St. Louis, Mo. (July 19, 2009) – In his first race at Gateway International Raceway Ken Butler III was able to gain plenty of experience that will help him next time at this track, but left disappointed after the carburetor in his No. 23 Aaron’s Dream Machine broke forcing him to lose several laps for repairs. Fortunately, the Aaron’s team was able to get Butler back onto the track where he would pick up several more positions before eventually finishing 25th in Saturday’s Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250.
Earlier in the week, Butler was looking forward to racing under the lights at Gateway and, most importantly, picking up valuable experience at a new track. With the Aaron's Dream Machine in the top-30 in owner points, qualifying on time was not the main focus for the weekend. Instead, the team felt it would be more important to concentrate on the long run and race-day set up.
Butler spent both practices on Friday trying to get a feel for his car and trying to figure out the best lines to get him though the tricky corners at the egg-shaped Gateway International Raceway. With narrow straight-aways and both sets of corners being completely different, Butler needed all the time he could get to figure out the fastest way around the track and then make the necessary adjustments to the track bar, springs and shocks.
While the setup choice may have cost Butler in his qualifying position, it appeared to be the right call when the green flag dropped, as the No. 23 Aaron’s Dream Machine Chevrolet quickly moved from 36th to 25th. With Butler starting near the back of the field crew chief Rod Fuller reminded his young driver, "be patient and concentrate on hitting your marks. There's plenty of time to work your way through the field.”
Butler spent the first quarter of the race around the 27th position before the No. 23 Aaron’s Dream Machine suddenly developed a problem. “The engine keeps cutting off and on and it feels like I lost a cylinder,” Butler radioed in to his crew chief. Fuller called for Butler to pull the Dream Machine behind the wall so the crew could change out the carburetor, costing Butler several laps.
The Aaron’s crew worked quickly and was able to get the No. 23 Aaron’s Dream Machine repaired and back onto the track only nine laps down. From there, Butler would continue to dig and gain that precious track time that all rookies need.
Changing out the carburetor was the correct call, as crew chief Rob Fuller reported to his driver, "the throttle shaft in the carburetor broke, it's just one of those things and nothing we could do about it." Fuller encouraged his driver to "stay focused, hit your marks, we will take what we can learn today for next time."
Although very disappointed, Butler concentrated on taking advantage of valuable track time and soon found himself moving up in the field as multiple cars got caught up in accidents towards the end of the race.
After the race, Butler was upbeat about the finish, but frustrated because his Aaron’s Dream Machine had the potential for a much better race. "I hate that we had the problem early in the race, we had a good car and I felt like I was running better, faster,” said Butler. “I really felt like I could have finished in the top twenty but I’m happy we were able to get out of here with the finish we had. Any track time is good track time. I'm really looking forward to running the Aaron's Dream Machine for the next few races and hope this will give me a chance to get into some kind of rhythm."
Kyle Busch was able to pull away from the field at the end, scoring his sixth win of the season in Nationwide Series competition. Reed Sorenson, Carl Edwards, Mike Bliss and Brad Coleman rounded out the top five.
Next week, Ken Butler III and the No. 23 Aaron’s Dream Machine head to Indianapolis to take on O'Reilly Raceway Park. ESPN will provide television coverage of the Kroger 200, beginning at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday July 25.
Aaron’s Sports Marketing Director – Rich Lamprey – 404-915-1683 - Richard.Lamprey@aaronrents.com
R3 Motorsports Media Relations – 704-857-6223 – r3motorsports@hotmail.com