Raines Finishes Ninth in Nextel Open at Charlotte

Date:                      May 19, 2007
Event:                     Nextel Open (Non-points event)
Series:                   NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series
Location:               Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. (1.5-mile oval)
Start/Finish:        17th / 9th (Running, completed 40 of 40 laps)
Winner:                Martin Truex Jr. of Dale Earnhardt Inc. (Chevrolet)

Tony Raines finished ninth in the Nextel Open non-points event May 19 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.

Raines, driver of the No. 96 DLP HDTV Chevrolet, did not qualify for the Nextel All-Star Challenge as only the top two drivers, plus the winner of a fan vote when onto the 80-lap main event.  

After starting 17th, Raines dodged several accidents in the early part of the race, which was made up of two 20-lap segments. However, he did not have enough time to track down eventual winner Martin Truex Jr. and runner-up Johnny Sauter.

“The car was OK,” Raines said. “There isn’t really anytime to adjust on it and it was pretty tight throughout the night. We learned some things for the Coca-Cola 600 next week, so that was good.”

Truex and Sauter led the field to the checkered flag, while Carl Edwards, Dave Blaney and Ricky Rudd rounded out the top-five. Clint Bowyer, Sterling Marlin, Jeremy Mayfield, Raines and Jamie McMurray comprised the remainder of the top-10.

Kenny Wallace, who finished 18th, won the fan vote.

The next event on the Nextel Cup schedule is the May 27 Coca-Cola 600, also at Charlotte.  The race begins at 5 p.m. EDT with FOX providing coverage live and in high-definition.