Camping World Truck Series News Archives
December 2009

 

  • Ryan & Shane Sieg returning in 2010: According to team owner Pam Sieg, both Ryan & Shane Sieg [#39 & #93 Chevy respectively] will be in Daytona for the Camping World Truck Series season opener at Daytona Int’l Speedway on Friday, February 12th. Depending on sponsorship, the long-range plan is to run the full 2010 season with both teams.(Nancy/Jayski)(12-29-2009)
  • Gill & Fenton merge teams; plan to run partial truck schedule: Veteran NASCAR crew chief Danny Gill, has taken a big step forward in his career by merging with Fenton Racing to form Team Gill Racing. Along with his merger with Fenton Racing, based out of Tyler, Texas, Danny will be helping pave the way for rookie driver Lance Fenton to compete in the ARCA Re/Max Series and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2010. Danny and Lance’s racing debut will not be on a national level, but on an international level. The team will display their combined talents at the ASA Invitation only race at the 1.5-mile Phikasa Oval outside of Johannesburg, South Africa January 31, 2010. Upon arrival back in the United States Team Gill Racing will also field a car in the ARCA Re/Max Series race at DIS for Fenton’s first superspeedway race of 2010. As of this release, Fenton is scheduled to compete in two ARCA Re/Max Series races and seven NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races during the 2010 season with Team Gill Racing.(Lance Fenton PR)(12-23-2009)
  • No NASCAR race at Milwaukee Mile in 2010: UPDATE 2 Auton expects race to be replaced: The Milwaukee Mile, the oldest continually operating motor speedway in the country, won’t be hosting a national race in 2010. That was the word late Wednesday from Wisconsin State Fair Park officials, who said there would be no NASCAR or Indy Racing League racing next year at the famed Mile. “I’m sorry for this,” was the message Susan Crane, chairwoman of the State Fair Park Board, said she wanted to tell race fans. “We tried to do everything we could to secure racing. But we’re not giving up.” The announcement is a blow to motorsports fans in the region and a blow to community pride. Both Crane and Craig Barkelar, the fair’s interim executive director, said they hoped to bring national racing back to the Mile in 2011. Crane and Barkelar said that, after Wisconsin Motorsports, the race promoter that staged races last summer, went out of business, they tried to negotiate with four different promoters. State Fair officials said they hoped to generate some revenue next year with car clubs, driving schools and some tire and car testing. There is also the hope of staging some regional races next year. NASCAR had scheduled two races for next June: the Nationwide Series and the Camping World Truck series. NASCAR now is backing away, though the race body has not yet made that official.(in part from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel also a story at BizTimes)(12-16-2009)
    UPDATE: “NASCAR was aware of this possibility, and we have been working on alternate opportunities on the 2010 schedule for both series and will announce those soon,” Ramsey Poston, NASCAR’s managing director for corporate communications said in a statement.(Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)(12-17-2009)
    UPDATE 2: From a Nate Ryan twitter: During an interview on Sirius NASCAR Radio’s The Morning Drive, NCWTS Director Wayne Auton says he expects the Milwaukee race will be replaced on the schedule. Auton didn’t list any potential replacement tracks but said he hoped news would come “soon” that the schedule would stay at 25 races in 2010.(Nate Ryan-Twitter)(12-22-2009)
  • Davis to run limited truck schedule in 2010: Marc Davis will return to the Nationwide Series, attempting Daytona in his self-owned #36 this February before shifting his focus back to the Camping World Truck Series. “We’ll run Nationwide Daytona for sure, then we’ll run Atlanta in Trucks,” says father, Harry, who says the team has money for a limited number of Truck races but won’t set a firm schedule of dates. “When the money comes in, we’ll race.” The Davis’ did acquire a Cup car, as well, but the money needed for a motor package caused the team to postpone its debut in that series indefinitely. The 19-year-old former development driver for Joe Gibbs Racing ran four Nationwide and two Truck races with his own team last season, posting a best finish of 18th at Martinsville (Trucks, October).(Frontstretch.com Newsletter)(12-21-2009)
  • Media selects top drivers, top race of decade in National Series – Truck Series results: With the recently completed 2009 season closing out another decade of NASCAR racing, media members have selected the top drivers and top races of the decade for all three national series as voted upon in a poll on NASCARMedia.com. Ron Hornaday Jr. was picked as the top NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver of the decade, followed by Todd Bodine and Johnny Benson. Hornaday is the series’ first four-time champion and won a pair of NCWTS titles during the decade – 2007 and ’09. He has the most series wins (20) in the decade and set a modern-era record for consecutive wins (five) this past season. The top NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race was the Feb. 18, 2005 event at Daytona International Speedway. The 2004 series champion, Bobby Hamilton, won by leading the last two feet. Jimmy Spencer mistakenly thought he had won the race and came to Victory Lane, when he in fact had finished second. The Nov. 14, 2003 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway came in second. Heading into the season finale, any one of the top four drivers in the points standings – Brendan Gaughan, Ted Musgrave, Travis Kvapil and Dennis Setzer – had a shot to win the championship. Kvapil took home his first NASCAR title after Gaughan was involved in an early wreck and Musgrave jumped a restart. Third-place honors went to the Feb. 16, 2007 race at Daytona, when three-time series champion Jack Sprague won following a three-wide race to the checkered flag.(NASCAR PR)(12-21-2009)
  • Carmichael to run four “COT” races in Nationwide series: According to a “tweet” from the Nationwide PR rep in Daytona, Ricky Carmichael and his new Turner Motorsports team hope to run the four Nationwide new car races in 2010 looking toward a fulltime deal in 2011. [Carmichael is scheduled to run the full truck series, ten ARCA and the four Nationwide races this season.](NASCAR_NNS)(12-19-2009)
  • Cope forms new alliance; plans to run full truck schedule: Racing veteran Derrike Cope and co-owner Dale Clemons announce the launch of the new motorsports company Stratus Racing Group, Inc. The full service company with racing facilities in Mooresville NC is equipped for participation in the ARCA, NASCAR Camping World Truck, Nationwide and Sprint Cup series. With major sponsorship already secured the company will campaign a full schedule in 2010 with the Nationwide and Camping World Truck series. Co-Owner and primary driver Derrike Cope will be behind the wheel of the Nationwide car and Camping World truck while drivers Amber and Angela Cope are slated for ARCA races and limited truck series races.(DerrikeCope.com)(12-15-2009)
  • Congrats to Matt & Krista Faulkner: Red Horse Racing’s team engineer Matt Faulkner and his wife Krista welcomed twin boys on Friday, December 11th. Jonas Robert was born at 7:46pm and weighed 5 lbs. 8 oz. His brother, Elliott Thomas followed just one minute later at 7:47 and weighed 5 lbs. 2 oz. Both mother and babies are doing well!(12-13-2009)
  • Circle Bar Racing searching for new crew chief & sponsor: UPDATE 3 New sponsor lined up: After a successful 5-year run, Circle Bar Racing is searching for a new crew chief to replace Kevin “Cowboy” Starland. “Cowboy and I met this morning and we decided that it was time for us both to try something different,” said Rick Crawford driver of the Circle Bar Ford F-150. “We wish Cowboy the best and we can’t thank him enough for his contributions to our race teams. On the personal side, Cowboy was more than just my crew chief, he’s my friend and I’m going to miss working with him.” The 5-year pairing of Crawford and Starland produced 2 wins, 29 top 5s, 62 top 10s, 4 poles and 4 top 10 finishes in NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series Championship standings.(Circle Bar Racing PR)(12-1-2009)
    UPDATE: Rick Crawford told Sirius NASCAR Radio’s Sirius Speedway with Dave Moody Tuesday that in addition to the release of veteran crew chief Kevin “Cowboy” Starland, the team will cut-back from two trucks to one next season. “The #10 truck that was driven this season by James Buescher is going to be for sale,” said Crawford. “Running a two-truck team gave all of us at Circle Bar Racing more than we could handle at times this season, and drew attention away from the #14 truck. So we’ve made the decision to sell off the #10 team; trucks, tools, pit carts and equipment. We’re selling it all, and at fire sale prices. It’s a qualified truck for the 2010 season opener at Daytona,” said Crawford, “and it’s a good truck for someone to get involved in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.”(12-1-2009)
    UPDATE 2: Crawford said on Thursday that his Circle Bar Racing team recently parted ways with crew chief Kevin Starland and needs a sponsor to replace International Truck and Engine Corp., which won’t return in 2010. Crawford indicated Circle Bar is waiting to sign a sponsor before naming a replacement for Starland. Depending on how the sponsorship situation unfolds for the #14 team, Crawford said he could return to Circle Bar, compete for another team next season or retire.(SceneDaily.com)(12-10-2009)
    UPDATE 3: For veteran Alabama driver Rick Crawford the offseason for NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series is full of change. Crawford, who is from Mobile, plans to be back in the #14 Ford with Circle Bar Racing when the season starts back up in February at Daytona. But that’s about the only thing that won’t be different. Crawford’s sponsor, Power Stroke Diesel by International, won’t be the truck’s primary sponsor. But unlike a lot of teams that are struggling to round up new sponsors, Crawford says he has a new sponsor lined up. Crawford said he has a deal in the works for a “primary sponsor, full-time, maybe multi-year,” but he isn’t ready to announce it. AlabamaLive.com)(12-12-2009)
  • Images added UPDATE more: Images of the #18 Miccosukee Toyota to be driven by Kyle Bush & Brian Ickler and the #56 Talking Rain/ActivWater Toyota to be driven by Tayler Malsam for Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2010 are posted on the 2010 Paint Scheme Page. (12-11-2009)
    UPDATE: Added image of the #31 Wolfpack Rentals Chevy taken at the PRI Trade Show with James Buescher as driver. Image posted on the #31 Paint Scheme Page.(12-12-2009)
  • Kyle Busch Motorsports announces two full-time teams; if sponsorship found – third with Benson: UPDATE Exide as possible sponsor denied: In a press conference held live on SPEED, Kyle Busch announced today that he will enter two Toyota Tundras full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series beginning in 2010. Busch will pilot the #18 Miccosukee Resort & Gaming Toyota Tundra whenever the Camping World Truck Series runs in companion with the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. For the non-companion races, the #18 Tundra will be driven by 24-year-old Brian Ickler. Running the full schedule for KBM will be 20-year-old Tayler Malsam in the #56 Toyota Tundra. Busch recently purchased the assets of Xpress Motorsports, the Camping World Truck Series team that won in June at Dover International Speedway and finished the 2009 season among the top-10 in points. KBM will operate from the Xpress Motorsports shop in Mooresville, N.C., until its new shop, also in Mooresville and currently under construction, is completed. Overseeing the three-driver, two-Truck outfit will be Rick Ren, who will serve as the team’s director of competition. The 52-year-old from Tilton, Ill., is a NASCAR veteran who won two Camping World Truck Series championships as crew chief for Ron Hornaday Jr., (2007 and 2009) while at Kevin Harvick Inc.(Kyle Busch Motorsports PR) [During the interview, Busch also noted that KBM is also trying to pull enough sponsorship together to bring Champion Johnny Benson into the mix and make it a three-truck operation. It was reported earlier this week that talks are underway with Exide Batteries and at least one other sponsor about backing Benson — see the December Archive Page.] (12-11-2009)
    UPDATE: Hearing that Kyle Busch Motorsports has never considered Exide as a sponsor. Kyle is tied in with Interstate Batteries at JGR, which would preclude him from that type of sponsorship. Not only that, but it Kyle is also very tight personally with Norm Miller [owner of Interstate] and this is something he wouldn’t even consider.(12-12-2009)
  • KHI announces 2010 crew chief lineup: Kevin Harvick Inc. announced today that Dave Fuge and Doug George have joined the organization’s Truck Series program. Fuge will lead the #33 Longhorn Chevrolet Silverado driven by four-time Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday and George will serve as crew chief of the #2 Truck which will feature several NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers throughout the 2010 season. Fuge joins KHI as a two-time Truck Series championship team owner with Xpress Motorsports in 2002 and 2003 with drivers Mike Bliss and Travis Kvapil. George, a former driver, most recently served as crew chief for Kyle Busch and Aric Almirola at Billy Ballew Motorsports in the Truck Series.(Kevin Harvick Inc. PR)(12-11-2009)
  • Musgrave to Billy Ballew Motorsports? Ted Musgrave told Sirius NASCAR Radio’s Sirius Speedway with Dave Moody Wednesday that he has an opportunity to replace Kyle Busch in the driver’s seat of the #51 Billy Ballew Motorsports Camping World Truck Series Toyota next season, if sponsorship can be found. “I have some proposals out there, and a couple of them have progressed as far as the Chief Financial Officer stage, so I’m hopeful that something will come together,” said Musgrave. “Right now, I don’t necessarily need a full season sponsor. If we can just get started, I think we could make things come together. We don’t need $2-3-million from a single sponsor right now.” Asked about the status of Ballew’s longtime sponsor, Miccosukee Gaming and Resorts, Musgrave said, “They’ll be on the side of Kyle Busch’s new truck next season. When Kyle left, he took the sponsor with him. Billy (Ballew) took a hard hit on that one.” Musgrave said neither he or Ballew is interested in anything less than a full-bore effort. “Racing for Top-10s is not my style,” he said. “I’ve always gone all out, and Billy’s the same way Different companies have different financial plans, and I’m not sure when we’ll hear something on these sponsorship proposals. It’s definitely `the sooner the better.'” But like I said, even something to get us started would be nice.”(Sirius Speedway PR)(12-9-2009)
  • Kyle Busch press conference Friday UPDATE Benson & Exide in the mix? Kyle Busch plans to hold a press conference to announce the newly formed Kyle Busch Motorsports on Friday, December 11, 2009. The press conference will air on SPEEDtv beginning at 2:00pm Eastern. Rick Allen will host.(12-7-2009)
    UPDATE: Kyle Busch is expected to announce details of his new Kyle Busch Motorsports team in a Friday press conference, and sources tell Sirius NASCAR Radio’s Sirius Speedway with Dave Moody that former NASCAR camping World Truck Series champion Johnny Benson will be featured prominently in that announcement. Officials of KBM reportedly met with representatives of Exide Batteries last week about sponsoring one of three planned Toyota Tundras to be fielded by the team.(Sirius Speedway PR)(12-9-2009)
  • Chrissy Wallace plans to run at least part-time in 2010; to include GIR: Third-generation racer Chrissy Wallace is on the 1.25-mile oval at Gateway International Raceway in her fire suit with helmet in hand. But she’s not here to race; she’s at her legendary family’s home track to participate in a photo shoot for <ahref=http: www.stlmag.com=””>St. Louis Magazine</ahref=http:>, where she will grace the cover for the publication’s January issue. Wallace, 21, was supposed to run the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series fulltime in 2009, but the downturn in the nation’s economy caused all the sponsorship dollars she had been counting on to dry up. Her racing career put temporarily on hold, she focused on one thing this season. “Working on sponsorship!” she said, prior to her makeup session for the St. Louis Magazine photo shoot. “We’ve worked with different people trying to get different things going for next year. We’re hoping to run the first five (Truck Series) races at least and there’s a couple of Nationwide races that we’re trying to work on.” Chrissy is looking forward to a return to Gateway July 16-17, 2010, for the venue’s first-ever Truck Series/Nationwide Series doubleheader weekend.(Gateway Int’l Raceway PR)(12-7-2009)
  • Rick Ren leaving KHI? UPDATE 4 Ren gone from KHI – to Kyle Busch Motorsports; confirmed: We’ve been hearing quite regularly for the last few weeks that crew chief Rick Ren will leave Kevin Harvick Inc. at the end of the season. He’s rumored to be heading to Kyle Busch’s new team to serve in a general manager type role. Kyle Busch is expected to start a team fielding two or more Camping World Truck Series teams and possibly a Nationwide Series team in 2010. Rick Ren joined KHI in 2007 after a stint with Johnny Benson at the now defunct Bill Davis Racing. Since joining the team, he and Ron Hornaday Jr. have racked up 16 wins and one championship (a second looks inevitable this season). He has more than 30 years experience in NASCAR.(NASCAR Insiders.com)(11-6-2009)
    UPDATE: During the race broadcast, Phil Parsons reported that he spoke to Kevin Harvick regarding the rumor that Rick Ren was leaving Kevin Harvick Inc. Harvick stated that Ren was signed with KHI through 2010 and Ren was not going anywhere and will be with Kevin Harvick Inc. in 2010.(11-6-2009)
    UPDATE 2: Hearing that crew chief Rick Ren’s desk was getting cleaned out this week by folks in charge at Kevin Harvick Inc., and it looks like he’s headed to KBM.(12-2-2009)
    UPDATE 3: Kevin Harvick Inc. announced that Rick Ren, crew chief of the #33 truck driven by four-time Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday, has left the organization to pursue management opportunities within the sport. Harvick said an announcement regarding Hornaday’s crew chief for 2010 could be expected as early as next week.(KHI PR)(12-3-2009)
    UPDATE 4: Rick Ren told Sirius NASCAR Radio’s Sirius Speedway with Dave Moody Friday that he will serve as Director of Operations for the new Kyle Busch Motorsports beginning in 2010, overseeing a three-truck NASCAR Camping World Truck Series operation. “It was a multi-fold decision,” said Ren. “I’ve been on the road a lot these last few years, doing lots of driving back and forth to work. This new package works well for my wife and I. I can be closer to home, spend more time with her and still oversee the structure of this new company.” Ren said the team will hold a press conference next Friday to lay out more of its plans. He said the team’s new facility is not yet completed, but promised that it will be state of the art. He confirmed that Busch will purchase the Xpress Motorsports building, its inventory of trucks and all its contents, giving KBM one complete team almost immediately. Trucks are currently being built to field up to two more entries, if funding comes through. Ren said he and Busch “have had a really good friendship for the last three years. We have talked at the tracks and hung out a little bit away from work. We have a mutual admiration for each other, and one thing kind of led to another. I’m trying to help a young man who has a natural ability to drive racecars to build and own his own race team. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.”(Sirius Speedway PR)(12-4-2009)
  • Starr looking to firm up 2010 plans: From a David Starr diary entry at Frontstretch.com: As far as my 2010 plans, right now as I’m writing this, I can’t really tell you what’s going to happen. I WILL be racing full-time, and my sponsor Zachry will be with me. The rest of it is up in the air right now, and hopefully in the next couple of weeks all will be straightened out and an announcement can be made. There are some things that I am working on, waiting to find out what Jim Harris is going to do next year, and see what direction we are heading. “I know there has been some talk out there that I might run part-time or at least some races in the Nationwide Series. First and foremost, my number one priority is the Camping World Truck Series. I’ve had such a great career in the Truck Series and look forward to a lot more years. I have done some racing in the Nationwide Series over the years, and I’ve had some offers beginning last year, but in my mind a lot of them are so-so offers. I’ve had a lot of offers for start and park, but that is not what I’m interested in. I just can’t go into a race knowing I’m going to pull off the track 10 to 20 laps in. I’ve never done it, so why start now? I’ve talked to a couple of teams about maybe doing a partial schedule in 2010, but right now there haven’t been any serious discussions. As I said, I want to get my Truck Series plans firmed up before I really start thinking about doing anything else.”(Frontstretch)(12-4-2009)
  • Kyle Busch Motorsports — looks like a go: Hearing that Kyle Busch is working on getting the new team(s) together for 2010 after all and that he’s already starting to hire a number of people toward that end. Also heard that he’s planning on running a total of three teams.[For past interview and news on this story visit the November Archives Page.(12-2-2009)
  • Nationwide & Truck Series MAHLE Engine Builder Awards: MAHLE Clevite recently announced the MAHLE Engine Builder of the Year for the 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The award is presented to the engine builder in each series who has accumulated the most points, based on qualifying, laps lead and finishing position.
    Mark Cronquist of Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) and builder of the #18 Toyota driven by Kyle Busch; received the MAHLE Clevite Engine Builder of the Year for the Nationwide Series after accumulating 5,862 points. This marks Cronquist’s fourth title in his career with JGR. “It is a great accomplishment, to receive this coveted award for the fourth time,” said Cronquist. “I’m proud of the entire Joe Gibbs Racing team and want to say thanks to MAHLE Clevite for their recognition and for providing us with the parts that continue to out-perform each year.”
    The MAHLE Clevite Engine Builder of the Year for the NASCAR Truck Series went to Pro Motor Engines (PME) owner Mark Smith for the second consecutive year. Smith was recognized for his work on the Kevin Harvick Inc. #33 Chevy driven by Ron Hornaday, Jr. that accumulated a total of 3,817 points. “Our efforts to finish on top for a second consecutive season really paid off,” said Smith. “I’m honored to receive this award for the second year in a row, and many thanks to MAHLE Clevite for always providing quality products, and for recognizing those of us who are behind the scenes.” For more information about MAHLE Clevite and its brands, visit www.mahleclevite.com, or contact your local representative.(PR)(12-1-2009)
  • Jamie Jones to Turner Motorsports? Hearing that just days after being released from Circle Bar Racing, Jamie Jones has been hired by Turner Motorsports…not sure if it is in a crew chief capacity or some type of management role for the new teams.(12-1-2009)
  • Lofton wins Wild Turkey Classic Modified Race: In what marked his debut behind the wheel of a dirt modified, 2009 ARCA Champion Justin Lofton made the best of it, taking home the Wild Turkey Classic win on Saturday night at Imperial Valley Speedway in Imperial, California. “I had great time. I was worried going into the weekend since I had never raced in a purpose built dirt car. I picked it up really quick and had a blast,” Lofton said. Piloting the #7 Weekend Warriors TV/MasterCraft Safety modified, Lofton was one of 18 cars entered in the post-Thanksgiving event. With the 2010 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season not set to begin until February, the newest addition to Red Horse Racing still has a full schedule. His next stop following his Wild Turkey Classic win will be in Covington, Kentucky this Saturday to formerly accept his ARCA championship at the season-ending awards banquet. He’ll then head to Mooresville, N.C. in order to attend the Stocks for Tots benefit next Tuesday, December 8, at the Charles Mack Citizen Center.(Lofton Racing PR)(12-1-2009)
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