Salemi Runs in Top-10, Finishes 11th at Oxford Plains
By Scott Collins, John Salemi Racing
August 28, 2005
OXFORD, Me. — John Salemi posted another strong finish in the #63 Pontiac Saturday night at Oxford, ME with a well-fought 11th. The race was a wild one for the Busch North Series, in their return to the Maine short track, with 5 yellow flags and 1 red. Salemi and the team were able to stay on their hot streak and have another great run to help close up the gap in the Rookie of the Year standings. After making multiple changes during the two practice sessions, Salemi ran a lap that was consistent to his practice time in qualifying. "We were a little tight out there in qualifying, but overall the lap was decent.
We were able to pick up a little speed from practice, but unfortunately, so did everyone else." Qualifying continues to be a weakness for the team, but they continue to have excellent runs during the race.
The Fisher Snowplows 150 was another eventful race for John . In the opening laps, Salemi was forced to check up to avoid a wreck. He ended up losing about half of a lap avoiding the spin. The yellow flag never came out, and the leaders were instantly in John’s mirror. "We just got a bad break there and didn’t get the yellow. We lost a lap right away because of the wrecks in front of us."
The lucky dog rule came into play during the race, and Salemi was able to get his lap back at about the halfway point of the race. The #63 car was excellent in race trim all night as John was able to pass multiple cars on his march towards the front in the second half of the race. "We really seem to have a car that likes the long runs. We were able to have a good one in the middle portion of the race and get going towards the front, " said the Nashua, NH driver. Unfortunately, the long runs were few and far between as 3 yellow flags, and 1 red flag, plagued the second half of the race. "The yellows really slowed our progress down, but I was still able to get up to 8th at one point. The one long run that we had was the best we’ve been all year. The car felt really good and it was great to be racing against Andy Santerre and Mike Stefanik for position out there."
The final yellow flag hurt John the most, as he was forced to restart in tenth place on the outside. When the green came out for the final time, John got hung up on the high side and lost 3 spots right away "I just couldn’t get the car to the bottom and we had a whole line of cars go by us. If we could have restarted on the inside, I would have had another top ten this week as well." Salemi was able to get back a few of the positions, and brought the car home with another respectable finish. We just had a little bad luck on the restart, but that’s racing."
"We race extremely well each week, but aren’t as good in qualifying. We are able to run in the top 10 from a 20th starting position. If we can start in the top 10, our finishes would be that much better. We are going to keep working hard and do our best to close out the season. I feel like we still have a shot at the Rookie of the Year Award and I would also really like to go to the Showdown. The next couple of races are very important for the entire team and we will be ready."
The NASCAR Busch North Series returns to action September 16 for the Sylvania 125 at the New Hampshire International Speedway. Sponsorship opportunities are available with John Salemi Racing. For more info please visit the team website at http://www.johnsalemiracing.com or email marketing@johnsalemiracing.com.
