Olsen Survives Showdown With Fourth Place Finish : Raceway Media

Irwindale, CA (November 13, 2004): Mike Olsen survived the caution-filled Toyota All-Star Showdown at Irwindale Speedway and walked away with a fourth place finish. The race was brought under yellow-flag conditions on the final circuit after one of several major wrecks collected a handful of cars. Olsen spun across the start/finish line to wrap up his fourth place finish.

“We got collected in that last wreck, and for a while we didn’t even know where we finished. The rules are that if the yellow is brought out with the white flag you might as well consider that the checkers. We got back underway and came around again just to be sure!”

Olsen’s efforts were worth $15,000.

It was a hectic raceday when a skip in the motor left the crew of the No. 61 “Little Trees” Chevrolet scrambling for answers. Crew chief Harry Norcross went through the cars engine, fuel, and electrical system prior to the race in hopes of solving the problem, but the real test was the start of the race.

Norcross and the “Little Trees” teams efforts paid off with the 61 Chevrolet in top form. Olsen used the low groove to battle the 45 car of fellow Busch North Series competitor Brian Hoar. The two went door-to-door in a duel that lasted seven laps with Olsen coming out on top for the 11th position.

“I was a little free off, but it wasn’t too bad,” Olsen said about the car in the early going. “Otherwise, I was pretty happy with the horsepower the guys gave me.”

Olsen encountered a couple of hurdles beginning at lap 42 when the 00 spun on the backstretch and clipped the “Little Trees” Chevrolet in the rear quarter. The damage didn’t effect Olsen’s performance though a later incident sent him to the rear of the field.

“Someone got into the back of us and we spun out,” Olsen explained. “We were lucky enough not to hit the wall or get hit by someone else when we were in the middle of the track.”

Olsen tore through the field on his progression back to the front, and made it to the 11th position before the mandatory lap-100 break came. Olsen had trouble with a lapped car in the final laps leading up to the break.

“I think we could have moved up into the top-10, but one of the lapped cars just wouldn’t give us any real estate,” Olsen said. “You can’t win the race if you don’t finish it so we just waited it out.”

A red flag condition was brought out two laps into the second segment for a big wreck in turn two, and pushed Olsen up to fifth for the restart. Caution flags weren’t counted in the second segment and racing resumed right where it left off at lap 102.

Olsen maneuvered the “Little Trees” Chevrolet around Joey McCarthy for the fourth position and immediately set his sights on Scott Lynch for third. Olsen dove underneath Lynch and raced door-to-door for several laps before settling back into the fourth spot.

“We had 45 laps left, and the opportunity wasn’t presenting itself. We knew there would be another so we just used patience and decided to wait until another opportunity arose,” he said.

A caution flag at lap 121 set the stage for the second red flag condition of the night. On the restart, several cars, all running behind Olsen, piled up on the front stretch with many of those cars sustaining major damage. It took clean-up crews 12 minutes to get the field back under racing conditions.

At the drop of the green, the 45 of Brian Hoar challenged Olsen and the two went side-by-side for three laps. Hoar had the advantage by a nose as the 64 of Joey McCarthy moved into the mix, but when he spun at lap 136 and brought out the caution Olsen was left with a fifth place position for the restart.

The action continued to heat up as the 99 of Bryon Chew mounted a challenge on the “Little Trees” Chevrolet, but Olsen once again set his sights on Hoar. Olsen dove to the inside of Hoar in turn four and found himself in a tight door-to-door duel. All eyes were on the two as they banged off the side of each other in a race for the fourth position. Hoar gained on Olsen and settled in to the spot as the No. Haverhill, NH-driver was forced to contend with Chew.

Olsen was relegated to the sixth position as Kelly Moore brought his No. 47 up alongside Olsen in hopes of following Chew’s path. Moore and Olsen made contact before the 47 spun and once again brought out the caution.

The final laps of the race only caused more carnage among the field, and Olsen was no exception. It began when the 08 of Scott Lynch spun on the front stretch after contact with another car. The incident caused everyone to scatter, and Olsen got caught up in it as he spun across the start/finish line as the white flag was waving. Yellow was instantly displayed signaling the end of the race since the lead pack of cars had already begun to complete the final circuit. The field was frozen and cars were scored in the position they took the white flag leaving Olsen with an impressive fourth place finish.

“It was all a matter of survival out there,” Olsen said after the race. “We were lucky to get out of here with a car in one piece. Not a lot of people can say that tonight. I don’t know what happened out there. There was no give and take. The drivers here are all the best of the best. That’s what this show is all about. Unfortunately, the fans didn’t see that – they saw a wreckfest.”

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