Consistent Run Nets Casey Smith a Podium Finish at Mobile

AUSTIN, TEXAS (April 17, 2007) -- Texas native Casey Smith quietly snuck himself into a podium finish Saturday night, finishing third, after starting 7 th by running a patient race, and not having the mechanical gremlins that the team had been plagued with for the past few races.

"It was just a little bit too loose, but compared to the year we've had with breaking stuff, it's nice just to finish a race," said Smith. "Those cars in front of us had some ponies under the hood. This McGunegill is a good motor too, and we couldn't be happier with this Hamke car, but we're missing just a little bit. We're a little bit too loose, but we'll go back and tune on it and get it a little bit better." 

Casey attributed his good finish to the ability to turn off the corners at the high banked track.

"On the first start, everybody was kind of just wild, and we were really good," said Smith. "I think we were better than just about anybody at the start. There were a lot of cars that were either really, really tight, or really, really loose off. I was just able to turn right underneath them. It's turning awesome. It might be turning too good."

Smith was able to break into the top three when Josh Hamner slowed suddenly, thinking there was a caution for a car off the pace. Smith was able to follow Eddie Mercer to get around Hamner's car and stay in the accelerator the whole time, pulling off the pass before turn one. Casey felt that his experience on superspeedways may have helped him as well.

"It's almost like qualifying every single lap here," said Smith. "I was hitting the rev limiter and bottoming out the whole race, and in practice I wasn't even doing that. I've run at Texas and Charlotte Motor Speedway and Atlanta in the ASA cars and stuff but this track has so much grip that it's a lot like those places, and if you're off just a little bit you're off a lot. Fortunately, we were pretty much on it.

Official finishing order: 1. Steven Davis, 2. Eddie Mercer, 3. Casey Smith, 4. Donnie Wilson, 5. Donald Long, 6. Dave Mader III, 7. Tim Martin, 8. Nathan Davis, 9. Dale Little, 10. Jason Young, 11. Heath Hindman, 12. Gary Sullivan, 13. Hunter Robbins, 14. Wes Loyd, 15. Adam Crawford, 16. Josh Hamner, 17. Cale Gale, 18. Ryan Crane, 19. Ken McFarland, 20. Jessie Reid, 21. Augie Grill, 22. Stanley Smith, 23. Jason Hogan, 24. Grant Enfinger