 finish. We kept adjusting on the race car throughout, and really felt we had the car the fastest it had been all weekend at the end of that race.

"The race will start around 4 p.m. local time so, having a car that can easily adjust to the changing track conditions will definitely be a key to success this weekend. Like any race that starts in late afternoon and ends under the lights, the track will change a lot during the race. It'll be a new challenge for the Cup teams at the California Speedway. Some cars that are good early on will fall off as it gets dark, and likewise some cars will pick up speed the darker it gets. We need to make sure we're able to handle the changing conditions and stay on top of what the track's doing.

"As we near the cut-off point for the 10-race playoff, you're probably going to see some of these teams on the bubble racing a little more aggressively than usual. What I mean is, in this sport there has to a lot of give and take out there on the race track. But, don't expect those guys sitting anywhere between sixth and 15th in the points to be doing any giving out there in the next couple of races. You're probably going to see a few 'hail-marys' by some of these drivers that are trying desperately to make it into the top 10 before New Hampshire.

"It should be an interesting weekend to say the least. By racing during the twilight hours it just adds an extra challenge to the track, plus the added sense of urgency for about seven or eight drivers it could turn out to be a wild evening. We learned a lot here during the spring race and were able to bring home a decent finish. Hopefully, we'll pick up where we left off and improve on that this weekend."