BRANDON LOVEROCK FINISHES 13TH IN NASCAR WEST SERIES DEBUT

Source: Loverock Motorsports
Date: 07/26/2006

Brandon Loverock overcame blazing heat and finished a respectable 13th in the King Taco 200 NASCAR Grand National Division, AutoZone West Series event at Irwindale Speedway on Saturday, his debut in the series. Triple digit temperatures all day and most of the night along with humidity, left the drivers not only competing with each other, but also battling the weather conditions.

Loverock qualified 11th in the 29 car field and raced his way into 6th place by the time the first caution came out on lap 64 and looked to be in good shape for a solid top 10 finish. The team elected not to pit on lap 64 and retain their track position early in the race. Loverock ran in the top 10 for most of the first 100 laps of the race and did not pit until the third caution of the race came out. When Loverock pitted he mis-understood where his pit stall was located and stopped in the stall belonging to Johnny Borneman, when he saw a blue pit box identical to his. This not only cost Loverock valuable time, but Borneman as well. When Loverock reached his pit stall, his crew performed flawlessly and got him out ahead of the pace car keeping their driver on the lead lap.

Loverock never recovered after his initial pit stop as the car progressively got looser and looser as the race went on and eventually lost a lap to then leader, Tim Woods. Although one lap down, Loverock was still running in the 11th position looking to bring home a good finish for his car owner, sponsor and crew.

Loverock’s sponsor, Unique Pizza and Subs, traveled from the east coast to Irwindale for their debut race, getting a hospitality tent for Saturdays event large enough to hold the anticipated 70 employees and stock holders who could attend. Braving the heat with everybody else, the executives at Unique Pizza and Subs were pleased with their Nascar debut, Phelps Motorsports Inc., and their driver Brandon Loverock. “ I am impressed with how Brandon missed all of the wrecks that seemed to happened right in front of him. He is an exceptional young man and we look forward to our future with him.” Said Billy Blackwell of Unique Pizza and Subs.

The Phelps Motorsports Inc. Team would make one more pit stop around lap 112, at which time Lovrerock began to feel ill and needed additional water. As the race went on and more cautions were flying, Loverock wanted the race to stay green so he could get much needed air into the car, instead of having three more caution periods. “It was so hot, I was feeling ill, and I just needed to keep flowing thru car. The cautions were the worst part, but all in all I am so proud of what we accomplished and to be a part of this team. Tracy Phelps, My car owner, deserves a lot of credit for this deal and I look forward to our future. The Unique Pizza and Subs people are tremendous, they struggled thru the heat with us and were some of the first people I saw when I climbed out of the car. Just a good experience and learning atmosphere for all of us.” Loverock stated.

Loverock is slated to make 1 to 2 more starts this year in the West Series, but those races are un-determined as of this time. Phelps Motorsports will make an announcement in the near future as to which races they will be competing in, in 2006, in addition to preparing to run the full 2007 NASCAR AutoZone Grand National West Series schedule.

This was the first attempt at a West race for the entire Phelps Motorsports Team. A rookie driver, rookie crew and even a rookie car owner. “I am so pleased with the way things turned out, I cannot say thank you enough to everybody on this team. I am very excited for 2007 and now know we can be competitive in this series. What a great day.” Phelps sated.

Phelps Motorsports Inc. wishes to thank Unique Pizza and Subs, Acro Printing, Earl Scheib Paint & Body of Whittier, Coca-Cola, Snap-on Tools, Stick Shift Transmissions, Liz-Zard Racing Engines, CMJ Racing and the staff and officials of the Nascar West Series and Irwindale Speedway.

See Also .:

• Brandon Loverock Driver Card
• Toyota Speedway at Irwindale Track Page

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