Most competitors would be pleased to count a quartet of third-place finishes at any racetrack. Not that Jack Sprague (# 60 Con-Way Toyota) is complaining about his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series record at Martinsville Speedway. But what’s missing from those third-place finishes is a victory. And that represents a big blank for a driver whose 25 wins rank # 2 on the series’ all-time list. Sprague obviously knows his way around the .526-mile track, which hosts Saturday’s Kroger 250. He’s won a Bud Pole (2004) and led 118 laps. Martinsville well may be the key to Sprague’s goal of winning a fourth NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series title. The series stops there twice – Saturday and again on Oct. 21. He finished third at Martinsville in his first championship season and 10th in his second. This year’s schedule, which has teams practicing on Friday and qualifying and racing the next afternoon, could be challenging – especially for teams who don’t have a guaranteed entry into the field based upon 2005 owner points.
News & Notes Part II:
Setting the Field: After Martinsville, Top 30 in 2006 Owner Points Locked In After Saturday’s race, the teams ranked in the top 30 of the current 2006 truck owner standings will be guaranteed starting positions each week. Heading into Martinsville, the # 13 ThorSport Racing Chevrolet owned by Duke Thorson and driven by Raybestos Rookie of the Year contender Kerry Earnhardt is ranked 30th in truck owner point standings. Darrell Waltrip’s # 12 Curb Records Toyota, driven by freshman Joey Miller, is 31st. Other teams vying to come out of Martinsville with their top 30 rankings intact include James Smith’s # 98 Cheerios Betty Crocker Dodge driven by Erin Crocker (29th in owner points) and the # 1 winyourmortgage.com Dodge of James Smith and driver Robert Richardson (28th). The battle to remain in – or advance into – the top 30 will be extremely competitive. The 28th through 33rd ranked teams are separated by just 21 points in the truck owner standings.
2006 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Truck Owner Point Standings Snapshot:
27. Ed Sutton, # 02 Team Copaxone Chevrolet (Driver Kelly Sutton), 255
28. James Smith, # 1 winyourmortgage.com Dodge (Driver Robert Richardson*), 249
29. James Smith, # 98 Cheerios Betty Crocker Dodge (Driver Erin Crocker*), 249
30. Duke Thorson, # 13 ThorSport Racing Chevrolet (Driver Kerry Earnhardt*), 246
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31. Darrell Waltrip, # 12 Curb Records Toyota (Driver Joey Miller*), 243
32. Gene Christensen, # 07 Green Light Racing Chevrolet (Driver Clint Bowyer), 228
33. James Harris, # 59 Harris Trucking Dodge/Ford (Driver Steve Park), 228
34. Curtis Key, # 40 Russell E. Garwood Chevrolet (Driver Chad Chaffin), 215
* denotes Raybestos Rookie of the Year contender
He’s not the only one with busted ‘brackets’ Brendan Gaughan (# 77 The Orleans Dodge) was disappointed on two counts as the NCAA men’s basketball tournament winds up this weekend. Gaughan, a former Georgetown University player, saw his Hoya team lose its Sweet 16 game last week to Florida 57-53. And none of his Final Four picks will make it to Indianapolis either. Always the optimist, Gaughan sees one silver lining in the otherwise dark cloud. “If the Hoyas made it to the championship games, the Martinsville race may have had to wait,” Gaughan said. Martinsville’s Kroger 250 is record-matching race Saturday’s Kroger 250 marks the 15th time the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series has competed at the historic, .526-mile paved oval, which equals the record for the most events at a single track (Texas and Phoenix). Martinsville, whose first race was held Sept. 25, 1995, is one of four tracks to schedule a series race in all 12 seasons. The other facilities are Indianapolis Raceway Park, The Milwaukee Mile and Phoenix International Raceway. Martinsville has seen only one repeat winner in 12 races. Dennis Setzer (# 85 GM FlexFuel E85 Silverado Chevrolet) won the Kroger 250 back-to-back in 2002-03. Mike Skinner (# 5 Toyota Tundra Toyota) and Rick Crawford (# 14 Circle Bar Truck Corral Ford) are the only other Martinsville winners expected to compete in this year’s race. ETC. Bill and Cheryl Lester (# 23 Checkers/Rally’s Toyota) anticipate the arrival this week of the couple’s second son Austin Richard. The recent John Deere 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway garnered a 1.0 rating – with 920,000 viewers – placing the race among SPEED’s top five, highest-rated, non-Daytona broadcasts. SPEED’s rating for the event increased 11 percent over 2005 according to Nielsen Media Research. Mark Martin (# 6 Scotts Ford) goes for win # 3 of 2006 at Martinsville this week. No driver has started the season with three victories in his first four starts. Two competitors hope to make their NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debuts this week. Marcos Ambrose (# 20 Wood Bros./JTG Ford) would be the first native Australian to compete in the series. Justin Martz (# 63 Dave Porter Truck Sales Ford) is the son of former Montana governor Judy Martz and is a graduate of NASCAR’s Dodge Weekly Series and AutoZone Elite Division.
This week’s race is the first of six scheduled on tracks measuring less than one mile in length. Setzer (Indianapolis) and Skinner (Bristol Motor Speedway) are last year’s only short track winners entered at Martinsville. Thirteen Raybestos Rookie of the Year contenders are entered in the Kroger 250. None has completed a lap on the track in NASCAR Craftsman Truck competition. There have been no rookie winners with Travis Kvapil (2001) and Carl Edwards (2003) logging runnerup finishes. Martinsville races have been won from the front row five times but only once from the Bud Pole – by Rich Bickle in 1997. Lance Hooper has rejoined ThorSport Racing as crew chief for Earnhardt’s Chevrolet. Hooper was previously crew chief at ThorSport in 2004, and most recently held the position with Key Motorsports’ Chevrolet driven by Chaffin. Bobby Hamilton Jr. (# 18 Fastenal Dodge) is among four drivers who will participate in a Goodyear tire test Wednesday at the repaved Lowe’s Motor Speedway, which the series visits May 19.
On the right track:
Bodine solid performer in his own backyard Martinsville Speedway isn’t far – about 45 minutes – from Rocky Mount, Va. where Todd Bodine (# 30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota) went to high school so it’s fitting the 42-year-old New York native is among the most consistent performers at the track. Bodine counts four top-10 finishes in four appearances with a high of fourth in last year’s Kroger 250. Bodine won a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Bud Pole at Martinsville in 2001.
In the loop:
Dennis Setzer posted two of the three fastest laps the series recorded at Martinsville in 2005. His 94.686 mph was quickest of all. Bodine led last year’s Driver Rating at Martinsville Speedway with a 121.6 out of a possible 150 among entered competitors. Bodine and Setzer were tops in Consecutive Laps Run Without Being Passed, with 18. Last year’s Kroger 250 winner Bobby Labonte executed 42.9 percent of his passes – six of 14 – in Turn 2. Ron Hornaday Jr. (# 33 Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet) was Martinsville Speedway’s leader in Quality Passes (a top-15 truck under green flag conditions) with 49 – 12 more than the category’s runnerup Ted Musgrave (# 9 Team ASE/Germain Toyota)
From the archives:
Four teams – Morgan-Dollar Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing, Roush Racing and Ultra Motorsports – have won Martinsville Speedway events with multiple drivers. David Dollar’s Morgan-Dollar Motorsports is the outright owner leader at the Southern Virginia track with three victories-two by Dennis Setzer and one by Bobby Labonte.(3-27-2006)
Fast Facts;
What: Kroger 250 (Race 4 of 25)
Where: Martinsville Speedway
When: 3:15 p.m. Saturday, April 1
Track layout: .526-mile paved oval
Race length: 250 laps/131.5 miles
Posted awards: $485,445
TV: SPEED Channel, 3:15 pm/et
Radio: MRN, XM Satellite
2005 winner: Bobby Labonte
2005 polesitter: Bobby Hamilton
Pre-race schedule (all times local): Friday practice 1:45-2:45 p.m. rookie practice 3 3:30 p.m. final practice 5:15 p.m., time approximate following NNCS qualifying. Saturday – Qualifying 12:05 p.m. trucks impounded after qualifying.(3-27-2006)
