GMAC Racing Fourth at RIR, Second in Standings

RICHMOND, Va. (Sep. 8, 2003) – One week after capturing their second win of the season at Darlington, S.C., the GMAC Racing team rolled into Friday night’s FUNAI 250 at Richmond International Raceway with a great deal of momentum. Rain washed out Thursday’s qualifying session and forced the lineup for the 250-lap NASCAR Busch Series event to be set by the current 2003 owner’s point standings, which meant the No. 5 Chevrolet would start fourth. The opening laps of the race saw Brian Vickers, driver of the No. 5 GMAC Financial Services Chevrolet, slide back to eighth by Lap 93, but that was as far back as the team would be in the running order all night long. On Lap 103, the third caution flag of the event waved and the GMAC team elected to pit for four tires, fuel and a wedge adjustment to help the handling of the No. 5 Chevrolet. Racing resumed on Lap 109 with Vickers in eighth. By Lap 135, Vickers moved into fourth and was told to take it easy and be gentle with the throttle, just in case the race remained under the green flag until the end as they were right on the cusp of being able to finish the race without having to stop again for fuel. The fuel issue was eliminated on Lap 180 when the yellow flag waved and all of the front-running teams elected to visit pit road, where Vickers’ GMAC team changed four tires, added fuel and made another wedge adjustment to help loosen up the No. 5 Chevrolet when exiting the corners. Just as was the case last week on pit road, the over-the-wall crew had another strong showing and gained Vickers one position under the caution, allowing him to restart the race in third. Three caution flags, which involved several of the championship contenders, slowed the remaining 50 laps of the race. On Lap 245 with Vickers in fifth, the race was red-flagged after a major pileup in Turns 3 and 4. After 15 minutes, racing resumed on Lap 247 with just three laps remaining. On the final lap, contact between the first and second-place cars allowed Vickers to slip by and gain one more position before taking the checkered flag. The GMAC Racing team finished fourth at Richmond and advanced one position in the championship standings with just eight races remaining. Vickers is currently second overall, just 48 points behind leader David Green. “We did what we needed to do,” Vickers said. “I know some of the guys we’re competing against (in the points) had a bad night, but that’s all part of it. There were a couple of instances where it very easily could have been us caught up in some of the accidents. I’m just glad it ended the way it did.” The Busch Series will take next weekend off before returning to action on Saturday, Sept. 20 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway. Live coverage of the event will begin at 1 p.m. ET on TNT and MRN Radio.