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Dan Peters
Sports Editor
Suburban
Journals of Chicago Inc.
Oak Park Journal
Forest Park Journal
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June
25, 2007
The Race is on,
and the Milwaukee Mile is Tops for the Fan, Great Views and Friendly
Crowds.
© Suburban Journals of Chicago
Inc.
Wild
Night at the Milwaukee Mile, Aric Amirola wins with Denny Hamlin at the
Wheel.
by Dan Peters
Aric Amirola qualified the #20 Rockwell Automation car for Denny
Hamlin, who was out in Sonoma, Ca. for the Nextel Cup race.
Hamlin, arrived at the track after the start & took
over the helm during a pit stop under caution, going a lap down.
Hamlin fought back and won the race… Amirola was credited with the win.
Aric Amirola
qualified the #20 Rockwell Automation car for
Denny Hamlin,
and Wins the Pole.
© Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc.
The last occurrence of a relief driver winning a race at Milwaukee was
way back on August 20, 1964 when Parnelli
Jones relieved Rodger Ward at the USAC Fair Stock 200.
"I told those guys as a group, if you think Denny can get in the car
and win the race, let's go. Let's do that," Gibbs said "If you don't
think he can do that, let Aric run it out. Our guys
kind of thought about it as a group and said,
'OK, we think Denny can run well and we're fast enough to win the
race.' That was a huge discouragement of course to Aric."
Hamlin made it to Milwaukee with time to
spare, but the helicopter carrying
him from the airport to the racetrack wasn't allowed to land
because the track's helipad was blocked by parked cars.
They tried to land on the racetrack itself,
only to be waved off at the last minute.
"When we started to descend down to the track, they said, 'No, you
can't,'" Hamlin said.
Todd Bodine's
Car carried a tribute to the firefighters lost
in South
Carolina.
© Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc.
Hamlin had to chopper back to the
airport and drive into the track, and didn't arrive until after the
race had started. The team allowed Almirola to continue driving, and he
held the lead until Edwards passed him on Lap 44.
Gibbs said Almirola, who is credited for
the victory because he was the driver in the car at the start, will
receive the winner's check of $66,823. He's hoping that Rockwell saw
enough in Almirola to consider sponsoring him in a full-time
Busch ride next year. And he
reiterated the team's commitment to
a driver who came up through the
Gibbs development program.
Aric Amirola in
the Lead.
© Suburban Journals of Chicago
Inc.
"I've known him for over four years. I know his family. I know how much
this means to them," Gibbs said. "He's a huge part of our future. We've
invested a lot in him, time-wise and financially, and more
important just getting to know him. No one wants to see him succeed
more than we do."
How angry was Almirola after a mid-race driver switch in Saturday
night's Busch event at The Milwaukee Mile? The
22-year-old driver was fuming rather than celebrating in Victory Lane.
Almirola was leading the race when Nextel Cup regular Denny Hamlin
arrived late from Infineon Raceway, but was pulled from the car and
never saw his replacement record a win that will officially be credited
to him
"He's upset," Gibbs said Sunday before the Toyota/Save Mart 250. "I
left a message for him [Saturday] night. I know he's upset. I
would be too if I'm in his shoes. At the same time, I think he knows
he's like a younger brother. He's like family." He has yet to
return his phone call.
The #60 of Carl
Edwards ran strong and moved his way to the front, passing pole sitter
and relief driver Aric Almirola in the #20 Joe Gibbs racing car..
© Suburban Journals of Chicago
Inc.
Carl Edwards
looks focused as usual, and on the track he likes
to pass.
© Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc.
Carl Edwards, always a favorite, led early and looked to continue his
Busch Series dominance. A cut tire put him a lap down.
Edwards fought his way back to
finish on the lead lap, another
amazing comeback. “It was pretty
frustrating. But you know what’s
cool? We raced hard and we
had a lot of fun racing here at
Milwaukee.”
Rookie Driver
Cale Gale to finished 23rd, makes a good pit stop.
© Suburban Journals of Chicago
Inc.
“Congratulations to Denny Hamlin. I can’t
believe they did a driver switch
and he still won the race; that’s pretty awesome. But
the Dish Network Ford Fusion was
good, it’s a shame we had the flat tire. You
have to be in the position to win these races. You have to have
the fastest car and still you can lose them like
this. We lost through a mistake, but
that’s how it goes. You have good luck and bad luck in racing, we just
kind of had a bad luck night. But it was still fun.”
JASON KELLER –
No. 27 Cottonelle Ford Fusion finished a strong 5th .
© Suburban Journals of Chicago
Inc.
Veteran Jason Keller finished a strong
5th even without radio communications for most of the race.
How hard was that? “About the first 100 laps, it was pretty quiet
in there. The Brewco team, they decided to take two [tires] there
at the end. We were about a seventh place race
car and we ran really good
times on the longer runs. And two
tires were definitely the way to go at the end. I
tried to hold the 18 [Brad Coleman] there at the end,
but let him get by. When you surround yourself with great people
and fast race cars, my job becomes easy. It was just a really
good day the entire Cottonelle Ford Fusion team. It was a real
good night all around and just driving hard; it’s all racing. I
guess I was best Ford and that’s pretty good. I’m just smiling
again. It’s good when you have fast race cars.”
AT&T 250 Unofficial
Results
FIN ST CAR
DRIVER MAKE
SPONSOR
LAPS STATUS
1
1 20 Aric Almirola Chevrolet
Rockwell Automation 250
Running
2 3 29 Scott
Wimmer Chevrolet Holiday Inn
250 Running
3 2 38 Jason
Leffler Toyota Great Clips
250 Running
4 4 18 Brad
Coleman * Chevrolet Carino's
Italian Grill 250 Running
5 21 27 Jason Keller
Ford Cottonelle Aloe & E /
Kmart 250 Running
6 6 10 Todd
Bodine Toyota Camping World/
RVs.com 250 Running
7 8 99 David
Reutimann Toyota Aaron's Dream
Machine 250 Running
8 9 60 Carl
Edwards Ford Dish Network
250 Running
9 7 1
Johnny Benson Chevrolet Miccosukee
Gaming & Resorts 250 Running
10 5 88 Shane
Huffman Chevrolet U.S. Navy
250 Running
11 20 7 Mike Wallace
Chevrolet
GEICO
250 Running
12 13 6 David
Ragan * Ford Discount Tire
250 Running
13 11 35 Bobby
Hamilton Jr. Ford
McDonald's
250 Running
14 15 90 Stephen
Leicht Ford
CitiFinancial
250 Running
15 12 59 Marcos
Ambrose * Ford Kingsford /
MatchLight
250 Running
16 22 42 Kevin
Hamlin Dodge Texaco / Havoline
250 Running
17 19
9 Chase Miller
Dodge Dodge Dealers
249 Running
18 23 16 Todd
Kluever Ford
3M
249 Running
19 25 25 Richard
Johns Ford
FreeCreditReport.com
249 Running
20 31 211 Marc
Mitchell Chevrolet Ergon Asphalt
& Emulsions
249 Running
21 26 170 Mark
Green Chevrolet Foretravel
Motorcoach / Biomet 248 Running
22 17 37 Bobby
East Ford Kleenex / Pick 'n Save
248 Running
23 28 33 Cale
Gale Chevrolet Camping World/
RVs.com
248 Running
24 29 14 Kyle
Krisiloff * Ford Lilly / Walgreens
248 Running
25 18 22 Mike
Bliss Dodge
Supercuts
247 Running
26 33 72 D.J.
Kennington Dodge Northern
Provincial Pipelines
247
Running
27 16 66 Steve
Wallace Dodge Rapid Industrial
Cleaning
246 Running
28 24 21 Tim
McCreadie Chevrolet Camping World/
RVs.com
241 Running
29 40 271 Trevor
Boys Chevrolet Cars That Go
241 Running
30 14 47 Kelly
Bires Ford Armor All / AutoZone
241 Running
31 35 0 Eric
McClure Chevrolet
Hefty
238 Running
32 30 36 Brent
Sherman Chevrolet Big Lots
236 Running
33 38 28 Robert
Richardson, II * Chevrolet U.S.
Border Patrol 232 Running
34 32 156 Frank
Kreyer Chevrolet Culver's
Restaurants 217 Out of Race
35 10 41 Scott
Lagasse Jr. Dodge Wrigley's Juicy
Fruit 163 Out of Race
36 27 77 Ron
Hornaday Chevrolet Dollar General
56 Out of Race
37 39 252 Ian
Henderson Ford Means Racing
29 Out of Race
38 36 244 Mike
Harmon Chevrolet
Richardson-Ne-tzloff Racing 10 Out
of Race
39 37 189 Brad
Teague Ford Victory In Jesus
9 Out of Race
40 42 158 Chris
Horn Chevrolet Horn Auto Racing
4 Out of Race
41 41 176 Jerick
Johnson Chevrolet American Legion
4 Out of Race
42 43 200 Mike
Potter Chevrolet Davis Motorsports
4 Out of Race
* Denotes Rookie
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