show as he was again among the fast drivers in practice on Friday and repeated that will being among the fastest on Saturday morning before qualifying. Qualifying proved to be a little tougher for Mercer, but he still posted the 17th fastest time and locked himself in the field for Sunday's race without having to run a heat race. Mercer and his team were happy with the qualifying effort, but knew that they left a little speed out there, but a Myrtle Beach it's such a long race that they knew a top twenty start would put them in good position to run among the leaders.

As Sunday rolled around the weather forecast wasn't looking very good to get the race in, but the NASCAR Whelen All American Series officials worked hard to get the race started. They were able to start, but just as they got to lap 35, a caution would wave for another car getting turned around hard into the wall as the rain began to pick up and it turned out the rain wasn't going to let up. NASCAR officials made the decision to come back and finish the race the next Saturday, November 28th and for Mercer that turned out to be a great decision.

"We had got into another car as he bounced off the wall early in the race and it knocked our toe out and if not for the chance to fix that over the week before the race resumed, I don't know what kind of results we would have had," said Mercer.

As it turned out Mercer's car was back at 100% when the field returned for the Saturday evening race and after running among the top fifteen for the first half of the race, he turned up the wick in the second half. Mercer took the lead shortly after the halfway point and led 76-laps of the race, looking to be the dominant car as the race headed into the final stages leading the most laps of any driver. However, Mercer's car was setup to run the race in the sunlight and as caution after caution waved late in the race sending the sun down and casting shadows over the track, Mercer found his car tightening up.

"When the sun was out we were strong and I know everyone thinks we burned our tires off out there leading, but we were just riding and the tires were good," explained Mercer. "Those cautions in the late part of the second half just killed us as the sun went down because we were expecting to finish in the sunlight."

Mercer kept himself in position to still pull off the win if either of the two cars in front of him had troubles, but as the laps clicked off he found himself under attack for the third position as well. In the final green, white, checkered finish Mercer lost the third postion and crossed the finish line in fourth, but once the cars were pulled into tech, Mercer regained the third position as the car that passed him for that position was disqualified.

"I'm pretty stoked to come down here and run this good," said Mercer. "For us this is one of the races we had circled on the calendar and we wanted to win, but to finish third, I'll take it. I just got to thank David(Mercer) and this whole team, they worked hard on this car to get it ready for this race last week and then again this week and it paid off."

With the third place finish at Myrtle Beach Speedway, that will officially bring Mercer's 2009 season to an end, but with 14-wins this season at Hickory Motor Speedway as well as the track championship and a runner-up finish in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series North Carolina State Championship, it was a pretty good season for Mercer and his team. Mercer is supported by Reliable Fire & Safety, Steele Rubber Products, Performancenter Racing Warehouse, WP Racing Shocks, and Mercer Race Car Engineering.
  
For more on Mercer Racing and driver, Andy Mercer please visit www.mercerracing.com or contact RaceBrand Driver Management at (276) 613-4208.
 
About Reliable Fire & Safety
Based in Gastonia, NC, Reliable Fire & Safety offers fire extinguisher sales and service, restaurant and industrial fire suppression systems, as well as emergency light testing and repair. View the full line of Safety Supplies and Services at www.ReliableFireandSafety.com

About Steele Rubber Products
Steele Rubber Products is located in Denver, North Carolina. Our company manufactures and provides only the highest quality rubber parts and weatherstripping for classic cars, trucks and street rods. Steele was founded on a simple philosophy; it is less costly to "do it right the first time" than to buy inferior products that won't stand up over time or meet our customer's high expectations. For more visit www.steelerubber.com or www.springrubber.com