NASCAR: Carpentier Finishes a Long Day in Atlanta

“It was a long day and a long race," exclaimed Patrick Carpentier after 320 laps at Atlanta Motor Speedway. "Being loose makes it pretty long. We fixed it at one point, got it tighter and started running some decent laps; but at the beginning I was way loose and using the rear tires a little too much there. We’re learning and trying to figure out ways to make it smoother and try making it better a little bit and make myself better and everything. To run the whole race makes us pretty happy.

"We got some points this weekend, so that’s not too bad. It’s hard work. It’s a tough deal.”

For Carpentier, who missed the first two events of the season and then was involved in a wreck early in the event at Las Vegas, points are like gold. Unlike Franchitti and Hornish, Carpentier did not have the efforts of another to fall back on through the first five races of the season. He has been forced to scratch and claw his way on qualifying day and again on race day.

Now 44th in the point standings, there will be little release in the pressure on qualifying as the 35th driver in the point standings, J.J. Yeley, has outdistanced Carpentier by 197 points exiting Atlanta. A good performance on the half mile at Bristol is going to be critical.

"It’s important, but missing Daytona cost us some good points there. Missing California put us behind. We got put in the wall at Vegas, so we basically missed three races. We’re behind, so we’ll see if we can get back into it a little bit later. We seem to not be too bad qualifying, so hopefully we can keep making races and getting those points.”