The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams will tangle at O'Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis Friday night, site of the Power Stroke Diesel 200, race No. 14 of 25 on the NCTS calendar this season. ORP is a place where the truck drivers definitely don't play nice together, a claustrophobic 0.686-mile oval where the trucks will be bumping and grinding all race long. If nothing else, Friday night's battle ought to shuffle the points standings again.
If recent history is any indication, the driver to watch for on Friday night will be Ron Hornaday Jr., the defending series champion and defending race winner. Hornaday's teammate at Kevin Harvick Inc., Jack Sprague, is also a two-time ORP Truck winner, and his American Commercial Lines No. 2 Chevy ought to run well on Friday night.
The other two-time ORP NCTS winner in the field Friday will be the Toyota Tundra-sponsored No. 5 of Mike Skinner, who is fifth in points and has a streak of nine consecutive top-10 finishes. And his Bill Davis Racing teammates, Johnny Benson and Michael Annett are coming off a 1-2 finish last week at Kentucky Speedway. Wyler.com Toyota driver Terry Cook, who has quietly moved to seventh in points, has one victory and one runner-up finish each at ORP, though his last top-five came here in 2002.
Anytime the NCTS Series races at ORP, Rick Crawford and the Power Stroke by Diesel International Ford F-150 are threats to win.
Don't count out short-track ace Dennis Setzer, either.
Add it all up, and it should be a wide-open — and very physical — battle on Friday night. Qualifying is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. EDT Friday, with the race set for 8 p.m. that evening. Both will be televised live on SPEED.
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
Ken Schrader knew Mansfield Motorsports Park was his type of race track the moment he laid eyes on it Friday morning. He consistently proved that during the rain drenched weekend. Schrader unloaded as the fastest truck in practice and qualified the No. 18 Fastenal Dodge in the 14th position. Once the race began he didn't stay there long. By lap 79 of the Ohio 250 lap the short track guru cracked the top 10 and never looked back. After two red flags for thunderstorms, 13 caution flags and 250 laps of bumper to bumper action Schrader drove the No. 18 Fastenal Dodge home in third place. It was the team's best finish of the season. The top-five finish moved the team up four spots into 13th place in the NCTS Owner Points.
"This is a team building day," said Schrader after the event. "We have been getting better and better each week. This week it really paid off for us. This was big for this team. They really needed a boost of confidence and I think today we did that. I love driving this truck and I am really looking forward to what is ahead for all of us."
Dennis Setzer won the The Ohio 250 before an estimated crowd of 15,000. Jack Sprague, Schrader, Mike Skinner and Johnny Benson rounded out the top five finishers. The next event for the NCTS will be at Dover International Speedway on June 1, 2007 with Schrader driving the Fastenal Dodge.
HAMPTON, Ga. -- Mike Skinner bumped past Clint Bowyer to take the lead on a restart seven laps from the finish Friday night and raced away to his second consecutive victory in NASCAR's Craftsman Truck Series. Todd Bodine, the defending series champion and last spring's winner at Atlanta Motor Speedway, followed Skinner past Bowyer to grab second place on Lap 124 of the 130-lap event, but the leader was just too strong, pulling away to a five-length victory, the 21st of his truck career. Matt Crafton had a big day, finishing third after starting the race 17th. Rick Crawford, making his 250th start in the Craftsman Truck Series brought home his No. 14 Ford in fourth. Bowyer held on for fifth.
Brendan Gaughan stayed out when the rest of the field pitted with 34 laps to go, but the lead was short lived as Bowyer was able to pass him for the lead just two laps later. The move still worked for Gaughan, who held on for a sixth-place finish. Dennis Setzer finished seventh in his Morgan Dollar Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado.
Next up for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is the Kroger 250 at the half-mile Martinsville Speedway on Saturday March 31.
It's the money stupid! Dope! What was I thinking? It's always show me the money!
Last year in California last place paid $80,000. Why? Should we really pay this for last place? No wonder some teams were trying to make a living as field fillers then parking a car only fit for qualifying after one lap. What was the point in that?
Thankfully, with the entry of Toyota this is not happening this year. But there is still something rotten in Denmark. Busch fields are short of entries. Why aren't these extra Cup teams running Busch?
Chorus:
It's the money stupid! Dope! What was I thinking? It's always show me the money!
Busch paid roughly $24,000 to start.
Cost to send trailer from North Carolina to California...$10,000
Cost to send four people with team...$5,000
Tire bill...$3,000
Not exactly priceless.
O.K. So why not run trucks?
Chorus:
It's the money stupid! Dope! What was I thinking? It's always show me the money!
How much did Mike Skinner win last Friday by winning the truck race?
$60,000.
$20,000 less than it pays just to make the Cup race?
Yep.
Which brings me to this. What should NASCAR do to rectify this situation?
How about revenue sharing? Pay less to start in Cup? Pay less to start in Cup and use money to pay more to start in Busch? Pay less to start in Cup and use money to pay more to win in trucks?
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