Unfortunately, when the team rolled the #42 out of the hauler on Saturday, it wasn't handling well at all; it was actually terrible. Once again, on very old tires, Sam fought an extremely tight condition through the corners throughout the first two practice sessions. Dalton and the team made several spring and wedge adjustments but the car was still not cutting in the corner. It continued to push up the track.

Dalton was hopeful that the car's poor handling in practice was attributable to the 150 lap tires on Sam's car and the extreme temperatures. He was hopeful the new tires used during qualifying would help settle the car in the corner and give it more forward bite. As Sam ran the car into the corner during qualifying the car was still pushing up the track.

The new tires improved his overall time but the car was still not competitive. After posting a time that would place the #42 in 14th position, Dalton and Sam made the easy decision to pull the car out of the pre- race impoundment area and make big/wholesale changes to the front geometry of the car before the feature race(s). Over the next 2 � hours Dalton and the team made major changes to the car and finished their work just in time to quickly weigh out the car and get in line for the start of the first race.

When the green flag dropped for the first race, Sam quickly realized that Dalton's adjustments had made a significant improvement to the #42. It was still tight in the center but much better than earlier in the day. The problem Sam now had was sitting in last place, he would now have several cars to overtake to finish in a good points paying position. A quick caution for debris came out on lap 4, and Sam had moved forward to 17th. On the restart, Sam shot to the top of the track and worked his way around the # 49 car.

Three laps later he had managed to get even and pass the #21 car and set his sights on the rear bumper of the #2 car. Sam reported back to Dalton under a caution that the car was steadily improving and the lap times supported it. When a caution flew on lap 55 for the #31car which made heavy contact, destroying the car in turn two, Sam had worked his way into12th. At this point in the race, after several green flag runs, only the top 7 cars remained on the lead lap. Although a lap down, Sam continued to run hard and actually passed several of the lead lap cars over the final ten laps finishing 11th with a car underneath him that was as good as he'd had all year.

In the second feature of the night, Sam would start 11th.. Crew chief Matt Dalton continued making adjustments that would help the car turn and preserve the tires over the final 75 lap feature. When the green flag waived, Sam took off! By lap five the #42 car had passed three cars and was really hooked up to the bottom line of the track. The adjustments Dalton had made had transformed the car into a missile, as Sam made his way through the field. By lap 50, Sam was running in eighth position and was working over the bumper of the #88. By lap 55 Sam had cleared the #88 car with a move out of turn 4.

He now focused on the #70 car which was half a straight ahead. By lap 60, Sam was working on the bumper of the #70 car, who was all over the #14 car as they ran nose to tail. Exiting turn two the #70 got into the#14 car spinning him out and bringing out the caution. Sam would start in 6th position but he had lost second gear on the previous re-start which caused him to be a little slow on the this re-start. Sam soon regained contact with the #70 while protecting his rear from the #14 and began his assault once again on the #70 car. After trying to get by the #70 car for a number of laps and seeing the #05 car pulling further in front of the #70, Sam made the decision and drove the car deep into turn 1 putting a hard bumper on the #70 car, sending it around for a spin in the middle of turn 1 and turn 2.

Sam would not be penalized because in the opinion of the official(s), the #70 was slower than the #42, and blocking. Sam would restart in 6th, and once again, lost some momentum on the start due to his gearbox problem (no second gear). Sam's car was starting to lose grip each lap as the race ran down to the final laps. He managed to put the #88 car behind him but was unable to catch the #05 and finished on the #05's bumper at the finish line in 7th place.

Post Race Comments from Sam Hunt:
" The improvements that Matt and the team made to the car between qualifying and the first race were incredible. After our practice session and poor qualifying the mood wasn't very good but, Matt just stayed positive and kept everyone else pumped up as well. He said, "we can fix this thing (car)" after qualifying, and he sure did! The first race we started so far back and the car got better every lap. I should have finished higher than 11th and was frustrated with myself for not driving more aggressively , as the car could go where I wanted it."

"In the second race I was determined to get all I could from the car and make up for the first race. Matt Dalton, David West, Dave Preston, and David Hester had worked way to hard and too long in 100 degree weather and I didn't want to let them down. They had put a good car under me and it was my job to drive it to the best finish possible. Probably didn't get 100% of that result but 7th place with a 5th place car felt pretty good from where we had come from earlier in the day. I want to thank all my sponsors and especially this special team who really gutted it out today in this difficult heat."