NCTS Chevy Silverado 250
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES
2008 & CHEVY SILVERADO 250 STORYLINES
This is the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ 14th season. The Feb. 15 Chevy Silverado 250 at Daytona International Speedway is its 318th race.
The race marks the ninth consecutive time the season has opened at Daytona.
Former Daytona winners expected to compete in this year’s race include Rick Crawford (2003) and Jack Sprague (2007).
The Chevy Silverado 250 winner never has gone on to win that season’s championship. Seven of eight winners, however, have finished among the top 10 in final point standings. Joe Ruttman had the best results finishing third behind Jack Sprague and Ted Musgrave after winning Daytona in 2001.
While, there have been no repeat driver winners at Daytona two teams – Bobby Hamilton Racing VA (three) and Roush Fenway Racing (two) – count multiple victories.
Roush Fenway Racing will make its record, 300th consecutive series appearance. The streak began Oct. 15, 1995 when Todd Bodine finished eighth at the now defunct Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield, Calif. The Chevy Silverado 250 will mark the team’s 305th series start – also a record.
Roush Fenway Racing has won a race in 10 different seasons (1996-2000, 2003-07).
Jim Smith’s Ultra Motorsports holds the series record of 11 winning seasons (1995-2005).
Roush Fenway Racing’s Erik Darnell posted the fastest single truck speed (178.547 mph) during last month’s NASCAR Preseason Thunder testing at Daytona. The team’s Travis Kvapil finished third in last year’s race.
Circle Bar Racing, which fields Fords for 2003 Daytona winner Rick Crawford and Brendan Gaughan, will make its 274th consecutive start breaking a tie for No. 2 all-time with Ultra Motorsports. The latter team disbanded after winning the 2005 championship with Ted Musgrave. The Tom Mitchell-owned team has competed in every race since Crawford’s 11th-place finish at the old Walt Disney World Speedway near Orlando, Fla. on Jan. 19, 1997.
The Chevy Silverado 250 will mark Terry Cook’s series-leading 248th consecutive start. Cook has driven for four different owners – Duke Thorson, Kay Keselowski, Greg Pollex and Jim Harris – during a streak that opened Jan. 18, 1998 with a 21st-place finish at Walt Disney World. Cook drives in 2008 for Wyler Racing– the defending Daytona Chevy Silverado 250 winner. Cook has won six times in series competition most recently in 2006 at Kansas Speedway.
Five NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champions are expected to compete fulltime in 2008 including defending titleholder Ron Hornaday Jr. and Jack Sprague, who will be teammates for the first time at Kevin Harvick Inc. Both are three-time champions. Slated to seek second championships are Mike Skinner (1995), last year’s runnerup finisher; Todd Bodine (2006) and Ted Musgrave (2005).
Combined, the five champions have captured 114 races and count $24 million in NASCAR Craftsman Truck winnings.
Mike Bliss, the 2002 series champion, will compete in the Chevy Silverado 250 driving for TRG Motorsports, whose second driver Donny Lia is not eligible to compete at Daytona.
Todd Bodine owns the best Daytona Driver Rating (2005-07) among competitors with two or more starts: 116.2. No surprise: Bodine has finished third, second and fifth in those years and led all three races.
Age does make a difference at Daytona – along with experience. Carl Edwards, age 26 when he won in 2004 – is the only winner under the age of 40. Joe Ruttman is the oldest at age 56.
Three Keystone Pole winners have gone on to win at Daytona: Joe Ruttman (2001), Mark Martin (2006) and Jack Sprague (2007). While seven of the eight races were won by a top-10 qualifier, the late Bobby Hamilton proved it could be done from the back. Hamilton started 36th and last in 2005.
Nine of the top-10 finishers of last year’s Chevy Silverado 250 are expected to compete in this year’s race. The only absentee is Travis Kvapil, who has moved to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for 2008. Kvapil is the only driver among the top 14 in 2007 point standings not competing in the series this year.
Although 14 of 25 races are run in combination with NASCAR Sprint Cup events (including Daytona), series regulars hold their own quite well against competitors from NASCAR’s premier series. Kyle Busch is the exception to the rule – having won at least one race in each of the past three seasons and six overall, one fewer than Mark Martin’s record. Busch is back with Billy Ballew Motorsports in 2008 sharing a Toyota with David Stremme, a Sprint Cup veteran. There has yet to be a sweep in which a driver wins Craftsman Truck and Sprint Cup races on the same weekend.
Five of last season’s top 13 returnees will belt up for new teams. They include Terry Cook, Brendan Gaughan, Ted Musgrave, David Starr and Jack Sprague. Since Mike Skinner won the inaugural series championship; Mike Bliss (2002) is the only competitor to win a title in his first, full season with a new team.
After fielding three veteran drivers in 2007, Jack Roush is back in the thick of the Raybestos Rookie of the Year derby. Road racing star Colin Braun, 19, strives to become Roush Fenway Racing’s unprecedented sixth rookie of the year following Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, Todd Kluever and Erik Darnell. This year’s freshman class may not be large but it certainly will be varied and talented – and spans three decades in age. Braun is the youngest. Rolex Grand Am champion Andy Lally, who celebrates his 33rd birthday two days prior to the season opener in Daytona, is the oldest. Other contenders include Brian Scott (20), Marc Mitchell (24), Justin Marks (26) Donny Lia (29) and Phillip McGilton (29).
OF NOTE: Daytona is the only series track with a pair of three-wide finishes (2003 and 2007). Rick Crawford’s .027-second margin of victory over Travis Kvapil is the track’s closest – but only the eighth closest in series history. … Joe Ruttman edged Ricky Hendrick by .318 second in 2001 in Daytona’s greatest margin of victory. The combined margin of victory of the eight previous races is .867 second. … Manufacturer oddity: Chevrolet is Daytona’s entitlement sponsor but a Silverado truck never has won the Chevy Silverado 250. Ford has won four races, Dodge three and Toyota one. Toyota has won the past two series Manufacturer’s Championship. … All three of NASCAR’s national series will run a smaller fuel cell – 17.75 gallons reduced from 22 gallons – beginning with the Daytona International Speedway events. This will reduce the size of the pit window as well. … The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series does not utilize a restrictor plate per se at Daytona – rather, teams must mount a one-inch spacer between carburetor and intake manifold tapered to a diameter of 1-1/16 inch. These are the same dimensions as in 2007.
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