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NASCAR BGN: Sasser Motorsports team has successful Watkins Glen test session

19 June 1999

HAMPTONVILLE, NC -- Ever have such a good day at the office that you felt like knocking off a little early?

Thats the enviable position that Sasser Motorsports found itself in while testing for the June 27th running of the Lysol 200 NASCAR Busch Grand National race at Watkins Glen International.

"Things went so beautiful, it was scary," said Kevin Sasser, co-owner of the team that bears his name. "We were supposed to test Tuesday and Wednesday (June 15 and 16). But we really couldnt see any major improvements to make; the car was set-up great, and Chris Cook -- our driver -- knew exactly what he was doing; so we came home a whole day early. We didnt want to risk anything bad happening, and there was really no point putting any more wear-and-tear on the motor."

The No. 65 Chevrolet Monte Carlo will be driven by road course specialist Cook; a driving instructor at the Bondurant School of High Performance Driving in Phoenix who has taught several NASCAR Winston Cup drivers the ins-and-outs of road course racing.

The Watkins Glen event will also mark the first appearance of Ted Brown as crew chief for the Overtons.com-sponsored entry. Brown, too, was beaming after testing at the Glen.

"We had ordered some brakes, but they didnt arrive in time," said the youthful Brown. "Once we get those on, we feel like it will be worth another second or two. Our best lap during the session made us one of the fastest in a pretty good field. Dale Earnhardt Jr., was there, along with Terry Labonte, Matt Kenseth and Bobby Hillin. It was a pretty good field."

The team will debut a new car at The Glen, described technically by Brown as "an inch and a half, drop-snout Loughlin car."

So the Sasser Motorsports team used the spare time to go fishing, right? Wrong.

"There are always about a million and a half things to do on any race car," said Brown, "so weve got the customary tweaking to do on this one before the race."

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