June 25, 2005 - Dyer Comes From Rear for Victory

(source: InfineonRaceway.com)

For Tom Dyer of Corte Madera, the pendulum swung wildly during Saturdary's Blue Lizard Australian Suncream 200 at Infineon Raceway.

To start with, the Jim Russell Racing School instructor had to pull off the grid to fix a radio problem and started last in the 42-car field. By Lap 16, he was 21st, and by Lap 28, he was 11th. When all the dust had cleared, he had beaten teammate Eric Holmes for the win in the prelude NASCAR AutoZone Southwest Series event to Sunday's Dodge/Save Mart 350 for NASCAR Nextel Cup Series machines.

"It was kind of chaotic this morning," Dyer said. "We had to scramble. We had the stress of taking the car off the pit lane to get something fixed and went to the rear. I needed to remain calm and hope for the best. I figured to stay clean and keep it on the black stuff and see how the race starts to develop."

The official margin of victory was .449 of a second over Holmes, who dogged Dyer to the end. Bryan Germone was third, followed by Kenny Shepherd and Chris Cook.

Meanwhile, the featured Nextel Cup drivers did their final preparations for Sunday's $5 million Dodge/Save Mart 350 and Tony Stewart raised eyebrows by going faster in race trim than Jeff Gordon's track record for the pole position a day earlier. Stewart turned a lap at 94.341 during the traditional "Sunsweet Happy Hour" session. Gordon's pole speed set Friday was 94.325.

Robby Gordon was second fastest in the final practice at 94.294, followed by Ricky Rudd at 93.792, Dale Earnhardt Jr., at 93.706 and Jeff Gordon at 93.691.

Sunday's 350-kilometer event is scheduled for 12:35 p.m., a 110-lap test around the 11-turn road course at Infineon Raceway, one of only two road circuits on the NASCAR Nextel Cup circuit.

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