BUSCH: Lewis Motorsports has added Nashville incentive

Clower tribute is added incentive for Lewis

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (April 6, 2000) Ashton Lewis Jr. and the Lewis Motorsports team did not let their impressive effort at Darlington Raceway three weeks ago go to their heads. The team put extra effort into its preparation for Saturday's BellSouth Mobility 320 at Nashville Speedway USA.

They have added incentive for a strong performance because the team will be honoring late country comedian Jerry Clower with a special paint scheme. The car will carry images of opossums, raccoons, coon dogs and frogs, which were the center of many of Clower's light-hearted stories of country living.

The team tested the track March 25-26 and worked mainly on race setup. Bad luck struck on the last day of the test when Lewis made a qualifying run on sticker tires. As he exited pit road and came off of Turn 2, the car broke loose, and Lewis tagged the outside retaining wall, causing heavy damage to the right front fender and nose of the No. 46 Monte Carlo.

The team canceled the remainder of the test and returned to home fix the battered car. Although the team had to leave earlier than anticipated, they were very happy with the results of the test.

"The car felt great, and we were running lap times that were close to what the top cars ran last year," Lewis said. "The crash was just one of those freak things that happen. I understand that Jason Leffler and Jason Schuler had similar types of problems during their tests at the track."

The team took the battered car and their newfound knowledge back to the shop to make the necessary repairs to the No. 46 Chevrolet. Lewis and the team wanted to make the best of a bad situation.

"We looked at the data that we gathered from the test and felt that the car could be better, so we had our body guys improve the front fenders and work on the nose of the car to make it better overall," said crew chief Charlie Lewis.

The BellSouth Mobility 320 will be the third attempt of the season for the No. 46 Lewis Motorsports team. The team will enter as many as 19 events during the 2000 season.

-nascar.com-