TALLADEGA, Ala. (April 25, 2010) – Alli Owens’ efforts to improve on last season’s sixth-place performance at Talladega Superspeedway went up in smoke midway through the ARCA 250. After running inside the top-10 for the majority of the event, the No. 15 ElectrifyingCareers.com Chevy with support from IBEW Local Union 136 lost power and left Owens unable to finish the event. Owens finished a disappointing 32nd-place.
Owens’ game plan was simple – stick to the yellow line and move to the front one position at a time. The strategy couldn’t have worked any better. Owens climbed from 11th-place starting position into sixth-place before relinquishing her position to pit lap 24. The ElectrifyingCareers.com Chevy was tight exiting the corners, so crew chief Jeff McClure called for a wedge adjustment, in addition to a routine four-tire stop. Following service Owens returned to the track in 22nd-place.
Back on the track, Owens picked up where she left off. She shot into 17th-place on lap 38 and showed no signs of slowing down. On lap 40, without warning, Owens’ car lost power. She coasted into the pits, where her crew lifted the hood and did a preliminary inspection of the engine. The examination revealed that a tube leading to the evaporation chamber had cracked and allowed the water to drain from the radiator. Unfortunately the damage was terminal and Owens had to retire early from the event.
“It’s a shame that we couldn’t finish the event because our car was really good today,” said Owens. “I was just taking my time, not really pushing it too hard. I was waiting until the last few laps of the race before I started to become more aggressive. Unfortunately our engine let go. It was such a freak thing that happened. I’ve never seen one of those tubes break like that before. I guess that’s just our luck. I’m really proud of my team for all the hard work they put into this weekend. It’s too bad that we didn’t get a better finish that reflects how good this car really was. We won’t let this keep us down. Venturini Motorsports prepares great cars week-in and week-out and we’ll get ‘em next race.”