Carelli Knows Bristol Motor Speedway From Bottom To The Top

Little did Rick Carelli know his sponsor's slogan, “Above The Crowd,” would have a different meaning a decade or so after his 1996 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory at Bristol Motor Speedway. When the engines fire for Wednesday night's O'Reilly 200, Carelli will have one of the best seats in the house high atop Bristol's control complex.

Carelli, who retired from active competition after finishing fifth at Daytona International Speedway in 2002, is the spotter for defending NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday Jr. (#33 Camping World Chevy). In a way, Hornaday and Carelli might be said to have the unfair advantage this week. Both are winners of the O'Reilly 200 — the only such driver-spotter combination in the field.

 “As a past driver you can watch the lines a driver is using in practice and suggest a different way around the track because you have an understanding of what the truck needs to do to go faster,” said Carelli, who began spotting for NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Mike Dillon in 1999. That led to a stint with Dale Earnhardt and finally Kevin Harvick in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Harvick formed a truck team and Carelli followed.

"A past driver also can give the crew chief different ideas," he said. “I'm always looking ahead on the racetrack and constantly aware of what's going on all over and on some days, it is almost the same as sitting in the seat.” Carelli agrees that his job this week will be one of the season's biggest challenges. “Anywhere the closing rate is fast, things happen in a hurry,” he said.

At Bristol, You Need A Program To Keep Up With Jack Sprague

Jack Sprague (#2 American Commercial Lines Chevy) is best at Bristol Motor Speedway in top-five and top-10 finishes with four and seven, respectively. He'll also lead another category when he starts  Wednesday's O'Reilly 200.

Sprague has driven for five different owners in his nine previous Bristol races. Kevin Harvick Inc. will be his sixth. It hasn't seemed to matter whether he drove a Chevy (for four owners) or a Toyota. Sprague has at least one top-10 finish in each truck. He won for Rick Hendrick in 1999 en route to his second NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series title.

Different Owners, Similar Results

Jack Sprague has driven for five different owners at Bristol Motor Speedway. This week, DeLana Harvick will be his sixth.

Years       Owner              Best Finish
1995         Bruce Griffin             6th
1996-2001 Rick Hendrick           1st
2004         Steve Coulter          28th
2005-06     Dave Fuge               3rd
2007         Jeff Wyler                 7th

Etc. & Quotable:

• Speed Returns At Bristol … Scott Speed (#22 Red Bull Toyota) has been absent from the series since finishing third at Michigan in mid-June. That will change this week as the four-time ARCA RE/MAX winner and points leader runs the first of eight NASCAR Craftsman Truck races remaining on his schedule.
  
  “I am looking forward to running Bristol for the first time.  I have received a lot of information about Bristol, so it should be quite interesting to see how it all applies when I get there,” said Speed, the winner at Dover.
  
  
• Carpentier To Debut … In order to get additional track time on one of the toughest tracks on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule, Patrick Carpentier will make his first series start in the #04 BHR-VA Dodge. He is the 12th Canadian to compete in the series.
  
  
• All Nine Winners In At Bristol … With Speed and Kyle Busch (#51 Miccosukee Resorts/NOS Toyota) back in the fold, all nine 2008 winners will line up at Bristol. Busch, eighth in his most recent start at O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis, bids to join Carl Edwards and Mark Martin as drivers who have won in all three of NASCAR's national series at the .533-mile facility.
  
  
• Johnson Latest Champion To Sample Series … Jimmie Johnson (#81 Kobalt Tools Chevy) is the 10th different NASCAR Sprint Cup champion to compete in a truck race. Jeff Gordon is the only active champion without a series start. He co-owned the Chevy driven in 1995 by Scott Lagasse.
  
  
• Concrete Conquerors … Seven expected entrants have won NASCAR Craftsman Truck races on concrete. Bristol winners include Johnny Benson, Ron Hornaday Jr., Mike Skinner (#5 Toyota Tundra Toyota) and Jack Sprague. Speed, Busch and Ted Musgrave (#59 Harris Trucking Toyota) also won on concrete.  While Todd Bodine (#30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota) has not won at Bristol in a truck; the 2006 champion has two NASCAR Nationwide victories  in 1992-93.
  
  
• Joe Set The Standard … With four series winners age 50 and older in the field, it's possible a “very veteran” driver may win at Bristol this week. None, however, will be the first senior to set foot in Bristol's Victory Lane. Joe Ruttman was 50 in 1995 when he captured Bristol's Pizza Plus 150. The victory was the first in the series by a 50-year-old and a Ford truck.

A Fourth Win So Far Is Unobtainable

Four drivers on five occasions have failed to win a fourth consecutive NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race. Johnny Benson (#23  Exide Toyota) gets his shot at the record this week. Here's how the previous streaks ended.

Year  Driver              Track        Finish
1996  Mike Skinner     Bristol         3rd
1997  R. Hornaday Jr. Topeka        3rd
2000  Greg Biffle         Milwaukee   3rd
2006  Todd Bodine      Daytona      2nd
2007  Mike Skinner     Kansas       5th

Rick Carelli's Five Toughest Spots
Rick Carelli's spotting career began in 1999 as he recovered from injuries suffered in an accident at Memphis Motorsports Par. He developed a relationship with Richard Childress Racing and Kevin Harvick.

Here are Carelli's five most difficult places to spot:
...Bristol, Martinsville and Dover: "They're short and you have to be able to watch everything at once."
...Phoenix: "The spotters' stand is in Turn 1 and it makes it harder to see over to the turns on the opposite end of the track."
...Texas: "From the spotters' location, you can't really tell how close other trucks are going away from you through the dogleg into Turn 1. Actually, all of the superspeedways are difficult because of closing rates and how the trucks move from lane to lane down the backstretch."

Bristol's Top Rookie Locks Up Title Five Years Running

Call it deferred gratification.

No Raybestos Rookie of the Year has managed to win at Bristol Motor Speedway.

That's the bad news but here's the good:

In each of the five seasons since the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series returned to the .533-mile track, the highest-finishing freshman candidate has gone on to claim the Raybestos Rookie of the Year crown.

That said, no rookie has been able to crack the top 10 since 1998 when Kevin Cywinski placed eighth.

Jay Sauter turned in the lone top-five performance in 1996. The Wisconsin driver finished third.

Willie Allen had the best results a year ago finishing 19th.

NASCAR Raybestos Rookie of the Year Standings after 15 races of the 2008 season:

1. Colin Braun     155
2. Donny Lia       139
3. Justin Marks   127
4. Brian Scott     116
5. Marc Mitchell  100
6. Andy Lally        62
7. Scott Speed     61
8. Phillip McGilton 38

Who Is The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series' Most Popular Driver?

Have you cast your vote yet? Don't forget to make it count. For the first time in series history, voting for the Series' Most Popular Driver is in the hands of the fans. Be sure to check out NASCAR.com and vote for your favorite. More than 30,000 votes have been cast since voting began July 5.

Director's Take: Wayne's Words

“A year ago, nobody really knew what to expect as Bristol Motor Speedway finished one of the track's most significant reconstruction projects.

“Simply put, the Old Bristol was gone. What the week would bring was anyone's guess. The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was honored to be the first to test the track and did the drivers put on a show for the fans! Where Bristol used to be a bump-and-run kind of place — where you pushed and shoved to advance — the track architects produced compound banking with multiple grooves. Amazingly, a fast driver could take the high line and make his passes without so much as scuffing his truck's paint.

“Who would have thought? The race was won from the eighth starting position. That was only the second time in 10 races that the winner started outside the top five. In one respect, the track is the same, old Bristol. Making a truck handle remains a challenge to every crew chief.

“Last year was interesting in another way. Johnny Benson won the race with an engine that hadn't been rebuilt from earlier competition. This factored into the decision to cut horsepower and give our owners the opportunity to reduce their costs.

“Speaking of Johnny, he's truly on a roll — one that doesn't come around very often. Being able to win four out of five races is pretty much unheard of in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Greg Biffle was the last to do so; and that was in 2000. Nobody's ever won four in a row, something Johnny has a chance to do this week. Some pretty impressive drivers have tried and failed: Biffle, Todd Bodine, Ron Hornaday Jr. and Mike Skinner; champions all. So Johnny's got his work cut out for him. But the way the #23 team is running, he has a pretty good chance of making history.”
— Wayne Auton, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Director.

This Week's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Leaders
(Through 15 races of the 25-race season)
Points leader – Johnny Benson (2,071)
Driver Rating – Ron Hornaday Jr. (114.5)
Laps led – Ron Hornaday Jr. (717)
Victories – Johnny Benson (4)
Keystone Light Poles – Johnny Benson, Mike Skinner (3)
Top-five finishes – Johnny Benson (9)
Top-10 finishes – Mike Sinner (12)
Raybestos Rookie Leader – Colin Braun
Races led – Ron Hornaday Jr. (13)
Weeks in Top 10 – Three drivers with 15

Bristol Motor Speedway was part of the series' 1995 inaugural season schedule holding five stand-alone races through 1999.

The race returned in 2003 as a Wednesday night affair drawing crowds of up to 60,000.

In The Loop:

Mike Skinner's 2008 looks a bit like his 2005.

They share many of the same characteristics. After 16 races in 2005, Skinner was winless. After 15 races this season, the same holds true.

After 16 races in 2005, Skinner was eighth in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points standings. Currently, after 15 races, Skinner is in fourth – the highest he's been all season. For the much of 2008 though, Skinner hovered around sixth and seventh.

But luck turned around for Skinner in 2005 at race #17 – Bristol Motor Speedway. This season, Bristol sets up as race #16, but Skinner hopes the same holds true once again. In that 2005 Bristol event, Skinner led an unbelievable 190 of the 200 laps for his first victory of the season. He also scored a rare perfect Driver Rating of 150.0.

Overall, Skinner's Bristol record is strong. In six career starts, he has four top-10 finishes, including runs of first, seventh and fourth over the last three races.

Over that three race span, Skinner has a Driver Rating of 125.7, an Average Running Position of 4.3, 61 Fastest Laps Run and has run a stunning 595 of the 600 laps among the top 15 – a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 99.2.

But, likely, much the focus will be on Johnny Benson's quest for four-in-a-row. It's not an impossible feat by any means. Benson won there last year and since 2005 has a Driver Rating of 123.1 and an Average Running Position of 4.6.

One other note of interest, going into the previous three Bristol races, the eventual Bristol winner had a season-to-date Driver Rating of at least 95.5. (Skinner had a 101.3 in 2005; Mark Martin had a 134.7 in 2006; Johnny Benson had a 95.5 in 2007). Five drivers currently have a 2008 Driver Rating over 95.5: Ron Hornaday Jr., Benson, Todd Bodine, Skinner and Kyle Busch.

Manufacturers' Battle

The drive to 50 victories is a race between Toyota and Roush Fenway Racing.

The truck maker won for the 46th time in series competition at Nashville Superspeedway. Toyota has two wins at Bristol.

2008 Manufacturers' Championship Point Standings following Race 15 of 25 at Nashville Superspeedway:

Toyota, 105
Chevy, 98
Ford, 73
Dodge, 54

Ford stalwart Jack Roush hopes to win for the 50th time this week. His trucks have two of Ford' three Bristol victories in 2004 and 2006.

Up Next:

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams get the opportunity to spend the Labor Day Weekend with family and friends before heading to Gateway International Raceway for the Sept. 6 Camping World 200 presented by Honda Power Tools.

Johnny Benson is the defending winner at the 1.25-mile speedway in Madison, Ill.

Third Time's A Charm For Points Leader Benson

Johnny Benson (#23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Toyota) earned his way into an elite group of drivers in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Saturday with his win at Nashville Superspeedway.

Benson became the fifth driver to win three races in a row joining drivers Ron Hornaday, Jr. (#33 Camping World Chevy), teammate Mike Skinner (#5 Toyota Tundra Toyota) and former series champions Greg Biffle and Todd Bodine (#30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota).

Third time was the charm for Benson, who previously fell short in 2006 and 2007.

The series veteran's victory also marked additional firsts. The win was his fourth of the season each in the last five races. That hadn't happened since Biffle went on a similar hot streak en route to the title. Maybe that's an omen for Benson, who is looking for his first series championship.

Benson also became Nashville Superspeedway's first repeat winner in eight races dating to 2001.

While Benson retains his lead in the championship standings, he can't feel comfortable. He leads by only 45 points over defending champion Hornaday, the closest since 2003 when Brendan Gaughan led Travis Kvapil by seven.

History favors the Bill Davis Racing driver holding or extending his advantage when the series next competes at Bristol Motor Speedway on Aug. 20.

Benson is the defending winner of the O'Reilly 200 as he bids to become the first to win four straight.

Erik Darnell Is Movin' On Up

With 10 races remaining in the 2008 season, Erik Darnell (#99 Northern Tool + Equipment Ford) finds himself climbing the points ladder. In his third season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, the Roush Fenway Racing driver got off to a strong start at Daytona winning the Keystone Light Pole. But his night ended early after being caught up in an accident. That set the tone for an up-and-down run of nine stars in which Darnell recorded only two top 10s.

Then came race 10. Darnell edged Benson in June's photo finish at Michigan International Speedway marking the closest margin of victory in series history since electronic scoring was implemented. Since that second career victory, Darnell has posted four top-five finishes including a pair of seconds. He's also moved from 12th to sixth in points.

As the Roush camp looks for it's golden 50th victory in the series, Darnell heads to tracks where he's made strong runs. Darnell has been solid on the short tracks with a second at Memphis and fifth at Martinsville. Take that success, add recent momentum and chances are good Darnell could bring home his second win of the season at Bristol.

Etc. & Quotable

• Wallace In The Big Apple … Chrissy Wallace (#03 Germain Toyota), along with her father, NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Mike Wallace, will go to the Big Apple Tuesday to ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange at 4 p.m. ET. The younger Wallace made her NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut earlier this season at Martinsville. Her next race will be at Gateway International Raceway on Sept. 6.
  
  
• Don't Count These Guys Out … While the top of the field contained some usual suspects, several drivers made strong showings with solid finishes at Nashville Superspeedway.
  With a seventh-place finish, Stacy Compton (#4 Bobby Hamilton Racing VA Dodge) posted his fourth top-10. Compton started the night second, his best start of the season, and was also one of six drivers to lead laps.
  
  Chad McCumbee (#8 Malcolmson Construction Chevy) ended his night in the top 10 after starting 20th. This finish was his fifth top-10 of the season and a welcome break from the tough luck that has plagued the team since his last top-10 appearance at Michigan.
  
  The driver, who sits 12th in the points standings, has collected two top-five finishes as well. His best finish, second, came in May at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
  
  The series's 2005 champion, Ted Musgrave, and his #59 Team ASE/Harris Trucking Toyota, placed a solid eighth, his best finish since his sixth-place finish at Auto Club Speedway in February. The driver has four top 10s this season.
  
  
• Tune In Alert … Be sure to tune in to ESPN Tuesday, Aug. 12 at 7 p.m. ET to catch the series “E:60”. The show will feature a segment on Randy Moss and the new #81 Randy Moss Motorsports team. The show includes footage of the team's debut at Kentucky Speedway in July.

This Week's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Leaders
(Through 15 races of the 25-race season)
Points leader – Johnny Benson (2,071)
Driver Rating – Ron Hornaday Jr. (114.5)
Laps led – Ron Hornaday Jr. (717)
Victories – Johnny Benson (4)
Keystone Light Poles – Johnny Benson, Mike Skinner (3)
Top-five finishes – Johnny Benson (9)
Top-10 finishes – Mike Sinner (12)
Raybestos Rookie Leader – Colin Braun
Races led – Ron Hornaday Jr. (13)
Weeks in Top 10 – Three drivers with 15

Manufacturers' Battle

Toyota maintains the lead after Nashville in the race for the Manufacturers' Championship title. The trucks head to Bristol where Ford and Toyota have alternated trips to Victory Lane over the last four races.

Manufacturers' Championship Point Standings following Race 15 of 25 at Nashville Superspeedway:

Toyota, 105
Chevy, 98
Ford, 73
Dodge, 54

Rookie Standings

With a top-10 finish in the Music City, Roush Fenway Racing driver Colin Braun (#6 Con-Way Freight Ford) extends his lead to 16 points over  Donny Lia (#Nationrides.com Chevy) in the competition for Raybestos Rookie of the Year honors.

Braun started the race fourth and finished sixth.  

NASCAR Raybestos Rookie of the Year Standings after 15 races of the 2008 season:

1. Colin Braun       155
2. Donny Lia         139
3. Justin Marks     127
4. Brian Scott       116
5. Marc Mitchell    100
6. Andy Lally          62
7. Scott Speed       61
8. Phillip McGilton  38

In The Loop: Still Chasing A Victory

Jack Sprague has gone winless over an entire season only twice. Once was 1995, the inaugural NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season. The second was 2003, when he ran only two of the 25 races. Otherwise, he's won at least one race. But in this 2008 season, Sprague has yet to visit Victory Lane. But the statistics suggest it'll come sooner than later. Sprague has been strong this season, and compares favorably with those drivers who have won in 2008. Sprague has a Driver Rating of 90.9 (sixth-best), an Average Running Position of 12.0 (eighth), 120 Fastest Laps Run (fifth) and has spent 71.6% of the total laps running among the top 15 (seventh).

Mike Skinner has also gone winless in 2008 and, like Sprague, ranks among the best in the series in most Loop Data statistics. Skinner has a Driver Rating of 97.1 (fourth), an Average Running Position of 9.6 (fourth), 63 Fastest Laps Run (eighth) and has a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 83.3% (second).

Both past champions have contended for a victory in 2008. Skinner leads the series in top-10 finishes with 12, while Sprague has four top-five and seven top-10 finishes.

Up Next:

The series heads east on Interstate 40 to swap paint at Bristol Motor Speedway Wednesday, Aug. 20.

The Johnny Benson show could continue. The driver is the defending winner of the O'Reilly 200.