{"id":1535,"date":"2007-04-29T19:40:47","date_gmt":"2007-04-29T19:40:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maineracer.com\/wp\/?p=1535"},"modified":"2007-04-29T19:40:47","modified_gmt":"2007-04-29T19:40:47","slug":"olsen-opens-season-with-seventh-place-finish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/2007\/04\/olsen-opens-season-with-seventh-place-finish\/","title":{"rendered":"Olsen Opens Season With Seventh Place Finish"},"content":{"rendered":"<div align=\"left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.maineracer.com\/wp\/wp-content\/themes\/twentyten\/images\/stories\/busch-east.gif\" alt=\"Active Image\" width=\"100\" \/>Greensville, SC (April 29, 2007): Defending Busch East Series, Grand National  Division champion Mike Olsen turned around a 16th place qualifying effort with a  seventh place finish in the season opening Greased Lightning 150 at  Greenville-Pickens Speedway Saturday night. The finish was Olsen&rsquo;s 13th straight  top-10 finish &ndash; a streak that began in 2005. <\/div>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<div align=\"left\"><span>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a little disappointed. I had higher expectations,&rdquo; said Olsen, driver of  the No. 61 &ldquo;Little Trees&rdquo; Chevrolet. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll have to do our homework. There&rsquo;s a  lot of tough competition this year.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<p>In practice, Olsen was consistently  among the top-10 fastest cars, but in qualifying, Olsen turned a lap of 85.361  mph (21.087 seconds) and was 16th in a 30-car field. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I think it was  because I went out early. The later guys went, the more time they picked up. I  think we had a good car,&rdquo; said Olsen. &ldquo;We all thought we would have had a top-10  starting spot at the least.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<p>Olsen was patient in the beginning of the  race, but was running ninth by the halfway mark. At lap 89, Olsen ran into some  trouble and dropped back to 12th. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I got tangled up a little bit in one  and two, and it dug up the fender a little bit. I was trying to be patient, and  I thought we were in good shape,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I thought I had been conserving the  tires, but when I went I just didn&rsquo;t have any grip. I was spinning the tires  pretty bad.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<p>The race was red flagged at lap 115 for a multi-car pileup  on the frontstretch. When the race restarted at lap 122, Olsen bolted by four  cars and took over the sixth position. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;My lane went big so I took  advantage of it and we gained a bunch of spots,&rdquo; Olsen said. <\/p>\n<p>A string of  cautions plagued the closing laps allowing the 03 of Rogelio Lopez to take over  sixth before the checkers fell. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Overall, I think we turned around what  could have been a much worse day,&rdquo; said Olsen. &ldquo;Everyone used their heads and it  was a competitive race. As a racer, I would have liked to have done better  because I think we had a better car than the finish reflects, but it&rsquo;s not bad.  We&rsquo;ll take it.&rdquo;<\/span>  <\/p>\n<div id=\"post_67762\" class=\"gen\" style=\"display: none; text-align: right\">[b]Olsen Opens Season With Seventh Place Finish[\/b]              Greensville, SC (April 29, 2007): Defending Busch East Series, Grand National Division champion Mike Olsen turned around a 16th place qualifying effort with a seventh place finish in the season opening Greased Lightning 150 at Greenville-Pickens Speedway Saturday night. The finish was Olsen&rsquo;s 13th straight top-10 finish &ndash; a streak that began in 2005.              &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a little disappointed. I had higher expectations,&rdquo; said Olsen, driver of the No. 61 &ldquo;Little Trees&rdquo; Chevrolet. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll have to do our homework. There&rsquo;s a lot of tough competition this year.&rdquo;              In practice, Olsen was consistently among the top-10 fastest cars, but in qualifying, Olsen turned a lap of 85.361 mph (21.087 seconds) and was 16th in a 30-car field.              &ldquo;I think it was because I went out early. The later guys went, the more time they picked up. I think we had a good car,&rdquo; said Olsen. &ldquo;We all thought we would have had a top-10 starting spot at the least.&rdquo;              Olsen was patient in the beginning of the race, but was running ninth by the halfway mark. At lap 89, Olsen ran into some trouble and dropped back to 12th.              &ldquo;I got tangled up a little bit in one and two, and it dug up the fender a little bit. I was trying to be patient, and I thought we were in good shape,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I thought I had been conserving the tires, but when I went I just didn&rsquo;t have any grip. I was spinning the tires pretty bad.&rdquo;              The race was red flagged at lap 115 for a multi-car pileup on the frontstretch. When the race restarted at lap 122, Olsen bolted by four cars and took over the sixth position.              &ldquo;My lane went big so I took advantage of it and we gained a bunch of spots,&rdquo; Olsen said.              A string of cautions plagued the closing laps allowing the 03 of Rogelio Lopez to take over sixth before the checkers fell.              &ldquo;Overall, I think we turned around what could have been a much worse day,&rdquo; said Olsen. &ldquo;Everyone used their heads and it was a competitive race. As a racer, I would have liked to have done better because I think we had a better car than the finish reflects, but it&rsquo;s not bad. We&rsquo;ll take it.&rdquo;[b]Olsen Opens Season With Seventh Place Finish[\/b]              Greensville, SC (April 29, 2007): Defending Busch East Series, Grand National Division champion Mike Olsen turned around a 16th place qualifying effort with a seventh place finish in the season opening Greased Lightning 150 at Greenville-Pickens Speedway Saturday night. The finish was Olsen&rsquo;s 13th straight top-10 finish &ndash; a streak that began in 2005.              &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a little disappointed. I had higher expectations,&rdquo; said Olsen, driver of the No. 61 &ldquo;Little Trees&rdquo; Chevrolet. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll have to do our homework. There&rsquo;s a lot of tough competition this year.&rdquo;              In practice, Olsen was consistently among the top-10 fastest cars, but in qualifying, Olsen turned a lap of 85.361 mph (21.087 seconds) and was 16th in a 30-car field.              &ldquo;I think it was because I went out early. The later guys went, the more time they picked up. I think we had a good car,&rdquo; said Olsen. &ldquo;We all thought we would have had a top-10 starting spot at the least.&rdquo;              Olsen was patient in the beginning of the race, but was running ninth by the halfway mark. At lap 89, Olsen ran into some trouble and dropped back to 12th.              &ldquo;I got tangled up a little bit in one and two, and it dug up the fender a little bit. I was trying to be patient, and I thought we were in good shape,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I thought I had been conserving the tires, but when I went I just didn&rsquo;t have any grip. I was spinning the tires pretty bad.&rdquo;              The race was red flagged at lap 115 for a multi-car pileup on the frontstretch. When the race restarted at lap 122, Olsen bolted by four cars and took over the sixth position.              &ldquo;My lane went big so I took advantage of it and we gained a bunch of spots,&rdquo; Olsen said.              A string of cautions plagued the closing laps allowing the 03 of Rogelio Lopez to take over sixth before the checkers fell.              &ldquo;Overall, I think we turned around what could have been a much worse day,&rdquo; said Olsen. &ldquo;Everyone used their heads and it was a competitive race. As a racer, I would have liked to have done better because I think we had a better car than the finish reflects, but it&rsquo;s not bad. We&rsquo;ll take it.&rdquo;<br \/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"posting.php?mode=editpost&amp;p=67762\">Switch to full edit  form<\/a> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Greensville, SC (April 29, 2007): Defending Busch East Series, Grand National Division champion Mike Olsen turned around a 16th place qualifying effort with a seventh place finish in the season opening Greased Lightning 150 at Greenville-Pickens Speedway Saturday night. The finish was Olsen&rsquo;s 13th straight top-10 finish &ndash; a streak that began in 2005.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nascar-kn-pro-series"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1535\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maineracing.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}