Phoenix, AZ (February 4, 2001)--NASCAR Winston West driver Sammy Potashnick and team were dealt a difficult situation this weekend when their No. 65 Lucas Oil car hit fluid on the track during practice for the event to be held at P.I.R. on February 4.
The official verdict from the clean up crew was that prior to Potashnick's first practice lap, another competitor's car had engine problems and dumped oil on the race track. The oil was unfortunately missed by the clean up crew and as a result Potashnick's top-notch primary car was put out of commission.
Potashnick's backup car had to be ready for the race that would be held the next day, leaving a considerable amount of work to be done. The team took a provisional qualifying position and started the race at the back of the field.
Given the time limitations, the backup car was unable to match up with standards set for the primary car although an extensive amount of effort was put into getting the car ready. The backup car would not prove to be a competitive force in the field. Due to transmission and handling problems, Potashnick pit several times in an effort for the crew to make necessary improvements. Although Potashnick went down several laps in the pits, he was able to run up to speed for about the last 5 laps of the race, finishing 27th ahead of six cars.
"It's definitely not the way that any of us wanted to start out the new season," Potashnick commented. "We're very fortunate to have this new sponsorship from Lucas Oil and we've been putting in a lot of hours in effort to start this season on the right note. In this case there's not much we can do about the fact that the primary car was wrecked," He added. "All we could do was make the effort to be in the race and get a few points so that we're still contenders for the championship. Every team has to deal with bad luck at times and we just hope that we got our bad luck out of the way so we can look forward to a strong season."
The race at Phoenix received tape-delayed television coverage from Fox Sports West with an airing date not yet announced. The next NASCAR Winston West event will be held at Las Vegas Motor Speedway's "Bullring" on February 28. Potashnick will be testing at the track on February 19. For more information about Sammy Potashnick and SP Racing log onto www.Sammy65.com.
