Top five in speed were; #16-Mike Bliss 109.536; #88 Matt Crafton 108.880; #11 David Starr 108.860; #4 Timothy Peters 108.421; #18 Bobby Hamilton Jr. 108.349. Top Ford, #59 Steve Park 107.972 with the 10th fastest time and the top rookie was #12 Joey Miller in 15th. Complete test results can be found at: truckseries.com(5-25-2006)
Truck Series News & Notes
Mansfield Motorsports Speedway, host to Saturday’s City of Mansfield 250, might be termed a “throwback” half-mile track. And that would be a compliment. More than 11 years ago, when the Truck Series debuted, more than half the schedule – 14 of 20 races – was contested on tracks measuring .375-mile to .686-mile in length. Saturday’s 250-lap, 125-mile race likely will play to a packed house thanks to constant action on the half-mile track.
Two well-known figures will makeTruck Series debuts at Mansfield – one from racing and the other a former Major League Baseball all-star. Michel Jourdain Jr., a multiple Champ Car World Series winner and Busch Series competitor, climbs into Roush Racing’s #50 Ford while Mike Greenwell (#08 Yankee Candle Co. Chevy), the retired Boston Red Sox outfielder with a career batting average over .300, moves up from the Florida late model circuit. Greenwell, a 37-time late model winner in his native Florida, will drive the Chevy that Rich Bickle guided to a fifth-place finish in last year’s Mansfield 250. Jourdain has yet to visit Mansfield Motorsports Speedway; however, he is familiar with the area having competed at nearby Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, a road course.
Defending winner absent but team returns With Hamilton sidelined while undergoing therapy for head and neck cancer, the race will be without last year’s winner. Hamilton, however, is sending a formidable replacement in the #18 Fastenal Dodge – son Bobby Hamilton Jr.
Best finish in a year boosts Cook in standings Terry Cook’s (#10 Ford Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford) second consecutive runne-rup finish at Lowe’s Motor Speedway – and to the same winner, Kyle Busch (# 51 National Land Liquidation Chevy) – isn’t a bad rut in which to find one’s self, especially when Cook’s last top-five finish had been recorded in June 2005 at Dover International Speedway. Cook moved up five spots in the championship standings from 10th to fifth. on.
News & Notes Part II
This Week’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Leaders Through six races of the 25-race season:
Points leader – Todd Bodine (1,017)
Money won – Todd Bodine ($260,265)
Laps led – Mark Martin (202)
Miles led – Mark Martin (380.46)
Victories – Todd Bodine, Mark Martin (2)
Budweiser Poles – 5 drivers (1)
Top-five finishes – Ted Musgrave (6)
Top-10 finishes -Ted Musgrave (6)
Raybestos Rookie Leader – Erik Darnell (11 over Aric Almirola)
Races led – Todd Bodine (4)
Weeks in Top 10 – 5 drivers (6)
Etc.
Todd Bodine (#30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota) added five points to his championship with a third-place finish at Lowe’s Motor Speedway last week. He finished third one position ahead of Germain Racing teammate Ted Musgrave (#9 Team ASE/Germain Toyota), who trails by 17 points entering the City of Mansfield 250Fewer than half of last year’s starters – 17 of 36 – have entered this year’s City of Mansfield 250The series’ next short track event is nearly two months away on July 15 at Memphis Motorsports ParkBill Lester (#22 SunTrust Toyota) saw his run of 102 consecutive starts end at Lowe’s Motor Speedway after a qualifying accident cost him a spot in the Quaker Steak & Lube 200 field. The streak was fifth-longest among current drivers. Wayne Spears will match Jim Smith’s series leading starts by an owner – 272 races – when Aric Almirola (#75 Spears Manufacturing Chevrolet) starts the City of Mansfield 250. The Spears team has failed to start just two races – at Richmond and Martinsville in 1997.
On the right track
Sprague and Mansfield are good fitWith a win in 2004 and second-place finish a year ago, Jack Sprague (#60 Con-way Freight) obviously can’t wait for the green flag to drop on this year’s City of Mansfield 250. Sprague led 139 laps in winning the Mansfield inaugural. That’s 27.5 percent of all 506 laps contested at the track.
In the loop
With four of last year’s top-five finishers including winner Bobby Hamilton not competing this week, you’ll have to look further into the field to pick a favorite – at least based upon Driver Rating. Ron Hornaday Jr. (# 3 Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevy) led current competitors at 123.2 followed by Rick Crawford (#14 Circle Bar Truck Corral Ford) at 114.7 and Sprague at 102.5. Sprague finished second, Crawford sixth and Hornaday 11th. Each completed all 254 laps. Mansfield’s Loop Data proves that Mansfield Motorsports Speedway wasn’t kind to current championship hopefuls. Leader Bodine rated at 77.3, defending champion and present runner-up Musgrave at 84.4 and this year’s #3 David Reutimann at 73.5.
From the archives
Tracks measuring less than .6-mile were a staple in the early years of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. The first two champions, Mike Skinner (# 5 Toyota Tundra Toyota) and Ron Hornaday Jr., fattened their victory totals on these “bullrings” – each winning nine times. Dennis Setzer (#85 E85 FlexFuel Chevy) counts five wins with Jack Sprague, the 2004 Mansfield Motorsports Speedway winner, notching four.(NASCAR PR)(5-22-2006)
