Bristol Fights Back for Third at Hickory

HUNTERSVILLE, NC (June 9, 2005) - Although he encountered some bad luck on the track, Chris was able to pull off a 3rd place finish at last Saturday’s race at Hickory Motor Speedway.

The #92 MBNA car was fast in practice and qualified 4th, just .06 (six-hundredths) of a second off the pole. Shortly after the race started, Chris moved from the 4th position into the 3rd spot and waited to make another pass. The two cars in front of him were racing side-by-side for the lead. Chris knew he had a car that could win so he patiently waited for one of them to pass the other to make his move.

Unfortunately, while that was happening, the car behind Chris hit him and spun himself and Chris out on lap 11, causing the first caution of the race. Chris went to the pits to have his tires checked by a race official and after the restart, he had to battle his way back from the rear of the field.

He successfully moved up several positions in between the next two cautions – one on lap 26 caused by the #99 car spinning out and another on lap 45 after the #21 car suffered a broken hub on the right front wheel.

After the last restart of the race, Chris finally worked his way back to the 4th position and then passed the #8 car for the 3rd position. Chris maintained his position for the remaining 10 laps and finished 3rd overall. The #95 car driven by Keith Bumgarner took the checkered flag after 55 laps, in honor of the 55th anniversary of Hickory Motor Speedway.

Chris commented, “I would like to thank all the guys that came out to help in the absence of my crew chief DJ Howard, especially our team manager Ray Thiess and Keith Montgomery for making sure that we had a car capable of winning.”

He continued, “DJ and his wife had a baby girl last week and I want to say congratulations to both of them.”

He also added, “Thanks to MBNA, Rockwell Automation, Coke, Cintas and JGR for all of their support.”