July 2005 Truck Series News Archive
- Winners of a race in Cup, Busch and Truck Series races: see my Misc Stats page for this and many others.
UPDATE: Hamilton Jr. will run the #12 Toyota for DW in all but one or two races. Hamilton Jr. will do double duty, running the #32 car in all but one race as Ron Fellows will run the #32 car at Watkins Glen, so Hamilton will be free to run the #12 Truck at Nashville on the same weekend.(7-24-2005)
UPDATE 2: Joe Ruttman joined several Truck Series drivers in a Toyota test session at Nashville Superspeedway, and Ruttman hopes the “audition” will land him a ride as Darrell Waltrip’s new driver. Bobby Hamilton Jr. also is on the list of possible replacements for Robert Huffman, who was released from Waltrip’s #12 Toyota Tundra race truck last week. In the spring of 2001, Ruttman, at age 56, became the oldest winner in any of NASCAR’s top divisions when he won a truck race at Colorado Springs. Waltrip said he has a list of possible replacements for Huffman, “and Joe is on the list. He’s here to impress me, and he’s got that opportunity.” Huffman’s replacement will join #17-David Reutimann in the Waltrip stable. Reutimann, seventh in the standings, said he would be delighted to have Ruttman as a teammate.
Waltrip can empathize with Ruttman’s desire to keep racing. Since retiring from Nextel Cup at the end of the 2000 season, the three-time champion has raced occasionally in the truck series. Yesterday, Waltrip said he intends to run one final race, Oct. 22 at Martinsville, Va., and then retire for keeps. “I know I said that last year,” said the 58-year-old Waltrip. “But after qualifying was rained out I wasn’t able to get in the lineup, so that doesn’t count. This time I really mean it — it’s my last race.”(Tennessean)(7-29-2005)
UPDATE: hearing the track will be repaved…not sure if before the race in October or for the first 2006 race. AND/OR have heard it could be a Truck Series race to run next Oct 2006.(7-26-2005)
UPDATE 2: Talladega Superspeedway Vice President and General Manager Rick Humphrey announced that in 2006, the 2.66-mile Alabama racetrack will welcome the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for the first time in history! The event will take place on Saturday, Oct. 7 during the 2006 UAW-Ford 500 event weekend set for Oct. 5 – 8. The 2006 UAW-Ford 500 event weekend slated for Oct. 5 – 8 will include Discount Food Mart Qualifying for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series as well as qualifying for the ARCA RE/MAX Series and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. The Food World 300 ARCA RE-MAX Series race will be held on Friday, Oct. 6, with Talladega Superspeedway’s newest addition to its spectacular fall schedule – the track’s first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race – held on Saturday, Oct. 7. The UAW-Ford 500 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race is set for Sunday, Oct. 8. Race fans that purchase a Saturday, Oct. 1 ticket to the 2005 Food World 300 ARCA RE/MAX Series race will be allowed to renew that seat to the inaugural NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event in 2006.
Currently, the staff at Talladega Superspeedway is preparing to welcome fans for the second time this year, with the 2005 UAW-Ford 500 event weekend set for Sept. 29 – Oct. 2. The weekend includes Alabama Beef Producers Qualifying Day for the ARCA RE/MAX Series on Thursday, Sept. 29; Discount Food Mart Qualifying Day for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series on Friday, Sept. 30, which also features an ARCA RE/MAX Series driver autograph session; the Food World 300 ARCA RE/MAX Series race on Saturday, Oct. 1 and the UAW-Ford 500 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race on Sunday, Oct. 2. Kids age 11 and younger are admitted free of charge when accompanied by a ticketed adult on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Tickets for the UAW-Ford 500 are available by calling the Talladega Superspeedway Ticket Office at 1-877-Go2-DEGA or purchase your tickets online today! More information on reserving a spot in Talladega’s overnight parks and reserved infield area is also available online or by calling the Ticket Office. You may also purchase tickets in person at Talladega Superspeedway’s Ticket Office 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. CDT, Monday – Friday.(Talladega Superspeedway Site)(7-26-2005)
For race results see:
Truckseries.com
Motorsports One
NASCAR.com.(7-23-2005)
See qualifying results/starting lineup at:
Truckseries.com – Starting Lineup
Truckseries.com – Qualifying Results
NASCAR.com.(7-23-2005)
UPDATE: been told that Crawford has been cleared by NASCAR doctors to race again this weekend in Memphis.(7-20-2005)
Truck drivers slinging some pre-race mud … Seven NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competitors including Reutimann and defending O’Reilly 200 winner Bobby Hamilton (No. 04 Bailey’s Dodge) will run a Friday night match race in late model cars on Memphis Motorsports Park’s .25-mile clay oval. The 10-lapper is scheduled for 8:45 p.m. CT. Memphis race third of seven on short tracks in ’05 … The O’Reilly 200 will mark the third time in 2005 a race will be held on a track measuring less than a mile. Labonte won at Martinsville and Hamilton at Mansfield Motorsports Speedway. Four of the next five events take place on short tracks – at Memphis, Indianapolis Raceway Park, Bristol Motor Speedway and Richmond International Raceway.
ETC. … Rick Crawford (No. 14 Circle Bar Truck Corral Ford) starts from zero this week after a qualifying accident at Kentucky Speedway ended his record string of consecutive race appearances at 210. The top current streak is 185 races by Terry Cook (No. 10 Ford Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford). Crawford and Jack Sprague (No. 16 Chevy Trucks Chevrolet) share the all-time series start record at 210. … Last year’s Memphis race saw 26 drivers complete all 200 laps. That remains the series short track record. … Memphis is among three tracks on the current schedule without a green-white-checker finish. The others are California and Michigan International speedways. … The average margin of victory at Memphis is .458 of a second. Setzer’s 1.608-second victory over Scott Riggs is the only margin of a second or more.
ON THE RIGHT TRACK
Five Memphis winners in O’Reilly 200 field … With five (of seven) former winners in the field, it’s open to question whether Memphis will get its eighth new winner. The winners, in order, are Ron Hornaday Jr. (No. 6, GM Goodwrench Chevrolet, 1998), Sprague (2000), Setzer (2001), Ted Musgrave (No. 1 Mopar Dodge, 2003) and Hamilton (2004). The five count 93 combined victories – 36 percent of the 255 races run in 10-plus seasons. No repeat owner winners in Memphis race … Six active teams have won NASCAR Craftsman Truck or NASCAR Busch races in Memphis. David Dollar (Setzer), Bobby Hamilton (Hamilton), Jack Roush (Todd Kluever and Ricky Craven) and Jim Smith (Musgrave) have truck victories. Greg Pollex (Cook) and Bill Davis (Johnny Benson, Bill Lester and Mike Skinner) are NASCAR Busch-winning owners.
10 YEARS TOUGH
This week marks the sixth anniversary of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ first “live” pit stop race, held July 25, 1998 at Pikes Peak International Raceway. The series’ first 109 races employed some form of mid-race break – first 10 and later five minutes – allowing crews to change tires, make adjustments and add fuel. Ron Hornaday Jr. won the Tempus Resorts 300K, a race that featured 10 lead changes.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
With Craftsman’s Win from the Pole bonus reaching $18,000 this week, it should be pointed out that only one Memphis winner has started from the No. 1 position in seven NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races. Greg Biffle, the track’s only two-time pole winner, drove from first to Victory Lane in 1999. The win was Biffle’s first en route to a record, nine-victory season.
FAST FACTS
Next Event: O’Reilly 200 presented by Valvoline.
Where: Memphis Motorsports Park.
When: 7:15pm/et, Saturday, July 23.
Track layout: .75-mile paved oval.
Race length: 200 laps/150 miles.
Posted awards: $525,550.
TV: SPEED Channel, 8:15pm/et
Radio: MRN, XM Satellite.
2004 winner: Bobby Hamilton.
2004 polesitter: Jack Sprague.
Pre-race schedule (all times local): Saturday – Practice 9:00 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Qualifying 3:30 p.m. Trucks impounded after qualifying.(NASCAR PR)(7-20-2005)
For race results see:
ESPN.com
Truckseries.com
Motorsports One
NASCAR.com.(7-9-2005)
See qualifying results/starting lineup at:
ESPN.com
Truckseries.com – Starting Lineup
Truckseries.com – Qualifying Results
NASCAR.com.(7-9-2005)
Kentucky Speedway will host a major milestone in NASCAR history Saturday when Bill Lester (#22 Toyota) becomes the first African American competitor to win $1 million during his career in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Lester, 44, has won $993,586 in 90 series starts dating to the 2000 season. He needs only to take the green flag to become the series’ 27th driver to reach the $1 million mark. The Oakland, Calif. driver, who currently resides in suburban Atlanta, comes off a career-best performance in last week’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas Speedway. Lester won the Bud Pole, his second in the series, and finished fifth.
Four champions in top 10 a series first … When Mike Skinner (#5 Toyota Tundra Toyota) joined fellow champions Hamilton, Sprague and Ron Hornaday Jr. (#6 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet) in the top 10 of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck standings following Kansas Speedway’s race it marked the first time in series history the top 10 has contained four former series champions. Skinner, who finished fourth, logged his fourth top-five finish in five races. He ranked 28th in points after a 34th-place run at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March; he’s currently ninth.
Series alum joins SPEED booth this week … The “third man” in SPEED Channel’s broadcast booth at Kentucky will be Boris Said, a 64-race veteran of NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competition and winner of the 1998 event at Infineon Raceway. Said qualified fourth for last week’s NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway. SPEED Channel has announced that the popular cable broadcaster now is seen in more than 70 million homes.
Bodine, Toyota break drought … Reunited with Germain-Arnold Racing for the second week, Todd Bodine (#30 Allman Brothers Band Toyota) won at Kansas Speedway to end a 14-race winless streak that followed his October 2004 victory in Fort Worth. That win also was the last for Toyota, which, for the first time, placed four of its Tundra models among the top-five finishers.
Kluever’s runnerup finish best by Raybestos rookie in ’05 … The 2005 season hasn’t been an overly productive one for Raybestos Rookie of the Year contenders, but Todd Kluever’s (#50 Shell Rotella T/World Financial Group Ford) runnerup finish in Kansas could portend a different story as the schedule reaches its midpoint. Kluever, whose best previous finishes were a pair of fourth-place efforts, was backed by new Roush Racing crew chief Mike Beam. Beam, formerly boss of Ricky Craven’s #99 Superchips Ford outfit, last week swapped positions with former Kluever crew chief John Monsam.
ETC. … With posted awards of $736,500, this week’s Kentucky Speedway race is the second richest of the year in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Daytona’s awards totaled $807,103. … Setzer, Terry Cook (#10 Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford) and Rick Crawford (#14 Circle Bar Truck Corral Ford) have competed in all five Kentucky Speedway races. … Crawford’s 10th-place finish at Kansas Speedway was his 100th in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. … Hamilton’s 133 (of 153) laps led in last year’s race was the most of any Kentucky Speedway winner. … The Build Ford Tough 225 is the 13th and middle race on the 2005 schedule of 25 events. There have been nine different winners over the season’s first 12 events. … Lester was the season’s 11th different Bud Pole winner. Ted Musgrave (#1 Mopar Dodge) is the season’s only pole/race winner – on April 30 at Gateway International Raceway. Craftsman’s Win from the Pole bonus is worth $16,000 at Kentucky Speedway. … Kelly Sutton (#02 Team Copaxone Chevrolet) started her 33rd race Saturday at Kansas to break a deadlock with Tammy Jo Kirk for most series appearances by a female competitor.
ON THE RIGHT TRACK
Points leader Setzer tough at Kentucky Speedway … Setzer hasn’t won at Kentucky but he’s completed all 753 possible laps around the track, which translates into 1,129.5 miles. He’s the track’s leading money winner with $133,440, and with three top-five finishes, shares that mark with Sprague. Sprague has finished second, third and second in his three appearances.
10 YEARS TOUGH
Seven states – Arizona, California, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin –hosted a race in each of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ first 10 seasons. All are part of the 2005 schedule as well. Mike Skinner won the series’ first appearance in Kentucky on June 3, 1995 at the old Louisville Motor Speedway. The victory was the fourth of eight that Skinner won en route to the inaugural championship.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
Since joining the schedule in 2000, Kentucky Speedway has been a predictor of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship on three of five occasions. The track’s winner has gone on to claim the title in 2000 (Greg Biffle), 2002 (Mike Bliss) and 2004 (Bobby Hamilton).
FAST FACTS
Next Event: The Built Ford Tough 225 by the Greater Cincinnati Ford Dealers (Race 13 of 25).
Where: Kentucky Speedway.
When: 8:15 p.m. ET, Saturday, July 9.
Track layout: 1.5-mile paved oval.
Race length: 225 miles/150 Laps.
Posted awards: $736,500.
TV: SPEED Channel, 8:15 p.m. ET.
Radio: MRN, XM Satellite.
2004 winner: Bobby Hamilton.
2004 polesitter: Not held.
Pre-race schedule (all times local): Friday – Practice 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Saturday – Practice 12 noon to 1:00 p.m. Qualifying 5:00 p.m. Trucks impounded after qualifying.(NASCAR PR)(7-7-2005)
For race results see:
ESPN.com
Truckseries.com
Motorsports One
NASCAR.com.(7-2-2005)
See qualifying results/starting lineup at:
Truckseries.com – Starting Lineup
Truckseries.com – Qualifying Results
NASCAR.com.(7-1-2005)
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