With the temperatures near 100 degrees and the heat index at 115 degrees Chris Wimmer and his # 07 Helmic Home Closing Chevrolet Silverado team took to the track to prepare for the OReilly 200. After the first practice session Chris ended up 25th overall. He had a tight race truck and the crew got busy doing numerous changes for the second round of practice.
After a one-hour break Wimmer returned to the track for the second round of practice. After running around 19 laps of practice, Wimmer was happy with his Chevy Silverado and brought the truck to the garage to give the crew time to prepare for qualifying. Chriss fasted lap of that session was a time of 23.198, a speed of 116.389 MPH, which was 15th quickest of all the drivers for that session.
Chris drew an early draw for qualifying and posted a qualifying lap of 23.145, 116.656 MPH, which was good for the 24th starting position. Chris had hoped to qualify in the top 15 but the truck was tight and he had to settle for the 24th spot.
As the field of trucks rolled onto the starting grid the temperatures were still in the upper 90s. It would prove to be a hot night of racing. When the green flag dropped, the action got hot & heavy. On lap 31 the first caution flag of the evening fell. Twelve teams chose to pit including Wimmers # 07 Chevrolet for tires and fuel.
On lap 41 a spin by Debra Renshaw brought out the second caution of the race. On Lap 51 Chris narrowly missed getting into a wreck when the 15 truck of John Andretti dove on the inside on the 08 making contact and sliding him up into the left rear fender of Chriss truck causing some damage to the fender. Chris hung on but the 08 spun causeing another caution.
By lap 67 Chris had moved his Chevrolet Silverado up to the 8th position. By lap 73 he was up to the 7th spot. With trucks starting to close in with fresh tires Chris dropped back to the 12th spot on lap 97.
After a spin by the 02 truck on lap 114 the crew had Chris pit for tires and fuel. Unfortunately the gasman did not get all the fuel in and Chris had to return to the pits to top off on fuel. Chris restarted at the back of the pack and steadily moved his way back to the front. By lap 163 Chris had moved back up to the 19th position. The race was red flagged for debris on the backstretch and the drivers had to wait in their overheated trucks for 5 minutes while safety crews brought out water for them and cleaned up the track.
The race restarted when on lap 196 a record 13th caution flag was thrown. The field was set for a green / white / checkered finish. When the checkered flag was thrown Chris crossed the start finish line in the 17th position.
Chris on Memphis: I really enjoyed racing at Memphis Motor Speedway again. I just wish that it wouldnt have had to been under such harsh conditions for the crew. They worked from 7:00 AM until after the end of the race in the sweltering heat to give me a good competitive truck. I really appreciate everything they did today. Without their dedication we could not have accomplished what we did today. I hope I can get to run another race with the Green Light Racing Team. I really like working with these guys. We are trying to find some more sponsors so that we can put another race together. I want to thank Helmic Home Closings for coming on board this weekend at Memphis.