David Stover & #63 Ford Truck Survive In First Bristol Race

The first appearance for David Stover and the MB Motorsports #63 Ford Truck team at Bristol Motor Speedway Wednesday, August 20th started as usual with steady forward progress in practice. The team drew #1, so David was first on the track to qualify. David completed his first qualifying lap in 16.396 seconds. However, on the second qualifying lap the #63 Summer Bay Resort / Dave Porter Truck Sales Ford spun in turn three and was headed for disaster. David fought for control and slowed the truck so only minor left rear sheet metal was damaged from contacting the wall. Things began to look brighter when the crew was able to gently massage the left rear corner to a workable condition, although not quite as smooth and pretty. In addition, David’s first qualifying lap was good enough to earn the 24th starting place. In the race, David paid attention to other drivers advice, as he was patient, stayed out of trouble, and drove the #63 Ford Truck to a 17th place finish.

"This place (Bristol Motor Speedway) is amazing," commented David Stover. "My shoulders will be a little sore tomorrow. I felt like I was in a turn all night. With the grandstands all the way around this place and so high, I couldn't tell you which corner I was in all day."

Before happy hour, Jamie McMurray, driver of the #42 Havoline Winston Cup car, visited the MB Motorsports Truck team, where he started his NASCAR career. Jamie told David “Be patient. This place has a way of eliminating vehicles. My first two races here I tried to race with the faster cars and got pushed out of the way. I only completed 14 laps in those two races. Last time however, I ran my race, but let the faster cars go by and finished in 11th place. Just be patient.”

"Jamie McMurray's advice really helped me today," continued David. "I saw exactly what he said. This place requires you to rub fenders and things happen quickly then. We have a few war wounds on the truck, but I let the faster trucks go by and we brought the #63 Ford home in one piece in 17th place. We had an exciting and successful day for our primary sponsor, Summer Bay Resort, who had several people here tonight."

"David did an outstanding job today," stated Mike Mittler, owner and crew chief. "To come to the World's Fastest ½-Mile Track and have the successful day we did, says a lot about the talent of David Stover. He was calm and cool all day and night. This was the first time at Bristol for David and the team, so we feel really good to be able to load the truck in the hauler in one piece, plus have a good finish."