Fuel Pump Failure Causes Early End For Olsen
Beaver Falls, NY — Mike Olsen looks forward to the trek up north to Adirondack International Speedway every year. With a large contingent of Car-Freshner employees on hand, the 39-year-old driver strives to give his biggest supporters a strong performance in the Busch East Series’ closest visit to the companies
“Sometimes it’s with you and sometimes it isn’t,” Olsen said of his luck. “I’ve been a few years without any mechanical problems and this year I’ve got them. Tonight the fuel pump broke, and unfortunately, it happened late in the race and we just ran out of time trying to get it running.”
Olsen started third after threatening skies and intermittent showers forced NASCAR to cancel qualifying. At the drop of the green, Olsen went under the 20 car of Joey Logano and right into second place. On lap five, Olsen wheeled the No. 61 “Little Trees” Chevrolet to the bottom in turn four and got by Matt Kobyluck for the lead.
Olsen stayed out front for 13 laps before Kobyluck got by him on a restart at lap 20. Sean Caisse tried to sneak into the battle, but Olsen was able to close the door on his challenges. Olsen attempted to use the bottom groove to get by Kobyluck on lap 21, but had to settle back into second when he couldn’t quite complete the pass.
“I wasn’t ready to put a big battle up at that point. In the beginning of the race we were way better than (Kobyluck) was,” said Olsen.
But the handling on the “Little Trees” Chevrolet changed and after a while, Olsen knew he was going to have to work hard to beat Kobyluck.
“Early in the race I had a really good car, but the longer we went green the worse the car got. I think we could have finished in the top-five if we had continued to have short runs,” he said.
Olsen remained in second until a lap 39 restart when the 44 got by for the spot. Olsen continued to pressure Caisse, but soon had to contend with the 99 to protect his third place position. Caution came out at lap 65, but by that time, Olsen had fallen back to fourth.
Olsen moved back into second during a lap 76 restart when he drove around the 44 on the outside. But as the green flag laps ticked off, the “Little Trees” Chevrolet got looser and looser. Caisse was able to reclaim the spot on lap 93. The following circuit, the caution that Olsen needed flew for a spin in turn four.
Because NASCAR goes back to the last scored lap when a caution comes out, Olsen was put back into second for the restart at lap 99. Despite Olsen’s best efforts, Caisse was able to drive into the second position within two laps. Bryon Chew followed his lin and shuffled Olsen back to fourth by lap 102.
Olsen maintained a position in the top-five for the next 30 laps. A series of caution flags helped Olsen keep a handle on his “Little Trees” Chevrolet. But on lap 134, the car just went off the pace. He had lost all power and had to coast back to the pits.
“It was something that failed that was out of control,” Olsen explained. “I hated it for all the people that were there today. We really had a good car all day and never saw this coming. Until it goes, it’s not really something you anticipate happening. You do the best you can do to fix it and get back out there, but at that point, it was really too late.”
Olsen finished the race in the 23rd position.
Sources: Penny Aicardi/Mike Olsen PR