Lewis enjoys career-best night; Grubb fifth

RICHMOND, Va. -- Two Busch Series drivers had a surprisingly good night on Friday -- even though a few of their cohorts didn't.

Ashton Lewis Jr. and Kevin Grubb logged a second and fifth-place finishes, respectively, during a caution-filled Hardee's 250 at Richmond International Raceway.

Lewis Jr., driver of the No. 46 Civil Air Patrol Chevrolet, and Grubb, driver of the No. 54 Toy R Us Chevrolet, certainly had their work cut out for themsleves.

For Lewis, his best finish in 64-career starts topped his previous third place, achieved at Watkins Glen in 1998.

Lewis survived 11 cautions - one because of his early-race spin -- and had to start 24th after qualifying was was rained out.

"Yeah man, I'd like to thank Kenny Wallace for wrecking us," Lewis Jr. said. "That's how we lost all those positions early because we got on the high side and we were loose. I got loose and Kenny got in the back of me. I know he didn't mean to.

"The guys stuck with the loose car and we just kept working on it as the race continued."

So far this year, Lewis Jr. and his family-owned race team had only one top-10 finish and was 22nd in points. He's hoping this could be the catalyst for better things.

"I think it's big on our part to have a finish like this," Lewis Jr. said. "We felt we had some great cars all year long and just had some bad luck. We just needed the luck to change for us and tonight it did.

"We just really needed this."

Grubb, who wasn't hired to drive the No. 54 until the third race of the season in Las Vegas, seemed quite pleased with his finish, but wanted more.

Grubb has had had four top-20 finishes in the last five races and things seem to be getting better each week for the second-year team.

"I think everyone's pretty happy," Grubb said. "I wish we could've a little better than fifth. We wanted to pit that one time and stay out for the last 80 or 100 laps. We were scared to come in and run in the back of the field.

"We were scared that we'd get caught up in wrecks.

"We just need a couple of more weeks. This is our first-top five and we're just going to keep on working on it and try to get some more."