August 15, 2005 (Jefferson, GA)

Ken Butler III brought the Aaron’s Dream Machine to the Peach State Speedway for Saturday’s USAR Hooters ProCup race, the 11th of the season. KBIII struggled with a loose Dream Machine during practice and Crew Chief Danny Crafton tried several chassis changes along with spring and shock combinations trying to get a good balance on the car. With time running out, KBIII and Crafton settled on a setup that they were both comfortable with for qualifying.

The car was good on older tires but was too loose coming off the turns with new tires and that hurt his qualifying laps. Peddling the accelerator through the turns, KBIII was able to run the ½-mile track in 19.52 seconds, putting him 28th on the grid.

When the green-flag dropped KBIII kept pace with the leaders and picked up a couple of spots before he got tapped from behind and spun coming out of turn two. Butler did an excellent job keeping it out of the wall but the leader passed him before the caution flag came out, and he fell one-lap down.

Crafton used some creative pit strategy by bringing Butler in the pits for a track-bar adjustment and four fresh tires early, and it paid off. KBIII re-started on the inside of the leader, Mark McFarland, and passed him after two laps. Back on the lead lap, Butler drove away, putting a three-second gap on McFarland, and was looking for another caution flag to gather the field back together. However, the caution didn’t come and several laps later, Butler got caught in lap traffic letting the leader get by him.

By lap-175, Butler’s tires wore thin on the abrasive surface and the car was very loose through the turns. To make matters worse, his radio stopped working, leaving him without communications from his spotter and crew chief. But Ken stayed up on the wheel and worked his way past a couple of more cars taking the checkered flag 19th.

“I’m disappointed with the finish because I know there were a lot of Aaron’s employees in the stands tonight,” Butler said. “They came out and showed me a ton of support tonight and I wish I could have given them a better finish. I am proud to drive the Aaron’s Dream Machine and really appreciate everyone giving me this opportunity to make my dream come true and race at this level.”

KBIII remains 19th in the championship point’s race and fifth in the rookie of year standings.