Brilliantly piloting his #61 Rich Thompson Trucking Inc., MONTE CARLO, driver Brett Thompson scored his first top 5 of the 2003 season in the KING TACO 200 at Irwindale Speedway in the NASCAR GRAND NATIONAL DIVISION - WINSTON WEST, Saturday, July 26th.
Testing almost 2 weeks earlier, the Thompson Motorsports Team felt that they had a good shot at a top 5 finish. After practicing in the top 10 throughout the day, a car qualifying in front of the #61 hit the wall and lost some fluids on the track. Following a brief cleanup, Thompson got his chance to qualify. The car got real loose in turns 1 & 2, but Thompson was able to hold onto it and qualified 13th out of 23 cars.
Once the race started, Thompson got into a comfortable rhythm and started moving to the front. By the halfway mark, the #61 car was among the top 10 cars. At lap 109, under a caution and with brilliant pit strategy, they took on two tires, topped off the fuel and moved up from 9th to 4th. The team knew they could make it on fuel and were willing to take their chance on the tires lasting to the end.
Thompson had a great restart and took 3rd place away from driver Tim Woods and then set his sights on the leader. As the race progressed, Thompson began to fall off the fast set pace and two cars on fresher tires were able to get around him with about 30 laps to go.
With the end of the race nearing, Thompson had an intense side-by-side battle, lap after lap with driver Mike Duncan. They fought side-by-side all the way to lap 200, giving the crowd some of the best racing of the evening. Thompson was able to hold him off to the finish, resulting in his first top 5 of the year for the Thompson Motorsports Team.
With a top 5 at Irwindale Speedway, it moved Thompson closer in championship points. While still in 9th place, he is only 4 points behind 8th, 84 points from 5th place and a mere 132 points from lst place.
Thompson said, "I'm very appreciative of the awesome job my crew did. They made it possible for me to gain several positions."
Referring also to a visit Friday night by some of the boys from the Ettie Lee Group Home, he said, "The whole weekend was very rewarding." Thompson presented these boys with all kinds of sporting gear, fulfilling his wish after his last visit to do more for them. Before leaving, the young boys enjoyed a ball game with Brett and members of the Thompson Motorsports crew.
Tune in to Speed Channel on August 18th at 8:00 p.m. ET for the delayed broadcast of The KING TACO 200 from Irwindale Speedway and watch Thompson in the #61 car.
The next event is August 16th on the 1/4 mile high banked oval in Stockton, CA. Thompson Motorsports hopes to keep their momentum rolling and have another top 5 finish.
Our "Thanks" goes out to all our sponsors for their great support!!
