Bristol native Nate Monteith looked to have a successful run in his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut Wednesday night at the Bristol Motor Speedway in the No. 15 Graceway Pharmaceuticals Billy Ballew Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado. Unfortunately, rear-end woes ended his night early at the .533-mile short track.
Monteith, new to the trucks, used both Tuesday's open test and Wednesday's practice to get comfortable behind the wheel of the Graceway Pharmaceuticals Silverado and felt confident heading into qualifying. But the truck snapped loose giving Monteith a much slower time then anticipated starting in the 35th place position using a truck owner's points provisional position for the O'Reilly 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race.
On just lap three of the 200 lap, 106.6 mile event, another competitor spun in turn four catching Monteith causing damage to the rear quarter panel of the No. 15 Graceway Pharmaceuticals Silverado. Even though Monteith was able to keep the speed of the rest of the pack and pitted under the caution periods to try to fix the truck, the rear-end was too damaged to continue. Monteith retired on lap 118 finishing in the 32nd place position.
"We were struggling after we got into the first incident," Monteith said. "The truck never handled quite the same way. It's disappointing; we really had hoped to have a good showing in our Truck Series debut and for our sponsor Graceway Pharmaceuticals. I hate it for them but have to thank Billy Ballew Motorsports and Graceway for the opportunity."
Graceway Pharmaceuticals, LLC, headquartered in Bristol, Tennessee, is a pharmaceutical company focused on acquiring, in-licensing, and developing branded prescription pharmaceutical products. Current prescription products marketed by Graceway include Aldara, Maxair Autohaler, Atopiclair, Benziq, Metrogel-Vaginal, Minitran, Tambocor Tablets, and Norflex.
Aldara, Maxair Autohaler, Maxair and Design, Atopiclair, Benziq, Metrogel-Vaginal, Minitran Tambocor Tablets, Norflex, and the Leaf Design are trademarks owned by or licensed to Graceway Pharmaceuticals, LLC.
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series heads next to the Gateway International Raceway for the running of the Missouri/Illinois Dodge Dealers Ram Tough 200 Saturday, September 1, 2007. For more information on Billy Ballew Motorsports and Nate Monteith visit www.BillyBallewMotorsportns.com and www.NateMonteith.net.