Race Recap: Sharpie 500
April 4, 2005

Everyone was on pins and needles due to the weather forecast for qualifying at Bristol....if it rained the #50 would not make the race. Clouds and mist loomed over the track most of the day, with the radar showing rain in a circle all around the race track, but the rain held off and practice and qualifying were a success. Jimmy Spencer in the #50 US Micro Dodge posted a 29th starting spot for the NASCAR Nextel Cup event much to the relief of everyone. Saturday was absolutely miserable but with nothing scheduled for Cup, everyone was able to relax a little and look forward to Sunday.

US Micro held a dinner for Jimmy, car owner Don Arnold and other invited guests on Saturday evening and "Mr. Excitement" wowed everyone with racing stories and opinions.....it was a really fun night!

The #50 was caught up in the first accident of the day at the very beginning of the race, but had only cosmetic damage but with time spent in the pits, went a lap down. On the second caution, the #50 received the "lucky dog" position and got the lap back. Spencer managed to avoid many more accidents during the day but fought an ill-handling race car for the rest of the race. Probably the biggest obstacle was a broken wheel on lap 247 forcing him to pit under green and losing more valuable laps, which isn't hard to do at a short track like Bristol.
Lap times periodically showed Jimmy turning lap times as good as the leaders but there wasn't much that could be done to improve position.

The #50 US Micro Dodge finished 22nd, which was remarkable considering that post race inspection by Buddy Sisco and the crew showed that a spring had become dislodged during the race (probably in the accident at the beginning of the event) causing the ill-handling that Jimmy fought all day