DANNY O’QUINN JR. FINISHES WHERE HE STARTS IN FIRST CAREER ROAD COURSE RACE. WE ARE PROUD AT BARR-NUNN TRANSPORTATION.
MEXICO CITY (March 3, 2006)- Danny O’Quinn Jr., the No. 50 World Financial Group team and associate sponsor BARR-NUNN TRANSPORTATION, headed south of the border for the first time this weekend to race in the TelCel Motorola Mexico 300 presented by Banamex. It was O’Quinn Jr.’s first trip outside of the country, and he wanted to do well in his first showing in a race outside of the U.S.
As has been the case previously in the season, O’Quinn Jr. and team came into the weekend focused on qualifying. At this race in particular, qualifying was even more present on the minds of the crew, because it was O’Quinn Jr.’s first time on a road course. Going into the season, it was the one race that the team was most concerned about.
That concern was forgotten when qualifying time came around. During his first laps on the track, O’Quinn Jr. ran a lap fast enough to guarantee him a spot on the starting grid of the TelCel Motorola Mexico 300. At the time he ran, he was the quickest rookie on the track, with a lap time of 90.034 seconds. His time qualified his Ford Fusion in the 26th position.
O’Quinn wasn’t unhappy with that run, and talked about how he gained the speed in the practice sessions on Friday.
“I just ran as many laps yesterday [in practice] as I could trying to get a feel for the track,” O’Quinn Jr. said in a post-qualifying interview. “We never really changed anything and I picked up maybe seven seconds from start to end. I think that says a lot for seat time for me on road courses.”
O’Quinn Jr. also shared his strategy for the race.
“The same is going to be for the race. It's just ride the race out and learn what everybody is doing and apply that,” said O’Quinn Jr. “I'm going to take the first half of the race and try to learn, and try to keep myself on the blacktop and out of harm's way for a while."
This is exactly what he did.
When the race started, O’Quinn Jr. was already learning, racing with those who started around him. On lap five, the first caution of the day fell for trouble on Stacy Compton’s machine.
Crew Chief Drew Blickensderfer called O’Quinn Jr. to come in and pit on the last caution lap before the restart, to execute his pit strategy of coming in early and only having to make one more pit stop. If the plan worked out right, Blickensderfer would put O’Quinn Jr. out front late in the race.
It worked. For the first half of the race, O’Quinn Jr. logged laps and learned how to race on a road course.
He was going a little too fast into one of the turns early, and spun-out on his own, causing the second caution of the day on lap 19. But it was a clean, harmless spin, as he didn’t hit the wall or damage the car. He got back on course and kept digging.
With about 33 laps to go, the pit strategy plan came to fruition. O’Quinn Jr. found himself in the ninth position. He began to pick off cars, as one lap later he was in the eighth position and with 31 laps to go, he had worked his way to the fifth position.
O’Quinn Jr. ran as high as third during the closing 30 laps of the race as a result of the pit strategy, but fell behind in the closing laps.
O’Quinn Jr. finished in the 26th position after falling from the top-five.
"We're happy with the way the car came out of it. We're definitely not happy with the finish, but I learned a lot,” O’Quinn Jr. said in a post race interview. “So, we'll take this and it will make us 100 percent better when we go to Watkins Glen."
Officially, it was O’Quinn Jr.’s first ride in the top-five in his NASCAR Busch series career. Thanks to a good pit strategy by Blickensderfer and team, O’Quinn Jr. saw the front of the field at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
O’Quinn Jr. and his No. 50 World Financial Group team head
to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway next weekend for the Sam’s
Town 300.
Roush Racing is a subsidiary of Livonia, Mich., based Roush Enterprises which operates 13 motorsports teams; five in NASCAR Nextel Cup with drivers Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray, Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards, six in the Busch Series with Martin, Kenseth, Biffle, Edwards, Todd Kluever and Danny O'Quinn, Jr. and two in the Craftsman Truck Series with Martin, David Ragan and Erik Darnell.
To find out more about more about the racing program at BARR-NUNN TRANSPORTATION, or about joining us as a Company Driver or Owner Operator, please call us at: 1-888-999-7576, or visit our website at: www.barr-nunn.com
