“Here, at a place with the surface like this track has, it wears your tires out real bad,” said Pope. “Just in the second 100 laps, everyone jumped out there and ran all qualifying laps pretty much. It's just a tough deal.
“My car was pretty good on long runs. But I don't think a short run would of helped us at all after the tires cooled off because it shoved the nose real bad after that.”
Pope ended up finishing 11th in the race - which wasn't exactly what he had hoped for. The finish probably will have ripple effects too, as Pope might not be able to head to the Snowball Derby now.
“This was pretty much a bad day. Now I have to find a sponsor, because we didn't do good enough to pay for Pensacola now. So if I can't find the money, we won't be down there.”
Michael Pope drove his heart out in the quest for a top 10 finish in the World Crown 200 at Peach State Speedway (GA) on Sunday, but all of the willpower in the world was no match for worn tires near the end of the race.
