Solid Top-20 Finish for Bliss in Phoenix

Mike Bliss

AVONDALE, ARIZ. (April 23, 2005) - After earning a 23rd-place starting spot and running in the Top-25 for much of the night, Mike Bliss drove the NetZero Best Buy Chevrolet to a 20th-place finish during the running of the Subway Fresh 500 at Phoenix International Raceway Saturday night.

Bliss was the 43rd of 46 competitors to make his qualifying run around the 1-mile oval and his speed of 130.303 miles per hour on the second of his two-lap qualifying run in the NetZero Best Buy Chevrolet earned him 23rd-place on the starting grid.

The green flag flew for the start of the event and Bliss fell several spots while he struggled slightly with the handling of the NetZero Best Buy Chevrolet. An early yellow flag gave the team the opportunity to make slight air pressure adjustments to the new left side tires that went on the machine during the ensuing four-tire pit stop. Bliss returned to the track in 30th place, but quickly began to make his way through slower traffic. By Lap 49 of the 312-lap race, Bliss broke into the Top 20 and communicated to crew chief Bootie Barker that, for the most part, he liked the way the car was handling. Bliss ran as high as 17th in the early stages of the event, but the car became loose going into the corners as the halfway point of the race neared.

Bliss escaped misfortune during a caution period just past halfway. While attempting to drive into his pit stall to the attention of his crew during a routine pit stop under caution, Greg Biffle, who was running second at the time, made contact with the rear bumper of the No. 0 Chevrolet. Though unable to make the turn into his pit stall, Bliss was able to make another lap around the track and again drive down pit road. The team went to work to once again adjust the handling of the car, this time making air pressure, track bar and wedge adjustments. Bliss patiently worked his way through traffic in the final stages of the race before the car became extremely tight. Bliss was unable to hold off the leaders with just three laps to go, but brought the NetZero Best Buy Chevrolet home in 20th place.

"We were pretty good there near the start of the race," commented Bliss following the event. "Then we got a little tight and we were never quite able to get it back to where we needed it to be. Bootie made good calls as far as adjusting on the car went and the guys did a good job in the pits, so we can't be too disappointed with our finish tonight. We just needed to be a little bit better in the mid to late stages of the race and we would have really had something to work with, but all in all, the NetZero Best Buy Chevrolet was pretty good."

The NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series travels to Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway for the second restrictor plate race of the season next Sunday. Qualifying for the Aaron's 499 will be held Friday afternoon and coverage of the race will begin at 12:30 pm ET with the green flag scheduled to fly at 1:20 pm ET. MRN radio, XM Satellite Radio and FOX television will broadcast the event live.