BIiss takes long road to third at ORP
By Lee Montgomery - Associate Editor
Thursday, July 31, 2008
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Mike Bliss loves O’Reilly Raceway Park. As an open-wheel racer, he’s won 12 times at the Indiana short track in USAC competition, but he’s never been able to break through in the stock-car ranks.
And not long after the green flag waved in the Kroger 200, Bliss figured he wouldn’t win this time, either.
“It started off … terrible,” said Bliss, who finished a season-best third. “I figured I was real close to suicide watch. I really like running here, and I want to win here really bad in a stock car.”
On lap 22, as fluid poured off Carl Edwards’ stricken Ford, Bliss slipped and spun off Turn 2. As the field raced by him, Bliss probably figured his chance at victory was over.
But he was wrong. The spin forced Bliss’ Phoenix Racing team to bring the No. 1 Chevrolet to pit road for four tires and chassis adjustments, putting him back in 35th on the ensuing restart. It proved to be a blessing in disguise.
“That probably was a point in our race where it turned,” Bliss said.
At first, Bliss was simply happy he didn’t have a damaged car. The spin didn’t hurt his Chevrolet, as was apparent by his charge through the field.
“I wasn’t mad,” Bliss said. “I was upset. I’m glad we didn’t get [wrecked] because we could’ve gotten wrecked pretty bad there. I think it helped because we came in and took four tires and adjusted the race car. Nobody else got to pit, so their race cars were the same as when they practiced. …
“I was a little surprised at how fast we came up through the field. We were really good on long runs, and I was thinking toward the end of the race we were going to be pretty good on long runs. But these guys were real fast tonight.”
Bliss at the time had a fast car, but winner Kyle Busch and runnerup Colin Braun were simply a tick faster. Still, Bliss had his best finish since he took second at Memphis last year.
And it was all thanks to an early spin.
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Mike Bliss
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