Lance Team has 'Strange' Night at the Beach

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - It was a full moon evening at the beach, and it turned out to be a strange one for the No. 25 Team Rensi Motorsports Lance Snacks Chevrolet team.

On an evening that saw the team post its best qualifying run of the 2000 season, driver Andy Santerre stayed in the top-10 throughout the first half of Saturday's NASCAR Busch Series, Grand National Division Myrtle Beach 250 at Myrtle Beach Speedway. However, an ill-handling race car and a NASCAR penalty threw a kink into the team's plans for a second consecutive top-10 finish as Santerre wound up 19th, one lap down to race winner Jeff Green.

Santerre put the No. 25 Chevrolet in the fourth starting position with a tremendous qualifying run. The team's previous best qualifying effort was eighth at Rockingham in February.

"This was a tough night for the Lance Snacks Chevy," Santerre said. "We accomplished one thing here this weekend, though. We got into the top-five in qualifying, and that was a great accomplishment for this team. We've struggled a lot with our qualifying package this year, and this is just a stepping stone for this team. We're going to get better."

Santerre started near the front and stayed there for the better part of the first 126 laps. He was running in the top-five prior to the race's first caution on lap 70, when he came into the pits for a four-tire and fuel stop along with a slight chassis adjustment.

Santerre returned to the track in 14th place, but soon made his way back into the top-10. However, things started going sour at the midway point of the 250-lap event as Santerre reported over the radio that his car was very tight in the corners of the .538-mile oval.

"I really don't know what we did wrong during the race," he said. "I think we should have practiced a little more on long runs. I don't know where we were off, whether it was tire pressure or whatever.

"We were very good on 20-to-30-lap runs at the beginning. We made a couple of changes, and I think I made a couple of bad calls on the chassis. That's just inexperience on my part.

"We went the wrong way, so we backed up and went with what we had, but we still weren't there. I don't know if the track just changed a lot or what. We lost a lot of grip in the race car, and I just couldn't get a handle on it. They were beating me really badly through the middle of the corner. I was really driving it too hard to keep up, and then I ended up getting into a mess."

Santerre went a lap down to Green on lap 184. He was still running in the top-15 following a yellow flag pit stop on lap 199 that saw the team put on four fresh tires and take a round of wedge out of the rear of the car.

However, just prior to drop of the green flag, Santerre was black-flagged by NASCAR for passing too early in an attempt to get up to the front on a double-file re-start. That put him back in the 23rd position at the tail end of the field.

On the re-start, Santerre encountered more problems as he was involved in a three-car incident that slightly damaged the left front of the Lance Chevy.

After a brief pit stop to pull the fender away from the tire, Santerre was able to continue and he eventually made his way back into the top-20, finishing only one lap down.

"We did our best," Santerre said. "We finished 19th and that's not great, but it could have been worse. We just have to put this one behind us and chalk it up to Myrtle Beach. On a full moon night, a lot of things can happen."

Santerre and the Lance Snacks team will head to Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International this weekend for Sunday's Lysol 200, the only road course race of the Busch Series season.