Race 2 Win: Coca-Cola 600 - Scott Wimmer Notes

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Coca-Cola 600 - Scott Wimmer Notes

Scott Wimmer CAT Racing Event Preview

Track: Lowe’s Motor Speedway (1.5-mile quad-oval) in Concord, N.C.
Race: Coca-Cola 600 Date: 05.29.05

NASCAR Nextel Cup points position: 34th (moved up one position after Richmond)

Notes:

The No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge Charger at Lowe’s Motor Speedway this weekend is Chassis No. 78. Its last outing was this past weekend in the NASCAR Nextel Cup All-Star Open, which produced a 15th-place start and finish for the No. 22 CAT team. Before that, its last run was at Pocono Raceway in August 2004, when it helped Scott Wimmer and team post an 11th-place finish (started 28th). The then-rookie Wimmer also scored a 15th-place finish (started 31st) at North Carolina Speedway and a 28th-place finish (started 29th) in the Coca-Cola 600 that same year. The car has since been rebuilt to comply with the new 2005 rules.

Make it two entries for BDR this weekend … Wimmer and Mike Skinner will team up again for Nextel Cup Series competition this weekend at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in the Coca-Cola 600. This will mark the third time this year the two have run together in a Nextel Cup points event. Skinner most recently raced the No. 23 Bill Davis Racing Dodge last month at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, where he was taken out of contention in the 25-car pileup on lap 132 of the 194-lap event (started 34th, finished 42nd). He also raced the No. 23 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in February. Skinner had an impressive performance during the two weeks of Speedweeks competition, qualifying 13th during the time trials and finishing third—neck-and-neck with the Dale Earnhardt Inc. cars—in the first Gatorade 150 Duel, which lined him up seventh to start the 47th running of the Daytona 500. With barely 13 laps left to run in the 500, Skinner was collected in the ninth and final caution of the race, relegating him from a top-10 run to a 30th-place finish.

Team No. 23 tested & approved … Skinner and the No. 23 BDR team tested at Lowe’s Motor Speedway May 4.

“T-time” for the 22 crew … Wimmer and his CAT Racing team will test at Chicagoland Speedway on Monday, June 20, and then test at The Milwaukee Mile on Tuesday, June 21.

CAT Racing All-Star Open Recap … The No. 22 Caterpillar racing team started the two days of non-points, all-star competition at LMS on a positive note, running very strong in its lone practice session early Friday afternoon. On Saturday evening, the team worked to iron out front-end chattering on the No. 22 Dodge. The team pitted between the first and second segments of the preliminary event for four tires, fuel, and air pressure and wedge adjustments. Wimmer and crew wrapped up the short night of competition where they had started it—in 15th place.

Catch Wimmer twice on Saturday … CAT Racing fans will have two more chances to meet Wimmer in the Charlotte, N.C., area this Saturday, May 28. He will visit the Konica Minolta Speed Street display in Uptown Charlotte from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ET, before returning to his merchandise trailer just outside LMS to meet fans and sign autographs from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. ET.

Don’t miss any of it … Qualifying for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Coca-Cola 600 is scheduled to start at 7:10 p.m. ET Thursday, May 26, and will broadcast LIVE on SPEED (TV), PRN (radio) and XM Radio. The Coca-Cola 600 race is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. ET Sunday, May 29, and will broadcast LIVE on FOX (TV), PRN and XM Radio.

S. Wimmer on racing at Lowe’s Motor Speedway:
“We are returning to Lowe’s with the same car we raced in the All-Star Open this past weekend. It is a good car. It was real strong in practice Friday, but it did seem to turn on us come Saturday night. The guys are looking at it this week and getting it worked out. It developed a real bad chatter on the front end, and then the motor got real hot on that last leg of the Open. It all of the sudden just jumped up past 240 [degrees]. It was like it had an air pocket or something. The good thing is we learned some things there Saturday night that will definitely be to our advantage in getting ready for the Coca-Cola 600 this weekend.

“I also am excited to have Skinner as a teammate again. It definitely helped us in Daytona earlier this year and at Talladega last month. We won’t be able to help each other on the track like we do on the superspeedways, but we will be able to exchange information. Skinner had a pretty good test in Charlotte earlier this month, so we are hoping to just capitalize on all of our resources. It makes such a big difference when you have a teammate.

“Getting to run the track like we did this past weekend is a huge bonus as well. I guess you could say last weekend was a short and quick test session for all of us. It definitely helped me get a better feel for the track, as far as what lines to follow and tire wear, so we are definitely heading back there this weekend better prepared.”

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