Coming off their best finish of the year at Nashville, Mike Bliss and the #20 Rockwell Automation team headed to Kentucky Speedway looking to build on that momentum. An exciting 200 lap race resulted in Bliss's second top-five finish in the last two races. The #20 Rockwell Automation Chevrolet unloaded fast. After finishing the first practice in the top five on the speed chart, Bliss was only able to muster a ninth place qualifying effort. Rebounding, the #20 car topped the charts in the final practice, by completing the fastest lap of the evening. During the post practice teardown, Engine Tuner Tom Negrete noticed some metal in the engine's fluids that would result in an engine change and be forced to drop to the rear of the field.

"I am not worried about the engine change," responded Mike Bliss before the race. "It is better to change the engine and go to the rear then to break on lap 50. This car is fast and 300 miles is a lot of time to work our way back to the front. I am a little disappointed that we missed it on qualifying. It was just a little too tight to turn the way we needed it to. "

When the green flag dropped, Bliss wasted no time working his way to the front. By lap 4, he had already worked his way into the top 25. The remaining 100 laps were spent continuing to work their way to the front. Although Bliss reported the car was loose, Crew Chief Steve Addington fixed it with wedge and tire pressure adjustment. After the second pit stop of the day, Bliss had climbed into the top five and was ready for his run to the end.

As the race restarted, Bliss was able to stay in the top five for a couple laps, but then began to drop positions as he fell almost one second off of the pace. Complaining that the car was way too loose, the #20 team worried they had a bad set of tires that just did not agree with the #20 machine. When the final caution flew on lap 183, it was not a question of gambling of two tires or fuel only, the #20 car needed four tires.

With the new rubber and restarting in the 11th position, Bliss had 11 laps to savage the weekend. He wasted no time working on the competition. By lap 195, he had worked his way into the top five. Running 4th with two laps to go, Bliss worked his way up to the bumper of Ron Hornaday. Driving into turn three much deeper than Hornaday, Bliss was able to complete the last lap pass of Horndaday (for the second weekend in a row) and secure the third place finishing position.

"I am really pleased with this finish," commented Bliss following the race. "I think we had a third place car, we just took a much different path to get the finish. We were really rolling in the middle of the race and that set of tires just made our car go way too loose to race competitively. This team is working really hard at the track and at the shop; it is rewarding to see that work pay off."