2:00 PM Eastern on Speed ... TODAY 2:00 AM Eastern ... Monday Night Noon Eastern ... Monday This is the DTV schedule. Please check your local listings. #198 Mini finishes on the podium in 3rd. The last 5 laps are very exciting as the Mini moves from 6th to 3rd.
Owen made some nice moves to get to third!! If he'd had just a little more go go on the NASCAR part of the track or one more trip through the tight stuff he could have fought for the win!!!
I watched it yesterday, the start was a mess, one big wreck after another, but once things got sorted out it was pretty good.... So was he just hanging back there waiting for the last few laps to make his move or did opportunity strike on the restart? Seems like he was nowhere near the front cars for almost all the race, the announcers never even mentioned MINI all race till those last couple of laps - all they were about was the Mazda, VW and Kia. I can understand the Kia, since they sponsor the race and all, but the MINIs were in the thick of it almost all last season, not to mention them at all seems a bit like favoritism to me.... Anyway, good race on a track not really suited to the flying bricks, and a good result!
They did mention the MINIs a couple times before the last few laps but usually just while listing the other makes in the class. Earlier MINI coverage was when the GS cars were working their way through but that's pretty common in the combined class races. Even when Owen was in P2 it was mentioned more like he was just in the way -- "however he's been out there for quite a long time, he'll need to pit" -- while they were saying how great the MazdaSpeed 3s were doing running P1 and P3. I don't think Owen was hanging back. If I remember right from the live timing the day of the race he was really cutting through the field after that fuel stop and the timing just happened to be right for him to get back into that podium scramble at the end. I was wishing there was an on-board camera in one of the MINIs. It would have been good video if they'd had one in Sarah and Owen's 198 because they started from the back (engine change) and passed a lot of cars, and more than once thanks to the driver change and refuelings. Then I realized the best thing about a cam in the Kia was getting to watch the MINIs go past. The 198 seemed to be the only car without headlights at the end. I wouldn't have noticed but all those headlights were so bright coming toward the camera you couldn't see who was passing who. Wonder what that was about. Did Owen forget to switch them on? Maybe he was trying to sneak up on the leaders...
No lights intentionally. The track on the oval is well lit and they add quite a bit of weight to the nose. It's really expensive when they get broken !!! After the fact, we commented that the lack of lights was an advantage as the other cars didn't know he was there. It wasn't intentional.... but the result was good! ********Lights were not required******
Heckuva finish in ST. That was fun to watch. Looked like one of the MINIs got caught up in the GS restart at one point, which I'm sure made it very interesting for the spotters.