Motor Swap Has Alex Murray Optimistic For This Weeks Summer Shootout Race at Charlotte
CONCORD, N.C. - Several weeks of frustration came to a head for Alex Murray last Tuesday as the motor blew in his Shamrock Auto Care No. 22 at the Bojangles Summer Shootout Series at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
If it is possible to be relieved at such a circumstance, the 15-year-old Concord racer was.
"We kept telling there was something wrong with it," Murray said. "But we couldn't find the problem. For about three weeks I would lose power when the motor got hot. We tried everything to figure it out. We would run fast for a lap or two and then it would just slow down. It was so frustrating because we know the car has speed. You're never happy when a motor blows, but in this case we now know something was going bad on it for the whole time."
The team has another motor that was being refreshed by 600 Racing, the motor builders (and builder of all legends cars worldwide). That motor was installed this weekend and the team expects to be in the garage area for practice Monday night.
"This whole shootout has been so challenging," Murray said. "We got caught up in a couple of wrecks in the first few races then the motor stuff started happening. We know the car is fast enough to race up front. With the rebuilt motor in for this week, we're hopeful we won't have any more issues and we can spend the last few races just getting better each week and ending the series on a strong note. I'm excited to get to the track today and get back in the car!"
Tonight is the usual Monday night practice session at the track, while qualifying and racing get underway on Tuesday afternoon.
If you can't make it out to the speedway to watch Alex on Tuesday night, check out www.goprn.com for information on the internet pay-per-view video broadcast for this summer's racing, or follow Alex Murray Racing on Facebook, or his website (www.alexmurrayracing.com) to keep up with the latest news.
