SpongeTech® Helps Clean Up After Bell’s Big Wreck in Phoenix
Avondale, Az. (November 10, 2008) – T.J. Bell entered the “Valley of the Sun” for Friday night’s running of the Lucas Oil 150 carrying new sponsorship from SpongeTech®, an innovative family of cleaning products aimed at making your life easier. Cleaning was the only thing made easy for Bell and the TRG Motorsports team after a mid-race wreck took the No. 7 Chevrolet out of contention with 64 laps to go in the 150-lap race at Phoenix International Raceway.
“I don’t know what to say,” said Bell following the race. “It was unfortunate. We had a good truck. We were on our way to another top-10 finish but got involved in a racing incident. Hopefully we can take SpongeTech® to Homestead and have a better run for them there.”
Bell’s challenges came early after struggling with the setup on the No. 7 SpongeTech®/Home4theHolidays.org Chevrolet during the event’s first practice session on Thursday. “We came off the truck and weren’t that good,” said Bell’s Crew Chief, Butch Hylton. “We spent most of the first practice session working on the setup of our Chevrolet.” The second and final practice session proved to be better for Bell. “The second practice we were much better and started going in the right direction on the chassis,” continued Hylton. “By the end of practice we felt like we had a setup that would be alright to race.”
In qualifying, Bell paced the one-mile oval with a lap of 28.135 seconds at a speed of 127.955 miles per hour which saw him 26th for the start of the 150-lap race. “Qualifying 26th was a bit of a letdown for us as we felt like we could run in the 27.70's,” said Hylton. “T.J. felt like he left a little on the table and we could have been freer than we were.”
Despite starting 26th, Bell raced his way into the top-15 and was shown in second spot after some strategy on pit road. Bell slid back to 12th falling victim to fresher tires, but held on until lap 86 when he got crashed entering turn one. “The race went real well as we drove up into the top-15 and had our sights set on another top-10,” said Hylton. “We were racing the 23 for 13th spot when they got together and wrecked causing heavy damage to chassis 45 and ending our night.” Bell was credited with a 27th place finish.
Bell will take the No. 7 SpongeTech®/Home4theHolidays.org Chevrolet to Homestead-Miami Speedway for the Ford 200 on Friday, November 14th. Live television coverage will begin on the SPEED Channel at 7:30 p.m. ET with radio coverage coming to you live courtesy of MRN Radio.
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