Wednesday, July 6th
10:00 AM NCWTS HAULERS ENTER
11:30 AM NCWTS REGISTRATION OPENS
12:00 PM NCWTS GARAGE OPENS
3:00 PM NCWTS ROOKIE & SPOTTER MEETINGS & RANDOM DRAWING
4:00 PM 5:00 PM NCWTS PRACTICE
6:00 PM 7:00 PM NCWTS PRACTICE
7:00 PM NCWTS REGISTRATION CLOSES
8:00 PM NCWTS GARAGE CLOSES

Thursday, July 7th
8:30 AM NCWTS GARAGE & REGISTRATION OPENS
10:00 AM 11:00 AM NCWTS FINAL PRACTICE
3:05 PM NCWTS QUALIFYING (TWO LAPS, ALL POSITIONS)
6:00 PM NCWTS DRIVER / CREW CHIEF MEETING (BLUEGRASS HALL)
7:35 PM NCWTS DRIVER INTRODUCTIONS-SECURITY –CLEAR PIT ROAD
8:00 PM NCWTS RACE (150 LAPS, 225 MILES)
8:30 PM NCWTS REGISTRATION CLOSES

Note: All times listed in Eastern Time Zone; tentative and subject to change.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series -- Race No. 10 – University of Northwestern Ohio 225
Kentucky Motor Speedway (1.50-mile oval) – Sparta, Ky.
Fast Facts for July 6-7, 2011

Tire:
Goodyear Wrangler Speedway Radials

Number of Tires:
Left-side -- 375
Right-side -- 375

Set limits:
5 sets for weekend

Tire Codes:
Left-side -- D-4394
Right-side -- D-4440

Tire Circumference:
Left-side -- 87.1 in
Right-side -- 88.4 in.

Technical Inspection Inflation:
Left Front -- 30 psi; Left Rear -- 30 psi
Right Front -- 48 psi; Right Rear -- 45 psi

Minimum Recommended Inflation:
Left Front -- 22 psi; Left Rear -- 20 psi
Right Front -- 46 psi; Right Rear -- 42 psi

Notes:
Teams in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series teams will run a slightly different tire set-up than those in the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series at Kentucky this week . . . while teams in all three series will run the same right-side tire code (D-4440), Camping World Truck teams will run a slightly different left-side tire (D-4394) . . . truck teams have run this left-side code several times in the past -- at Dover this season and at Dover, Michigan and Kentucky last season . . . this is the first time they have run this right-side code . . . compared to what these teams ran at Kentucky in 2010, this right-side features slight construction and compound changes . . . as on all NASCAR ovals greater than one mile in length, teams are required to run inner liners in all four tire positions at Kentucky . . . air pressure in those inner liners should be 12-25 psi greater than that of the outer tire.(Goodyear PR)(7-6-2011)

Truck Series News & Notes - Kentucky Speedway

Kentucky Victory Equals NCWTS Title More Often Than Not
Kentucky Speedway has done more than separate the contenders from the pretenders. Kentucky's race winner has gone on to claim the championship in six of the 11 seasons the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series has competed at the 1.5-mile track.

Greg Biffle started the trend in 2000, winning the inaugural race. He was followed by Mike Bliss (2002), Bobby Hamilton (2004), Johnny Benson (2008), Ron Hornaday Jr. (2009) and Todd Bodine (2010). Coincidence? Unlikely.

Kentucky Speedway isn't like other intermediate tracks on the schedule. "I really like Kentucky and a lot of guys don't," said Johnny Sauter, the current series points leader and the second-place finisher in last year's UNOH 225. "It has less banking, more bumps you have to lift through, and it's fast and flatter. It takes a lot of skill and driving, especially through the corners."

Hornaday is the series' only two-time winner at Kentucky Speedway. His crew chief, Jeff Hensley, won with Skinner in 2007 thus giving the Kevin Harvick Inc. team additional advantage. "I've always wanted to race there more than once a year and finally this year we'll get to do it," said Hensley, noting the series returns to Kentucky in October. "It'll be nice to have two shots at the win."

Bodine and Hornaday are the only previous winners expected to compete in Thursday's race. "It's definitely a better state of mind heading to Kentucky Speedway after our win there last year," said Bodine, 13th in points after a 31st-place finish last month in Texas. "We know we can get it done. We already knew that because we'd always run well there in the past. But, getting the win last year proves it."

Thursday Racing, Once A NCWTS Staple, Returns At Kentucky
How about a little Thursday night thunder? The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series has raced on Thursday nights since its inaugural 1995 season - twice a season, in fact, until 2001.Kentucky Speedway's UNOH 225 revives the tradition, if you will, absent since Mike Skinner won the most recent series event at Richmond International Raceway in 2005. All told, there have been 17 Thursday night races beginning with Skinner's 1995 victory at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis.

Skinner, currently competing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, has the most Thursday wins -- four. Hornaday is the only active series driver with a Thursday night win, at Indy in 1997.

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series has been an "any time, any place" proposition since its inception. The 2011 season finds competition on Wednesday -- Aug. 24 at Bristol Motor Speedway -- Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Tuesday is the only day the truck engines haven't fired.

Buescher Aims To Become Second First-Time Winner At Kentucky
Don't be surprised if James Buescher winds up in Victory Lane, joins Carl Edwards as a first-time series winner at Kentucky and makes another huge stride toward a championship that seemed out of reach when he failed to qualify for the season's second race at Phoenix International Raceway.

Buescher has been knocking on the door, stringing six top-10 finishes in seven post-Phoenix starts. He stands seventh in current points standings.His Turner Motorsports team has been flexing its muscles of late in both the NASCAR Camping World Truck and NASCAR Nationwide series. Turner drivers comprise three of the top five in the NASCAR Nationwide Series standings including leader Reed Sorenson. "We really have made headway in the points since March," said Buescher, an ARCA winner at Kentucky Speedway in 2009. "If we continue to run in the top five week in and week out the wins will come."

NCTS Etc.
Thursday's UNOH 225 marks the 275th NCWTS start for David Starr. He ranks sixth on the career start list. Bodine also hits a career milestone, his 175th series start to rank 11th all-time. Rick Crawford holds the start record with 330. ...Kentucky Speedway becomes the sixth track to host two races in the same season. The others are Texas (1999-Present), Martinsville (2003-Present), Nashville (2010-Present), Phoenix (1995-98) and Mesa Marin (1995). ...Hornaday, in 2009, is the only Keystone Light Pole winner to visit Kentucky's Victory Lane. There have been 11 different pole winners in the track's 11 races beginning in 2000. ...NASCAR Sprint Cup competitor Kyle Busch and NASCAR Nationwide regular Elliott Sadler have entered the UNOH 225.(NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications)(7-5-2011)

Truck Series News & Notes-- Open Week, June 28, 2011

ThorSport's New State--Of--The--Art Facility Shows Commitment To Series
ThorSport Racing, due to compete in its record, 354th NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event later this summer at Pocono Raceway, is proving to be not only involved in the series but committed to take the next step toward its championship.
While Johnny Sauter continues to savor a 20--point championship lead-- largest of 2011-- his team is putting the finishing touches on what will be by far the largest, most state--of--the--art NCWTS--only facility.

The 100,000 square--foot headquarters will be operational in the next several weeks with a grand opening planned for Aug. 17. The facility will house three teams: Sauter's, the No. 88 Menards Chevrolet of Matt Crafton and the No. 98 Chevrolet of newcomer Dakoda Armstrong, who is set to make his debut on July 16 at Iowa Speedway. Size is one thing. "I believe the best way to compare the two shops is in the fact that the main set up and finish assembly area is the same size as our entire shop at this time," said team manager David Pepper. Location is another.

ThorSport, owned by husband and wife Duke and Rhonda Thorson, is based in Sandusky, Ohio, far from the Charlotte area home to virtually every fulltime NASCAR national series team. The Thorsons wouldn't have it any other way and would be pleased to join 2004 NCWTS champion Bobby Hamilton as the only team based outside North Carolina to win a series title.
Ironically, Hamilton moved into his new shop the same season he won the championship. "It opens a new chapter for ThorSport Racing and gives us the ability to grow this organization into the future," said Pepper. "This is truly a long--term business plan that will help us offer substantially more resources and support to our employees, sponsor partners and crew members as well as our series."

Five Red--Hot Twenty--Somethings Gunning For NCWTS Veterans
Travis Kvapil made news in 2003 as the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series' first (and still only) champion under the age of 30. Looking at drivers currently ranked among the top 10 it's possible Kvapil, then 27, could lose his spot in the record book. Five 2011 title contenders-- including two in the top four-- have yet to celebrate their 22nd birthdays.

• Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Cole Whitt, 20, heads the group in the runner--up spot behind current championship leader Sauter.
• Austin Dillon recently celebrated his 21st birthday as he shows in the No. 4 position.
• James Buescher, seventh, is 21.
• Parker Kligerman, 20, finished second in the series' most recent race at Texas Motor Speedway.
• Joey Coulter, 21, stands ninth.

None have won a race in 2011 but the season is only nine races old. What stands out, however, is the five drivers' consistency-- especially at such tender ages. They have posted a combined four Keystone Light Poles, 11 top fives and 23 top 10s.

NCWTS Etc.
Armstrong, 19, won ARCA's June 25 race at historic Winchester Speedway in Indiana. The former World Karting Association champion previously won series races at Talladega Superspeedway and Salem, Ind. The Indiana farmer was ARCA's 2010 rookie of the year. .... Ricky Carmichael made a solid NASCAR Nationwide Series road racing debut finishing ninth on Saturday at Road America. Carmichael is slated to compete for Turner Motorsports in this week's Subway Jalapeno 250 Powered by Coca--Cola at Daytona International Speedway. .... The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is off over the Fourth of July weekend but returns to action July 7-- a Thursday night race-- at Kentucky Speedway. Current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points leader Carl Edwards won his first of six series races at the 1.5--mile facility in 2003, the track's only first--time NCWTS winner. A win in Kentucky Speedway's inaugural Quaker State 400 would give the Missourian a sweep of all three NASCAR national series. Edwards previously won the 2005 NNS Meijer 300.(NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications)(6-28-2011)

Truck Series News & Notes-- Open Week, June 21, 2011

Starr, Crafton Continue To Chase Elusive Championship
For some drivers-- think Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards-- the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series has been the cornerstone of NASCAR stardom at the highest level.
Others, however, have made the series a destination as they continue to seek the elusive championship.
David Starr made his 274th series start earlier this month in his native Texas. Starr will become just the sixth competitor with 275 starts when he takes the green flag July 7 at Kentucky Speedway.
Starr, whose NCWTS career began in 1998, has been a fulltime competitor since 2002, winning four times with seven top-10 championship finishes. He sits in the 20th position after nine races.
Equally impressive is the record of Matt Crafton. Crafton made his NASCAR Camping World Truck debut in the final race of the 2000 season and has had perfect attendance ever since. His 255 consecutive starts over 12 seasons ranks No. 3 on the series all-time list. He's due to eclipse Dennis Setzer's second most consecutive starts (267) this fall at Talladega Superspeedway.
Terry Cook holds the longest string of consecutive starts-- 296-- from January 1998 through November 2009.
Crafton has finished among the top 10 in points in five of the past six seasons, the most recent three among the top five. The Tulare, Calif. native's closest brush with the title came in 2009 when he was runner up to Ron Hornaday Jr. He's fifth in current points after leading the standings on three occasions earlier this season.

NASCAR K&N Pro Series Stars Past, Present On Center Stage In Texas
When the checkered flag fell June 10 at Texas Motor Speedway, the finishing order of the WinStar World Casino 400 spotlighted a number of former and current NASCAR K&N Pro Series West drivers past and present.
The winner, Hornaday, was a six-time winner in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series before joining Dale Earnhardt Inc. in the inaugural 1995 season of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Hornaday, of course, is among the successful graduates of the series winning four NCWTS titles, 48 races and a pair of NASCAR Nationwide Series events.
His team owner, Kevin Harvick, the 1998 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West champion, found success in NASCAR Camping World trucks that propelled him to NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide series stardom.
Two other K&N Pro Series West-connected drivers had superlative results in Texas:

• David Mayhew, a three-time K&N winner, last season's points runner up and fourth in 2011 standings, drove Kevin Harvick Inc.'s No. 2 Chevrolet to a third-place finish. The performance was Mayhew's first top five.
• Brian Ickler is Kyle Busch's go-to driver for 2011 stand-alone events. Ickler, a three-time NASCAR K&N Pro Series winner, responded with a fourth-place run that kept the KBM team comfortably atop the NCWTS owners championship standings.

Hornaday isn't the only NASCAR K&N Pro Series West alumnus to move to NASCAR national series stardom. Two-time NASCAR K&N champion Brendan Gaughan is 10th in NCWTS points and won eight times before stints in the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide series.
Greg Pursley, the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West points leader entering Saturday's race at Infineon Raceway, could be next. Pursley finished eighth at Iowa Speedway last season and plans several more NCWTS starts later this year.

Points Battle Tips Toward Crowing First-Time Champion
Johnny Sauter has several more weeks to savor his 20-point championship lead-- largest this season-- before the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series swings back into action July 7 at Kentucky Speedway.
Sauter and his ThorSport teammate Crafton have held the top spot after seven of the season's nine races.
Hornaday, third behind Sauter and Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Cole Whitt, is the only former champion ranked among the current top 10 suggesting the odds are in favor of a first-time title holder emerging in 2011.

NCWTS Etc.
Ricky Carmichael and Max Papis will compete in Saturday's NASCAR Nationwide Series Bucyrus 200 Presented by Menards at Road America in Wisconsin. Carmichael will be making his first NASCAR road-race start for Turner Motorsports while Papis will return to the seat of the No. 33 Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet he drove to a second-place finish last season in Montreal.... Looking ahead to Kentucky: Next month's UNOH 225 is the first of two races to be held at the 1.5-mile track and the next tripleheader weekend shared with NASCAR Sprint Cup and NASCAR Nationwide Series competitors. NCWTS teams return to Kentucky Speedway for a stand-alone date on Oct. 1.(NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications)(6-21-2011)

Truck Series News & Notes-- Open Week, June 13, 2011

Sauter-Hornaday Struggles Recall Earlier NCWTS Rivalry

You might call it rivalry redux. The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series-- tough driver, tough trucks reputation, in large part, was built on Jack Sprague vs. Ron Hornaday Jr., a pair of hard-nosed competitors who won a combined four championships and 35 races between 1996-99. Did they like each other? Maybe off the track but when the engines fired there was certainly a rivalry-like intensity between the two.

So here we go again-- this time with Hornaday and Johnny Sauter. Both are hard-nosed, no quarter asked or given racers and over the past two seasons they--ve always seemed to find each other on the track. They've traded paint and bumpers as well as harsh words and ill feelings.

And, following Hornaday--June 10 victory at Texas Motor Speedway-- at Sauter's--expense--the action likely will continue to boil when the schedule resumes July 7 at Kentucky Speedway. Sauter blocked Hornaday on the race--final restart drawing a penalty that left the Wisconsin driver with a 22nd-place finish instead of a likely second victory of 2011. Sauter, who had his rival down by 56 points (and in sixth place) saw the margin shrink to 33 as Hornaday, seeking a fifth title, climbed to third. The two appear evenly matched, especially in qualifying, putting them head to head when the green flag drops.

Keselowski, Kligerman Returning Dodge To Contending Status

It's been tough sledding for Dodge since Ted Musgrave won its final driver championship in 2005, ending a five-year run during which the truck builder won three manufacturers-- championships and 50 races. A Dodge has gone to Victory Lane just once-- Dennis Setzer in 2008 at Mansfield, Ohio-- in the subsequent five-plus seasons. That drought could be ended by team owner Brad Keselowski and driver Parker Kligerman. It might not yet be a renaissance but Kligerman finished a solid second June 10 at Texas Motor Speedway, matching his team owner--runner up performance last summer at Gateway International Raceway. Kligerman has posted seven top-15 finishes in 2011, three among the top 10.

Current Sunoco Rookie Contenders Competing Like Veterans
Led by Cole Whitt, who currently ranks second in NASCAR Camping World Truck standings, this year--Sunoco Rookie of the Year class shapes up as one of the strongest top-to-bottom in series history. Five drivers-- Whitt, Kligerman, Miguel Paludo, Nelson Piquet Jr. and Joey Coulter -- have posted at least one top-five finish in the first nine races.

• Kligerman became the latest to claim a top five, at Texas Motor Speedway.
• Coulter was fifth in Texas, to match his series-best finish scored the previous week at Kansas Speedway.
• Three Sunoco rookie contenders rank in the top 10 overall after nine races: Whitt (second), Kligerman (eighth) and Coulter (ninth). Whitt is the rookie points leader by 22 over Coulter.

The number of rookies with a top-five finish compares with arguably the top freshman class in series history. In 1997 five rookies scoring at least one top-five finish ranked among the final series top 20. Rookie of the Year Kenny Irwin and Tony Raines each won races during their rookie season. The other three contenders-- Stacy Compton, Rick Crawford and Boris Said-- later became series winners.

NCWTS Etc.

Hornaday--48th victory includes 13 wins past the age of 50, matching Joe Ruttman--s series record for the senior citizen set. Hornaday now has won in seven consecutive seasons, 13 overall. Hornaday--finish marked his 198th top 10.... A Kevin Harvick Inc. truck won for the second consecutive week and 35th time in NCWTS competition. KHI needs one more win to catch Ultra Motorsports for No. 2 all time.-- Kligerman (second), David Mayhew (third), Ryan Sieg (seventh) and Johanna Long (11th) posted career-best series finishes in Texas.(NASCAR PR)(6-14-2011)