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MITCHELL LOOKS
FOR NASHVILLE IMPROVEMENT
WAYNESBURG, PA (May 31) ......... West Virginia's Richard
Mitchell will be
looking for a little help from Lady Luck when he makes his
second NASCAR
BUSCH Series appearance in the June 8 Inside Traxx 300 mile race
at the
Nashville Superspeedway.
The two-time NASCAR Weekly Racing Series Northeast Region
champion finished
35th in his April BUSCH Series debut at the 1.333 mile concrete
tri-oval.
But, with a little luck the West Virginia University graduate
might have had
a top-25 run in his maiden voyage.
"Luck definitely wasn't on our side at the first Nashville
race," Mitchell
said, "first of all the practice period was cut short by rain,
and we needed
every minute to get the car dialed-in, since we didn't have the
opportunity
to test there."
Still, Mitchell was able to qualify 33rd, and was moving through
the field in
the race when more bad luck occurred.
"We were making steady progress in the race, until I cut-down a
tire in the
middle of turn three," added Mitchell. If making an unscheduled
green-flag
pit stop wasn't bad enough, an electrical problem forced the
Coach USA /
Mountaineer Gaming / West Virginia Tourism Monte Carlo to the
garage just
past the half way mark of the contest.
Despite all of the problems, Mitchell and his Mac Hill
Motorsports team came
away from the Nashville event with an upbeat attitude.
"We used the first Nashville race to get our feet wet in the
BUSCH Series,"
stated Mitchell. "During the race we got our lap times to within
three-tenths
of a second of those being turned by the leaders. Despite all
of the
problems, we were happy with our performance."
The team's expectations for the June 8 Nashville race are a bit
higher. "We
would be satisfied to qualify a little higher in the field, and
then crack
the top-twenty in the race," concluded Mitchell. "We certainly
don't have
the resources that the full-time teams do, but if we can
eliminate the bad
luck, I feel we can be competitive with the Busch regulars.
We're taking it
one step at a time."
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