After making numerous changes to an ill-handling car, David Elliott was confident that his second race of the season would be better yield better results than the season opener.

The car handled exceptionally well in the first set of warm-ups with David turning laps in the respectable 19.3 second range.

“I haven’t had a car feel that good here at Delaware since the APC 300 back in 2008,” said the delighted driver when he pulled into the pits.

During the second set, with new tires, the Pennzoil Impala was even quicker – running 19.1 second laps. But, while the car showed extra speed, it also began feeling twitchy entering the corners.

The team sat out the last practice session and prepared for the heat race where David would start in the 8^th position. During the heat, David continued to battle a fast, but unstable car. While he managed a 3^rd place finish, he still wanted to make changes to make the car more driveable for the 35-lap feature.

The #37 started the feature on the outside of the front row, but David’s handling woes immediately reappeared. Rather than risk wrecking, he allowed four quicker cars to pass him in the early laps and settled into a spirited battle with Doug Stewart’s #2 for fifth place.

The battle continued until the caution fag flew on lap 27. While under caution, David and his crew discussed brake issues. The crew noticed that the Pennzoil Impala’s front rotors were glowing red and David said he had to pump the brakes before each corner in order to get the brakes to hold.

As the field retook the green and roared into the first turn, David braked for the corner, but the #37 didn’t slow down. The car snapped into a full spin before slamming into the turn one wall, causing significant damage to the right front corner of the car and ending David’s night.

A clearly frustrated driver pondered the notion of retirement in a post-wreck interview.

“I was really upset at the time,” said David. “Not just about the wreck, but also about how we weren’t as competitive as I knew we could be.”

Also adding to David’s frustration was the fact that, with three of his associate sponsors having to withdraw their support due to tough economic times, the team is running on a limited budget and each a wreck like last weeks is very costly.