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Madison, IL (May 8, 2004) Michael Waltrip brought the Aaron’s Dream Machine to the Gateway International Raceway just outside of St. Louis last Saturday for the Charter 250 NASCAR Busch Series race. It is the first time Michael has raced at this facility.
Waltrip came into St. Louis as the Busch Series Championship points leader, just 52 points ahead of Kyle Busch and 53 points ahead of Marin Truex, Jr. He has been at the top of the points since his win at the Nashville Superspeedway April 10.
| NASCAR had made the Gateway event a “one-day show”, where teams practiced, qualified and raced all in the same day, so this presented our team with a challenge to have the Dream Machine setup to be competitive at a track where they did not have any previous notes on. The team worked hard on the Dream Machine during the first two practices trying to get the car to turn through corners and keep the speeds up. There were many |
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| adjustments and spring and shock combinations they tried but could never get the car balanced comfortably for the qualifying run. Michael qualified 20th in the hot afternoon sun and would start in the tenth row for the Saturday night event. At the start of the race the car was still “pushing” through the turns and Michael did a masterful job picking up a few positions. During the first pit stop on lap 63, the team made some air pressure adjustments to the tires and a track bar adjustment to the chassis to try and make the Dream Machine turn better, but the adjustments did little help. |
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Waltrip struggled with the handling but did manage to work his way up as high as 13th position. However, in the closing laps of the race, Michael reported a vibration that seemed to be coming from the right front tire, and slipped one position to 14th with ten laps to go. That would be where he would finish. Martin Truex, Jr. won the Charter 250, his third of the season, followed by Ron Hornaday, Jason Keller, Bobby Hamilton, Jr. and Kyle Busch. Waltrip dropped to second in the championship points, just 16 points behind Martin Truex, Jr. There are still many questions circulating around the media, and around Aaron’s, as to whether Michael and Aaron’s will make a run for the championship this year. At this time, there has been no announcement, but a decision should come soon. The next race for the Aaron’s Dream Machine will be this Friday, May 14 at the Richmond |
