A PROMISING WEEKEND WASHED AWAY FOR CHAD MCCUMBEE AND RAB RACING

Topics:  Chad McCumbee, O’Reilly 300

Jessica Caulder
RAB Racing
April 20, 2010

Fort Worth, TX (4-20-2010) – A promising weekend for Chad McCumbee and the No. 09 RAB Racing team was washed away Monday when a brake caliper failure forced the sophomore team behind the wall for more than 30 laps in the opening circuits of the 300-mile O’Reilly 300 at Texas Motor Speedway.

The 31st-place finish was RAB Racing’s first finish outside the top-25 in six starts, dropping the No. 09 team two positions in the 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series owner point standings. The team is now 23rd in points; 24 markers outside the top-20.

In time trials on Friday, McCumbee toured the 1.5-mile quad-oval in 29.476 seconds (183.200 mph). The time was good enough to lock McCumbee into the outside of row 10 in the 20th position for his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut.

After record rainfall in the Fort Worth, TX area and two days of cancelled track activity, the 43-car field finally took the green flag just past 4:00 p.m. on Monday. By lap three, McCumbee reported to his RAB Racing crew that he felt a “bad vibration” on the right front. By lap six, Gable had the GPSStore.com Ford Fusion on pit road to survey the damage. After repairs to the machine, he would return to the racing surface scored 41st.

At lap 27, NASCAR threw a competition caution and Gable took this time to bring the No. 09 Ford Fusion back down pit road to check the repair. It was then that the RAB Racing crew noticed a problem on the right front suspension and Gable was forced to bring the machine to the garage for repairs.

The No. 09 returned to the race track on lap 60, more than 30 laps down in the 41st position.

McCumbee made the most of the remaining 140 laps of the 200-lap event, running lap times comparable to the top-15. However, due to being 37 laps down, the 27-year-old Supply, NC native would gain only 10 positions on the track to finish 31st.

“It was unfortunate what happened to the car at the beginning of the race,” said McCumbee. “When we finally got the car repaired and back out on the track we were running decent lap times and I feel confident we would have come home with a top-15 finish if it had not been for being so many laps down. I just want to thank Robby Benton and the entire RAB Racing crew for this opportunity.”

Up next for RAB Racing is the Aaron’s 312 at Talladega Superspeedway. Patrick Sheltra, an ARCA Racing Series veteran, will be behind the wheel of the No. 09 entry for his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut at the 2.66-mile superspeedway. Live coverage of the event from Talladega will begin at 2:30 p.m. ET on ABC.

For more information on RAB Racing please visit: www.teamrab.com
For more information on Chad McCumbee please visit: www.chadmccumbee.com