Dan Pardus Press Release July 7, 2000

July 4, 2000

WAY COOL MAN, WAY COOL!

“Way Cool Man, Way Cool.” This was Dan Pardus’ reaction when finishing fourth in the Kentucky 150 at Kentucky Motorspeedway, Sunday, July 2^nd.

Dan qualified and started third. At the end of Lap 2, he was dead last. “I got a little too aggressive at the start. I thought the tires were heated up. They weren’t, and the car got away from me. Fortunately, I spun down to the Kentucky Bluegrass and didn’t cause any damage to the car or the other racers. Larry (crew chief) called me in and we changed all four tires”, Dan noted in the post race interview.

Returning to the track, Dan began racing through the field. When the next caution came out on Lap 20, Dan had moved up to 24^th. Most of the field pitted, and Dan moved to second behind Andy Belmont. When Andy pitted on Lap 22, Dan took over the lead. He maintained the lead for six laps, and continued to race with the leaders in spite of running on worn tires.

Tire Management was the key to the race, and with track adjustments Dan was able to keep running, even when the front running cars began a series of green flag pit stops for new tires. Dan regained the lead on Lap 54 and maintained it for thirteen more laps. Dan pitted when a caution flag came out when Matt Hutter hit the wall. He had 61 laps on the tires. Good tire management by Dan and Larry enabled them to build a lead to where there were only five cars on the lead lap.

When Dan pitted, Tim Steele regained the lead and was able to hold off challengers to win the race. In the closing laps, Dan passed Ron Cox to take over fourth.

Dan was ecstatic with his finish. “We didn’t get to test here with the other drivers. We had to learn the track during the race.” Dan added, “This is an awesome facility. I’m looking forward to returning next month. This is our second top five in a row. Our team is improving every week and I know we have a win in our future”

Dan won the Auto Value Parts Store Halfway Award for leading the Green flag lap after the halfway point of the race.