Stafford Motor Speedway has postponed the racing activities for the 39th Annual CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler to Saturday, May 1st (with a rain date of Sunday, May 2nd) due to inclement weather.
On Saturday, May 1 the paddock area will open at 7:00 AM; with Stafford’s famous CARQUEST Belts and Hose Pit Party kicking things off from 11:15 AM to 12:15 PM. Following the Pit Party the Whelen Modified Tour will hold a brief practice sesion from 1:00 – 1:30 PM. It’s anticipated the WMT will be taking the green flag at approximately 3:15 PM. Stafford management has confirmed all rain checks will be honored.
Prior to the postponement, the No. 90 team participated in practice and qualifying for their 200-lap event.
“We were pretty happy with the car for most of practice. The first time we hit the track we turned laps in the 18.2s – which is plain fast at Stafford. We came in, made a couple of changes, and went back out and ran some 18.1s. Then on one of our last runs, we lost the front brakes going into turn one. We came in and the guys immediately went to work searching for the problem,” explained Renee.
After finding nothing obvious, the crew began swapping brake components – to no avail. Showing signs of obvious frustration, a couple of crew chiefs from other teams even stopped by and pitched in. With no real answers, but the problem temporarily solved, the crew sent the car onto the track for qualifying.
“It certainly didn’t help that we had an early draw (the car went out 8th in the qualifying order of 36 cars) and I probably was a little conservative not having confidence in the brake situation. Regardless, we qualified in the back of the field.”
“I’m happy that the race was postponed because we’re going to tear the braking system apart this week and get some answers. It’s a tight field again – same deal as Thompson – where literally hundredths of a second make the difference between ten spots. But, I know we have a good car and 200 laps to sort it out. We look forward to going back next week.”