Early Wreck Puts Fastest Car Behind The Wall For Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200

Feb. 7, 2010 - PRLog -- Just when things were beginning to go the right way for rookie Russ Dugger, lady luck turned against him.  Dugger's #12 Accell Construction Chevy was fast right out of the gate, and it didn't take long for him to get comfortable in the draft and make his way forward.

Dugger bump drafted with Tim George Jr. in the #31 RCR Development ride along the back stretch, and in so doing, laid down a lap that no other driver would beat through the rest of the race.  His time of 48.283 at 186.401 mph was faster by a full tenth of a second than any other driver during Saturday's race - Bryan Silas in the #11 was the only other car to turn a lap at 186 mph.  He had moved up three positions from the drop of the green flag and was heading forward with purpose.

Which only makes his early involvement in the lap 7 melee all the more heartbreaking.  Mario Gosselin and his DGM Racing team had definitely built a bullet for Dugger, spending hundreds of hours fine tuning the #12 between the December open practice event and Saturday's race.  The rookie was hoping to make Daytona a showcase race, not only for his talents, but for hard work of the DGM racing team.

When the #52 fishtailed its way through most of turn 1 and 2, eventually ending up nose first in the SAFER barrier collecting the #68, Dugger was still drafting with Tim George Jr. in the #31.  Dugger's only view of clear track was below him, but George Jr.'s car was on its way up the track.  George Jr.'s hit Dugger solidly in the driver door, sending him hard into the outside wall, destroying the right front suspension of the car.  

Television replays clearly show damage on the left side, with only the #31 below Dugger in the #12, prior to him sliding into the original wreck between the #68 and the #52 which caused further damage to the engine compartment.  

George Jr. in the #31 escaped with relatively little to show for the contact, but the damage was done - the fastest car on the track and its driver Russ Dugger were out of the race.  Damage on the right of the #31 was had to miss in the garage area after the race, where Dugger and George Jr. recounted the incident as it appeared from their seats.

Dugger was fortunate not to have been impacted again by cars that were still carrying a great deal of speed through the carnage, despite 12 full seconds of yellow flags preceding additional impacts.  Given how clear ARCA officials were on the topic of handling cautions during driver meetings all week, the amount of damage and number of cars involved were both sources of frustration for Dugger.  

Were it not for the suspension damage, crew chief Mario Gosselin would have tried to get Dugger back on track to gain as much experience as possible and improve his position in the standings.  But it was simply not meant to be.

Immediately after seeing his car in the garage, Dugger praised the work of his team in preparing a car that he said was "really, really fast.  I could put it anywhere I wanted, it would suck right up to whoever was in front of me.  It was a great race car, and these guys worked so hard for me.  It's a shame.  This isn't how we wanted to leave."  

It wasn't until he had made his way back to the DGM Racing hauler that Dugger learned he'd set the fast lap of the race.  "I hope it holds up," he said.  "At least that'd be something."  While it might not be what the team wanted when they embarked on this mission, it was something to see their rookie driver set the best race lap in the car they worked so carefully to build.

Dugger will be returning to his family in Owasso, Oklahoma, and on Monday, will start again down the path of leading to his next professional race start.

# # #

Russ Dugger is a professional racing driver. His goal is to provide organizations a better way to energize their marketing efforts, by blending the excitement of motorsports with first-class, unparalleled customer experiences.