FORT WORTH, TX ? In an effort to put the tough weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway behind them, Team Rock headed out to the Lone Star state for the O'Reilly 300 at Texas Motor Speedway. Taking the same car that won the pole at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, everyone had high hopes for a solid performance.

Action started early for the team on Thursday. After fighting a loose condition for most of practice, the team felt they had a strong setup for qualifying. Bliss ran his fastest lap of the day at 28.738 which was good enough for a 12th place starting position.

"I really thought this car could run a 50," commented Bliss following his run. "The car was real neutral through one and two, but got tight through three and four. I just could not keep it on the bottom of the track. We will race what we have and see where we end up."

After a lackluster final practice, the team huddled and decided to make some major changes to the car for the race. As soon as the green flag dropped, Bliss raced hard into the top ten. He would remain there for the first couple laps but soon the tight condition of the race car forced him to surrender positions. Running 15th when the second caution flag flew, Bliss followed the leaders down pit road for major changes. After overshooting his pit box and a lengthy pit stop, Bliss restarted the race in the 25th position.

The car was better, but not much. Bliss was able to claw his way back into the top 20 as the team continued to try to loosen up the #20 Rockwell Automation Chevrolet. Finally by lap 150, they had fixed the tight off the corner problem, but now the car was way loose entering the corner. Bliss would hang on and finish the race in the 18th position. Current Nextel Cup Champion Matt Kennseth used a late lap pass over Bobby Hamilton, Jr. to win his first Busch Series event of the 2004 season.

"We just never got the car to turn off the corner," remarked Bliss following the race. "This was a car that drove so well at Las Vegas, just did not seem to like this track too much. When we finally got the tightness off the corner fixed, it was so loose driving in the corner, I just could not get good corner speed. We finished on the lead lap and we are taking the car home in one piece, but those are the only positives from the day."

"Today, we just missed the setup," said Crew Chief Steve Addington. "We are a little behind in our mile & half program. We will go test and get that up to speed before Charlotte. Mike & I have gelled a lot since the beginning of the season and it is not going to be too much longer until you see some real special things happening. Next week we go to Nashville and I am real excited for the car we are taking there."