BRUMOS Racing returns to Watkins Glen

Crown Royal 200 at the Glen: Race Report
Watkins Glen , NY- August 13, 2007

The Brumos Racing teams returned to Watkins Glen for their second time this season for The Crown Royal 200 at The Glen. This DP-only race was run on the Glen’s short course with a 200 mile/2 hour limit. The field consisted of 21 cars. The weekend’s activities also included the NASCAR Nextel Cup series, resulting in a busy schedule for Brumos the day before the race, with four practice sessions and qualifying all held that day. In contrast, race day saw no action other than the race itself at 6:30 PM.

#58:
Three practice sessions were held before qualifying that afternoon, with a final evening practice starting at 7:00 PM. Results for the #58 team were mixed, with a 6th place in the first session, a 13th place in the second, and a 5th position in the third afternoon practice. The car was qualified in 6th position by Darren Law, but an oil leak had developed that was of concern. After evaluation, it was determined that an engine change would be made and the car was garaged during the final evening practice. The crew worked that evening and throughout the next day to get the engine change completed. Due to the change after qualifying, the car lost its sixth place position and was moved to the back of the field for the start of the race.

Strategy played an important role, as it was critical to take advantage of any opportunity to gain position from the last place start. The first yellow flag of the day was on the opening lap of the race, when the #76 Krohn entry spun into a barrier. During that caution, the #58 Red Bull car made a stop and go to the pits, satisfying the requirement of one stop in the first 45 minutes of the race. Law had moved up into a 14th position on restart. He advanced to 11th by lap 8, and was the lead car at that point of those who had also made a pit stop in the early caution period. He continued to gain position in the field, and was up to 7th by lap 16. He then aggressively challenged the #01 car driven by Memo Rojas for 6th, and was able to overtake him on the 20th lap. At this point, there were five cars ahead of him, none of which had made the mandatory first pit stop. On lap 25 he moved up to 5th position, as the early strategy was paying off with only minutes left in the 45 minute window. With just over 2 minutes to go before the leaders would be forced to stop, the second full course caution occurred as the #31 car spun and was stuck in the gravel. At this time all the leaders pitted, as did the #58 team, also taking advantage of the caution to make a driver change to David Donohue.

Donohue maintained position throughout his stint and was in 5th when the third and final full course caution of the day occurred. Car #61 spun out with only about ten laps to go in the race. On restart, Donohue was overtaken by the #91 car of Marc Goosens, and dropped back to 6th place. On the final lap of the race, the #75 Krohn Racing car of Colin Braun was involved in an incident with the #10 SunTrust car, resulting in #75 spinning off track. As a result, Donohue reclaimed 5th position, where he took the checkered flag.

#59:
The #59 Brumos car participated in all four practice sessions, with the crew also focusing on techniques for streamlining pit stops. Practice times posted in the sessions were 15th, 17th, and 14th in the first three practices. J.C. France was the qualifying driver, and brought the #59 in for a 13th spot on the starting grid with a time of 1:09.493.. The final evening practice session showed the car in 17th position.

The first lap caution slowed the pace of the race and resulted in a bunched field, making it difficult to move up in position, but France had gained 12th place by lap 8. He was shown in 13th by the tenth lap, and was back to 15th by lap 13, where he held position through the second full course caution of the race. The team took advantage of the yellow flag and brought the car in at that time for a driver change. The car was turned over to Hurley Haywood to complete the race.

The stop brought Haywood back onto the track in 17th position, but he immediately reported to the crew that he was experiencing problems with the power steering of the car. He was instructed to stay on track if at all possible while the crew sought a solution. Despite the handling issues, Haywood kept the car in the race, although unable to effectively compete. The crew determined a circuit breaker must be replaced, and the car was brought into the pits to make the replacement. The repair was lengthy, and cost the team position, dropping the car back into 20th while off the track. When the third yellow flag occurred, the #59 car was in 19th, with only 10 laps to the checkered flag. In the short time remaining in the race, Haywood was able to move the car up only one more position to finish the race in 18th place.

Standings
Team #58 Team #59
Driver Points: Law 6th, Donohue 6th Driver Points: France 22nd, Haywood 24th
Team Points: 4th Team Points: 13th
Team Performance Index: 5th Team Performance Index: 19th

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Article posted on: 07-Aug-14