#2-Jimmy Spencer was literally “truckin'” around Lowe’s Motor Speedway Tuesday evening as 26 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams made final preparations for the Quaker Steak & Lube 200 presented by Click It or Ticket on Friday night, May 20. Not only did Spencer lead the speed parade with an unofficial lap at 178.879 mph around the 1.5-mile superspeedway, he also led the chorus of praise for the track’s renovated racing surface. “They did a good job grinding the track,” Spencer said. “I like it now that there are two distinct grooves that will be there all night long. Before, people would stay on the bottom. Now I think you can race high or low. It’s going to be a lot better racing in one and two and now that they have taken the bumps out of three and four there will be better racing through there also.” Spencer’s quickest lap in the Team ASE Dodge was more than three miles per hour faster than the truck series track record of 175.593mph set by Bill Lester during the inaugural event in 2003. Jack Sprague was second fastest on the unofficial stopwatches with a lap at 178.554 mph in the #16 Chevrolet Silverado. David Starr, the pole winner for last year’s truck race, was third fastest at 178.118 mph in the Spears Manufacturing Chevrolet. Lester was fastest among the Toyotas, clocking the fourth quickest lap at 177.521 mph while Bobby Labonte, subbing for Tony Stewart, was fifth fastest in the #47 Chevrolet All Star truck.
Veteran open-wheel racer and 1996 Indianapolis 500 winner Buddy Lazier was among those on hand for the testing session. Lazier, who won the 1997 Indy Racing League event at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, is looking to break into the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. He tested one of Billy Ballew’s two #15 Chevrolets while Johnny Sauter wheeled the other. There were no incidents during the session which was interrupted by rain in the late afternoon and then cut short by nearly three hours when rain began to fall again around 7 p.m.
The top-10 unofficial speeds:
Showing driver, truck number and speed:
1. Jimmy Spencer, 2, 178.879; 2. Jack Sprague, 16, 178.554; 3. David Starr, 75, 178.118; 4. Bill Lester, 22, 177.521; 5. Bobby Labonte, 47, 176.678; 6. Ted Musgrave, 1, 176.401; 7. Ron Hornaday, 6, 175.798; 8. Johnny Sauter, 15, 175.467; 9. Steve Park, 175.268; 10. Chase Montgomery, 18, 174.199.(LMS PR)(4-27-2005)
