SONOMA, California -- Tom Dyer from San Rafael, CA finished 7th in his Nascar Southwest Tour series debut Saturday during the "Snap-On Tools 200" at Infineon Raceway. Dyer, the highest finishing rookie, had an eventful day including a late race charge from the back of the field with about 15 laps to go as the result of a late pit stop.
After enduring a messy and difficult qualifying session (red flag and oil-slicked track), Dyer qualified his #63 Cycle Shack Inc/Menards/Cowboy Charcoal/Original Grill Pad Beebe racing enterprises entry 23rd in the field of 42. Dyer timed in 10th overall in the final practice showing a truer indication of his competitiveness going into Saturday's race. Race strategy-wise, Dyer and his team decided to lay low and keep out of trouble during the first part of the 64 lap race. With heady and consistent driving he methodically maneuver his way up through the field and into 12th position before his scheduled green flag pit stop on the lap 24. From there the plan was to preserve the car, let the attrition factor come into play and maintain a consistent pace until the last 10 to 15 laps before going all out. Those plans took a change of course when while making a pass for position the transmission jammed and became stuck in 3rd gear. Refusing to pit under green again Dyer soldiered on maintaining his track position until the next caution period.
Making a quick dash into the pits under yellow Dyer's crew was able to make the necessary repairs and keep him on the lead lap, but falling to the tail end of the field. On the restart Dyer decided that it was time to start making up lost ground and set off carving his way up through the field passing as many cars as possible. During his run through the pack Tom got into a "territorial dispute" with another car knocking his right front fender loose and causing it to stick out and flap. Nascar officials ordered Dyer to pit for repairs. It took two separate trips back to the pits in order to stay on the lead lap, but Dyer's crew did an excellent job of securing the errant fender with duct tape and bungee cords! The penalty of course was going back to the tail end of the cars on the track. On the restart Dyer found a charging partner in multi-time race winner Jim Inglebright. With about 13 laps left Dyer and Inglebright shot forward through the cars ahead of them. Dyer had moved up to 12th spot when a late race caution came out with one lap to go. The series rules mandate that a race cannot finish under yellow setting up for a green, white and checkered flag three-lap finish. It got crazy as everybody went all out to make up as many spots as possible. Dyer came to the finish line taking the checkered in 7th much to the jubilation of his pit crew.
"Wow, what wild and zany race! Going into this event everybody kept telling me how crazy things usually get here and that if I just ran a clean race things usually work out pretty well. That definitely held true up to the point that we ran into difficulties! Nobody gave any advice on what to do after that! But that's cool because as a team we all did what we needed to by staying calm and dealing with everything in stride. I thought we were in trouble after the car got stuck in gear, but then the fender thing happened and honestly I figured for sure there was no way were going to be able come back from that. But somehow, someway we managed to and pulled a top ten out of the hat in my series debut."
"I can't thank everyone enough who had a part in making this happen. Without them and their support I'd just be in the stands watching the race instead of being out there showing what I can do. I had a great time out of the car as well interacting with the fans because in the end they are what make the sport so successful. It's really unbelievable how many fans are out there. This was a one off race for me so I really hope to get the opportunity to come back and race again this year in the Southwest Tour series."
Tom would like to thank all of his sponsors and supporters who helped make this effort come together in a short amount of time. Special thanks to Cycle Shack Inc., Menards home improvement stores, Cowboy Charcoal Brand, The Original Grill Pad, Beebe Racing Enterprises, Rod Pool Motorsports, Leading Edge Motorsports, The Tint Shop of Modesto, Billet PT products, SHIFT Racing apparel and the Russell Racing School.
For more info on Tom Dyer please visit his website at www.TomDyer.com.
