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[NASCAR] Zukanovic falls six short at Irwindale
by Sean Henshelwood
pic: Robert Laberge/Getty Images
Zukanovic falls six short in NASCAR debut
Toyota All-Star Showdown, Irwindale Speedway, Los Angeles
25 January, 2009
Marcus Zukanovic's NASCAR campaign at the annual Toyota All-StarShowdown at Irwindale Speedway ended on Saturday night, a frustrating six cars short of a run in the 250-lap final.
Despite less than 20 laps in changeable conditions spread over both practice and qualifying, Zukanovic was just six tenths off the pace at the close of qualifying, which put him 48th of 56 cars..
"We just couldn't get the miles we needed to get everything set up," Zukanovic admitted from Irwindale. "Like anything, the more experience you have in a category like this the better, but the weather was against us. Basically all of Friday's running was canceled due to rain - in the end we were on track after the 10pm curfew just to get miles for Saturday. Then they canceled any more practice and we went straight into qualifying, then the 50-lap 'last chance' race with drizzle still falling."
"Tracy [Phelps - team owner of Phelps Motorsports] and the team were fantastic, but they were a bit behind the eight ball too because they hadn't done much running last season due to budget, so they were keen to get extra miles as well to sort the car.
"In the end though I was pretty stoked. To come over here, do 20 laps and head straight into a 50-lap race where just six of the 21 cars in the field would make the final and finish the race on the lead lap, just six seconds off the race winner is a pretty good result.
"You've got to remember, most of these guys have been doing it for years. Ricky Carmichael's in his third season basically, and I was just three tenths off his pace, and I can tell you his gear is the latest and greatest, so to pull that off and finish with a straight car, is pretty good..!"
In the end just three seconds separated Marcus from the 250-lap main event, a pretty impressive performance by any standard and a performance that didn't go unnoticed.
"Maybe it was the accent, but we spoke to a lot of people and some of them were pretty keen to see us back. We'll go away, have a discussion with Tracy and the team, talk to some sponsors and see what we can do. I think they'd like me back to do the road-course event mid-season, but if we can, I'd love to do the whole Camping World East Series with the team and see where it takes us.
"I'd really like to thank Tracy and the whole Phelps Motorsports team for their help and support, PPG paints and Disc Brakes Australia for making all of this possible."
For Zukanovic and his Action Racing team, focus now turns to the 2009 Fujistu V8 Supercar Series where Marcus will be looking to make amends for a disappointing 2008 season. "It was a pretty up and down year in the end, and we suffered a number of technical issues which we've been working hard on for this season. We've got a few interesting announcements to make over the coming weeks, but I'm really excited about what's panning out for this year, I can't wait for it to get going."
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