MCCUMBEE STEERS MODSPACE FORD CLEAR OF TROUBLE WITH ANOTHER TOP-10 FINISH AT MADISON

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (August 30, 2011) — It didn’t take long for the euphoria of Chad McCumbee’s victory a week earlier to wear off last Friday at Madison International Speedway.

A glitch in a new steering box created problems for McCumbee and his No. 1 ModSpace Ford Fusion in the Herr’s Live Life with Flavor! 200. But in spite of an “evil” car, the Andy Belmont Racing (ABR) team posted its 10th top-10 finish in 14 starts in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menard’s.

McCumbee qualified seventh, but troubles with the steering box started shortly after the race started. While the car was hard to handle, it was good enough to finish 10th on the lead lap and move the Supply, N.C., driver 20 points away from fifth place in the series standings.

“The one good thing about racing has always been the next race is a chance to atone for a bad week,” McCumbee said. “It works the other way, too. We were on the highest of highs after we won at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. We still feel good about this ModSpace team because even when we have a problem, this team and our car is good enough to overcome it.

“This race team has come to expect better things than 10th place, but considering what we had to battle through, it’s a solid finish. We’ll fix the steering and move on to the next race.”

The next opportunity will be the Southern Illinois 100 presented by Federated Auto Parts at DeQuoin State Fairgrounds on September 5.

Team owner Andy Belmont was pleased with the way the ModSpace crew used a combination of astuteness and strategy to post another top-10 finish.

“The car was evil,” he said. “But everyone on this ModSpace team fought through it. As somebody who’s spent his entire life in racing, it’s moments like that you don’t forget. It’s easy to know something about the people you work with when things go well like it did a week earlier, but you find out what you’re made of when you have to persevere. I’m proud we did that.

“At the same time, we can’t wait to get back on the track at DeQuoin to get back on our roll again.”

From Team Release