Bill Lester and the No. 22 Waste Management Toyota Tundra team
have been looking forward to the event at Gateway International Raceway all
season. The team brought one of its favorite trucks to the 1.25-mile oval,
a track on which Lester has been successful. The team knew it would be a
force to be reckoned with all night.
Saturday morning brought more than an inch of rain to the St.
Louis area. The sun finally emerged around mid-day, and NASCAR decided to
determine the starting lineup by owners’ points. The No. 22 team’s
focus turned from qualifying to the race, as it began preparing for the one-hour
practice session.
Lester made his first laps on the track at almost sunset.
He told his crew his truck was really good in turns three and four but was
struggling coming off turn two. The team tried to dial the truck in
throughout the practice session. When the hour concluded, the team was
seventh on the speed chart, and Lester said his truck was handling perfectly.
Lester and his team felt like they had a shot to win the race, which started a
few hours later.
Lester was on a mission to get to the front of the field from
the very start. He picked up seven spots in 20 laps and continued to
advance. He reported to his crew chief Doug Wolcott that the truck handled
a little tight off turn two, but it was really good in turns three and four.
Wolcott and the Waste Management crew discussed the changes they would make to
the truck during the first pit stop.
Lester pitted under caution on lap 31, during which time the
Waste Management Tundra team changed all four tires, made an air pressure
adjustment and filled the tank with fuel. Lester restarted 23rd on lap 34.
By lap 50, Lester had made his way to the sixth position and
continued to move forward, despite reporting to his crew that the truck
maintained its tight condition in turns one and two.
When the caution flag waved again on lap 87, the No. 22 team
made its final pit stop of the night. The crew performed a similar stop to
its first stop, substituting a track bar adjustment for the air pressure change.
Lester remained in the top 10 for the restart.
Just when it appeared Lester would score a top-five finish, a
truck slowed right in front of Lester going into turn one. Lester did all
he could to avoid the slow truck but could not get his truck slowed quickly
enough, sending both trucks into the outside retaining wall. Lester’s
truck was damaged beyond repair, dropping the team to a 30th-place finish.
The team returns to action at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord,
N.C. The race will be televised live on Speed Channel Friday, May 19th.
E-mail: comments@aaim1.com.com
Bill
Lester and the No. 22 Waste Management Toyota Tundra team have
been looking forward to the event at Gateway International Raceway
all season. Just when it appeared Lester would score a top-five finish, a
truck slowed right in front of Lester going into turn one. Lester did all
he could to avoid the slow truck but could not get his truck slowed quickly
enough, sending both trucks into the outside retaining wall. Lester’s
truck was damaged beyond repair, dropping the team to a 30th-place finish.
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