The 2008 Craftsman Truck Series continued Saturday with the O’Reilly 200 at Memphis Motorsports Park and the Dodge Boys took home a top-10 finish. Stacy Compton finished 10th after starting 15th in the #04 Red River Dodge Dodge Ram. Dennis Setzer finished 12th after starting 11th in the #18 Tahoe Smokeless Dodge Ram. Setzer and Compton are ranked 11th and 19th, respectively in the Craftsman Truck Serie's Points Standings.
Which is it truckseries.com? One of your reports says...
For Dodge driver and defending Ohio 250 race winner, Dennis Setzer, the scenery through his windshield was looking very familiar when took the lead on lap 72. Setzer maintained a solid lead for several laps before an impatient second place driver, David Starr, punted him in the rear left side corner of the No. 18 Dodge. Setzer showed off his stellar driving skills by keeping the spinning Dodge Ram off of the wall and away from all other competitors.
Another report says...
Being in the back half of the field, David Starr used patience to work his way back up to the front, while being reminded to save as much fuel as possible. By lap 77, all 36 trucks had made their one scheduled pit stop, putting the No. 11 PIT Corporate Training Toyota Tundra in the second position.A quick caution came out on lap 81 as Starr made slight contact with the leader, which relinquished the lead to the Houston, Texas native.
You can't have it both ways. Patient or impatient?
Whatever! Back to my man Setzer.
After receiving four fresh tires Setzer returned to the track in 30th position and was on a mission. In just 84 laps he raced his way back into the sixth position. It was under the 11th caution of the day that Setzer radioed in saying, “I have smoke in my cockpit.”
Immediately, following the restart it appeared Setzer’s engine expired when a cloud of smoke bellowed from the rear. After pulling the No. 18 truck behind the wall it was determined a lower radiator hose busted draining out all the water out which resulted in a blown engine. Setzer finished in 34th position and dropped to 12th in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver point standings.
MARTINSVILLE, Va. --On Lap 128, Kyle Busch ran into the back of Brent Raymer who spun in front of Busch, forcing him to slam on the binders and come to a halt. After the caution flew, Busch, Ron Hornaday and a number of other drivers came down pit road for gas and tires. That handed the lead to Dennis Setzer, ahead of Ron Hornaday, Brendan Gaughn, Johnny Benson, Mike Skinner and David Starr. Setzer then held on through numerous restarts and survived a green-white-checker finish to to win the Kroger 250 Craftsman Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway and put his Duck Head Footwear/Aquadock Dodge Ram into victory lane. The victory was the first for Dodge (and Bobby Hamilton Racing) since the late Hamilton won at Mansfield in 2005, and the truck Setzer won in is co-owned by Hamilton's widow, Lori.
"The emotions are running high right now," Lori Hamilton said. "We always said after Bobby passed away that if we could build it, then we'd do it in honor of him."
Setzer prevailed in a single-file restart. For him, winning at a track where he and Bobby Hamilton dueled also was special.
"I ran second to Bobby the year he won the championship," Setzer said. "We fought like heck all year as far as racing goes, but we were probably as good of friends off the track. We never had a harsh word with each other any time during the year."
The race, run on a cold, overcast day after the teams practiced in heat and sunshine Friday, was dominated by 15 cautions that slowed the pace for 82 laps, and caused the race to go three extra laps for a two-lap sprint to the checkered flag. It was Setzer's 18th career victory in the series and third at Martinsville.
Ten years ago this weekend Bobby Hamilton won The Winston Cup event at Martinsville in the Morgan McClure Motorsports Kodak sponsored Chevrolet. Perhaps Setzer's win today was written in the stars.
Text by The Associated Press, Tom Jensen of TruckSeries.com, Small Town Girl and 14Falcons
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