Points Leader Bodine Hopes To Repeat Success Down Stretch: With only three races remaining in the Craftsman Truck Series season, the road to a championship looks custom built for Todd Bodine (#30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota). Bodine, who leads second-place Johnny Benson (#23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Toyota) by 86 points, is the defending champion at all three tracks the series will visit in November. Bodine won at Texas Motor Speedway, Phoenix International Raceway and Homestead-Miami Speedway to wrap up an impressive 2005 season. He finished third in the standings in his first full-time season in the series. A win at Texas on Friday will do more than propel the team’s championship hopes, however. Bodine currently has three victories at the 1.5-mile track, one short of the series record for wins at one track. Ironically, that record is held by Brendan Gaughan (#77 South Point Dodge), who captured four consecutive wins at Texas in 2002 and 2003.
While Bodine’s three Texas wins were not consecutive, he has won three of the four races he has attempted at the track. He finished 30th in June of 2005 after being knocked out of the race by transmission problems. If Bodine faces any kind of adversity this weekend, Benson will no doubt be ready to capitalize. Benson, the 1995 Busch Series champion, is no slouch at Texas himself. In four career Craftsman Truck Series starts there he has three top-five finishes. He finished runner-up in the Silverado 350K in 2004 – Bodine’s first win at the track – and in June 2005. With that in mind, don’t expect to see the championship resolved until the race at Homestead. The series championship has only been clinched before the last race of the season once.
Skinner Looks To Extend Record Pole Streak: Mike Skinner (#5 Toyota Tundra Toyota) has been collecting Budweiser pole awards since the second race in Craftsman Truck Series history (Tucson Raceway Park in 1995). He’s been racking them up at Texas since his second visit there in November of 2004. This weekend he will be attempting to start from the pole position for the fifth consecutive time at Texas, which would extend his series record. Skinner earned the pole at the June race at Texas to break a tie with Ron Fellows for most consecutive poles at a track. Fellows started from the pole position at Watkins Glen International from 1997 to 1999. In the process, Skinner happened to break the track record for fastest qualifying lap (183.206 mph/29.475 sec). It should come as no surprise that Skinner is the series’ leader in career poles. He has started first 31 times, including seven this season. He has won five races from the pole, including earlier this season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. One more victory from pole would tie Skinner with Ron Hornaday Jr. (#33 AES Chevy) for most career wins from pole. Skinner has not won from the pole at Texas – he was the runner-up in each of the past two races. He previously finished fourth and 11th.
News & Notes – Part II:
Darnell extends rookie leadRaybestos Rookie of the Year Candidate Erik Darnell (#99 Northern Tool & Equipment Ford) finished third for the second consecutive race to extend his lead in the rookie standings to 55 over Chad McCumbee (#08 GPS Store/Garmin Chevy). Darnell, who earned his seat through one of team owner Jack Roush’s “Gong Shows” titled Roush Racing: Driver X, has one pole and nine top-10 finishes this season. He was 10 laps away from winning Saturday’s race. The last rookie to win a race was Carl Edwards in 2003. Biffle clinched 2000 title at TexasGreg Biffle clinched the 2000 Craftsman Truck Series championship at Texas, becoming the only driver in series history to clinch the title before the last race of the season. Biffle had built such a commanding lead over second-place driver Kurt Busch that a 25th-place finish at Texas was enough to claim the championship. Biffle finished the season with a 228-point lead, the second highest in series history. The championship was the first for Ford in the series and first for owner Jack Roush. Walker to Bill Davis RacingSprint Car standout Tyler Walker will drive the #36 360 OTC Toyota for Bill Davis Racing in 2007. Walker piloted the #7 truck for former team owner Jim Smith for three races in 2003. His highest finish was 21st at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He also competed in 19 NASCAR Busch Series races in 2004 and 2005.
This Week’s Truck Series Leaders:(through 22 races of the 25-race season)
Points leader – Todd Bodine (3,285)
Winnings – Todd Bodine ($563,730)
Laps led – Mark Martin (522)
Miles led – Mike Skinner (768.95)
Victories – Mark Martin (5)
Budweiser Poles – Mike Skinner (7)
Top-five finishes – Johnny Benson (12)
Top-10 finishes – Johnny Benson, David Reutimann (16)
Raybestos Rookie Leader – Erik Darnell (55 over Chad McCumbee)
Races led – Mike Skinner (11)
Weeks in Top 10 – 3 drivers (22)
On the Right Track:
Bodine Ties Series RecordTodd Bodine has tied Ron Hornaday Jr. for the series record of consecutive weeks leading the point standings. Bodine has occupied the top position for 18 straight weeks. Hornaday accomplished the feat during his 1996 championship seasonTerry Cook and Rick Crawford (#14 Circle Bar Truck Corral Ford) are the only drivers to compete in all 17 races at Texas Motor Speedway. Neither driver has won the event – Crawford’s best finish is second in Oct. 2001; Cook’s best finish is sixth in Oct. 1999Dennis Setzer (#85 Flex Fuel E85 Silverado) leads all drivers with 12 top-10 finishes at the track. He is tied with David Starr and Jack Sprague (#60 Con-Way Freight) for most top fives with six.
Toyota Close To First Manufacturers’ Championship … Toyota will clinch its first Manufacturers’ Championship in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series if the top finishing Toyota finishes higher than the top finishing Ford this weekend. Toyota currently holds a 13-point lead over Ford (154-141) and must lead Ford by 13 points after the Silverado 350 to clinch. Nine points are awarded to the highest finishing manufacturer, six to second-place, four to third and three to fourth. Toyota leads all manufacturers with 11wins this season, its highest total in three years in the series. Ford has seven wins, Chevy has four and Dodge has 0. Dodge is in jeopardy of going winless for the first time since 1996. Todd Bodine, David Starr, Johnny Benson, Jack Sprague and Mike Skinner have all won races for Toyota this season.
Manufacturers’ Championship 2006 Point Standings following Atlanta:
Toyota, 154
Ford,141
Chevy,113
Dodge,76
In the Loop:
Mike Skinner, Johnny Benson and Jack Sprague lead several important pre-race Loop Data categories leading into Texas Motor Speedway. Despite not winning at the 1.5-mile track, Skinner leads all drivers in categories including Driver Rating (142.3), Fastest Laps Run (102) and Average Running Position (2.122). Skinner has led the most laps (309 – 64.1% of all laps) and has Run in the Top 15 in 476 of the 482 laps (98.8%). Despite winning two of the past three races, Todd Bodine is sixth with a driver rating of 105.1. He is second to Skinner in fastest laps run with 66. Sprague, who won in June 2005, has a driver rating of 108.5 and an average running position of 8.238.
Fast Facts:
The Race: Silverado 350K
The Place: Texas Motor Speedway
The Date: Nov. 3, 2006
The Time: 9:15 pm/et
Race Distance: 350 kilometers/220 miles (147 laps)
TV: SPEED, 9:00 pm/et
Track Layout: 1.5-mile oval
Race Purse: $566,979
2005 Winner: Todd Bodine
2005 Pole: Mike Skinner
Schedule: Thursday – Practice, 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m., 2:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Qualifying, 7:00 p.m.(10-30-2006)
