Bliss Surges to 19th Place finish at Charlotte

Charlotte was previously one of Mike Bliss’ favorite tracks but after Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race, his opinion may differ. Bliss is happy the History 300 is just that, history. There was a lot of back and forth with car handling and track condition.

Bliss started the History 300 from the 15th position and uncharacteristically fell back in the field early in the race. “The car’s not handling bad, so I don’t know why we’re so slow,” exclaimed Bliss, who seemed slightly irritated. Shortly after, Bliss came back over the radio saying the car was “a little tight.”

At lap 39, a caution was thrown for debris, allowing Crew Chief Paul Clapprood and the No. 19 TriStar Motorsports crew an opportunity to free-up Bliss’ Toyota Camry. Doing so, they put on four fresh Goodyear tires, a full tank of Sunoco race fuel, added some tape to the grill, and made track bar and air pressure adjustments.

Restarting 20th, it took a few laps before Bliss came back over the radio stating, “I need it to roll a little better in one and two, you just can’t go anywhere out here.”

The second caution of the day was brought out on lap-45. Bliss from the 23rd position said, “I need more grip.” So, Clapprood and the crew put scuff tires back on Bliss’ Camry and took two rubbers out of the left rear.

Again, Bliss restarted 20th and set out to find balance with his race car. Bliss became silent over the radio for over 30 laps. At lap 140, Bliss expressed that “It’s tighter getting into one and two and I need more front grip.”

Clapprood instructed Bliss to “hang in there for six more laps and then we’ll come in for a green flag pit stop”. At lap 146, Bliss barreled down pit road for his second set of fresh Goodyear tires, air pressure adjustment, made a wedge adjustment and a full can of fuel.

Shortly after the green flag stop, a caution came out. At that point, Bliss came over the radio stating he had a “real bad vibration, the rear of the car feels like it is moving side to side, and I think something is broke.” Without a doubt, Clapprood quickly called Bliss to pit road so his TriStar crew could examine the left rear track bar bolt, put scuff tires on and slide a rubber in the right rear.

While making timely adjustments, Bliss restarted 22nd and one lap down leaving him racing for the ‘lucky dog’ position on the race track. Bliss earned the ‘lucky dog’ when a caution came out on lap 177. Still not happy with his car, Bliss brought the No. 19 TriStar Motorsports Camry to pit road for a single wedge adjustment.

With only a few laps to go, the field was brought under its final caution of the day. Bliss and crew knew the importance of track position at this point in the race, so they chose not to pit and hold down the 20th position. Upon the restart Bliss said “that’s the best it’s been today,” and moved up one position to close the History 300 in the 19th position.

“Aside from Kyle Busch, I think the whole field was running the same speed today, it was near impossible to gain any spots on track,” said Bliss.

With his finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Bliss has earned nine top twenty finishes out of 10 NASCAR Nationwide Series races this year. Also, Bliss is 12th in the Driver Points Standings leading into this weekend’s race at Dover International Speedway.

TMI PR