Stefanik Jumps Hurdles For

Fifth Place Finish At Motor Mile

Radford, VA (August 21, 2005): An early pit stop cured an overheating problem for Mike Stefanik and the Burnham Hydronics Chevrolet, but it wasn’t the only hurdle the Coventry, RI-native would face in the Star Country/Dominic’s Sausage 150 at Motor Mile Speedway. En route to his fifth place finish, Stefanik had to wrestle teammate Andy Santerre in an exciting duel for position, and then battle a loose handling racecar in the last 10 laps. It was Stefanik’s eighth straight top-10 this season in as many races.

“It was strange that we went down there and tested, got the car driving good, and then the race starts and the whole race was run on the apron. It was totally discouraging. We set our car up to run around the middle of the racetrack, and we were way too tight to run down there on the bottom. We ended up losing two spots right at the end as we tried to get by Ryan for third, but hey, that’s the way the racing game goes sometimes. I’m happy that Andy (Santerre) finally got in the win column. That was good for that team.”

Stefanik ran atop of the practice sheets all day and was optimistic for a solid run, but an overheating problem in the beginning of the race forced the team to make a pit stop at lap 46.

“We pulled some tape off the grill and put a spring rubber in,” Stefanik said. “We were just way too tight and we had to make an adjustment.”

Stefanik returned to the race for a lap 47 restart at the tail end of the 25-car field, but by lap 64 had returned to the top-10. The No. 55 Burnham Hydronics Chevrolet was running seventh when caution appeared at lap 81. The team decided to pit once again with the rest of the lead lap cars and take on fresh tires. The pit stop turned dangerous as Stefanik pulled into his pit stall.

“I was coming in and saw that Matt (Kobyluck) was pulling in really close to Andy’s pit stall. I think he mistook it as his, and he just nicked the tire that one of Andy’s crewmembers was holding. When he did that, it knocked the tire out of the front carrier’s hand and sent it into our pit stall. I’m glad that nobody got hurt.”

Stefanik returned to the race in the 14th position and quickly moved up to sixth in a period of only seven laps. By lap 100, Stefanik was running fourth and getting pressure from his teammate and eventual winner Andy Santerre.

Stefanik and Santerre attracted the audience with their tight side-by-side battle. The two were beating and banging through the corners for nearly ten laps before Santerre got by the Burnham Hydronics Chevrolet.

As the laps wound down, Stefanik set his sights on Ryan Moore as he challenged for the third spot. Again, the battle was a nail-biter with the bottom groove proving to be the preferred lane. Unfortunately, Stefanik’s car was too loose to hold it down there and he lost two positions in the process.