ONE LAP IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR STANCILL
Ben Stancill and his #91 Stancill Farms/ BSW Construction
Chevy team traveled to Iowa for the US Cellular 200 Camping World Series
race on May 18th. The event was overshadowed for most racers by an
appearance of Sprint Cup driver Kasey Kane, who flew in to competed in
the #9 Busweiser at Iowa Speedway. While Kane was competing and winning
on Saturday night at Lowes Motor Speedway in NC, the regular competitors
in the CW Series were busy going through tech and practicing in Iowa.
Coming off a 3rd place finish at Greenville Pickens, Stancill showed up
in Iowa with a brand new car and had hoped to race into a top ten
finish, but a wreck in qualifying changed the focus of the entire team.
"We were okay in practice on Saturday. Sunday morning, Mark Huff (crew
chief) changed a few things and the car responded - we were better on
Sunday morning." said Stancill after showing up 22nd quickest in a 52
car field. Stancill continued, "We were still looking for something
that would help us qualify in the top ten, so we changed a few more
things before I went out to qualify. The car was good on the first lap
and just broke free on the second lap and I hit the wall. What can I
say, the car is destroyed and I've cost my team a lot of work and my
family a lot of money. It's embarrasing and disappointing as well as
expensive "
Stancill was one of the first 5 cars to qualify on Sunday, but had to
wait until the entire field had finished to see if the one completed
lap was good enough to get them into the field. Usually, most racers
get faster with each lap in qualifying, hence making their second lap
faster than their first. But Stancill only made one lap before hitting
the wall hard in turn 4. Stancill's first lap at 129.51 miles per hour
was good enough to qualify him in 34th position. 43 cars would start the
show in Iowa.
NASCAR officials would not allow the team to begin work on the back up
car until qualifying was over. After receiving the news that the #91
had indeed "made the show", the team, led by Mark Huff from Wytheville,
Virginia began the frantic process of getting the backup car ready to
race. Many items were transferred from the wrecked primary car to the
back up car. The back up car then had to go through a tech inspection
by NASCAR officials before being allowed on the track. With only a 2
hour window between qualifying and racing, Stancill's team accomplished
an also impossible feat. Stancill missed the autograph session as well
as driver introductions because he was himself under the car working.
The car was rolled onto the track as the National Anthem was being
performed!
Forced to start in the 43rd position (because of changing cars),
Stancill soldiered on to finish 25th in the backup car. To add insult
to injury, Karl Chevrolet from Iowa had originally signed on as the
primary sponsor for the Iowa Speedway race, but demanded their money
back after their decals were not applied to the backup car. "I
understand that they are upset, but regrettably, the decals were not an
item that was going to make me go faster or make the car handle better,
so they were overlooked in the transferring process." said Stancill.
"Karl Chevrolet is still listed as my sponsor for the Iowa race on most
web sites that report on the Camping World Series and I will not remove
their name - even though I have to send their money back. I understand
it was my fault and we made a mistake. I appreciate their initial offer
and I have learned a valuable lesson." said a dejected Stancill.
Ben Stancill and his team will now turn their attention to the next
event, May 31st at South Boston Speedway in Virginia. For more
information visit Ben's web site at
www.benstancill.com
or
www.eastseries.com. You may also find information listed under
"tracks" on NASCARS official website
www.nascar.com.
FOOTNOTE: DUE
TO A RULES INFRACTION - 2nd PLACE FINISHER, MARC DAVIS, WAS DISQUALIFIED IN POST
RACE TECH. THIS DISQUALIFICATION MOVED BEN STANCILL INTO A 25th PLACE
FINISH
