Stacy Compton (No. 4 Dodge), like a number of drivers, returned to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series after several recent seasons in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series.
Then, he had to beat the likes of Ron Hornaday Jr. (No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet), Jack Sprague (No. 2 American Commercial Lines Chevrolet) and Dennis Setzer (No. 18 Dodge).
When Compton returned this year, it was a case of NASCAR déjà vu. Same series; same rivals.
“It proves just because we are getting older, doesn’t mean we can no longer drive,” said Compton, now age 41. “You take me, Ron, Jack and (BHR-VA teammate) Setzer. We’ve seen this sport go through a lot. We are who we are as race car drivers because of the ups and downs of the sport.
In an afternoon marred by tire problems, the No. 26 Crown Royal team rose above the obstacle to finish a season-best sixth place. The No. 26 Crown Royal Ford Fusion piloted by Jamie McMurray, qualified in the top 10, and took the checkered flag in the top-10 position. This finish moved McMurray to 20th in the Sprint Cup point standings.
During practice on Saturday afternoon, Sprint Cup teams realized they could not go more than four or five laps on new tires before they began to show significant signs of wear.
On Sunday, before a crowd of more than 200,000 fans, the green flag flew for pole winner, and eventual race winner, Jimmie Johnson.
After two competion yellows for tires, Larry Carter came over the radio and told McMurray, “we need to finish today’s race. I think we are in a good position, and if we can maintain our track position, and save our car, I think we can come out of here with a good finish. There are a lot of unknowns this afternoon, but if we all work together, we can make the most of today, and show a good finish this afternoon.”
The problems continued for all the teams – the tires would not hold up after 12 laps of green-flag racing.
The No. 26 team continued to follow the instructions of NASCAR by coming in every 12 laps and taking on new tires. Occasionally, Carter would call for two tires, and others it would be four tires and fuel. Regardless of the call made in the pits, the No. 26 Crown Royal pit crew stuck together and knocked out some of their fastest stops of the season.
“It’s just frustrating this afternoon,” said McMurray following the race. “They said the track was getting better in happy hour, but we didn’t see that and it never really did take rubber. I got really mad in the middle because they were letting us run until the tires were blowing up and I’m like, ‘You can’t put us in that situation.’ You’ve got to throw the caution before we blow a tire because if someone gets hurt, we could have prevented that. Thankfully, they let us run about 12 laps and they’d throw the caution. Just about every time the caution would come out, the lap before I’d be like, ‘I’m done. Here it is.’ That’s an odd way to race. In the end, it was a great afternoon for this No. 26 team and for Crown Royal.”
Dennis Setzer scored his 2005 Indy victory after starting from the pole. Inclement weather forced NASCAR to cancel the scheduled qualifying and the field was set according to the Owner’s Point Standings in which Dennis Setzer’s team was leading at the time.
On that night, the short track specialist led 177 of 200 laps en route to the dominating win at the 0.686-mile O'Reily Raceway Park. The win was the driver's fourth in six races and 16th of his truck career, but his first career top-five at ORP. He started on the pole courtesy of an afternoon rain storm which cancelled qualifying and the race was over almost before it began. Ted Musgrave started on the front row and gave Setzer a challenge for the first couple of laps, but he was no match for Setzer that evening.
This week at ORP Setzer stated, "I might just be the happiest person in the garage at Indy. We had a great run last weekend in Kentucky with the No. 18 Tahoe Dodge. Bringing Jeff Hensley on board has really made a difference in how our team communicates. We won at Martinsville in March and had a really good truck at Mansfield before a parts failure took us out of contention."
"I feel like if we can keep our nose clean we will have a good chance at winning on Friday night. Both the team and myself have scored victories at ORP in the past and I hope we can add another to that list this weekend."
Bobby Hamilton Racing has two victories( 2000 and 2004) at ORP. In 2004 Chad Chaffin drove to victory over Johnny Sauter to score his second win of the season. The No.18 Dodge crossed the finish line 0.348 seconds ahead of the runner-up. The victory was Chaffin's second of the season and second of his truck career. Chaffin's first Craftsman Truck Series win came in June of that year at Dover.
"I drove hard all night," said Chaffin.
Joe Ruttman scored his second of three victories in 2000 for BHRVA by winning at Indy after starting from the pole.
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.
St. Louis natives Mike (No. 7 GEICO Toyota) and Kenny (No. 28 U.S. Border Patrol Chevrolet) Wallace will race at Gateway, their home track, along with nephew Steve (No. 66 Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches Chevrolet), who still has plenty of ties although born and raised in North Carolina.
Mike Wallace, eighth in the standings, has had the best result among the family at the track with a runner-up finish in 2006.
“Every year I get myself too worked up about this race,” Kenny Wallace said. “There’s nothing more in my racing career I want to do than win at Gateway.”
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