BUSCH: Hickory Post Race Notes

Galaxy Foods 300 Saturday Notebook By Shawn A. Akers

HICKORY, N.C. (April 11, 1998) Notes from Saturday's NASCAR Busch Series Grand National Division Galaxy Foods 300 at Hickory Motor Speedway:

Tim Fedewa finally came up with a finish he said he can be proud of. The driver of the No. 33 Kleenex Chevrolet finished third behind Ed Berrier and Hermie Sadler. It was Fedewa's first top-five and second top-10 effort of the season. His previous best finish was eighth in the BellSouth Mobility/Opryland 320 at Nashville.

"We had a good car," Fedewa said. "We kept adjusting on the mandatory yellows trying to get a little bit better, but man that 77 car (Berrier) and Dillon was good and Hermie came along at the end. This is competitive racing. Hickory, I'm just happy to be getting out of here finishing on the lead lap let alone third, so that was a good day for us."

Texas, Las Vegas, Daytona? Give rookie Mike Cope some good old-fashioned short-track racing, like at Hickory, any day.

Cope, a two-time champion of the NASCAR Slim Jim All-Pro Series -- which runs mostly on tracks of a half-mile or smaller -- recorded his best NASCAR Busch Series finish to date, bringing the No. 30 Slim Jim Chevrolet home in seventh in the Galaxy Foods 300.

Cope has had several previous runs on the .363-mile oval at Hickory.

"I think my short-track roots really helped me here," said Cope, whose previous best finish was 15th at Bristol. "It's nip-and-tuck here and you've got to take what they give you and take whatever they don't give you, too. It's typical short track racing at its best. It's going to be a sad day when this place leaves the schedule, like (North) Wilkesboro."

A tense moment happened late in the race when Wayne Grubb and Randy LaJoie got together, sending Grubb, who lost his brakes, out of control into the side pit area. The end result was that the No. 37 Timber Wolf Chevrolet's "war wagon" was damaged, and one of the pit crew for the No. 37 team, Todd Wilkerson, received a wrist injury.

Grubb was running in the top-five at the time, but wound up finishing 26th overall.

It's been a strange season, to say the least, for two-time defending series champion Randy LaJoie. LaJoie still hasn't led a lap, and he's been plummeting in the point standings in recent weeks.

He did finish sixth at Texas last weekend, but previous to that, he was 23rd at Darlington and 25th at Bristol. He wound up getting lapped early and finished 23rd at Hickory, 27 laps off the pace. He was only one lap down and on the verge of getting his lap back when the accident with Grubb occurred.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s chances for victory were diminished when he was involved in a nine-car accident on lap 59. He did, however, work his way back to the lead lap on lap 215, and wound up finishing a respectable eighth.

Earnhardt Jr. still leads the NASCAR Busch Series point standings by 31 points over Matt Kenseth, who finished fifth, heading into the off weekend. Source: NASCAR Online