Tough Debut for Mayfield in No. 66 Best Buy Chevy

HAMPTON, GA (Oct. 28) – Jeremy Mayfield’s first race in the No. 66 Best Buy Chevrolet was not the debut he and the Haas CNC Racing team had hoped for.

Starting from the 41st position in Sunday’s Pep Boys 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Mayfield and the No. 66 team worked to improve the handling on the Best Buy Chevrolet on every pit stop.  While making chassis and tire pressure adjustments, the Haas CNC Racing crew still managed some of its fastest four-tire pit stops of the year, with several stops of less than 13 seconds.

Mayfield moved as high as 26th position before a lap 168 incident sent the No. 66 to the garage for repairs. Mayfield was running alongside the No. 6 car, driven by David Ragan, heading down the backstretch at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The two competitors made contact, sending Mayfield’s entry sliding into the wall, doing heavy damage to both the front and rear of the Best Buy machine.

“Everybody bunched up off Turn 2, and I don’t know if I got into him or he got into me,” Mayfield said of the incident with Ragan. “The car was tight at the beginning of the race, then we got loose, but we were working to get the car handling like we needed it. I hate it that we didn’t get a better finish today, but we’re going to test here tomorrow, then head to Texas next weekend and work to improve.”

The Best Buy pit crew spent over 70 laps in the garage repairing the No. 66 Chevrolet before returning Mayfield to the race. Mayfield completed the event, but his lap deficit prevented him from gaining any further track position, and he crossed the finish line in 40th position.

The race was won by Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet), cutting into the points lead of seventh-place finisher, Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet). Gordon’s lead in the Chase for the Championship is now just nine points with three races remaining in the 2007 season.

The rest of the top-five finishers included Carl Edwards (No. 99 Office Depot Ford), Georgia native Reed Sorenson (No. 41 Target Dodge), and two other drivers who are in the Chase, Matt Kenseth (No. 17 DeWalt Ford) and Jeff Burton (No. 31 AT&T Chevrolet).

The only driver who looks as if he can give Gordon and Johnson a run for their money in the points standings is Clint Bowyer (No. 07 Jack Daniels Chevy), who sits 111 points out of the lead. Edwards is fourth, 261 points back, while Tony Stewart (No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet) is fifth, albeit 322 points in arrears.

The No. 66 team remains 30th in the owner’s points standings.

The series now heads to Texas Motor Speedway for the second time this season. The track is one where Mayfield has had success, with a pole position and two top-10 finishes in 11 NEXTEL Cup Series starts there.

The 500-mile race airs live from Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, Nov. 4, beginning at 3 p.m. ET, on ABC and PRN Radio affiliates.