CAT RACING EVENT PREVIEW
MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
GFS MARKETPLACE 400
Track: Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich. (two-mile oval)
Race: GFS Marketplace 400 Date: 08.20.06
MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY NEWS AND NOTES
Michigan’s Machine…The No. 22 Caterpillar car Dave Blaney is scheduled to drive this weekend in the GFS Marketplace 400 at Michigan International Speedway is chassis No. 101. This is the same car the team utilized at Michigan in June and in the Chicagoland event, in which where Blaney qualified 15th and posted a 17th-place finish.
Watkins Glen Review…After qualifying 25th, Blaney was involved in a lap 62 accident which caused significant front-end damage to the Cat machine and resulted in a 40th-place finish.
Blaney’s Career Stats…Blaney will make his 222nd career NEXTEL Cup Series start when the green flag waves Sunday afternoon. He made his first career NASCAR Cup Series start in October 1992 at [Rockingham] North Carolina Speedway. Blaney drove his Bill Davis Racing-owned machine to a 33rd-place finish after qualifying in the top 25 for his first start at Michigan in 1999.
Michigan Mileage…Blaney has made 13 starts during his Cup Series career on the two-mile track nestled in the Irish Hills of Michigan. He has started as high as fourth, finished as high as sixth and has scored four top-15 finishes at the track. Blaney also finished in the top 10 in both of his NASCAR Busch Series starts at Michigan. He also grabbed the pole position in Busch Series competition during his first start there in 1999. In his most recent visit to Michigan, Blaney battled a tight-handling car and finished 30th in the rain-shortened event.
BDR at MIS…Competitors driving Bill Davis Racing-owned cars have been racing at MIS since 1993 and have made 37 starts. Those drivers have posted two top-five finishes and eight top-10 finishes. They have also started from the pole position twice (1998 and 1999) and have led 10 laps.
Extra-Curricular Activities…Blaney will spend Wednesday morning at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., where he will make a Cat Engine appearance at the 76th annual Family Motor Coaching Association convention. Blaney will then head to Eldora Speedway in Ohio for a night of 360 Sprint Car racing with several of his fellow NEXTEL Cup competitors. On Saturday evening, Blaney will travel to Sharon Speedway, the dirt track he co-owns in Ohio, for an evening of autographs. Kyle and Richard Petty are also scheduled to make the trip.
Check your Schedule…Blaney is scheduled to sign autographs at the Caterpillar merchandise trailer Saturday at noon. Check with the merchandise trailer for updates and more information.
Michigan TV and Radio…Qualifying for the NASCAR Nextel Cup GFS Marketplace 400 is scheduled to start at 3:10 p.m. ET Friday, Aug. 18. The 200-lap (400 miles) event is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. ET Sunday, Aug. 20, and will broadcast LIVE on TNT (TV), MRN and XM Satellite Radio Channel 144.
Dave Blaney on Michigan…
“Michigan is a great track to race on. It’s wide, it’s smooth, and it’s fast. There are always several different grooves, which make it easier to pass, of course, and also give you options if your car isn’t handling the way you want it to in one area of the track. Hopefully, the weather won’t be a problem like it was last time we were there. I don’t think our finish was necessarily indicative of the way we were capable of running. The car handled pretty well for a while, and then we made that last pit stop just before the race was called due to rain. We’re looking forward to getting back there and giving it another go.
“The last two weeks have been a little rough. We had a string of pretty decent finishes going and things were looking up, but then we didn’t finish as well as we would have liked in Indy and ran into trouble at Watkins Glen. It’s disappointing because everyone is working so hard, but we won’t let it get us down. This weekend is a new race and a new chance to prove we have what it takes to run well, not only to everyone else, but also to ourselves. We’ve made a couple of changes to the crew in the past week or two, and I think the changes will make us even stronger heading into Michigan.”
