Elliott, Wood Brothers Play it Safe in Coke 600 Qualifying

[DeeDee]

After spending much of Friday’s sprint cup practice session at Charlotte motor speedway among the top 10 on the speed chart, bill elliott and the crew of the no. 21 Motorcraft/quick lane ford fusion opted for a more conservative chassis set-up for qualifying and wound up with the 25th starting position for Sunday’s coca-cola 600. Elliott’s lap at 184.344 miles per hour tied him with Dale Earnhardt Jr., but Earnhardt will start one position ahead, as he is higher in Nascar car owner point standings.

Team co-owner Eddie Wood said he felt like the team’s no. 21 ford potentially had more speed, but he agreed with crew chief David Hyder’s decision to tighten up the car for Elliott’s run against the clock. “we tightened it up with air pressure just before qualifying,” wood said. “a lot of cars were getting loose, so that was the right thing to do. “at Charlotte, if you get loose, you can lose a lot of time.”

Since they raced the same chassis at texas motor speedway last month and in the sprint showdown last weekend at charlotte, elliott and the wood brothers crew are upbeat about saturday’s final practice sessions and nascar’s longest race on sunday. “we’re getting ready for the coca-cola 600,” wood said. Tv coverage of the coca-cola 600 begins at 5:45 p.m. On sunday on fox, with the green flag set to fly just after 6 p.m.

~wbr

[DeeDee]

long night at charlotte ends with 27th place finish for elliott, woods


nascar’s longest race was just that for bill elliott and the crew of the wood brothers’ no. 21 motorcraft/quick lane ford fusion. Elliott started the coca-cola 600 at charlotte motor speedway from 25th place, but he and the team fought handling issues throughout the race before winding up 27th behind race winner kurt busch.

“we were too tight at first, and we got it freed up, but then it didn’t have good drive-off off the corners,” elliott said. Still, the no. 21 hung onto the lead lap for much of the race before dropping behind in the second half. Elliott was able to capitalize once on the “wave-around” rule that allows drivers ahead of the race leader after pit stops to circle around the track and stay on the lead lap.

But lady luck let elliott and his team down later in the race as the timing of the caution flags worked against them. “we were just a lap or two away from getting a lap back two more times,” team co-owner eddie wood said. “we just didn’t have any breaks go our way.” but wood was proud of the way his crew kept working on the no. 21 on a long, disappointing night.

“we chased the race track all night,” he said, explaining that track conditions at charlotte change dramatically over the course of a race that starts in the hot afternoon sun and runs until several hours past sunset. “as the race track changed, we chased it the best we could.”

elliott and the wood brothers return to sprint cup action on june 11-13 at michigan international speedway, where the familiar red-and-white motorcraft/quick lane paint scheme will be replaced by the blue-and-white colors of fordparts.com.

Fordparts.com allows repair shops, body shops, fleets, and do-it-yourselfers to shop online, order and receive genuine ford and motorcraft parts through one site for ford, lincoln or mercury vehicles. Once a part is ordered, consumers can choose in-store pick-up or have the parts delivered to their home or shop.

~Woodbros