Starting from the fourth position after qualifying
was canceled as a result of communication problems between race control and track
safety officials, Michael McDowell maintained his position throughout his stint and
led briefly before bringing the popular orange and black machine into the pits for
a scheduled green flag pit stop and driver change.
"This definitely wasn't the best race we've run this season," said Michael
McDowell. "We just never really seemed to get a handle on the set-up today
but we did manage to score a few more points. We actually have some testing coming
up towards the middle of July at the Miller Motorsports Park and Infineon Raceway
so hopefully we'll be able to work out a few little bugs."
Memo Gidley slid behind the wheel and continued the charge towards the front in his
ultimate pursuit of points. |
Following a disappointing finish at the EMCO
Gears Classic last weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, the driving duo of
Memo Gidley and Michael McDowell knew that they had to pull off a strong finish at
Daytona.
Gidley using his all around talent and driving skills maintained a level head and
brought the Ford-powered Crawford Daytona Prototype across the finish line in the
eighth position.
"This was a difficult weekend for the 19 car," said Memo Gidley. "We
just didn't quite hit the set-up with the shortened schedule but we were able to
get some points. With four races left in the season we just need to finish races
and score as many points as possible."
The Finlay Motorsports team will spend the next few weeks preparing for the last
four races of the season, participating in a two day test at Miller Motorsports Park
and one day test at Infineon Raceway before the next scheduled race at the Barber
Motorsports Park July 28-30. |
BRUMOS PORSCHE 250 at DAYTONA
| Pos |
No. |
Driver |
Team/Car |
Laps |
Best
Lap Time |
Avg
Spd |
Sponsors |
| 1 |
76 |
Bergmeister/ Braun |
Krohn Racing / Ford Riley |
70 |
1:46.803 |
113 |
Krohn Racing |
| 2 |
23 |
Rockenfeller/ Long |
Alex Job Racing/ Emory / Porsche
Crawford |
70 |
1:45.979 |
113 |
Ruby Tuesday |
| 3 |
01 |
Pruett/ Diaz |
CompUSA Ganassi w/ Sabates
/ Lexus Riley |
70 |
1:46.427 |
113 |
CompUSA |
| 4 |
10 |
Taylor/ Angelelli |
SunTrust Racing / Pontiac
Riley |
70 |
1:46.130 |
112 |
SunTrust |
| 5 |
99 |
Fogarty/ Gurney |
Gainsco/ Blackhawk Racing
/ Pontiac Riley |
70 |
1:46.571 |
112 |
Gainsco Auto Insurance |
| 6 |
6 |
Constantine/ Borkowski/ Tracy |
Playboy Racing/ Mears / Lexus
Riley |
70 |
1:46.620 |
112 |
Playboy/ Shank / Mears |
| 7 |
5 |
Finlay/ Valiante |
Essex/ Finlay Motorsports / Ford Crawford |
70 |
1:47.423 |
112 |
Make A Wish/ Z-Line Designs |
| 8 |
19 |
Gidley/ McDowell |
Playboy/ Uniden Racing / Ford Crawford |
70 |
1:47.533 |
112 |
Playboy/ Uniden/ Palms |
| 9 |
39 |
Fittipaldi/ Orsi |
Crown Royal/ Cheever / Porsche
Crawford |
70 |
1:46.979 |
111 |
Crown Royal Special Reserve |
| 10 |
60 |
Patterson/ Negri |
Michael Shank Racing / Lexus
Riley |
69 |
1:47.151 |
111 |
Flight Options/ Net App |
|
PREVIOUSLY
DAYTONA PRE-RACE
MEMO GIDLEY AND MICHAEL
MCDOWELL HOPE TO MAKE UP SOME GROUND AT DAYTONA
MOORESVILLE, NC (June 26, 2006)
- Most people visit Daytona Beach,
Florida on vacation but the crew of the No.19 Playboy/Uniden/Palms Daytona Prototype
machine have other plans. |
Memo Gidley and Michael McDowell
are in the hunt for the team points lead for the Rolex Sports Car Series and need
to make up some ground at Thursday's running of the Brumos Porsche 250 at Daytona
International Speedway.
|
Michael
|
The Mooresville, NC - based team who just
competed Saturday in the EMCO Gears Classic at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course experienced
a bit of bad luck during the 250-mile event. The team started the event from the
fourth position and the popular orange and black machine was running strong until
Gidley was forced to return to the garage with a broken throttle cable. Although
the team was able to change the cable and return to race competition they lost a
few positions in the championship battle. With their work cut out for them and a
very challenging schedule at Daytona the Finlay Motorsports team is ready for action.
"Daytona is going to be interesting," said Michael McDowell. "Just
because you were fast earlier in the year at Daytona doesn't mean you will be fast
again. |
The shortened race weekend is going to be
a real engineering exercise. The teams have been improving the cars throughout the
season and what you had in January isn't going to be enough this time around."
Practice for the Brumos Porsche 250 at Daytona will begin at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday,
June 29 with qualifying taking place at 12:40 p.m. The green flag for the 250-mile/77-lap/2
3/4 - hour time limit race will drop at 7:00 p.m.
|
Memo
|
"I'm looking forward to the race at Daytona,"
said Memo Gidley. "At the 24 hour race we had one of the fastest cars on the
track and if it wasn't for a few minor incidents that put us behind we had a good
chance of winning."
This will be the first of two Grand American Rolex Series races this season run in
conjunction with the NASCAR series and will be televised live on the Speed Channel. |
