Feese, Team Lowe’s Racing Finish 38th at Texas Motor Speedway

FT. WORTH, TEXAS (April 16) – Watching a replay of the accident that damaged his No. 5 Lowe’s/Spectracide Chevy, driver Blake Feese concluded he had just been in the “wrong place, wrong time” at Texas Motor Speedway.

With his car too damaged to continue following the lap 160 incident, Feese had to call it a day. His Hendrick Motorsports team was credited with a 38th-place finish in Saturday’s 300-mile NASCAR Busch Series race.

With just over 40 laps remaining in Saturday’s 200-lap event, Feese found himself running three-wide on the inside lane of the 1.5-mile Texas track, alongside Ashton Lewis, Jr., and Shane Hmiel. Coming out of turn two, Hmiel’s car bounced off the outside retaining wall and clipped the rear of Lewis’ machine, turning Lewis into the rear quarter panel of Feese’s Hendrick Motorsports Chevy.

Feese’s car hit the outside retaining wall, doing severe damage to the No. 5 machine. Feese, who was unhurt, climbed from the car and let track workers tow his injured car back to the garage.

“I wasn’t even sure what had happened until I saw the replay,” Feese said. “We were just riding along on the inside and the next thing I know, I’m getting wrecked. I just hate it for all the guys at the shop that have to fix this torn-up sheetmetal. It’s a real disappointing way to end the day.”

Starting from the 13th position, Feese and his team battled a “front grip” handling issue throughout the race. Crew chief Jim Long and his crew made chassis and tire pressure adjustments on every pit stop, but the handling condition persisted, with Feese being shown two laps down to the leaders by the time of the accident.

The No. 5 Team Lowe’s Racing crew now heads even further out West, to Phoenix, Ariz., for what will be the first night race of the 2005 season. Boston Reid will make his third start of 2005 in that event, behind the wheel of the No. 5 Lowe’s/Briggs & Stratton Chevy.

The 200-lap Busch Series race will air live from Phoenix International Raceway on FX and MRN Radio affiliates on Friday, April 22, beginning at 8:30 p.m. EDT.