COOK JUST MISSES BUSCH RACE IN PHOENIX

AVONDALE, AZ, April 21, 2006 Chris Cook's first venture into the world of oval-track racing with Christine Marie Motorsports didn"t end the way he and the team had hoped, but at the very least it was a learning experience for all those involved.

Cook barely missed the starting lineup for Friday night's NASCAR Busch Series Bashas' Supermarkets 200 at Phoenix International Raceway when he turned in a time of 28.594 seconds in qualifying and an average speed of 125.900 mph.

Cook missed a starting spot in the race by a mere 0.123 seconds in the MacHill Motorsports car usually driven by Kevin Lepage.

"The team brought an older car and we knew it would be an extremely difficult race to make," Cook said. "At this level, any team and any driver will periodically make mistakes or have a bad race car and not qualify."

Until trying its hand at Phoenix, the Christine Marie Motorsports team had run solely at road course races on the Busch Series and Nextel Cup level.

The highpoint for Cook, though, was his participation in the NASCAR Busch West Series race Friday night. Despite starting the race with little preparation time and a small crew, Cook overcame two pit stops due to handling problems to work his way near the front, where he eventually finished 12th.

"We decided to run this race for extra practice," Cook said. "Many teams took notice to what we accomplished with very little."

Up next for the Christine Marie Motorsports team is a trip to Nashville Superspeedway in June with hopes of qualifying for the Federated Auto Parts 300.

About Christine Marie Motorsports, Inc. (CMM)

Christine Marie Motorsports, Inc. was founded in 2004 by Chris Evans, a successful Western Pennsylvania businessman and amateur racer. Evans met veteran driver Chris Cook while attending the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving, where Cook was an instructor. The two developed a friendship and later a business relationship that led Evans to form Christine Marie Motorsports, which is named after Evans’ youngest daughter, for the purpose of competing in NASCAR with Chris Cook as the driver. For more information, go to http://www.christinemariemotorsports.com.

###END###

Back to news articles.