RACE REPORT
PEAK PERFORMANCE MOTORSPORTS
2668 PEACHTREE ROAD STATESVILLE, NC 28625 704-873-2310
For Immediate Release Contact: Tonia Jackson 919-719-2710 tjackson@pse-3.com
June 20, 2005
LONG POND YIELDS LONG DAY FOR JANI-KING TEAM
Garvey Finishes 34th in Return Trip to Pocono Raceway
LONG POND, Penn. – Mike Garvey was looking forward to this weekend’s return trip to the Pocono Mountains. Just six weeks ago he made his debut with the Peak Performance Motorsports team, and posted the team’s best performance of the season at the Pocono Raceway tri-oval. The group was hopeful that it would back up its earlier performance of 25th, and perhaps, improve its finish.
Coming off a testing session at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the team thought it had gotten some information on its primary intermediate car that it would be able to apply to the Pocono 500.
Garvey qualified in the 32nd position, four markers better than in his debut at the raceway in early June.
“We were encouraged by the qualifying effort,” he explained. “It was the best of the season for this group. Our goal each time is to go and improve on our last effort. We started the weekend in the right direction.”
Once the green flag dropped, things changed for the 66 crew and Garvey began fighting his ill-handling racecar.
“Tight, tight, tight,” he told his crew over the radio. “I can’t get it to turn at all.”
The team took numerous opportunities to assist Garvey and his Ford Taurus. Adjustments stemmed from wedge and track bar changes to air pressure and tape. Nothing seemed to help his cause.
“The guys did everything they could, but nothing really seemed to help,” he said after the race. “We’ve got to figure out how the car is going to change when we take the tape off after qualifying. Right now, we’ve been tight each time. That hurts us when we start racing.”
Garvey dropped back to 40th early in the race, but picked up spots as the race progressed. His efforts resulted in a 34th-place finish Sunday.
“We’re not satisfied with the finish, but we know we can improve on it for sure,” Garvey said. “We aren’t going to be satisfied until we can consistently get in the top 20. We’ve got a group of guys that work well together, and as long as we stay focused and keep our spirits up, we’ll be able to reach our goal.”
Fellow Ford competitor Kurt Busch captured the win in a dominating performance. Rusty Wallace was second, and the Fords of Mark Martin and Carl Edwards were third and fourth, respectively. Ryan Newman was fifth.
Nextel Cup competitors will take a week off before heading to the hallowed grounds of Indianapolis for the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. NBC will begin its coverage of the event at 1:00 p.m. EDT. MRN will have the radio call.
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