Bank of America 500

A ROUGH NIGHT FOR ELLIOTT AND WOOD BROTHERS RACE TEAM

CHARLOTTE, NC — Since Thursday evening's qualifying session for the Bank of America 500 was rained out, the field of 43 was set by owner's point standings. Bill Elliott took the green flag in the 37th position driving the No. 21 U.S. Air Force Ford. In the early laps of the 334-lap race, he conservatively stayed near 35th position. On lap 33, crew chief David Hyder radioed to Bill, "You're one of the fastest cars on the track. Keep doing what you're doing."

The first caution flag flew on lap 43, and Bill reported a slight loose condition. The team decided to bring the car down pit road for four fresh tires and to add fuel. No adjustments were made to the car. The No. 21 restarted the race on lap 48 in 30th position.

The second yellow flag flew on lap 55. Hyder decided to keep Bill out on the track and not pit. This moved Elliott up to the 21st position where he restarted the race on lap 51. The caution flag flew again on lap 63; this gave the team the opportunity to pit as Bill was now fighting to keep a very loose race car in the thick of competition. The Wood Brothers' crew made an air pressure adjustment, put on four tires and added fuel. As Bill was heading back to the track, he mentioned that the motor got a little hot when he was running full speed. Hyder called him back down pit road after spotting grass that was caught on the car's grill. The crew quickly cleaned the nose of the car, and Bill went back to the track in the 32nd spot on lap 70. After running a few laps under green, Bill commented that the car was very loose in the corners and he was doing all he could to hold on. Hyder assured him: “Get all that you can out of it. I don't want to get lapped. We will fix you up the next time you come in. I promise." Caution on lap 103 allowed the no. 21 to pit and make air pressure adjustments, change four tires and add fuel. He restarted on lap 108 in 33rd position.

Another caution arose on lap 121, and Bill stated that the car was a little free but drivable. Hyder wanted to make some more changes, so the team took the opportunity to pit. The crew made minor adjustments and changed tires. Bill returned to the track in the 34th position and took the green on lap 124. Just prior to the halfway point of the race, Bill called in to the team that he felt a vibration. "Do what you can with it, we're going to pit in 19 laps," encouraged Hyder. Elliott came in to pit for the scheduled green flag stop on lap 174. The crew put on four tires and added fuel. Bill returned to the track in 34th. The new tires fixed the vibration issue.

A multi-car wreck brought out the caution flag once gain on lap 184. As Bill drove in between two other cars, the outside car came down and hit his car on the right side. The impact forced Elliott to hit the car to his left and damaged the left front portion of the car flattening the tire. Bill drove the car down pit road to have the damage fixed and put on new tires. He would have to make two more stops to fix the damage. He restarted the race at the tail end of the longest line in 32nd and three laps down from the leader.

On lap 204, another accident occured, which forced Bill to slow up as the cars went everywhere in front of him. But as Elliott checked up, another car struck him in the rear. The impact did not cause much damage, but the No. 21 did need new tires. Bill came back down pit road to get four fresh tires and fuel. He went back to the track in 32nd on lap 211.

As the laps ran down and a few more cautions ensued, the Wood Brothers team took every opportunity to work hard to keep Bill moving up the scoreboard before the finish of the race. Elliott took the checkered flag four laps down from the leader in 28th place.

Elliott said, “It’s too bad, we had a really good car, but we started out just a little too free. I hope to take what we learned here this weekend and go forward with it." He added: “We need to build on that and take it to Atlanta.”

Wood Brothers Racing and Bill Elliott will take the No. 21 U.S. Air Force Ford Fusion to Martinsville Speedway for the TUMS QuikPak 500 on Sunday, October 19th. Contributed by Christina Cicci, Wood Brothers Racing

Bank of America 500 Results:
1. Jeff Burton
2. Kasey Kahne
3. Kurt Busch
4. Kyle Busch
5. Jamie McMurray
6. Jimmie Johnson
7. Greg Biffle
8. Jeff Gordon
9. Mark Martin
10. David Ragan
28. Bill Elliott

2008 Final
Point Standings:
1. Jimmie Johnson — 6684
2. Carl Edwards — 6615
3. Greg Biffle — 6467
4. Kevin Harvick — 6408
5. Clint Bowyer — 6381
6. Jeff Burton — 6335
7. Jeff Gordon — 6316
8. Denny Hamlin — 6214
9. Tony Stewart — 6202
10. Kyle Busch — 6186
11. Matt Kensteh — 6184
12. D. Earnhardt, Jr. — 6127
36. M. Ambrose* — 2655
*Listed by Owner Points for Michael Waltrip Racing/
JTG Daugherty Racing