Lime Rock Park Twists and Turns Lead to More Bad Luck for Erick Rudolph

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (July 7, 2010) - Heinke-Baldwin Racing (HBR) driver Erick Rudolph finished 16th at Lime Rock Park in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour on Saturday, July 3. Rudolph's weekend started strong, but he was forced to spend the majority of the race two laps down when the HBR team made an early pit-stop to fix drive train issues on the No. 98 Mohawk N.E./Original Pizza Logs Chevrolet.

Prior to Saturday's race, the HBR team brought on a veteran driving coach to help Rudolph navigate the tricky road course as this was the first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event ever held at Lime Rock Park. The experience paid off, as Rudolph was able to set fast time in the first practice session with a lap of 53.556 seconds (100.829 mph), more than a half second faster than eventual pole winner Todd Szegedy.

"He was a lot of help," Rudolph said about his driving instructor from the Skip Barber Racing School. "He knew a lot about road course racing, where I knew nothing, so I tried to absorb as much as possible."

Rudolph continued to find success in the second practice session, coming in second fastest on the speed charts. Going into qualifying, the HBR No. 98 was poised for a shot at the pole position, but Rudolph settled for third behind NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour veterans Todd Szegedy and Ted Christopher.

Unfortunately, Rudolph's success did not continue on race day. On lap five, Rudolph was forced to bring the No. 98 Chevrolet to pit road for service after he lost first and second gear.

"We started having the problems on lap 5," Rudolph explained. "We came in and made a quick repair to it, so we could finish running the race. At that point I was two laps down, and I only had high gear. I just kind of cruised around during the rest of the race."

Rudolph was able to complete the race, but finished two laps down in 16th position in his road course debut, which will air on SPEED on Thursday, July 22 at 6 p.m. EST.

"We just keep having fluke problems," the Ransomville, N.Y., native said following the race. "Once we get rid of these issues, we'll start having some really good finishes. We just need our luck to turn around."

Erick Rudolph will be racing at Wyoming County International Speedway this Friday and at Riverhead Raceway on Saturday, running for his family owned Pryme Motorsports team. He will return to NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour action on Saturday, July 17 at Monadnock Speedway.

About Heinke-Baldwin Racing

Heinke-Baldwin Racing was formed in 2009 by H&H Motorsports owner Al Heinke and Tommy Baldwin Racing owner Tommy Baldwin. Both Baldwin and Heinke grew up racing in New England and saw an opportunity to work together to help young drivers pursue their dreams to race.

In 2010, the team's freshman year, HBR is fielding the No. 98H for driver Jimmy Phelps in the Super DIRTcar Series, with sponsorship from Wave Energy Drink. They will also be fielding the No. 98 for driver Erick Rudolph in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, with additional sponsorship from Pizza Logs, Brigham Concrete and PrimeTyme Motorsports.