Donlavey/Stricklin get A for effort.

The statistics may only show Hut Stricklin and Junie Donlavey in 40th place in the NASCAR Winston Cup driver and owner standings but they disguise the fact that the jovial veteran and a couple of astute appointments have transformed the low-budget operation over the first half of the 2001 season.

Sara Lee Coffee & Tea hired Philippe Lopez as its NASCAR Racing Director to work with the team. A very smart move. Lopez worked with Stricklin during Stricklin's happiest and most successful Winston Cup days. He also adds engineering and set-up knowledge the team desperately needed. His first race with the team was at California Speedway and the team has earned three top-16 finishes during his tenure, including a sixth-place finish at Michigan.

The days of the driver also acting as crew chief (as Stricklin did in 2000), or Junie acting as crew chief, are gone at Donlavey Racing. Bobby King, a Richmond native, has the job nailed down. King led Tommy Ellis to the NASCAR Busch Series Championship in 1981, Jimmy Hensley to a second-place finish in the NASCAR Busch Series Championship in 1990 and Hermie Sadler to the Busch Series Rookie-of-the-Year title in 1993. Prior to joining Donlavey Racing, King worked at Grubb Motorsports.

Donlavey Racing did not have a shock specialist during the 2000 season, but this year the team has Blake Bainbridge. Bainbridge served as car chief with Jeff Purvis and Joe Gibbs Racing last year.

Donlavey Racing has 10 more employees than it did last year. Among those 10 new employees are four new men on the pit crew, Walter Wheelhouse, Bob Mosher, Chucky Brooks and Wayne Vaughn. They currently practice at least one night a week and maintain a workout program at the Virginia Health and Fitness Centre in Richmond. Crew chief Bobby King brought several employees with him from his stint with the Grubbs.

Donlavey Racing has added four cars to its fleet this year and has two more on the way. The team has built three intermediate cars (30, 31, and 34), one Superspeedway car (32) and two short track cars (29 and 33). A new body was also put on car 21. Only one new car was built in the 2000 season.

Hills Bros Coffee Racing team has made more trips to the wind tunnel during the 2001 season than it did the entire 2000 season. Donlavey Racing has teamed up with Brett Bodine Racing to work on Aero Packages and share notes and time while in the wind tunnel at NASA's Langley Wind Tunnel.

The 2001 Hills Bros Coffee Racing team has accomplished feats that the 2000 team did not come close to. Stricklin has scored one top-10 finish, two top-15 finishes and three top-20 finishes. In the 2000 season, the Hills Bros Coffee Racing team was able to post only one top-20 finish (14th, Indianapolis). Through Sears Point, the 2001 team has 1,068 points, just 442 points behind last year's total (1,510).