#41 Charlotte race report

TEAM TARGET FINISHES 25th IN COCA-COLA 600
Spencer remains 20th in NASCAR Winston Cup championship points
 
CONCORD, N.C. (May 26, 2002) - The Target Dodge Intrepid R/T driven by Jimmy Spencer finished four laps down in 25th place in the Coca-Cola Family 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway.  Spencer remains in 20th position in NASCAR Winston Cup championship points; he is 13 points behind Dave Blaney who is currently in 19th place.
 
The Target Dodge started the 400-lap event in 30th position but quickly moved up five positions within the first 10 laps.  Team Target started making adjustments on the No. 41 Dodge during the first pit stop of the day.  Spencer radioed in that the car was loose getting in to the corners but good off.  As Spencer moved up through the field, Team Target continued to work on getting his car tighter.  
 
Spencer was running in the top-15 on lap 118 when he radioed in that he felt a vibration in the car.  A few laps later, he was forced to bring the No. 41 Dodge in for an unscheduled pit stop in order to assess the situation.  Team Target did not find anything unusual during the pit stop and sent Spencer out with four new tires.  Two laps later, Spencer confirmed that the vibration was still there.  Luckily, a caution came out on the track and Team Target had more time to solve the problem.  The team found that the screws that hold the rotor on backed out on the left rear tire.  The team tightened them, completed a four-tire and fuel pit stop and sent Spencer on his way.  Unfortunately, Spencer went down two laps during this process.  
 
The rest of the evening was spent tightening the car and catching as many lapped cars as possible.  On the last lap, Spencer caught the first car on the same lap as him and moved up one position to finish in 25th place.  
 
"We started off OK," Spencer said. "I was just loose getting in the corners, but we were moving up through the field. Then we developed a really bad vibration in the car. I had to bring it in early and we found that the screws that hold the wheel spacer backed off on the left rear. I'm glad we brought it in when we did because it was only going to get worse. The car was still loose, but we did what we could. At the end, we were able to catch the 26 car on the last lap and got the position. We'll just see what we can do at Dover next weekend."
 
Next on the schedule for the No. 41 Target team is the MBNA Platinum 400 at Dover International Speedway on June 2, 2002.
 
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