Adirondack Press Release (August 17, 2003)
Contact: Penny Degre
(508) 234-8684
Stefanik Holds On To Second In Points With 12th Place Finish At Adirondack
New Bremen, NY (August 17, 2003): Mike Stefanik used a survival strategy in Saturday’s DealMaker 150 at Adirondack International Speedway to post a 12th place finish and hold on to second in the 2003 Busch North Series point standings. Stefanik’s finish came despite several late-race cautions that nearly ended his night prematurely.
“It was wild out there tonight,” Stefanik said bluntly. “The restarts were mayhem and we’re lucky to get out of here with the car in one piece. We’ll take a 12th place finish although I much rather would be walking out of here with a top-five. I think our car was capable of that tonight, but circumstances dictated otherwise.”
Stefanik started the No. 55 Burnham Boilers Chevrolet from the 10th position after posting a lap of 102.255 mph (17.603 seconds) in qualifying Saturday afternoon. In front of a packed house of 8,000 fans, Stefanik began his assault at the drop of the green. The 45 car pulled up alongside him and the two raced door-to-door until the caution flew at lap four. When the race went back to green at lap nine, Stefanik hoped to better his 10th place position. By the time the second caution flag flew at lap 21, Stefanik had achieved his goal and moved up to ninth.
A long green flag run developed, and over the next several laps, the Burnham Boilers Chevrolet picked up a tight condition relegating Stefanik back to the 11th position. A brief battled ensued between the 03 car of Tom Carey and Stefanik, which saw the two swap positions on more than one occasion before caution flew again at lap 65.
“We decided that the car needed an adjustment, and it was early enough in the race to be able to get back up through traffic,” explained Stefanik. “So we came in.”
The Burnham Boilers crew changed right side tires and made an adjustment to the car during the lap 67 pit stop setting him up at the tail of the field for the restart at lap 73.
The second half of the race was caution-filled, and halted much of Stefanik’s progress through the field. By lap 90, Stefanik had worked his way back up to the 15th position, but needed a long green flag run to gain any significant ground.
“We were plugging lap after lap, but those caution periods didn’t help me,” Stefanik said. “We were better after the pit stop, but the car was still a little tight.”
Following a lap 97 restart, Stefanik put the pressure on Dale Quarterley for position, but a side-by-side battle between Quarterley and the 22 car left him very little racetrack to advance. Once Quarterley moved ahead, Stefanik was able to use the low groove to move by the 22 and break into the top-10.
Another caution waved at lap 107 with Stefanik in the ninth position for the restart at lap 114. Stefanik filled the rear-view mirror of the 47 car, but had to back out of it as the two worked their way through lapped traffic. Caution waved yet again at lap 133 with Stefanik running 10th for the restart. What cost Stefanik some positions, however, was a green flag being thrown with a slue of lapped cars bunching up the field.
“The 16 and 22 weren’t really in line yet, so we went back to green with cars three wide,” Stefanik explained. “It was a mess. It was only inevitable when everything got messy.”
The final caution of the night was thrown when the 17 car spun on the frontstretch after contact with several cars. Stefanik had to scramble to avoid the incident, but luckily, escaped unscathed. He did lose two valuable positions, however. NASCAR through the green for the green-white-checkered finish at lap 154 with Stefanik crossing the finish line in the 12th position.