Tony Raines Homestead-Miami Preview
TONY RAINES - DLP®HDTV Racing Team Report
Car No.: 96 - Hall of Fame Racing DLP®HDTV Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS
Round 36 of 36 - Ford 400 - Homestead-Miami Speedway
Primary Team Members:
Driver: Tony Raines
Crew Chief: Philippe Lopez
Car Chief: Bond Suss
Engine Builder: Mark Cronquist (Gibbs)
Engine Specialist: Tim Jones
Spotter: Terry Wooten
During Race Pit Contact: Joe Crowley
Over-The-Wall Crew Members:
Gas Man: Alex Whitman
Front Tire Changer: Terry Spalding
Catch Can: John Fuller
Front Tire Carrier: Alex Smith
Windshield: Andrew Morgan
Rear Tire Changer: Tony Tolly
Jackman: Tony Cardam
Rear Tire Carrier: Ben Surface
Other Crew Members:
Truck Drivers: Gary "Turtle" Clem
Tire Specialist: Jim Davis
Shock Specialist: Drew Bible
Engineer: Steve Hoegler
Chassis No. 013:
- Hall of Fame Racing chassis No. 013 was originally built by Joe Gibbs Racing as chassis No. 139.
- The car made its debut in June 2006 at Michigan with Tony Stewart. Stewart crashed 22 laps into the rain-shortened event and finished 41st.
- The car was rebuilt, Hall of Fame Racing took possession of it, and Tony Raines tested the car Oct. 17-18 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
- The chassis was then used in the Dickies 500 at Texas where Raines started 41st and finished 19th.
Chassis statistics:
Year Event Start Finish Status Laps
2006 Michigan (Spr) 17 41 Accident 58/129
2006 Texas (Fall) 41 19 Running 338/339
Tony Raines' Homestead-Miami Speedway Performance Profile:
Year Series Start Finish Status Laps Led Earnings
2004 (NBS) 32 35 Crash 172/203 0 $20,610
2003 (NNCS) 19 13 Running 267/267 0 $53,525
2002 (NBS) 37 36 Handling 130/200 0 $16,555
2001 (NBS) 29 14 Running 199/200 0 $20,900
2000 (NBS) 40 33 Running 195/200 0 $15,560
1999 (NBS) 29 28 Running 197/200 0 $20,235
1998 (NCTS) 15 25 Running 164/167 0 $8,975
1997 (NCTS) 13 30 Engine 80/167 0 $5,625
Notes of Interest:
* Tony Raines will make his 29th start of the season in the No. 96 DLP HDTV Chevy at Homestead-Miami Speedway. It will be his 83rd career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series start and his third at Homestead-Miami.
* Raines has finished in the top-20 in four of the last six races. He has nine top-20 finishes this year.
* Raines and Labonte, co-drivers of the No. 96 DLP HDTV Chevy, have combined for 21 top-25 finishes in the first 35 points-paying races of 2006. Eleven of those finishes have been in the top-20 and two have been in the top-10.
* Tony Raines, a.k.a. "The Closer" - Raines leads all Nextel Cup drivers in positions improved in the last 10 percent of each race. He has gained an average of 2.071 spots in each of his 28 races to pick up a total of 58 positions.
* Raines finished seventh last month at Charlotte (N.C.) to notch his best finish of the season. It was Raines' second career top-10 finish, as he finished sixth in November 2003 at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham.
* Raines led three times for 28 laps during the Charlotte race, both career-highs. In fact, he had only led three total laps in his Nextel Cup career prior to Charlotte.
* In June at the Infineon Raceway road course in Sonoma, Calif., Terry Labonte - who competed in seven races for Hall of Fame Racing - finished third in the No. 96 DLP HDTV Chevy. It was the best finish ever for Hall of Fame Racing and the best finish by a new Nextel Cup organization since Bill Elliott won at Homestead (Fla.) in late 2001 driving for the first-year Evernham Motorsports team.
Copyright © 2006 MotorsportToday.com
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