Sunoco National Tour rookie earns third podium finish of season

Nashville, TN (September 7, 2010) … Bryan Ortiz and the BD Racing with Sterling Marlin team earned a third place finish in the rescheduled Michigan 200 Saturday at the Springport Motor Speedway. Rain forced the Sunoco National Tour to reschedule the 200-lap event from June 5th to September 4th.

Ortiz, the leading rookie in the Sunoco National Tour, qualified fourth even though he only had a few laps of practice.

“We didn’t have much practice as we were working on a lot of new things with our Camaro,” Ortiz stated. “The crew worked overtime preparing our car after the tough weekend at Nashville, but I knew that I had a car to win.”

“The race started pretty crazy when I got spun for no reason,” Ortiz continued. “Then, I got the black flag for supposedly leaking fluid. After a pit stop to check on the problem, I had to start in the rear of the field.” Then, Ortiz began his march back to the front.

“The car was perfect and I started coming pretty fast through the field,” Ortiz added. “Then, I felt like I was losing power. Another trip to pit road and the crew discovered that a sparkplug wire was broken. I had to finish the race on seven cylinders, but I still had a strong enough car to finish third.”

The third-place finish was the third podium of the 2010 Sunoco National Tour for the Puerto Rican driver. Ortiz finished third at the season-opening race at New Smyrna Speedway and a second at Rockingham. With only three races remaining on the 2010 schedule, Ortiz leads the rookie standings.