Bodine Becomes First Repeat Winner At Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 16, 2009) – It took 10 years of NASCAR Camping World Truck Series competition at the famed Daytona International Speedway to send a repeat winner to Victory Lane.

And Todd Bodine’s (No. 30 Germain Racing Toyota) victory in last Friday’s 2009 season opener turned out to be what might be termed “two-four.”

That’s two consecutive victories at the 2.5-mile Daytona superspeedway to go with 2007-08 wins at Talladega Superspeedway. Bodine becomes just the second driver to win four straight races in the same series at NASCAR’s two superspeedways.

Bodine joins Dale Earnhardt Jr., who swept a trio of NASCAR Nationwide Series events at Daytona and Talladega in 2003 then added the 2004 NNS opener to the list.

The finish of the NextEra Energy Resources 250 was a carbon copy of last year’s race with Bodine edging a fast-closing Kyle Busch (No. 51 Miccosukee Resorts/NOS Energy Drink Toyota). The margin of victory, .249 seconds, marked the eighth time the race has been won by less than a second. Two races ended under caution.

The race saw an even dozen drivers exchange the lead 15 times. Bodine, who started third, overcame an early-race penalty for a below-the-yellow-line pass. The 44-year-old New York native took the lead for the final time on Lap 90 (of 100) as Bodine overhauled Keystone Light Pole winner Colin Braun (No. 6 Con-way Freight Ford).

The victory was the 2006 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion’s 16th. Bodine has at least one win in six consecutive seasons.

“I can’t thank the guys on this race team enough. They worked so hard and gave me a great truck tonight,” said Bodine. “It’s exciting to win back-to-back races; Homestead finale in 2008 and then open the 2009 season by winning our fourth straight superspeedway race. This is stuff that dreams are made of.”

Cook Confident Heading For San Bernardino 200

Some tracks fit a driver’s eye. Others apparently don’t.

That seemed to be the situation for Terry Cook’s (No. 25 Harris Trucking Toyota) at Auto Club Speedway where Cook — one of two drivers to have competed in all 12 races at the two-mile track — failed to score a top-five finish until the 2008 race.

“You would like to think you can go to a race track and get a top five every time but not every driver out there can,” said Cook, six-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series winner. “There are so many factors beyond your control and sometimes the cards just don’t play out right.”

Cook had close to a winning hand a year ago finishing a solid fourth. That run — plus his third-place finish a week ago at Daytona — has the Ohio native eager to make the transcontinental flight to the left coast.

“We are coming off a huge high from Daytona. You know when you run well there is an old saying, it doesn’t matter how hard you worked, how many overtime hours you put in or how far away your hotel is … if you run well that is all erased,” said Cook.

Cook drove for Wyler Racing at Auto Club Speedway a year ago. He moved to Jim Harris’ Virginia-based team in late 2008 and believes crew chief Danny Rollins will give him a great package for Saturday’s San Bernardino County 200.

“I have so much confidence in them and they believe in me,” he said. “We are hungry this year for wins. You will see it from us; we all are confident of that.”

For Kyle Busch, A Phenomenal 2008 Began At Auto Club Speedway

Who would have known that Kyle Busch’s victory in last February’s San Bernardino 200 would be the start of something, well, huge. Busch’s first of an eventual three NCWTS victories contributed to 21 wins across NASCAR’s three national series. Going from truck to NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide cars doesn’t seem to faze the 23-year-old Las Vegas native. “You can jump back and forth between them, but if you drive them all the same, then you’re really going to struggle,” said Busch, who plans to run upwards of 80 races in 2009. “You have to know what tendencies you need to run in the truck, or the Nationwide Series car, or the Sprint Cup car. Understanding all of that is what makes you a good race car driver.”
For Ricky Carmichael (No. 4 Monster Energy Drink Chevrolet), there’s no need for introduction to Southern California motorsports fans. Carmichael has won 26 motocross races in the Golden State, including eight each in San Bernardino and Anaheim — communities adjacent to Auto Club Speedway. “The goal this week is to continue learning,” said Carmichael. “We want to be realistic and I’m trying to be a sponge — learn as much as I can every lap.”
Arizona native Gabi DiCarlo (No. 90 Great Clips Toyota) will make her NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut in the San Bernardino County 200. DiCarlo has competed in the ARCA RE/MAX Series where she finished 11th and 14th in the 2007-08 standings. She is the 12th different female to compete in the series. The most recent female was Chrissy Wallace, who finished 31st at Homestead-Miami Speedway last November.
Saturday’s race is a hometown affair for Mike Curb, designated owner of Johnny Sauter’s No. 13 Fun Sand-Curb Records-Rodney Atkins Chevrolet). Curb, a former California lieutenant governor, is from San Bernardino. He counts owner victories in two NASCAR national series: with Sauter in Nationwide and Richard Petty (wins No. 199 and 200) in Sprint Cup.
FOX Sports will broadcast Saturday’s San Bernardino County 200 for the second consecutive year. This is the first of two NCWTS races on broadcast television; the second is the March 28 Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway. Air time is 3 p.m. ET.
A year ago, rain interrupted what was supposed to be NASCAR’s first scheduled national series doubleheader. Inclement weather pushed the Nationwide Series Stater Bros. 300 to Monday where, ironically, it was paired with the Auto Club 500. Fans hope conditions are better this time around. The Stater Bros. 300 is scheduled to follow the truck race and can be seen on ESPN2 at 7 p.m. ET.
Canada’s Fitzpatrick Grabs First Daytona Rookie Top Five Since 2001

In the dictionary, Daytona International Speedway can be cross-referenced with the word “veteran.”

Nine of 10 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series winners have passed their 40th birthdays and no Raybestos Rookie contender had finished among the top five since Ricky Hendrick’s second-place performance in 2001.

That is until a week ago, when Canadian J.R. Fitzpatrick drove TRG’s No. 7 Mammoet Chevrolet to a fourth-place finish.

Fitzpatrick, 20, led laps 71 through 87 as crew chief Butch Hylton worked a late-race tire strategy that nearly put the freshman driver in victory lane.

Owner Kevin Buckler has a history with rookies with Donny Lia a winner at Mansfield, Ohio in 2008. A TRG Porsche also captured GT laurels in January’s Rolex 24 at Daytona.

“I’m still trying to bite the nervousness running with these guys, you know,” said Fitzpatrick, a NASCAR Canadian Tire Series graduate. “Tonight, all I was doing was trying to go out and learn as much as I possibly could. Gain a little bit of respect, not get in anybody’s way and then we come out with a top-five. I mean, that’s just unbelievable.”

Fitzpatrick wasn’t the only rookie contender to finish at the top of the charts.

Tayler Malsam (No. 81 One Eighty Toyota) finished 10th while Chase Austin (No. 32 Trail Motorsports Chevrolet) was 13th.

Three other Raybestos Rookies also stood out even though their finishes didn’t reflect their competitiveness.

Johnny Sauter led three laps before elimination in a mid-race accident that also claimed James Buescher (No. 10 International Maxx Force Diesel Ford) and Ricky Carmichael.

Both Buescher and Carmichael had run among the top five before the frontstretch accident.

Sauter is the sole rookie contender with Auto Club Speedway experience finishing fourth in the fall 2005 Nationwide Series event.

2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Raybestos Rookie Contender Standings:

J.R. Fitzpatrick 18
Tayler Malsam 11
Chase Austin 9
Ricky Carmichael 8
James Buescher 7
Johnny Sauter 6

In The Loop

Last season was a year of firsts for Johnny Benson (No. 1 Red Horse Racing Toyota) and Matt Crafton (No. 88 Menards Chevrolet).

Benson won his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship and Crafton won his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race.

Now, both hope for another long-awaited first – an Auto Club Speedway victory.

Benson has made five trips to the two-mile track, Crafton has competed nine times. Neither has entered Victory Lane. But both have been solid.

Only once has Benson finished outside the top 10 at Auto Club Speedway, a 12th-place finish in 2005.

Since the inception of Loop Data in 2005, at Fontana, Benson has a Driver Rating of 101.1, an Average Running Position of 9.3, 12 Fastest Laps Run, 331 Laps in the Top 15 (for a percentage of 81.5%) and a series-best Pass Differential of +88 (passes minus times passed).

Crafton, likewise, has strong numbers out west, though not as robust as Benson. Crafton has three top 10s in nine ACS starts. Since 2005, he has a Driver Rating of 88.1, an Average Running Position of 10.5, four Fastest Laps Run, 325 Laps in the Top 15 (80.0%) and a Pass Differential of 27.

Both will likely have to contend with Kyle Busch, who will once again run all three races this weekend. In his ACS win last season, his only start there, Busch had a near-perfect Driver Rating of 148.6 (150.0 is perfect).

Director’s Take: Wayne’s Words

“California will always be a special place in the ongoing history of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

“Twenty-six races have been held in the Golden State beginning with a 200-lap event at Saugus Speedway on Easter weekend 1995 won by Ken Schrader.

“The first demonstration race for the series was held at the old Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield. The half-mile short track was host to nine races from 1995 through 2003. Three series champions — Mike Skinner, Ron Hornaday Jr. and Ted Musgrave — won races there.

“New fans probably don’t recall that the trucks once raced on road courses. Infineon Raceway, then Sears Point Raceway, held four races from 1995 through 1998. Joe Ruttman, still the oldest driver to win a series race, won at Infineon. So did Boris Said.

“We’ve had some great races at Auto Club Speedway. Mike Bliss dominated the inaugural race in 1997.

“Several well-known NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers competed in that race including Ernie Irvan, Kevin Harvick, Robby Gordon, Kyle Petty and Robby Gordon. Kenny Irwin, our first Raybestos Rookie of the Year, finished third.

“Several championships were decided in Fontana, among the most exciting in 1999 when Jack Sprague edged Greg Biffle on the last lap.

“More recently, Steve Park won in 2005. The victory was his first after being seriously injured at Darlington.

“The fans are the winners this year; able to see both trucks and the Nationwide Series on the same afternoon. That’s another reason we love coming to Southern California.”
– Wayne Auton, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Director

Auto Club Speedway in Southern California has been part of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series since 1997. Mike Bliss (No. 40 Key Motorsports Chevrolet) won the inaugural event. Other Auto Club winners expected to compete this week are Todd Bodine (2004), Mike Skinner (No. 5 Exide Batteries Toyota, 2007) and Kyle Busch (2008).

Manufacturers’ Battle

Toyota is off to a strong start in defense of its three consecutive Manufacturers’ Championship trophies. Todd Bodine’s Daytona victory gives the truck maker nine points.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series 2009 Manufacturers’ Championship Standings following Race 1 of 25 at Daytona International Speedway:

Toyota 9
Chevrolet 6
Ford 4
Dodge 3

Up Next

Atlanta Motor Speedway will host its only NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event on March 7. The 1.54-mile track hosted a single event in 2004 and two races in each of the following seasons.

Kyle Busch is the defending winner of the American Commercial Lines 200. He also won the race in 2005 along with the track’s fall race in 2007.

Other spring winners expected to compete are Ron Hornaday Jr. (No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet, 2005), Todd Bodine (2006) and Mike Skinner (2007).

Fast Facts

The Race: San Bernardino County 200

The Place: Auto Club Speedway

The Date: Sat., Feb. 21, 2009

The Time: 3 p.m. ET

Race Distance: 200 miles/100 laps

TV: FOX, 3 p.m. ET

Radio: MRN, SIRIUS XM. Listen locally on KFRG-FM 95.1, KVFG-FM 103.1 and KFXG-FM 92.9.

Track Layout: 2-mile oval

2008 Winner: Kyle Busch

2008 Polesitter: Ron Hornaday Jr.

Schedule (times local): Thursday: Practice, 12:30-2:30 p.m. and 3-4 p.m. Friday: Qualifying, 1:40 p.m.

2009 Driver Standings
Driver Points
1 Todd Bodine 195
2 Kyle Busch 175
3 Terry Cook 165
4 J.R. Fitzpatrick 165
5 Ron Hornaday Jr. 160
6 Mike Skinner 151
7 Timothy Peters 150
8 Matt Crafton 147
9 Colin Braun 143
10 Tayler Malsam 134

Kernersville, North Carolina (February 10, 2009) – Kevin Harvick Inc. has launched “Kevin Harvick Fan Central,” an online community and social networking site for fans of Kevin Harvick, driver of the Richard Childress Racing No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and the co-owner of Kevin Harvick Inc.

Kevin Harvick Fan Central is an online community allowing Harvick fans across the globe to interact in a wide variety of ways. Fans can create a personalized page, post and contribute to forums and blogs, participate in online chats, share and comment on pictures and videos, create groups and add events. Members of Fan Central can also add more than 142 additional applications, including feeds from other Web sites (like Twitter), streaming music and more. The fully interactive Fan Central has replaced the message board system formerly located on KevinHarvick.com.

“I feel like we always try to be cutting edge with everything we do at KHI,” Kevin Harvick said. “While the old fan area, message board and sites served an important purpose for the last nine years, we knew it was time to step it up.”

The site launched on January 26, 2009, and more than 1900 fans have already signed-up. An average of 170 new fans join every day. Members have joined from nearly every state and across Canada.

“The Kevin Harvick Fan Central has definitely exceeded my expectations,” Harvick continued. “I have always said that I have the greatest fans and now I believe they have the greatest place to come together. I’m really proud that KHI has once again taken a huge step outside the box with our online community and social networking site.”

Fan Central was created from the Ning Platform by TrendyMinds, an Indianapolis-based, full service advertising and public relations agency. The agency is also in the process of redesigning KevinHarvick.com and KevinHarvickInc.com. KevinHarvick.com will focus on the No. 29 Sprint Cup car that Harvick drives and feature media, statistics and facts about the 2007 Daytona 500 champion. KevinHarvickInc.com will feature media, sponsor, statistics and racing information as it relates to the Kevin Harvick Inc. teams. Both sites will launch in the first quarter of 2009.

For more information on Fan Central or to become a member, visit fancentral.kevinharvick.com.

Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI), established in 2001, is a 70,000 sq. ft. facility located in Kernersville, N.C. KHI houses two full-time Truck Series teams, including the 2007 series champions, the No. 33 Chevrolet Silverado driven by three-time Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday and the No. 4 KHI All-Stars Chevrolet Silverado driven by Ricky Carmichael and a variety of NASCAR Sprint Cup stars. KHI is also home to the No. 33 Chevrolet Impala competing full-time in the Nationwide Series, with drivers Kevin Harvick (a two-time Nationwide Series champion), Hornaday and Cale Gale. The 2009 season marks KHI’s sixth year of full-time competition in NASCAR’s elite divisions. Visit http://www.kevinharvickinc.com for more information.

TrendyMinds is a highly creative, full-service boutique agency. Our services include media solutions, branding, public relations, interactive services and promotions. With a “lean and mean” passionate and experienced staff, TrendyMinds doesn’t just create ad campaigns, press releases or Web sites — TrendyMinds creates identity. Founded in 1995, TrendyMinds prides itself on exceeding expectations, creating lasting and meaningful relationships with clients and hiring only the best and brightest in the industry. TrendyMinds is located in the Douglass Pointe Lofts of Fall Creek Place in downtown Indianapolis. For more information on our work, staff or services, please visit http://www.trendyminds.com or call 317.926.1727

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 9, 2009) – The 2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season will officially kick off this week as teams head south to Daytona International Speedway. Friday night’s NextEra Energy Resources 250 marks 10 years of racing for the trucks on the high banks of the famed 2.5-mile superspeedway. If the previous nine races are any indicator, the 10th is sure to be quite a show.

“Its hard to believe this is our 10th year at Daytona,” said Rick Crawford, the 2003 winner and driver of the No. 14 International Truck and Engine Ford. “For every racer this is sacred ground and when you win at Daytona, you’ve accomplished a dream that many racers have chased and few have achieved.”

In addition to his 2003 win, Crawford has collected three top-five and six top-10 finishes. “Daytona has been good to our race team,” he added. “The only thing better than being a winner at Daytona is being at two-time winner at Daytona.”

The track, rich with history, is about more than just racing for some. “I love the build-up to Daytona,” said three-time series champion Ron Hornaday, Jr. (No. 33 Longhorn Chevrolet). “I think the anticipation of getting ready all off-season, putting the sponsors in place, building the trucks and rolling into a track with so much history is the best part,” he said. “Being at a place where my dad always wanted me to race, just the feeling is the best part about being at Daytona.”

New Look, Same Tough Trucks

Camping World prepares for its inaugural season as title sponsor for the series. While the new sponsor brings a new look for the trucks, the tough competition the trucks are known for will undoubtedly remain the same.

The NextEra Energy Resources 250 has nine different winners in as many races. The largest margin of victory, in 2001, is .318 seconds. In fact, Daytona’s total margin of victory (seven races) is .944 seconds. Two races have finished under caution.

Johnny Benson (No. 1 K&N Filters Toyota) came out on the short end of the two most recent “photo finishes” at Daytona: second to Jack Sprague in 2007 and third a year ago. Benson obviously would like to become the track’s 10th different winner.

He’d also like to become the series’ first back-to-back champion — a feat he denied Hornaday a season ago.

“As things get rolling, we’re excited to start the season. Its tough to win the championship, its tough to win races (and) tough to win a championship,” said Benson, who’ll suit up for Red Horse Racing in 2009 after three seasons with Bill Davis Racing. “History shows you can’t win back-to-back. It’ll be difficult to win another championship. “

Todd Bodine: Can He Make Four In A Row?

Todd Bodine (No. 30 Toyota) wouldn’t mind starting this season right where he left off last November: in Victory Lane. The odds are good for the 2006 series champion to do just that. He happens to be the defending winner at Daytona.

Bodine not only won at Daytona last year, he grabbed his second win at Talladega, becoming the first driver in the series to sweep the superspeedways in a season. Should he win this week’s season opener, it would mark four superspeedway wins in a row. The feat would seem daunting but Bodine and his team feel confident if everything goes just right.

“As a team, we do all the technical things right, but we still have to have luck,” said Bodine. “If we do it right like we’ve been doing, and we’re lucky enough, then we can continue to win at tracks like Daytona and Talladega,” he added. “In order to be in a position to win, we have to have a good truck and we are confident that we have a great No. 30 Toyota prepared for Daytona.”

Like the other competitors, Bodine realizes the significance of Daytona. “It’s the first race of the season, it’s the Super Bowl and all that goes with it,” he said. “It would mean just as much to win again, to get to win two in a row at Daytona or anywhere is quite a feat, but to get two in a row at Daytona, it’s like two Super Bowls in a row. It would be very special.”

Top Of The Box With Mike Beam

Veteran crew chief Mike Beam will be calling the shots once again this season for Roush Fenway Racing driver Colin Braun and the No. 6 Con-way Freight Ford team.

Under Beam’s leadership the 20-year-old notched three top-five and eight top-10 finishes and grabbed the Raybestos Rookie of the Year honors. With that freshman season out of the way, the crew chief looks ahead to see how he can build on what was started and how he can get his driver in Victory Lane.

Below, Beam discusses his preparations for the 2009 season:

Q: Colin had a strong season last year, but is still looking for that first win. How do you prepare?

“We’ve spent a lot of time working on all of our trucks this year to make them as fast as we can. We’ve also spent a lot of time working with Colin to help him develop and mature as a driver. I think you will see a different driver in him this year.

People have to remember that he still has only run about 30 oval races, so it takes time to figure it all out. I feel strongly that he will win a few races this year. He learned a lot last year and now will have the chance to start with a clean slate in 2009.”

Q: What are you doing to prepare your team to start the season off right at Daytona?

“What happened to Colin in this race last year wasn’t his doing, and sometimes it’s impossible to avoid another competitor’s mistake. I’ve talked to Colin a lot in the off-season and we’ve watched last year’s race several times, so he could see if there was something he could have done differently.

We’re working on having him look farther ahead on the track to see what is developing ahead of him. He’s also got to work well with the spotter to see what trouble is brewing ahead of him that he needs to be prepared to avoid.”

Q: With the rule adjustments for the series, how does that affect your strategy?

“There is going to be a lot more pressure on the crew chiefs to figure out whether to take tires or fuel on each stop and what is going to save the most time in the pits. There will also be added responsibility on the drivers as well. The drivers are going to have to start thinking about tire and fuel management. Since quite often we are going to have to stretch both as far as we can, the drivers are going to have to do their part to conserve both.”

Raybestos Rookie Of The Year Lineup Looks Strong

As teams gear up to start the season, a new class of rookies is preparing to duke it out for the top honors.

Johnny Sauter (No. 13 Chevrolet) enters into his first full season competing in the series with ThorSport Racing. Sauter already has a couple rookie titles to his credit. He was the 2001 ASA Rookie of the Year and the runner-up in 2002 in the NASCAR Nationwide Series battle. The driver, who comes from a racing family, has 11 starts in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series with one top-five and two top-10 finishes.

James Buescher would like to join fellow Texas native Colin Braun in the record books as Raybestos Rookie of the Year. The 18-year-old will pilot the No. 10 International MAXX Force Diesel Ford for Circle Bar Racing. Buescher is off to a pretty decent start. He won Saturday’s ARCA RE/MAX Series race.

Ricky Carmichael, a household name for motocross fans, moves up to the series this year and eyes adding another title to his resume. The 29-year-old won an unprecedented 15 American Motorcycle Association (AMA) championships and a record five AMA “Rider of the Year” awards. He will be behind the wheel of the No. 4 Monster Energy Chevrolet for Kevin Harvick Inc.

Tayler Malsam will look to give the others a run for their money as he joins Randy Moss Motorsports this season in the No. 81 Toyota. Malsam finished ninth in points in the ARCA RE/MAX Series last season.

In The Loop

No Camping World Truck Series driver has entered Daytona’s Victory Lane more than once.

The statistics suggest that’ll change this year.

Count on Todd Bodine making a major bid for back-to-back wins in the series’ 10th trip to historic Daytona International Speedway.

Bodine is strong on the 2.5-mile high-banked superspeedway. Over the last four Daytona races, Bodine has a Driver Rating of 132.2, the highest of any driver with more than one race there. Since the inception of Loop Data in 2005, Bodine has an Average Running Position of 4.7, a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 94.8 (a series-high total of 381 laps), 300 Green Flag Passes, 10 Fastest Laps Run and a series-high 79 laps led.

Bodine’s top competition likely will come in the form of last year’s runner-up at Daytona, Kyle Busch.

In his lone Daytona start, Busch had a Driver Rating of 99.7, an Average Running Position of 7.1, 60 Green Flag Passes, five Fastest Laps Run and spent 99 of the 100 laps in the top 15.

Also watch for Mike Skinner, who needed 19 races to pick up his first win last season. Skinner, with new team Randy Moss Motorsports, has a strong record at Daytona – despite going winless in five starts. Since 2005, he has a Driver Rating of 95.6, an Average Running Position of 13.3, 310 Green Flag Passes and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 65.9%.

Director’s Take: Wayne’s Words

“Get ready race fans, because here we come. We’ve got a new look for the series this season but you can guarantee we’ll bring you the same great competition you watched in 2008.

Last year we had a championship battle that went down to the very last lap. Johnny Benson beat Ron Hornaday Jr. by only seven points. Both are eyeing making series history—a back-to-back-championship for Benson and a fourth championship for Hornaday.

It will all kick off this Friday night under the lights. The trucks are known to put on quite a show on the high banks of Daytona. You’ll see multiple lead changes, and a three-wide finish is almost standard for this race.

The new rules adjusting over-the-wall crew members and pit stops will force crew chiefs to come up with some different strategies, which should add to the excitement of the season.”
– Wayne Auton, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Director

Daytona International Speedway hosts the series opener on Friday, Feb. 13. The 2.5-mile tri-oval produces multiple lead changes and typically three-wide racing. The high banking and long straightaways provide plenty of room for drivers to maneuver.

Up Next

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series rolls out west to California next week for the San Bernardino County 200 at Auto Club Speedway. The series is home to several California natives including previous race winner Mike Skinner (No. 5 Toyota), Ron Hornaday Jr. and Matt Crafton (No. 88 Menards Chevrolet). Hornaday and Skinner still are chasing their first victory at the two-mile track.

Kyle Busch (No. 51 Miccosukee Resorts/NOS Energy Drink Toyota) grabbed the checkered flag in 2008.

Fast Facts

The Race: NextEra Energy Resources 250

The Place: Daytona International Speedway

The Date: Fri., Feb. 13, 2009

The Time: 8 p.m. ET

Race Distance: 250 miles/100 laps

TV: SPEED, 7:30 p.m. ET

Radio: MRN, SIRIUS XM. Listen locally on WNDB-AM 1150 and WKRO-FM 93.1

Track Layout: 2.5-mile tri-oval

2008 Winner: Todd Bodine

2008 Pole: Erik Darnell

Schedule: Wednesday: Practice, 12-1:50 p.m. and 5-5:50 p.m. Thursday: Practice, 11:15 a.m.-1:20 p.m., Qualifying, 6:10 p.m.

It sounds like a line from a science fiction movie, but I am not alone. We’re everywhere. From drivers to fans to the press corps that covers the sport, I’m seeing and hearing grown men and women practically jumping out of their skin with anticipation. They’re almost vibrating they’re so excited, like an emergency generator that never shuts down. It’s as if everyone I know has imbibed a cocktail whose ingredients are a triple espresso latte, a couple cans of Full Throttle and a two-pound bag of M&M’s.

In other words, they’re showing telltale signs of over-caffeination. But it isn’t a few too many trips to Starbucks that has us all so jittery. It’s the 51st running of the Daytona 500, on February 15.

Is this year’s “Great American Race” really so different from any other year? The answer is yes. And no.

There is an impressive set of undeniable facts about the Daytona 500. It is the biggest, most prestigious race of the year. The phrase “Daytona 500 champion” carries a certain cachet that other events, however popular, just don’t have; think in terms of Wimbledon or The Masters.

Plus, the paycheck isn’t too shabby, either. The Daytona 500 winner will collect the biggest purse of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

I don’t expect to see any of these things change in my lifetime, and I plan to stick around for a very long time. But let’s be honest. NASCAR, along with every other big business in America, has been affected by the current economic downturn.

Racing’s off-season, despite the fact that it falls during the traditional holiday season, was far from festive. We’ve been hearing less about cars getting together on the track and more about teams merging off of it. Even the seasoned pros among us might need a scorecard for the first two or three weeks of this new season, just to keep track of who is driving what car bearing the logo of which sponsor.

You know how time seems to travel at a different, slower pace when you’re at your job, but seems to fly when you take that rare week off? The off-season has seemed an awful lot like work. But buckle up, friends. It’s time for our vacation to begin.

This year’s jaunt — and it is an ambitious one, spanning 10 months, 36 point races and two coastlines — has all us jumping up and down in our seats.

Even our beloved NASCAR superstars are getting into the act. As I was listening to Daytona 500 Media Day coverage on my radio, and the drivers were being systematically interviewed, one parroted the next almost word for word. “I can’t wait. We need something positive to talk about, like actual racecars and what’s happening on the track. I’m really excited.”

They sound like kids in the back seat, putting a new slant on the old phrases we have heard, and used, so many times during our travels.

“He’s looking at me.”

Well, of course he’s looking at you, son. Actually, he’s focused on you like a laser beam, trying to ascertain whether or not you and your crew chief have managed to find that elusive hundredth of a second that can mean the difference between the winner’s circle and a very bad day. Get used to it.

“Let’s play the alphabet game!”

Excellent suggestion. This is a staple of highway travel, uniquely suited to NASCAR, which when you think about it, is the supreme car trip. A: I see an Allmendinger! B: I see Kyle Busch! C: I see Carl Edwards, (and he’d better back off). D: I see a drafting partner … Oh, wait, maybe not. E: I see an Earnhardt. You get the drift.

Of course, the most popular letters of the day pop up toward the end of the alphabet. Everyone wants to be the driver who says, “V: I see Victory Lane”.

Of course, the most frequently asked questions center not around the journey, but the destination. “How much longer? Are we there yet?” And finally, we are able give the answer that is music to everyone’s ears.

Yes, we are.

JOHNNY BENSON
BILL DAVIS
TRIP BRUCE

THE MODERATOR: Why don’t you tell us a little bit about tonight and winning the Truck Series championship.

JOHNNY BENSON: Tonight was tough. Tonight was about Trip Bruce and making the calls that he did, because if I wouldn’t have screwed up last week we wouldn’t have been in this situation.

That’s one thing I told the guys. Coming into this race was no different than coming into last week’s. It was six points last time, three points this time, and we had to go out and do what we had to do. Trip had said, we may not going to be the fastest, but this is hopefully the smartest one wins this, and his calls were extremely smart. They were great calls. I knew what he was doing. I knew it was going to be an issue for me maybe.

But I have more confidence in this race team and Trip than I’ve had in many, many years, and it’s been a pleasure to ‑‑ one, to win this championship, but to have a fabulous year with five wins, a lot of great runs, and just really got to thank Bill and Gail Davis, for giving me the opportunity to come and do this.

When we started this deal, the goal was to try to get a championship, and it’s been amazing to get 14 wins and now a championship in the last three years. It’s been ‑‑ it means more to me to get this for Bill and Gail than anything you people can even ever imagine. Bill has been in the sport for many, many years. He’s put a lot of blood, sweat, tears in this, a lot of money, and he deserves it. He deserves more than one, and hopefully he’ll get more than one before this is all done with.

THE MODERATOR: We’re also joined by champion team owner, Bill Davis, and crew chief, Trip Bruce. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about tonight and the season.

BILL DAVIS: Well, I don’t know if we went according to plan or not. It looked like it to me, but somebody said ‑‑ down there they said something about being a bridesmaid for so many years, and for a long time tonight it looked like it might be that again.

You know, it worked out. Rick made a call that probably a lot of people wouldn’t have, and that’s how it works. It could have been the greatest call and been a hero and this time but didn’t work out because of how things fell in place, and that’s racing.

It’s just great that we won it, great that we were in a position to win it, and this is why we all race. This is why we all do this and work so hard. This obviously feels real good.

THE MODERATOR: Trip, why don’t you tell us about tonight and the season.

TRIP BRUCE: Well, you know, on that note, we were sitting up there with not a whole lot to be proud of. Typically we’re proud of our performance on the track, the speed we get out of the trucks with Johnny driving, and we didn’t have that this week. That’s a long race, even 25, 45 laps. It’s a long time. Anything can happen. All this equipment is running on the ragged edge all the time. You never know, maybe not over yet. We really don’t know what the outcome is yet, not until the last lap. I said, Bill, they’re not going to let us leave until it’s over. We’re here until the end, so let’s keep hoping.

Sure enough, a caution comes out and it gives us an opportunity for us to not mess up, and like they said, the other team made a little mistake there. I think they would have beat us if we would have stayed out. We all watched the race. They had a better truck than us tonight. It was about taking advantage of an opportunity. We said we’re going to fight until the end, we’re going to stay out, it’s our best shot, and it was, and it turned out good for us tonight, and I’m proud of that.

That was all teamwork getting us to that point, so I’m proud of that part. Same thing we run on all year long, teamwork.

Q. Bill, we’re all aware of how tough the economic climate is today in NASCAR and the economy in general, what a challenge it’s been this year. Can you talk about psychologically what a big moment this is for you and what a big shot in the arm it is for Bill Davis Racing?

BILL DAVIS: Well, sure, it’s been a challenge for everybody in the sport. The entire economy worldwide is something that is in a condition that I don’t think many of us in this room, certainly myself, has never seen in 40 years of business.

But the championship is just ‑‑ as I said earlier, it’s what it’s all about. Toyota and TRD gives us a wonderful opportunity. They give us the best equipment in the garage and the best support, and we’ve come up short the last couple years. Obviously we needed to get it done tonight and kind of fell into it in an unusual way, but it worked out for us really well, and I’m just real happy for all the guys, happy for all the guys at Bill Davis Racing, the guys at Triad, Todd Holbert and Jon Dysinger, the great job he does on the engines, Todd Holbert, the chassis and the body, and the great support that TRD gives us. It’s second to none. Finally we got it done for them.

Q. Johnny, do you appreciate this championship a little bit more than when you won the Busch title in ’95 because at that time you were kind of beginning your NASCAR career, now you realize you’re probably in the latter stages of it, and to get a title at this stage in your career, just talk a little bit about how much more you may appreciate this one than 13 years ago.

JOHNNY BENSON: Well, I think you can appreciate every championship in its own little way for sure. You know, winning ‑‑ at the time the Busch Series championship was not easy, like this year hasn’t been, either. I may have been a little bit further ahead on that deal, and we won it before the last race of the season, so yeah, I mean, it just shows the performance that we had was great.

This year our performance was great, Ron’s performances were great, but if this was last year and any of the three previous years, me and Ron, the seasons we had, we’d have been running for fourth and fifth. So this year has been a strange year as far as the consistency of that.

And two years ago when we were battling Todd, Todd only had two bad races. He ran 18th and 20th. That’s very unusual to have that, but that’s how tough this series is, and I think this year, I think people had more problems, and obviously it came down to the last race, to the final lap. I actually thought I lost it when the 09 went by me.

You know, we went into this race to have fun, to do the best that we could. I’ve got all the confidence in the world in Trip Bruce and Bill Davis Racing that things are going to end up okay, and obviously they ended up a little better than okay.

This one does mean a lot to Bill Davis Racing. I knew we would win a championship. I hated that it took this long, but I knew we were going to win a championship. It was just a matter of time. We had good people. Like Bill said, with Triad, TRD, all the engineering, Jon Dysinger building the engines, all the bodywork that we do, the people that we assembled for this deal, it was a matter of time that we were hoping that we were going to get this.

When we unloaded at Daytona, that was a goal like every year to win the championship, and it’s been a hard‑fought one. I really think that Vegas didn’t take the wind out of our sails. It took the wind out of me when I hit the wall, but not out of our sails because we were performing doing what we needed to do during that race. The only time that I thought that there was going to be an issue is when I messed up at Phoenix and I lost every bit of our cushion that we had at that point in time.

If I could go back there and change it, I would, and that what we had to do. Me and Trip talked, we didn’t have the performance we needed tonight to beat the 33, but we had the crew chief and the calls and the desire to try to go beat them, and that’s what happened tonight.

Q. Johnny or Trip or Bill, whoever wants this, the controversy with NASCAR in the pits with the tape on the spoiler, Trip, how close did you come to blowing up on that, and, Johnny, what was your reaction when he told you?

JOHNNY BENSON: Well, we knew that that wasn’t going to make a difference either way. There was more than just us out there with that problem.

I don’t think it’s an advantage or disadvantage to have tape or not. At the point in time we were so loose, I’d have took the tape, we just didn’t get it on there. I don’t know if that would have been a right call or a wrong call to call us in there. They gave us an opportunity to get it fixed. We tried to get it fixed but we couldn’t get it to stick. They gave us an opportunity later and we got it done.

Q. To all three of you gentlemen, can you look back through the season ‑‑ I know you haven’t had much time to reflect, but pick out some moments where you can look back and say, this is the reason why we ended up here with the championship?

JOHNNY BENSON: Well, I can give you in 25 races the reason why we won the championship, because that’s what it took. It took 25 races. It started at Daytona when we unloaded, ended when we loaded up tonight, and it’s every race. And we’ve had some good races, we’ve had some great races, we’ve had some mediocre races and we’ve had a lot of heartbreak with one engine blown, we had a couple tires blown and wrecked. Every one of those is a decision or a result of us being here winning a championship.

You know, like I say, it takes a whole year, and it’s just a way‑cool deal here. I don’t think people understand how much this means to me to win this, but not just for me, for Bill and Gail, everybody at Bill Davis Racing, Toyota Certified Used Vehicles and Exide, everybody involved. I’ll remember this for many, many years to come.

Q. Bill, where does this rank compared to some of your other accomplishments, winning the Daytona 500 and that sort of thing, and how much does this sort of act as a salve to soothe over some of the problems you’ve had the last couple of weeks with the Cup team?

BILL DAVIS: I don’t know what problems you’re referring to, but obviously a championship is what it’s all about, no matter what series you’re talking about.

Winning the Daytona 500 was a very cool thing and to finish Top 10 in the points series is very cool. But a championship is a championship, and that’s the ultimate goal for everybody that races.

This is way up there obviously.

Q. Two questions: Johnny, you’re kind of a commonsense kind of guy, but you’ve got that bottle of champagne you’ve been swigging here in the media center. How are you going to celebrate? And, second, is this bittersweet thinking about the future now, kind of your thoughts about that?

JOHNNY BENSON: Well, yeah, we’re going to celebrate, turn three of the lake in the infield here, we’ve got a motor home with a lot of food and a lot of drinks. Anybody that wants to come over, come on over.

You know, it is bittersweet to talk about that, but in the same token, I really want to talk about the championship and what it’s meant for us because that’s what today is about. Next year doesn’t have anything to do with right now. Right now it’s about the championship. Right now it’s about winning this for Bill Davis Racing and Toyota and everybody involved, and that’s what it’s about.

It is what it is at the moment, and it’s a difficult ‑‑ it’s a very difficult task about the decision, but I don’t care about that right now because I’m going to celebrate and going to celebrate with all of our team guys, Bill, and just everybody involved, because that’s what it’s about. It’s about this race team today, this race team and what they’ve done the last three and a half years I’ve been here and what they’ve been able to provide for me to go out and win races.

I mean, to win 14 races in the last three years is incredible. I don’t know if those numbers can be challenged by anybody.

TRIP BRUCE: I mean, for everything else worth and everything it was worth, it wore out a little bit there, started to fade back again. I wouldn’t have worried about the left sides blowing or anything like that. The loads are fairly low here at Homestead that gets put on the tire. It’s a great tire. We were in good shape in that aspect.

Q. Bill, during the race your emotions walking on Pit Road, were you calm, were you sick to your stomach? What was going on in your head? Was it up and down?

BILL DAVIS: Yeah, I was pretty calm. It is what it is. You put forth your best effort and you get the best people that you can, the best equipment that you can, and it’s going to come out the way that it does. We’ve been through these deals before, and so ‑‑ I mean, I don’t want to sound nonchalant about it. It was an emotional deal and it was going to be what it was, and it worked out.

Q. Johnny, at what point did you know that you had won the race after the 09 went by? And, Trip, there seemed to be a little bit of indecision at the end where you guys didn’t celebrate right away.

TRIP BRUCE: The way they score these positions manually and electronic ally, they look at both of those and compare them, so it took a few minutes and we were being thorough.

I kind of knew where we were at, that we were ahead of the 33, and that fact alone let me know that we would win. I was pretty confident, but you have to wait and see, and we had an official there that gave it to us.

BILL DAVIS: How many did we win by?

TRIP BRUCE: Seven.

JOHNNY BENSON: The championships are all different in their own ways, but the one thing you can look back and say you can be extremely proud of every one of them. I don’t view one as any better than the other. Obviously the higher you get in rankings and things of that nature, the more challenging they are.

But you really get to the point where you have this same desire to win whatever you’re at and whatever you’re doing. And the accomplishments are overwhelming when you win a championship, when you win, because that takes every race into perspective for the entire year, and to do that is very difficult. They’re all very, very cool. They all mean a tremendous amount, and hopefully we can go win more.

An Interview With:

TODD BODINE
MIKE HILLMAN, JR.

THE MODERATOR: We are joined in the media center by tonight’s winner of the Ford 200, Todd Bodine.

You won here in 2005, your second time in Victory Lane. Tell us a little bit about your night.

TODD BODINE: Well, like Junior said, when we got to Victory Lane, lap 5, if you told us we were going to win this race, we would have laughed at you.

We didn’t have a good truck at all. We missed it pretty bad, and our motto is never give up. And we don’t. Junior took some big swings at it, set up air pressure and wedge and track bar and everything but the driver. Probably should have changed the driver, too.

And then second stop did a little bit of adjustments, third stop didn’t do any. It was the best it needed to be at the end.

I think we probably had the second best truck. We wouldn’t have beat Kyle if everybody had stayed on track, but we could have got to second, I think. That says a lot for this team and the attitude. We don’t give up.

THE MODERATOR: We’re joined by tonight’s winning crew chief as, Mike Hillman, Jr.

Tell us about your night.

MIKE HILLMAN, JR.: Todd basically touched on it. We were struggling at the beginning, and we made some big swings at it and made it a lot better. Some of the guys pitted the last time, and when Kyle came, we decided to stay out because that was the only chance we had to beat him.

We never give up. I’m just really proud of all these guys. They’ve done a heck of a job all year long. Great pit stops on Pit Road, great attitudes, go above and beyond anything you could ever ask a race team to do to make sure that we can be in Victory Lane.

Q. Todd, you said you were shocked that Ron lost the championship. Why is that?

TODD BODINE: Um, you know, the old adage that the fastest truck doesn’t always win, that’s the way it was tonight. Rick and Ron and the whole crew, everybody at KHI, they’ve done such a great job.

Q. How good can this race team be next year?

MIKE HILLMAN, JR.: I believe one of the strongest race teams in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series garage.

And we’re going to come out next year with our guns blazing. Germain Racing is growing and doing things different. Me and Todd are going to stay where we are and argue with Senior to keep all our guys intact and make sure we got everybody we need and in place to compete for the championship next year.

It’s all could haves, would haves and should haves, and we should have done it this week, but third is not bad. But that’s not why we’re here. We’re here to be on the front stretch. We’re here to win every race and win championships.

I think we proved tonight that we’re back. We haven’t finished out of the top five since Talladega, the last five races. We’ll take this momentum, go home, work on our stuff all winter and come to Daytona ready to win two Daytona races in a row.

Q. How big is winning the season finale leading into next year?

TODD BODINE: Well, it’s always big to win, first of all. That’s what we go every week for. But it’s nice to for the guys to walk around the shop in the wintertime with their chests bowed out.

Every week the winner is a winner for a week, and the next week there’s another winner, and the next week there’s another winner. Now you get a week off and that guy gets it for two weeks. Well, guess what, we get it for two months, three months, whatever it is. And it’s important for the team. It’s important for morale.

Our guys, like I said earlier, we don’t ever give up. That’s our motto. For our guys in that shop, this just proves it right here. Tonight is a great example of what Germain Racing is about. We should not have won this race. We did not have the best truck by any means. But the guys knew that their pit stops were going to count and make my job easier. I’d say probably between the three stops they picked up 12 spots or 15 spots. I mean, that’s pretty incredible.

They know that. They know that they were a part of putting me in the position to do what I can do, and it’s a team effort, and we go through the winter and we’ll have our chests bowed out and we’ll go to the Christmas party and we’ll have fun and talk about our last win and how good it’s going to be to go to Daytona and win another one.

Q. Mike, you’ve been around for a long time. Can you sort of digest or understand the pit decision of Rick Ren for four tires there?

MIKE HILLMAN, JR.: Rick Ren is a great crew chief. He is a great leader and does a great job with his guys. I would never second guess a decision he made. He’ll probably second guess himself for a couple months, but they’re champions. He’s won championships. He was Johnny’s crew chief when we battled them in ’06. You know when you come to the garage you’ve got to battle Rick Ren and Ron Hornaday, and you can’t question that decision.

You know, it looks the worst because it was only three points, but like I said earlier, there was a lot of could haves, should haves, would haves through the whole season for all of us. And you can’t blame it on one pit stop. If they wouldn’t have ran out of gas at Martinsville, he probably wouldn’t have had to worry about who was going to be champion when we came down here.

An Interview With:

RON HORNADAY

THE MODERATOR: We’re joined in the media center by Ron Hornaday, Jr., who finished second to Johnny Benson in the points standings.

Why don’t you tell us a little bit about your run tonight.

RON HORNADAY: Awesome day for us until that last call. We’ve watched many races Kyle Busch puts on four tires and goes around the outside of everybody. Great call. We just didn’t know all them guys were going to put two on and it put us pretty far back.

Gallant effort from Camping World Chevrolet. Toyota has got big, big rear view mirrors because they did a lot of good blocking.

We’ll be all right. We’re happy with second. We gave that one away last week, and coming down here if we would have played our cards right, you never know what happens in racing. It all goes back to Homestead and goes back to Daytona, it goes back to a flat tire, it goes back to running out of fuel.

If I had to pinpoint one thing, Johnny Benson and them guys, a great year, and we came up one position short.

Q. Can you talk about the relationship you and Johnny have built over this battle, which you guys have been neck and neck the whole season? I noticed you rushed down to congratulate him. Talk about the rivalry you have and the friendship you’ve built through this.

RON HORNADAY: Coming down to it, anybody else, the way Johnny and I raced probably the last when he put two tires on, raced side by side, probably just went up and rubbed the guy, but Johnny didn’t come down on me and I didn’t come up on him, and that’s part of racing. And Joe’s Brian Scott, little snot nosed kid coming, stuck his nose in and made it three wide a couple times and made it exciting for us. Points leader, he’ll be going for points later, and I’ll stick my nose in there, too, buddy, but it’s all right. Glad to see you run good.

Johnny, he said he wanted to go nose and nose and do burnouts. It’s like, I can’t go scratching this truck, no testing next year and it’s a pretty good truck, so we’re just going to keep it in one piece. So I was going to go nose and nose and do a pretty good burnout with both of us, but, heck, we’re going to go and drink his beer now.

Q. Just to kind of follow up a little bit on Benson, here’s a guy that, for the most part, pretty popular amongst the fellow competitors, a lot of people like racing with him, and you can kind of see him obviously you want to win the championship, but to see him win it as a competitor, how do you feel about that?

RON HORNADAY: I think it stinks. I think I should have won it. No, I couldn’t be more prouder for Johnny Benson. I’m really glad to see that he got an opportunity to do it. I know he’s leaving Bill’s stable next year and he’s moving on, so that’s good for Bill Davis and everybody else. That gives him more commodity going into next year.

Johnny is just a heck of a racer. You haven’t seen him take anybody out other than maybe last week when he had brain fade after I had brain fade. He was really stupid wrecking after I had already wrecked.

Yeah, that’s about the only time I’ve ever seen Johnny get in an incident and stuff like that. When Johnny Benson comes to race, you can lead the whole race and when the checkered flag drops, there he is second or third.

He’s one of them guys that come on the last 50 laps, and it showed again today.

Q. Are you frustrated? Are you angry? Are you disappointed, or is that just racing?

RON HORNADAY: I don’t know. I mean, I think it’s just racing, but I’m tired of that kind of racing. I mean, we could use every excuse in the book and we learn by our mistakes and we’ve been beat before by four tires and we said today we weren’t going to do it.

I’m more frustrated our radio didn’t work because I was going to stay out and they were yelling at me, screaming at me coming in, and I came in. And when I saw Kevin stay out, I knew I was in trouble.

I couldn’t get back up because of the grass line. I was just about ready to turn it back right and I let it clip it and that would’ve put me in the tail end in the longest line.

What really hurt us, a lot of them guys putting two tires on there and getting blocked the last couple laps. I had to run my truck really hard to get around Busch and Benson. They really made the track wide.

He didn’t get into me, but he might as well have making it three wide a couple times and turning it sideways.

He drove me like a dog again, and we’ll remember it and put it in the memory books.

Q. The pit call, had your radio been working? Everybody is scratching their heads, just wondering how that could have happened. There were crew chiefs out there from the Cup Series and they’re like, we still don’t understand the pit deal. Had your radio been working?

RON HORNADAY: I told them I was staying out, my truck was good enough to stay out. I was kind of babying it to know what we had. I’m not going to second guess.
If we would have come back and won the race, it would have been the call of the century. We lost it. I mean, that’s all there is to it. I’m going to go back and drink a beer over it, and hopefully we’ll talk about it.

I don’t know, real frustrating to listen to comments being made of another driver telling another driver that I wrecked him and now it’s your chance to go out there this weekend to win the championship. Somebody shouldn’t have said that, and I overheard it, about three of my good buddies would hang around over there, and that’s a shame it comes down to a championship like that. But now I see why it happened.

Q. And if you don’t mind, if you would have had your radio, you would have said I’m staying out, but you would never stay out without having

RON HORNADAY: In the middle and Johnny on top, so you’re a sitting duck when you’re back there behind there. These things are so aero dependent and if you get in there where you can hold it wide open, you’re going to be all right, but I had to get in there, the nose got loose and drove back around him.

But it took more than a couple laps to get around them guys. That’s what hurt. Heck, I don’t know. We’ll do that again.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Ron.

An Interview With:

BRIAN SCOTT

MODERATOR: Now we are also joined by Brian Scott who finished second tonight.

This was your second highest finish. You finished fourth last week at Phoenix. Tell us about your night.

BRIAN SCOTT: We had a real interesting night, a lot of fun. This truck is the same truck we ran at Texas and it just doesn’t have a lot of speed qualifying. It’s a real big down-force truck and when you come to these mile and a halfs, that drag ends up hurting us when we’re by ourselves taped up.

It runs really good in traffic, though. Just from practice yesterday, if there was a truck, a straightaway away, just a little disturbance in the air, we’d pick up two and a half tenths.

I remember it raced really well at Texas. I knew we were going to have a good truck when the green flag fell. When it fell, we were a little bit different than in practice, but after a long qualifying run, we were really good.

Jeff Hensley kept coming on my radio telling me I was running ten faster than the leader. And, you know, at that point I knew if we just kept up with adjustments, got our truck a little better and stayed with the good guys, you know, got a little track position, we could be there at the end and we could have a shot for him.

Sure enough, as laps started winding down, we kind of started creeping our way up and there was the restart before the last one, I’m leading it, and that’s the first time I’ve done a restart I mean, as a driver you know what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to get the gas pedal down without spinning the tires, but you’ve got to be right on that edge, especially with people like Todd Bodine or Ron Hornaday or Kyle Busch behind you. They’re going to get everything they can get.

You know, I pushed it a little hard and spun the tires, but I knew going into one from what my spotter was saying that I had like three truck lengths, so I opted to take the high line side and have momentum coming out and I didn’t expect him to pull up beside me and be drag racing down the back stretch. He had a better run through that corner than me obviously, and when we got to three, Todd drove in there until he cleared me.

Win, lose or draw, he was going for the win. I can’t blame him for it. I would have done the same.

An Interview With:

KEVIN HARVICK

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by tonight’s third place finisher, Kevin Harvick.

Why don’t you tell us about your run tonight.

KEVIN HARVICK: We had a good night. Truck was not as good the last run as what it had been the previous couple runs before that, and we got a little bit off and everybody pitted for whatever reason.

I felt like we had a good enough truck to challenge for it, and we got in a good little battle there and wound up third. It was a good night for us.

Q. Could you just talk about the battle that Hornaday and Benson had and how that ended up?

KEVIN HARVICK: Yeah, I felt like obviously it was great to watch all year, and the back and forth, and it felt like we had it in hand there. And then they pitted and they lost. That’s just the way it goes, and everybody tried hard.

Q. As a car owner, how much were you aware of what was going on during the race and how much were you aware of what he needed to do in the last few laps? Were you in the loop as far as where he was?

KEVIN HARVICK: I was very aware of what they needed to do, and that was beat the 23. Obviously it’s one of those deals where, like I say, I felt like they had it in hand, the way that the pit strategy worked out, it worked out. I feel like they probably would have won the race if they don’t pit.

But there’s a lot of different ways of looking at it, and we lost.

Q. You touched on this. Were you surprised, not just Ron’s team, but so many people elected to make a pit stop with like less than ten laps left in the race?

KEVIN HARVICK: Yeah, I knew there was debris left on the racetrack, and we saw Johnny run good there on two tires and really do what he needed to do to get track position, and then he faded.

Like I say, I felt like from my position, watching the trucks and watching the 23 go backwards and watching the 33 hold his position in the front, I felt like they had it under control. I didn’t feel like it was I knew I wasn’t going to pit, so I didn’t know where everybody else was in their situation.

Q. After a whole season where you fight for the championship and to have it be decided by such a narrow margin, just talk a little bit about how this series usually has about the best points race that you can find in the three top divisions.

KEVIN HARVICK: Well, these things are fun to drive, and obviously they punch such a big hole in the air that you can pull back up to people. The trucks are you can kind of manhandle the things and make them do what you want them to do and get away with it. They just have a great aero package and the way that the rules are in these things really promotes good racing.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Kevin.

An Interview With:

COLIN BRAUN

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by the 2008 Rookie of the Year, Colin Braun.

Colin, this is the sixth Roush Rookie of the Year in this series. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about tonight and having that honors.

COLIN BRAUN: It’s obviously an honor to win the Rookie of the Year championship. My guys have done a great job all year and I feel like they really deserve it so happy to win that.

Disappointed with tonight. Felt like we had a pretty decent truck in practice and got in the race and struggled with it a little bit. I’ve never been here before and I’m sure that hurt us with my experience. I worked on it, got it better there and decided to come down and take tires at the end. I think that was the right call for us. We were pretty fast there at the end on the high side.

That last restart I don’t know what happened. I was trying to change up from second to third gear, hard on the gas, and then everybody started to start. That ended our night. Thought I maybe could have pulled off a 10th place finish or something like that. I just saw the replay and the 22 truck looked like he tried to stop there, so I’m sure that backed everybody up.

Oh, well, that’s the way racing goes.

Q. What’s up for next year? Got any clues on that? Is anything decided?

COLIN BRAUN: Next year I think we’re doing the Truck Series again, Camping World Truck Series with Con way Freight coming back as our sponsor and Ford is back behind us with our technical support. Certainly really excited about that.

Really excited to have an opportunity to go and race against all these guys again next year and have whole year under my belt of experience.

Q. You talked a lot about being happy for your team, but what does the Rookie of the Year mean to you personally?

COLIN BRAUN: Well, I think Jack told me at the start of the year, if you don’t win it, I’m going to kick your butt.

Obviously really happy to win it and certainly if you look back at the history of Roush Racing, I think Jack has won it almost every time he’s tried. It’s really cool to follow in those guys’ footsteps, Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, those guys have all won it.

Just really looking forward to next year and having a new fresh start next year with a brand new fleet of trucks, and I’m excited.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Colin, and congrats.

FastScripts by ASAP Sports

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (November 14, 2008) — Todd Bodine may have won Friday night’s Ford 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but a pair of calls in the pits earned Johnny Benson a seventh-place finish—exactly what he needed to secure the series championship.

After pitting for four tires under caution on Lap 126, Ron Hornaday Jr. chased Benson to the stripe during a green-white-checkered-flag finish that took the race three laps beyond its scheduled 134-lap distance. Hornaday came home eighth, one position behind Benson and one position short of his fourth series championship.

Benson’s team changed plans at the last second and kept the No. 23 Toyota on the track during that caution, and that decision proved to be the winning move.

Benson won the championship by seven points over his Chevy-driving rival and is the only driver other than Greg Biffle to win titles in both the Craftsman Truck and Nationwide Series. Benson restarted sixth and Hornaday 13th on Lap 130, and Hornaday gained four spots to ninth before Tayler Malsam and Jack Sprague wrecked on the backstretch to set up the two-lap sprint to the finish.

Bodine beat rookie Brian Scott to the finish line by .232 seconds, with Kevin Harvick running third, Kyle Busch fourth and Dennis Setzer fifth.

“It was only fun at the end — not at the beginning or the middle,” said a delighted Benson, who fought handling problems early in the race. “If those guys didn’t come in, I might have come in, but when they came in, I knew what he (crew chief Trip Bruce) wanted to do, so I stayed out. . .

“All these guys behind me that worked on this thing are great friends. We’ve worked very hard to make this happen. Tonight was about Trip Bruce making the right calls.

Hornaday had radio problems late in the race and couldn’t communicate to crew chief Rick Ren that he preferred not to pit under the caution on Lap 126.

“It was an awesome day for us until that last call,” Hornaday said. “We didn’t know all those guys (trucks that came out of the pits ahead of Hornaday) were going to take two tires and get out in front of us. But Johnny Benson and those guys had a great year, and we came up one position short.”

Benson’s two-tire call under caution on his final pit stop gave him the lead with 43 laps left and transformed the race from ho-hum to humdinger. Benson held the lead for a restart on Lap 95 with Hornaday in tow. Less than one lap later, Busch stormed into the mix from sixth position and kept Hornaday occupied until he took the lead for himself.

On old left-side tires, Benson began to fade and had dropped to seventh by Lap 117. Hornaday surrendered the second spot to Scott but appeared headed for the championship before polesitter Mike Skinner’s blown right front tire bought out the fourth caution of the race on Lap 124.
Notes: Bodine won his third race of the season and the 15th of his career and finished third in the final standings. He won the season opener in Daytona as well. … Though he won his first championship, Benson hasn’t secured a ride for next year, having announced that he will not return to Bill Davis Racing in 2009.

Jimmie Johnson is on the verge of history, closing in on his third-consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship. Sunday’s Ford 400 will decide his fate.

In Friday night’s Ford 200, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series title will be decided, as only three points separate leader Johnny Benson from second-place Ron Hornaday Jr.

In Saturday’s Ford 300, the NASCAR Nationwide Series will crown either points leader Clint Bowyer or second-place Carl Edwards as its champion.

Storylines follow, but first here’s a look at Florida natives in the NASCAR garage.

In the Garage

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

Kenny Francis (Jacksonville) – No. 9 Crew Chief

Alan Gustafson (Ormond Beach) No. 5 Crew Chief

Shane Westerberg (Miami) – No. 07 Mechanic

Allen Mincey (Fort Lauderdale) – No. 19 Mechanic

Dean Mozingo (Tampa) – No. 5 Transport Driver, Pit Support

Adam Cooke (Zephyrhills) – No. 41 Front Tire Carrier

Tony Nicholson (Jupiter) – No. 21 Front Tire Carrier

Ryan Pepe (Orlando) – No. 07 Front Tire Changer

Mark Jacobs (Fort Walton Beach) – No. 42 Jack Man

Ray Gallahan (Lake Helen) – No. 2 Jack Man

Chris Moore (Tampa) – No. 77 Rear Tire Carrier

Tab Boyd (Pensacola) – No. 42 Spotter

Shawn Reutimann (Zephyrhills) – No. 44 Spotter

Bobby Bakeeff (Fort Lauderdale) – No. 16 Pit Support

NASCAR Nationwide Series

Paul Flury (Hollywood) – No. 29 Engineer

Jay Nolan (Jacksonville) – No. 5 Engine Tuner

Shaun Rinaman (Sarasota) – No. 12 Catch Can

Shane Westerberg (Miami) – No. 2 Front Tire Changer

Thomas Costello (St. Petersburg) – No. 2 Gas Man

Jared Branan (Kissimmee) – No. 7 Rear Tire Changer

Kathy Rogers (Pinellas Park) – No. 88 Scorer

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series

Tim Rice (Lehigh Acres) – No. 7 Truck Chief

Chuck Scott (Tampa) – No. 12 Truck Chief

Jason Overstreet (Clearwater) – No. 9 Crew Chief

Rob Hunley (Ocalla) – No. 30 Engineer

Scott Palmer (Deland) – No. 7 Engine Tuner

Justin Gardner (Zephyrhills) – No. 30 Tire Specialist

Brian McCants (Port St. Lucis) – No. 6 Catch Can

Chris Souza (Land O Lakes) – No. 12 Front Tire Carrier

Kyle Kretchman (Bradenton) – No. 5 Front Tire Changer

Everett Jones (Land O Lakes) – No. 12 Front Tire Changer

Bill Rock (Cape Coral) – No. 28

James Lowe (Land O Lakes) – No. 12 Jack Man

Jeff Wilson (Fort Myers) – No. 7 Rear Tire Carrier

Teddy Steger (Land O Lakes) – No. 12 Rear Tire Carrier

Larry Lajoie (Land O Lakes) – No. 12 Rear Tire Changer

Tim Rice (Lehigh Acres) – No. 7 Windshield/Driver Support

Morgan Holland (Pensacola) – No. 6 Scorer

Mike Swaim (Daytona Beach) – No. 5 Spotter

Michelle Gosselin (Lake Wales) – No. 12 Spotter

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

Johnson Closing in On Third Straight Title

Jimmie Johnson needs to finish 36th or better in Sunday’s Ford 400 to become only the second driver to win three consecutive championships. Cale Yarborough is the only other driver to do so (1976-78).

Johnson now leads second-place Carl Edwards by 141 points. Even if Edwards were to win and lead the most laps on Sunday – a 195-point day – Johnson would clinch with that 36th-place finish.

A phenomenal Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup has put Johnson in this position. Over the nine races, Johnson has three wins, six top fives, eight top 10s, an average finish of 4.7 and a Driver Rating of 118.7.

Knaus Cementing His Place in History

Behind every great driver is a great crew chief. That is certainly true when discussing Jimmie Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus. If Johnson and the No. 48 team hold on, Knaus will become the first ever crew chief to win three consecutive championships.

Edwards Holds Out Hope

Anything can happen. That’s Edwards’ mantra going into this weekend. His Roush Fenway Racing team has won the last four Homestead races (three by Greg Biffle, one by Matt Kenseth), so that can give Edwards some optimism.

The good news for Edwards lies at Homestead. The most points Edwards has gained on Johnson in one race is 127, at Homestead in 2005. In that race, Johnson finished 40th and Edwards finished fourth. If Edwards had won that race, he would have gained 147 points – six more than the deficit he now faces.

No matter the outcome, Edwards has had an excellent Chase. In the nine races thus far, Edwards two wins, seven top fives, an average finish of 8.8 and a Driver Rating of 113.2.

Hendrick Aims for Eighth Driver Title

If Johnson holds on to win the championship, it will be the eighth driver championship for owner Rick Hendrick. Thus far, he has won four with Jeff Gordon, two with Jimmie Johnson and one with Terry Labonte.

Additionally, if Johnson does win, it will be Hendrick’s 11th car owner championship across NASCAR’s three national series. Richard Childress currently is the leader with 11 owners championships, and is going for No. 12 this weekend with the No. 2 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. The No. 2 is currently second in the owners points.

Gordon Looks to End 2008, Homestead Droughts

Four-time series champion Jeff Gordon looks to end two “slumps” this weekend. Gordon, winless in 2008, has won a race in 14 consecutive seasons. He has one more race to continue that streak. Unfortunately for him, Gordon has not had much success at Homestead. It is one of two tracks at which Gordon has yet to win a race (Texas is the other). His best Homestead finish is third in 2004, and he has finished in the top 10 in seven of his nine races there.

Additionally, Matt Kenseth and Kevin Harvick – both winless this season – are looking to continue season winning streaks. Kenseth has won at least one race in six consecutive season and Harvick has won in three consecutive seasons.

Top 35 Battle All-Important

A race within a race will undoubtedly play out this weekend, as teams around the all-important top 35 bubble look to lock up guaranteed starting spots for next season. All teams in the top 35 in owners points after Homestead are guaranteed spots in the field for the first five races of 2009. Currently, the No. 47 Toyota driven by Marcos Ambrose holds the 35th position. But it is only 17 points ahead of the No. 84 Toyota in 36th-place.

Stewart Ends Championship Run at Joe Gibbs Racing

Tony Stewart will compete in his last race for Joe Gibbs Racing on Sunday, ending a 10-year run that brought 33 wins and two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships to JGR. In 2009, Stewart will drive for his own team – Stewart-Haas Racing.

NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES

Homestead-Miami Drips With Championship Drama

Three titles come down to the final race of season with the driver championship to be decided at the last race for the first time since 2005. It will be the 14th time in the 27-year history of the series that the title is decided in the last race. Below are the many championship storylines for the series:

Driver’s Championship

Clint Bowyer, seeking his first NASCAR national series title, leads reigning series champion Carl Edwards by 56 points – the closest one and two have been heading into the final race since 2003 when Brian Vickers led David Green by 22 points. (Vickers won the championship.)

Edwards has made an incredible charge over the last seven races when he was 207 points behind. In that span, he’s won three times, had two runner-up finishes and hasn’t finished out of the top 5.

If Bowyer finishes eighth or better in Saturday’s race, he will clinch the title regardless of how Edwards finishes.

Owner’s Championship

The No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota has a 28-point lead over the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Joey Logano will drive the No. 20 at Homestead and attempt to bring JGR its first NASCAR Nationwide Series title. Clint Bowyer will try to wrestle the title back for defending owner champion RCR, which is tied with DEI for the all-time lead with four series owner titles.

If the No. 20 finishes second, it would clinch regardless of what the No. 2 does. The No. 2 needs to finish 33rd or better in order to stay in contention until the end of the race.

Rookies

At Phoenix, Landon Cassill took the lead in the rookie race by six points over second-place Bryan Clauson, who gets one more shot as he’s entered at Homestead. Cassill will have to watch – Dale Earnhardt Jr. is entered in the No. 5 Chevrolet. Seven former series Rookies of the Year are entered in the race

Wallace Among Series Elite

Kenny Wallace is set to reach a series milestone at Homestead. A start for the NASCAR veteran will be the 418th of his series career, second only to Jason Keller’s 456. Wallace will surpass Tommy Houston, who held the mark at 417 before Keller surpassed it last October. Wallace started his 400th series race at Milwaukee in July and has 772 combined starts in NASCAR’s three national series.

NNS Etc.

Kyle Busch has one more chance to break the season record for wins he holds with two-time champion Sam Ard. Busch won his 10th race at Texas. … Four former series champions are entered at Homestead, including 1994 champion David Green. He’s vying to make his first start in series since 2007 at Kentucky. …Michael Annett will attempt to make his series debut for Germain Racing. Annett has eight starts in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series with one top five and two top 10s. … Patrick Sheltra, a native of Indiantown, Fla., made his series debut at Phoenix and is also entered at Homestead.

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES

Trucks Set for Closest Finale in Series History

The closest championship battle in series history – and second closest in a NASCAR national series since the current point system was implemented in 1975 – heads for resolution in this week’s Ford 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Johnny Benson leads Ron Hornaday Jr. by just three points entering the 2008 finale. The closest points battle going into the final race in national series history was 1979, when Darrell Waltrip led Richard Petty by two going into the finale (Petty won the championship).

Benson Looking for First Series Title, Hornaday Aims for Fourth

What’s at stake: Benson’s first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series title. He is the 1995 NASCAR Nationwide Series champion. Hornaday would claim an unprecedented fourth championship; become the series’ first back-to-back champion and be the oldest NASCAR national series champion at age 50 years four months 25 days.

Contenders Each Have Homestead Win

The race: Benson is the defending winner of the Ford 200. Hornaday won the race in 2000. There have been 12 consecutive different winners at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The 1.5-mile facility was the first track of more than a mile in length to host a series race (in 1996).

Braun Leads Twenty-Something Rookie Class
A pair of 20 year olds top Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings entering the season’s final race. Colin Braun holds a 26-point lead over late-charging Brian Scott, whose fourth-place finish at Phoenix International Raceway was his first top-five performance in the series. Braun could become Roush Fenway Racing’s sixth rookie-of-the-year and youngest in series history (50 days younger than 2000 Raybestos rookie Kurt Busch).

Scramble for Top 10 Spot

Erik Darnell in fourth and Rick Crawford in seventh are separated by just 31 points. The two, along with Mike Skinner in fifth and Matt Crafton in sixth will jockey for position this weekend. Also watch for the top 10 battle. Terry Cook holds a 59-point lead over Chad McCumbee for the 10th position.

Owners’ Championship Also on the Line

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series owner championship remains a three-way race. Gail Davis (Benson) holds a three-point lead over DeLana Harvick (Hornaday). Billy Ballew, however, remains mathematically in contention. His Kyle Busch-driven Toyota is 98 points off the lead.

Benson, Hornaday Share Similar Fates In Wacky Lucas Oil 150

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Nov. 10, 2008) – This screenplay would have been rejected out of hand. But truth sometimes is stranger than fiction.

Two of NASCAR’s most veteran competitors took themselves out of Friday’s Lucas Oil 150 — Ron Hornaday Jr. (No. 33 VFW Chevrolet) on the race’s first lap and Johnny Benson (No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Toyota) at mid-race — adding yet another twist and turn to what’s become the closest championship battle in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series history.

Hornaday halved Benson’s points lead — six to three — as the former Phoenix International Raceway winners finished 25th and 26th.

Observed Hornaday’s owner and race winner Kevin Harvick (No. 2 Camping World Chevrolet), “I’m glad they both pulled a bonehead move on the same night. They both could have had opportunities to put daggers in each other.”

Benson and Hornaday agreed.

“We’re just trying to make it exciting. I don’t know what else to say,” said Benson, who appeared headed for a top-10 finish and a 50-plus point lead over Hornaday before his accident.

Pole starter Hornaday, who spun out racing Kyle Busch (No. 51 Miccosukee Resorts NOS Energy Drink Toyota) for the opening lap lead, said, “That was the stupidest thing I ever did in my life.

“Johnny and I said we are going to go fishing and whoever catches a fish first is going to win the championship because we definitely don’t want to win this thing on the track.”

One To Go: Finishing Ahead Of Your Rival Is Title Prescription

The task at hand for Benson and Hornaday is rather simple: beat the other guy.

Taking lap leader bonus points out of the equation, the highest finisher of the pair (unless the points are equal; a possibility with 11th through 13th positions being three point drops) will be the 2008 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion.

Hornaday, with six victories to Benson’s five, holds the tie-breaker.

Lap leader points — five for leading a lap and five additional for leading the most laps — could alter the scenario, allowing Benson to finish behind his rival and still maintain his points lead.

“It’s going to be exciting for the fans and for our teams,” said Benson. “(I’m) excited but not nervous. It’s been a lot of fun.”

Closest National Series Showdowns

The 10 closest margins with one race to go since the current points system was adopted in 1975:

Year Series Margin Drivers
1979 NSCS 2 D. Waltrip/R. Petty
2008 NCTS 3 J. Benson/R. Hornaday
1990 NSCS 6 D. Earnhardt/M. Martin
1998 NCTS 13 R. Hornaday/J. Sprague
2004 NSCS 18 Ku. Busch/J. Johnson
1991 NNS 19 B. Labonte/K. Wallace
1985 NSCS 20 D. Waltrip/B. Elliott
1999 NCTS 21 G. Biffle/J. Sprague
1989 NNS 21 T. Houston/R. Moroso
2003 NNS 22 B. Vickers/D. Green
Champion in bold

Director’s Take: Wayne’s Words

“We had some great races at Homestead-Miami Speedway when it was a flat oval; a smaller copy, if you will, of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“One of the greatest finishes came in the very first race, when Jack Sprague slid across the grass attempting to pass Dave Rezendes on the final lap.

“Adding banking, however, has made Homestead the perfect place to end the season — and decide the championship. There is no follow-the- leader; fans will see three-wide racing all night.

“It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if Johnny Benson and Ron Hornaday Jr. come to the checkered flag side-by-side.

“This has been a tremendous season; a dozen winners so far and the most first-time winners since 2001. I say this without reservation: we’ve had 14 great seasons but 2008 has seen the deepest, most competitive fields and some outstanding driving by veterans and rookies alike. Honestly, I hate to see it end.

“In another way, this week’s race — and Monday’s Awards Banquet — will be bittersweet. They mark the end of our tremendous relationship with Craftsman, the only title sponsor the series ever has had.

“We will always remember their contribution and help promoting and supporting some of the best racing in NASCAR’s 60 years.

“Still, we are excited that Camping World will be coming aboard in 2009. Their commitment ensures that the series will continue to grow and excite the millions of fans who follow our tough trucks and drivers.”
— Wayne Auton, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Director

This Week’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Leaders
(Through 24 races of the 25-race season)
Points leader – Johnny Benson
Driver Rating – Ron Hornaday Jr. (114.2)
Laps led – Ron Hornaday Jr. (1,289)
Victories – Ron Hornaday, Jr. (6)
Keystone Light Poles – Ron Hornaday Jr. with five
Top-five finishes – 3 drivers with 14
Top-10 finishes – Mike Skinner with 18
Raybestos Rookie Leader – Colin Braun
Races led – Ron Hornaday Jr. (19)
Weeks in Top 10 – Three drivers with 24

Homestead-Miami Speedway was the first track of more than a mile in length to be added to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck schedule and hosted the 1996 season-opening race won by Dave Rezendes. The South Florida facility has hosted the season finale since the 2002 season with each race deciding the championship.

In The Loop:

In the championship battle between points leader Johnny Benson and second-place Ron Hornaday Jr., statistics from the last three Homestead-Miami Speedway races give an edge to… neither of them.

They are extremely close, as their identical 10.0 average Homestead finish in the last three races there would suggest.

Digging deeper, Benson holds a slight statistical advantage.

Since the inception of Loop Data in 2005, Benson has a Driver Rating of 113.4, an Average Running Position of 8.1, 57 Fastest Laps Run and 347 Laps in the Top 15 (85.5%) at Homestead. The Driver Rating and Fastest Laps Run totals are best on the series.

Over that span, Hornaday has a Driver Rating of 98.5, an Average Running Position of 9.0, four Fastest Laps Run and a series-high 348 Laps in the Top 15 (85.7%).

An interesting side note to this weekend could be the owners’ championship. Though Benson’s No. 23 Toyota and Hornaday’s No. 33 Chevrolet are the clear favorites, Billy Ballew’s No. 51 Toyota driven by Kyle Busch could sneak into the equation.

The No. 51 is 98 points behind the No. 23, but Busch has excellent series numbers at Homestead. He finished second there last year, and in his two Homestead races Busch has a Driver Rating of 107.8, an Average Running Position of 8.4, 15 Fastest Laps Run and 250 Laps in the Top 15 (91.9%).

Ballew was 193 points out a race ago.

Manufacturers’ Battle

Chevrolet’s victory last week at Phoenix was the truck maker’s 10th of the 2008 season. It marked the sixth time GM’s Silverado has visited Victory Lane 10 or more times.

Harvick’s victory was Chevy’s 12th in 18 races at the Desert Mile — the most by a manufacturer at a single track.

Toyota, which wrapped up its third Manufacturers’ Championship on Oct. 31 in Texas, can match its greater number of victories in a season — 13 a year ago — by winning the Ford 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Toyota has won two of the past three races in South Florida.

Ford has a single win in 2008 but is the all-time winning make at HMS. An F-150 won the track’s first four races and five overall. Mark Martin was Ford’s most recent winner in 2006.

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series 2008 Manufacturers’ Championship Standings Following Race 24 of 25 at Phoenix International Raceway:

Toyota 163
Chevrolet 151
Ford 108
Dodge 84

Kevin Harvick Makes History In Phoenix; Much Of Top 10 Yet To Be Decided

When Kevin Harvick took the checkered flag in last week’s Lucas Oil 150, he put the finishing touches on a milestone not achieved in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ first 340 races.

The victory made Kevin Harvick Inc. the first organization to win three consecutive races with three different drivers.

Ryan Newman opened the streak on Oct. 25 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Ron Hornaday Jr. supplied the middle victory six days later at Texas Motor Speedway.

Several teams — most recently Bill Davis Racing this season — have won with three drivers. But the wins weren’t consecutive.

While the spotlight shines on the championship battle, there’s much left undecided heading to Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Todd Bodine (No. 30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota) has the No. 3 position locked away but the next four positions — and 10th-place — won’t be determined until the Ford 200 ends.

Erik Darnell (No. 99 Northern Tool + Equipment Ford) is fourth, four points ahead of Mike Skinner (No. 5 Toyota Tundra Toyota). Matt Crafton (No. 88 Menards Chevrolet) is another four points back with Rick Crawford (No. 14 Circle Bar/Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford) just 31 points shy of Darnell.

Terry Cook (No. 59 Team ASE/Harris Trucking Toyota) and Chad McCumbee (No. 8 Malcolmson Construction Chevrolet) conclude their scuffle over who finishes 10th. The positions swapped at Phoenix with Cook taking a 59-point edge into the finale.

Etc. & Quotable:

What’s At Stake … Benson is gunning for his second NASCAR national series title having won the Nationwide Series championship in 1995. Only one other driver, Greg Biffle, can lay claim to both championships.

Hornaday eyes even more history. He would become the series’ only four-time and back-to-back champion. Hornaday also would be NASCAR’s oldest national series titleholder at 50 years four months 25 days. Ted Musgrave is the current eldest: 49 years 11 months one day when he captured the 2005 championship. Travis Kvapil (No. 09 Zaxby’s Ford) is the only champion under the age of 40 in the past six seasons.

Harvick Makes It An Even Dozen … For the sixth time in series history, there have been at least 12 different winners. With one race to go, the 2008 season won’t match the record — 14 in 1998 and 2005. There have been 10 or more winners in 11 of the series’ 14 campaigns.

Age Makes A Difference But … Veteran drivers have figuratively run the table in 2008 with only two members of the current top 10 yet to celebrate their 40th birthdays. Darnell would be the first driver age 25 or younger to secure a top-five position since Carl Edwards in 2004. A pair of 20-year-olds — Colin Braun (No. 6 Con-way Freight Ford) and Brian Scott (No. 16 Albertsons Toyota — could finish one-two in Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings for the first time.

No Repeat Winners At Homestead … There have been 12 races at Homestead-Miami Speedway dating to the 1996 season opener and 12 different drivers have gone to Victory Lane. No other track has boasted such a streak although New Hampshire Motor Speedway went 11-for-11 until Hornaday ended the run in 2007. The odds are in favor of a 13th winner since only four previous winners — Benson, Bodine, Crawford and Hornaday — are expected to compete in this week’s Ford 200.

Other Streaks On The Line … Jack Sprague (No. 60 Wyler.com Toyota) has one more chance to extend his record of a win in 10 consecutive seasons as a fulltime NASCAR Craftsman Truck competitor. Brendan Gaughan (No. 10 International MAXX Force Diesel Ford) would like to end a streak of an opposite kind. The Ford 200 will mark his 100th start since Gaughan’s last win in October 2003 at Texas Motor Speedway. Gaughan’s best finish during the “drought” includes a his second-place Homestead performance in 2006.
Banner Year For Raybestos Rookies; Braun Still Leads

Scott and Donny Lia (No. 81 NationRides Chevrolet) still have a mathematical chance of overhauling Raybestos Rookie of the Year leader Braun.

Sixty-one points, including bonuses, remain as the 13th freshman competition heads for its Homestead-Miami resolution.

Scott, who posted his first top-five finish at Phoenix, trails Braun by 26 points. Lia is 37 back.

Scott Speed (No. 22 Red Bull Toyota) is 46 points behind and unlikely to catch Braun but figures to crack the top 20 in overall standings, marking the first time since 2001 that four rookie candidates have been thus ranked.

Lia and Speed both scored wins in 2008; the 2001 season was the last in which multiple freshman competitors scored victories.

Braun would be Roush Fenway Racing’s sixth Raybestos Rookie of the Year and youngest top freshman at 20 years one month 23 days.

NASCAR Raybestos Rookie of the Year Standings after 24 races of the 2008 season:

1. Colin Braun 195
2. Brian Scott 169
3. Donny Lia 158
4. Scott Speed 149
5. Justin Marks 131
6. Marc Mitchell 108
7. Andy Lally 71

Up Next: ‘08 Awards Banquet

Competitors barely have an opportunity to catch their breath as the 2008 season officially comes to a close on Monday, Nov. 17, with the annual Awards Banquet.

For the second year, the festivities will be held at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel in Hollywood, Fla., a few miles north of Miami.

The event marks the eighth time that South Florida has hosted the salute to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion and other award winners.

Comedian Tom Papa, a regular contributor to “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” and other late night television programs, is the featured entertainment. Island Records artist Jon McLaughlin also will perform.

Fast Facts

The Race: Ford 200
The Place: Homestead-Miami Speedway
The Date: Nov. 14, 2008
The Time: 8 p.m. ET
Race Distance: 201 miles / 134 laps
TV: SPEED, 7:30 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, Sirius. Listen locally on WCTH FM 100.3.
Track Layout: 1.5 Mile Oval
2007 Winner: Johnny Benson
2007 Pole: Jon Wood
2008 Standings:
Driver Points
1 J. Benson 3,574
2 R. Hornaday Jr. 3,571
3 T. Bodine 3,431
4 E. Darnell 3,282
5 M. Skinner 3,278
6 M. Crafton 3,275
7 R. Crawford 3,251
8 D. Setzer 3,042
9 J. Sprague 3,022
10 T. Cook 2,934
Schedule: Thursday: Practice, 5-6 p.m. and 6:30-8 p.m. Friday: Qualifying, 5 p.m.

Ron Hornaday Jr. celebrates sweeping both NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Texas Motor Speedway in Victory Lane on Friday after winning the Chevy Silverado 350K.
By Reid Spencer Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

FORT WORTH, Texas (October 31, 2008) — Ron Hornaday Jr. overcame an ill-timed caution to win Friday night’s Chevy Silverado 350K NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway and trim third-place finisher Johnny Benson’s lead in the series standings to six points.

Hornaday led the final 40 laps and crossed the finish line .958 seconds ahead of Kyle Busch to collect his sixth victory of the season and the 39th of his career. Benson passed Todd Bodine on the final lap to secure third place, and rookie Colin Braun finished behind Bodine in fifth.

“No matter what I do, Benson’s right there,” Hornaday said after the race. “So it’s going to come down to the end of it.”

With two races left, at Phoenix and Homestead-Miami, the race for the series championship is closer than it’s ever been heading to the final two events.

“I’m pretty good at Phoenix, and Johnny’s pretty good there, too, so we’ll just see what happens,” Hornaday said. “This is pretty cool. Two more races and we’ll see.”

Hornaday passed Busch for the lead for the first time on Lap 51, but five laps later, the defending series champion brought his No. 33 Chevrolet to the pits for four tires and fuel. As Hornaday’s truck sat on pit road, Jack Smith spun on the backstretch to cause the third caution of the race.

After the rest of the contenders pitted under caution, Hornaday restarted 16th on Lap 62 at the tail end of the lead lap. A caution three laps later helped Hornaday make up ground, and by Lap 91, he had passed Terry Cook for the fourth position.

Hornaday restarted in that spot on Lap 99, after a caution for Donny Lia’s spin down pit road. Nine laps later he passed Travis Kvapil for the lead and drove away. Busch took second from Kvapil on Lap 109 but had nothing for Hornaday at the finish.

Note: Hornaday swept both 2008 events at TMS, the first time a driver has accomplished that feat since Brendan Gaughan won both events at the speedway in 2003.

HAMPTON, Ga. (October 25, 2008) — Ryan Newman made the most of his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut, winning Saturday’s E-Z-Go 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway and holding off Kevin Harvick Inc. teammate Ron Hornaday Jr. in the process.

Newman and Hornaday, the defending series champion, traded the lead twice in the last eight laps before Newman passed his teammate on the backstretch of the final circuit. Newman finished .377 seconds ahead of Hornaday, who narrowed seventh-place finisher Johnny Benson’s lead in the championship standings from 69 to 31 points.

Denny Hamlin finished third, followed by Todd Bodine and Scott Speed.

Hornaday led by half a truck-length at the start/finish line on Lap 129 of 130, but Newman fought back on the outside to make the winning pass when Hornaday slipped in the second corner.

“I just missed that corner off of (Turn) 2,” Hornaday said. “If you miss it, you miss it, and you lose three tenths to half a second.”

Though Hornaday is racing for a championship, he gave Newman room to maneuver in the closing laps.

“He raced me clean — I got to say that first and foremost,” Newman said. “He left me room. He could have pinched me off twice, but he raced me like a gentleman. I really didn’t know what to expect. I was pretty loose the whole race. I saw him (Hornaday) slipping, and I started to run him down.”

Benson took new tires on his first two pit stops, under caution for Donny Lia’s spin on Lap 16 and under a competition caution on Lap 27. The second stop cost Benson track position and forced him into a two-tire call under caution on Lap 59.

Riding on nine-lap-old scuffed tires on the right side of his No. 23 Toyota, Benson restarted second on Lap 63 but quickly lost ground. He was in danger of losing a lap when NASCAR called a caution for debris in Turn 2 on Lap 89.

“I’m still looking for that debris,” Hornaday said after the race.

Armed with new tires following a pit stop, Benson made up 10 positions in the final 36 laps to earn his seventh-place finish and minimize the damage in the points standings, despite a vibration that worsened as the end of the race neared.

“We just didn’t run good today,” Benson said. “That was the bottom line. I don’t understand. We were good and decent in practice, and we thought we were going to be in the race. We started the race, and we struggled with something. We had a huge vibration somewhere, and we just kept making different adjustments…”

Notes: The win gave Newman 21 victories in NASCAR’s top three series combined. He has 13 wins in Sprint Cup and seven in the Nationwide Series. Newman is the 19th driver to score a victory in each of the three divisions, and he’s the fourth to win in his truck series debut, joining Mike Skinner, Robert Pressley and Kasey Kahne… The victory is Newman’s first in a Chevrolet in any of the top three NASCAR series. Next year, after leaving the No. 12 Dodge of Roger Penske, Newman will drive Chevys full-time for Stewart-Haas Racing.

The seven-year agreement gives Camping World the exclusive rights to sponsor the series, which has built its reputation on very competitive and tough racing. Camping World will enjoy the support of the most brand-loyal fans in all of sports, including millions who annually attend races of the series, which features 25 points events at 23 tracks across North America. All NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races will be broadcast live on SPEED or FOX which will result in over $100 million worth of exposure for the new title sponsor.

“Camping World has a unique connection to the sport and to the NASCAR fans,” said NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France. “Camping and tailgating is an essential part of the NASCAR race experience. Thousands of RVs pack the campgrounds at every NASCAR event, often for three or four days at a time. This makes Camping World the perfect match for the NASCAR Truck Series.”

“I can’t say enough about the commitment and leadership that Craftsman has provided for the Truck Series over the past thirteen years. We thank Craftsman for all it’s done with the series and the fans,” said France.

“Camping World has a strong affinity with NASCAR fans and we’re thrilled to be the primary sponsor in NASCAR’s Truck Series,” said Camping World Chairman and CEO Marcus Lemonis. “With the state of the current economy, Camping World’s main objective is to communicate our brand in the most cost-effective manner and to promote affordable, family fun. Additionally, we feel strongly that this sponsorship will dramatically increase our customer base in experiencing our entire product offering. We expect this relationship to not only benefit the teams and fans, but we will put a special emphasis on supporting the four auto manufacturers in selling more trucks and the Truck Series sponsors to yield the same return on investment that we’ve enjoyed. Camping World will work diligently to promote the four manufacturers and team sponsors by positioning them as preferred product providers to the four million RV enthusiasts we currently serve,” said Lemonis.

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will launch its inaugural season Feb. 13 at Daytona International Speedway. Camping World will continue its successful relationship with Kevin Harvick Inc., RCR, ISC, SMI, Dover Motorsports, ESPN, SPEED and its title sponsorship of the NASCAR Camping World East and West Series through 2009.

The NASCAR Truck Series is invariably competitive year in and year out. Along with a 19% increase in television ratings this year, the series is host to another heated battle for the championship as the points lead has changed nine times. Johnny Benson and Ron Hornaday have traded the lead several times this year; Benson currently leads Hornaday by only 65 points with four races to go. Along with crafty veterans such as Rick Crawford, Dennis Setzer and Todd Bodine, the series also features up-and-coming rookies like Colin Braun and Erik Darnell. Drivers for each manufacturer have won races this year and are represented in the series standings’ top 10.

Founded in 1966, Camping World is America’s largest direct marketer and specialty retailer of recreational vehicles and outdoor camping accessories and services. The company grew from a single point location in Bowling Green, Ky., to operating successful nationwide Supercenters.

Over the last five years, Camping World has progressively expanded their products and services providing consumers with a vast selection, convenience and value. Camping World now operates under the department store model as a one-stop shopping destination providing services to enhance and protect the RV lifestyle including: Recreational Vehicle Sales; RV Rentals; RV Service & Collision; over 8,000 RV & outdoor accessories; Performance & Tow centers; Detail & Refurbishment centers known as RV Spa; President’s Club customer loyalty program; Campground reservations & directories; RV Finance and Insurance; RV Tours & Travel and a nationally distributed magazine called RV View.

The dynamic Camping World retail network headquartered in Lincolnshire, Ill., currently operates in 33 states and serves over four million RV enthusiasts.

HERB BRANHAM: Good afternoon, everyone. We have a couple of special guests with us today for a very special announcement. To start things off, we’ll hear first from NASCAR’s chairman and CEO, Brian France.

BRIAN FRANCE: Good afternoon, everybody. We are happy to announce the addition of Camping World into the national series with respect to our truck entitlement sponsor. It’s a multi-year agreement. We couldn’t be more happy for a variety of reasons.

Number one, the folks at Camping World, which you’ll hear from in just a moment, have really made a strong connection in recent years to the sport by various sponsorships and partnerships in and out of events, in and around teams, throughout. They really have a good feel for NASCAR.

Frankly, the other thing that gets us excited is the type of company that they are and the connection they make to the various RV owners and campers who are synonymous with NASCAR events. You don’t have to go very far looking around the facilities at a NASCAR race to see all the various people that tailgate and camp and so on. Camping World has become now a very valuable partner for them.

In various stores that they’ve put up, temporary stores, things they’ve done to accommodate the campers’ needs, they know the camper as well as anybody in the country. So there’s a lot of good reasons why Camping World is going to be a good fit for the Truck Series.

So with that I just wanted to welcome them into our national series and make one other comment about the timing for the Truck Series itself. It doesn’t take a lot to realize that this series is one of the series that a lot of our fans would tell you is the most exciting, most competitive form of NASCAR racing that we have. The TV ratings are evidence of that, up 19% this year. Of course, it’s the premiere franchise for the SPEED Channel, outrates all other motorsports combined on their particular channel. They have treated the Truck Series with a lot of esteem. We certainly appreciate that. Camping World, their respective position, I think that will be a really, really good three-way partnership between us all.

Finally, I would like to mention Craftsman for a moment. Most of you realize that Craftsman has been, first of all, the only sponsor that the Truck Series has ever had. They were the ones that stepped into an unknown division many years ago when we decided to launch a third national division wrapped around the trucks, which was very unique at the time. They believed in the series then and they believed in the series for a long time. They were and will remain a partner with NASCAR, but it’s going to take on a different approach beginning in 2009. But I want to give them a real salute for all they’ve done.

Again, we’re excited today to make the announcement. With that, I will let someone else speak.

HERB BRANHAM: Thank you, Brian, for that opener. We’re now going to move over to Camping World chairman and CEO Marcus Lemonis.

MARCUS LEMONIS: Good afternoon, all of you. Thank you for being part of this. We’re obviously extremely excited to expand our integration into the sport. Obviously we believe that the Craftsman legacy is a tough act to follow. We feel like we have a lot of work to do to maintain the brand integrity and the brand loyalty that they’ve created. We’re going to work hard to do that.

But this was a good fit for our business. Obviously I’m sure some of you are thinking about the economy. But this is a good fit for our business, as we represent about 20% of the entire RV marketplace for us to grow our market share and for us to bring our products and services closer to the consumer. We have seen an unusual amount of success at local store track activation programs, our rental program, our RV sales program, et cetera.

This commitment was one that all 3500 employees were behind. We talked about it internally. We believe that our opportunity to gain market share and communicate our offering, as well as give the consumer really a great place to have customer service was what made this an easy decision for us.

We will continue to support in different ways the partners that we’ve done business with for the last three years. We still have and enjoy relationships with ISC, SMI, and Dover Motorsports on the trackside. KHI, Kevin Harvick, Incorporated, will continue to be a very, very important marketing partner, strategic partner, for us, not only with what we’re doing with Ron Hornaday and Kevin himself.

Our ability to leverage our brand and his sponsorship opportunities and his brand, I would expect that the integration of the two companies will continue for many, many years to come. That’s largely driven by what we believe Kevin has done for our brand and what we think he can do for some others.

We obviously have enjoyed a relationship with ESPN and SPEED, and we’ll be continuing those relationships as well.

We are pleased and honored to be a part of this. We are very focused on really three main topics; that is, selling more RVs and accessories, helping the manufacturers sell trucks, and providing NASCAR fans and NASCAR themselves an opportunity to fill the stands and have an affordable, fun family experience that we believe is better than any sporting event out there.

HERB BRANHAM: Marcus, thank you very much for those openers.

We’ll now go to the media for questions for Brian France and Marcus Lemonis.

Q. Marcus, can you talk about what this sponsorship gives you that maybe you weren’t getting out of either the team or track sponsorships.

MARCUS LEMONIS: Well, I think there’s two things. Obviously the brand presence that we believe this sponsorship gives us is the opportunity to have more people at least investigate or find out about our brand. We’ve seen and kind of watched very carefully the integration that Craftsman has executed both online, at track and in the media. We think they’ve been very effective in building their brand through this medium.

Secondly, we think it gives us significantly more B-to-B opportunities. As we leverage the promotion of this in our local and national markets, particularly Chicago and other big key markets, we think it gives us significant opportunity to tell our story.

Q. Are you still a subsidiary of the Affinity Group?

MARCUS LEMONIS: No.

Q. You’re a completely separate company from them now?

MARCUS LEMONIS: Yes.

Q. Brian, are there any conflicts with any other existing sponsors that you had to work out with this sponsorship at all?

BRIAN FRANCE: Well, not directly. There are obviously some things that are relatively close in category. But, no. It’s a rather good fit for us.

Q. Mr. Lemonis, it seems to me obviously economic times are tough here. We’ve seen a lot of companies actually pull back on sponsorship. I’m curious why and how is it that you’re actually able to expand the sponsorship in this environment.

MARCUS LEMONIS: When we look at our entire advertising spend as a company, more than 80% of our entire spend, we’re data minors. And the heavy direct mail, heavy catalog and sale flyers, not a lot of TV. And we serve, for the most part, the installed base, the over eight million RVers that exist today, four million of them shop in our stores as we speak.

We know that we have two challenges in the next couple of years. One, we have the challenge of not only maintaining but growing that installed base. But, two, we need to bring first-time buyers to the market. Because of the product offering, everything ranging from RV sales to rentals, we needed a forum where we could spend an affordable percentage of our total marketing spend on branding.

So when we look at the rifle shot, we know we can’t afford to buy a TV spot on ABC on American Idol, but we know with the limited amount of branding that we can afford to spend, that we need to keep it so close to where we believe that crossover of consumer is, which is why NASCAR makes sense.

When you visit the track – and there’s, you know, six, 10, 25, 35 thousand campers on the ground – you study the demographic of the NASCAR fan, you study the demographic of the Camping World customer, the crossover is really our best prospecting opportunity. Obviously, as we acquire those names through our interaction with that customer, they become part of our installed base, then they fall into our installed base program.

So we weren’t finding enough avenues that we could afford to grab prospectors. To us, this is the most affordable prospecting tool because it has the highest level of crossover of anything else we do.

Q. Brian, is there an opportunity here for Camping World to get opportunities in the Nationwide or Sprint Cup Series?

BRIAN FRANCE: Well, I think they already do market across our entire fan base. The trucks run a lot of companion weekends. But they’re going to have remaining positions. They’ve been entitlement sponsors at events, I know Loudon and other places, on the basis they work for them.

I think the trucks is just an opportunity for Marcus and Camping World to really own something very, very significant, being one of our national divisions that runs events week in and week out. I won’t speak for Marcus, but I believe in talking to him he believes it’s a nice complement to the other things he’s already doing in the sport.

The whole idea is to impact every NASCAR fan who is going to look at RVing as something that is special to them and a brand that they can trust.

MARCUS LEMONIS: The piece I will add, we’ll sell roughly 25,000 travel trailers, fifth-wheels a year. We have a big portion of our floor space in our Camping World accessories stores dedicated to hitching and towing. So when you take a look at the necessity of a truck to pull a traveler trailer and a necessity for our hitching and towing department, it’s really an opportunity for us to grow that space and grow that segment.

It really is separate from what we do on the Nationwide side at Daytona, at Loudon and other markets. That’s really more of an at-track retail store event environment. We believe although there’s crossover in audience, we need to still dabble because there’s still some people that don’t necessarily watch all three series. We want to make sure we have a fully expanded but affordable program.

Q. Brian, with the economic conditions being what they are, several of the manufacturers have announced that they’re going to perhaps scale back their subsidies to the Truck Series. There have been some challenges with truck counts this year. What on the competition side can you do or will you do to boost things up in the coming years?

BRIAN FRANCE: Well, first of all, the series is very healthy. Obviously with fuel prices that have been up and down, mostly up this year and the last 18 months, has gotten the manufacturers to have to really look at where they’re spending their resources and what vehicles are selling more of today. So we’re obviously affected by that. That’s a legitimate issue.

So what we try to do, we try to do it anyway, but we’ll accelerate the idea of trying to take even more cost out of the series for the team owners should certain subsidies or certain sponsorships might be contracted a bit. So we’ll try to make things as easy on the team owners as possible to sort of get through this headwind of both the economy and the manufacturers going through their related challenges.

That’s nothing new. The good news for us is we’ve got a proven model here where the series is from a cost standpoint already pretty reasonable in the grand scheme of a national division, have a lot of value for a lot of sponsors, and is currently producing just great, exciting racing. So we’ve got a lot to build on and a great foundation.

Q. Brian, I know NASCAR has ridden the highs and lows of the U.S. economy for decades. In the broadest sense I was wondering if you would characterize the challenge of this current economy for all three of your series, kind of how you would place it against some other times and share with us how optimistic or not you feel about the next five or ten years for NASCAR.

BRIAN FRANCE: Well, I would tell you a couple things. One, you know, it wasn’t that long ago that the tech bubble and 9/11 occurred, which really had, as you recall, a significant short-term but significant nonetheless impact on the leisure activities and sporting events and all the rest, and travel. So that was very concerning back then. We’ve had various other times where the economy has been very difficult.

This probably to everybody is more significant, at least on the surface. So there is a big uncertainty about people’s ability to do all the things that they want to do financially, given the backdrop of the credit crisis and all the rest.

You know, you have to look at it over a long period of time. We’re off, but only in sort of single digits as it stands now. We tend to fare much better than other industries thankfully. That’s because sports are so culturally ingrained to fans. It’s one of the last things that they want to not participate in.

We’re fortunate. We are nervous like everybody else. We’re taking every precaution we can in terms of getting costs out of our system on behalf of the team owners, on behalf of the track operators. But this is also a time when you can’t freeze either. You’ve got to still be aggressive and still push hard your product. I know Marcus is doing that in his business and we’re doing the same.

Q. Brian, is there any consideration whatsoever at NASCAR in the Sprint Cup Series of reducing the size of the field in 2009?

BRIAN FRANCE: No. We’ve had some events, many events, where we’ve had to send cars home. Obviously in the last 10 or 12 weeks, you’re seeing some of the cars on the fringe there that aren’t making it to the events. But still we expect full fields in 2009.

Q. With regard to the fact that we may have one of the four manufacturers taken out through a merger, we also are hearing lots of talk about potential mergers between the secondary teams especially in the Sprint Cup Series, when you talk about trying to make things easier, taking costs out, can you give us one or two examples of how NASCAR can take costs out to make it easier for the teams to survive.

BRIAN FRANCE: Sure. I can tell you a number of them. There’s none more significant than the new car. What we said is once you get through the spooling up process of the teams figuring out that they don’t need to build 15 or 20 cars per season as an example, and that they can do with far less, because there’s little that you can do with the car. There’s not the specialty cars, road course, superspeedway cars, so on. That’s been proven. So as we go along into 2009, the teams will be building less cars, hiring less engineers or that kind of expertise.

There are many, many other rule adjustments that we can make. What we can’t do is tell somebody exactly what their total budget can be. They can redeploy money. They can pay for talent and all that accordingly. But we can take a lot of cost out.

What’s important for us is, when we say ‘the cost,’ what we mean is if you want to spend and extra $5 million on a team budget, obviously it’s a free country, you can do it. What we’re trying to do is make it where that’s an inefficient way to spend your money. You don’t have to do that. That lowers the barrier entry for new teams. That makes it easier on teams with smaller budgets to be competitive with the same amount of money.

Q. Brian, I think the numbers that I read estimated a deal like this worth somewhere in the $3 to $5 million a year range. Is that close? And whatever the number is, how much more might you have expected in a strong economy?

BRIAN FRANCE: Of course you know we don’t comment on any of our financial arrangements. But there’s an economic piece to any sponsorship like this. That was met. Everything worked out fine.

But there’s another important thing in these kind of sponsorships that are equally or more important, and that’s the kind of company that you get and what they’re going to do from an activation standpoint with this sponsorship, how they’re going to help grow our franchise that they’re going to be sponsoring.

You heard Marcus in his opening remarks, and this is what he told me directly, we have a good relationship to be able to work through this, which is, you know, one of his stated goals is to help grow the franchise and also help the manufacturers sell more trucks. You just can’t put a dollar amount on that commitment. He’s committed to doing that. We’ll work very carefully with him in the future to accomplish those goals.

Q. Marcus, kind of a clarification on something you said regarding the Milwaukee Mile, saying your brand will not be back there. As a series sponsor, I assume you would have to have some presence at the track on a race weekend or, Brian, do we need to make a schedule announcement today, too?

MARCUS LEMONIS: The answer is that our brand in its previous form and fashion will not be back there. Obviously you know about the article that was out this morning. It does not apply at least in 2009, and I would guess hopefully many years to come, does not apply to the Truck Series. That’s not Camping World’s decision to make, that’s NASCAR’s decision to make. We’re not a party to the decision whether the trucks run there or not.

Q. Brian, I know you said you don’t talk about the finances of the deal, but can you at least say whether this was higher or lower than the previous Craftsman deal?

BRIAN FRANCE: Again, there’s a number of components to it that are different than the Craftsman agreement, that have different advertising and different other activation commitments. Some of those are subjective in nature. We couldn’t comment anyway.

What’s important is that we’re real pleased that the financial commitment is a marketplace deal for both of us, that Marcus would not have made this commitment unless he was convinced, and he had a long opportunity to examine it, too, that there was good value. We wouldn’t have made it either because we had some other alternatives and options if we didn’t think they were the best partner. That’s what we’ve come up with.

Q. Marcus, you alluded to the economy. You look at motorhome sales, down 54% in June, 56% in July, 65% in August. This isn’t just a down year; these are really bad times for the sector. I’m wondering timing-wise how this jibes with that.

MARCUS LEMONIS: Well, I’ll be very candid and tell you that our numbers on the motorhome side are down just barely double-digits on the motorhome side. That I think speaks volumes to what we’ve been able to accomplish on the market share side. Our business on a whole is down about 9%. The motorhomes are down a little bit more than that. We obviously feel some of that slowing.

But as I told Brian, as all of you get to learn our brand more, motorhome sales are one component. When you look at our brand, travel trailer sales are clearly three-to-one. We sell three-to-one travel trailers to motorhomes. RV rentals is a significant contributor. Accessories, things like grills and generators. RV service and collision repair is one of the biggest financial contributors to our business. We have a loyalty club where 750,000 members pay $20 a year to belong.

Although motorhome sales are extremely important, just like any other category in our business, we have other components first. Then secondly, our business is down one fifth of what the industry is performing at.

Q. When you said 9% down, is that sales? Is that year-to-date?

MARCUS LEMONIS: Total revenue year-to-date our business is down 9%.

Q. Marcus, can you give a timeline of how this deal came together. The sponsorship has been open for about a year. Were you interested immediately or is this something that developed more recently?

MARCUS LEMONIS: I spend a lot of time studying the marketplace. Most of the marketing for our company does go through me. I really treat it like a science. Over the last three, four years we’ve taken baby steps in getting involved in kind of finding out what things make sense for us and what does not make sense. We learned very quickly what partners can give us a significant return on our investment.

The Craftsman Truck Series has been clearly by far the best return for the investment. When I looked at the crossover, walking the campgrounds at some of the tracks, looked at the crossover of the number of travel trailers compared to the number of motorhomes, then I looked at the amount of hitching and towing that could go along with the number of trucks that were parked in the parking lot, it just seemed to be a natural fit.

Our brand would never need to have the global brand presence that the Cup Series has. This gave us just enough to accomplish what we needed in the mainland to grow our brand.

I will tell you that I’ve been looking at it for about nine months and have had really great dialogue with several key senior management folks at NASCAR. I spent a lot of time talking to people like Richard Childress and Kevin Harvick about it, getting their advice.

At the end of the day, all of our partners, including track presidents and people that we sponsor with, all believe that it was a great fit for us.

It wasn’t a matter of a last-minute decision. It was something that was fairly plotted out. We wanted NASCAR to make a decision that best suited them, which is why in the last 30 days there were a number of candidates they were considering. We were glad that we were given the option and the choice.

I think Brian really clarified what’s not being echoed enough today. The deal is not about the dollars and cents on its purity. If it was about the dollars and cents, we would not have been, in our opinion, the winner. It’s about what we can provide to fans at the racetracks and how our product so tightly integrates with what we do.

I think, secondly, our commitment to the auto manufacturers, helping them sell more trucks by allowing them point-of-purchase materials, activation at our stores, was important. I think our willingness to allow companies who step up and sponsor teams within the Truck Series the opportunity to put their product in front of our customers, whether it’s on the shelf or demo’ing or advertising in our magazine or catalogs, it really was a global package.

Our commitment is, if you make a commitment to a team or if you make a commitment to the sport, we are going to give you an opportunity to put your product, if it makes good business sense for both sides, in front of our three to four million consumers that we talk to on an annual basis.

We believe we control the marketplace with this consumer. We believe our brand dominates it. We know that there’s a number of companies who are looking for an affordable mechanism to tell their story. We believe the Truck Series, along with our involvement, will give you a number of companies, whether it’s Turtle Wax, whether it’s a tool company, whatever it may be, a battery company, tire company, whatever it may be, we believe that our product, along with the Truck Series product, gives companies a great return on investment.

And we think we would like to help those companies understand how to best leverage that investment. We know that we have performed better than most in this arena. We’re comfortable sharing what kind of tips and techniques that we’ve used to kind of maximize our thing. We hope to lend that advice to other people who are considering getting involved.

Q. How specifically will you activate this sponsorship? Fans are familiar to seeing the Craftsman name. How are you going to put the Camping World name out there at races?

MARCUS LEMONIS: We’ll obviously still have the windshield decal, which is fantastic. We appreciate the opportunity for Victory Lane. What we’re most concerned about is creating an environment outside the four corners of the track, in the campgrounds and in the parking lots of those environments, whether that’s offering a special NASCAR weekend package on the rental side or having our store at the track where people can buy chairs and grills and exhaust protectors, whatever they’re called, we want to bring our product. We’ve done that in almost 11 tracks across the country. Our goal going forward is when the track thinks it makes sense for us to be there, when we think it makes sense for us to be there, to have a store at track where people can get the convenience items they need once they’re engaged and are there for three or four days.

Our activation is about experiencing our product, and our activation is about allowing people to take our product to the racetrack to make it more convenient. Because, generally speaking, there’s not a hotel. The race drivers use them. The team owners use them. The NASCAR officials use them. The fans use them. The product integration is probably out of all the companies that sponsor NASCAR today, I’ve been able to kind of come to the conclusion that our product, other than the truck itself and the tires that make the truck go, our product is the most fully integrated product that exists at the track other than beer, soda, the obvious.

So it’s about activating at the track and making the experience for the fan better. If the experience is better, that particular track sells more tickets. If they sell more tickets, then they obviously can promote the event more. If the event gets promoted more, on and on and on and on.

We really believe that we have seen our presence at the tracks grow. We’ve seen the return grow. That’s how we plan to activate. It’s about making the experience better.

Q. Brian, one issue I hear in talking to truck owners and teams a lot is the purses are too low. Is there a plan to increase purses in the future?

BRIAN FRANCE: I think if you ask any driver or car owner in any series in the world about the prize money, they would probably give you an answer that it’s too low. So it’s not surprising to hear that.

Frankly, we want to increase the purses. That means the economics of the sport are growing. It means there are more people in the stands, more people watching television. That’s the path we always want to be on. But, of course, we balance that with the realities of all the other stakeholders that have to live within the economic pie that is created.

But not surprising that you would hear that.

Q. Brian, Marcus mentioned earlier there were other candidates. We’ve all heard some names bandied about especially in the last month or so. What was it specifically that made you and your partners at NASCAR decide this was the right fit for you? How competitive was this whole situation as far as other companies wanting this sponsorship?

BRIAN FRANCE: Well, we had a fair amount of interest. That went up and down a little bit through the summer with all the various economic announcements that were being made. But we did have some pretty good opportunities to look around the horn.

Where we landed today is where we should have landed. It was nice to hear Marcus, he and I went to dinner a few weeks ago and plotted out where this series could go if we were partners together. He made the right points to me. Hopefully we made the right points to him. I think we ended up in just the right place for this series.

Q. You have all three series now fully sponsored again. Everything is looking pretty good in that regard. Both the insurance industry and the industry that Sprint is involved in have been hit pretty hard by the economy. Is there any concern the other series sponsors may not be able to or want to fulfill their obligations?

BRIAN FRANCE: No. They’re not to that level. Obviously we watch if they have challenges in either their industry or their specific business. We’re mindful of that, as we will be with Marcus in the future. Their brands are on our series. It’s not just another sponsorship deal that’s out there; it’s far more important to us. We’re mindful of what is going on.

But in our view, all three companies will get through this challenging time and they’ll probably all be better companies in the respective space at the end of the day.

Q. You’ve had all three of your top series undergo name changes the last couple years. Is there any concern about that, especially in the fan identification area?

BRIAN FRANCE: Yeah, not by design and not by choice. We would prefer there’s lots of longevity with our entitlement sponsors. For various reasons, it sort of worked out that way. That’s the bad news. The good news is we ended up with three very good companies who have long-term commitments and made their own decision that it’s a very, very good business fit for them. And it’s working.

In the case of Nationwide and in the case of Sprint, it’s undeniably working even when a lot of other things in the economy or in their business may not be working as well. My hope is that Marcus will see that and it will be reflective. That’s how good partnerships are judged.

Q. Marcus, how long did it take you to decide to go ahead with this deal and were there any assurances you sought to make this investment easier?

MARCUS LEMONIS: Yeah, I mean, that’s a great question. It took me about two, three months to really kind of, once I got close to the finish line, to punch it over the goal line. It was a lot of wrestling with our store managers. I had a lot of dialogue with people in the field. I talked to a few consumers about what they thought. Then obviously our senior management team wanted to weigh in, kind of make sure that we were doing the right thing.

I think that the assurances that I received were really more from the economy and our business. I want to be very clear about that. We believe that the economy, from our perspective, is in a bit of a funk. What we know for certain is Americans aren’t going to stop going camping. It’s not just going to go away. It’s not a pastime that’s just going to fade away.

Gas prices are not as influential as one would thing. General consumer confidence is. When I started looking at survey reports, which kind of ranks my different operations across the country in comparison to our competitors, I was hearing from vendors and lenders how we were performing, I really felt like we were starting to gain a lot of traction on our competitors. We made an acquisition of a rental company this year. We needed to not only grow that market share, but I had new product offerings that I needed to be able to communicate across the enterprise.

Senior management in NASCAR gave me the assurance that this was a great forum and that they would do their best to not only help me communicate that message but that the media partners like SPEED, like FOX, like ESPN, would do the same.

I think, lastly, as we try to provide new and exciting opportunities for consumers to experience our brand, the assurance was that I would find and meet new people and I would find and meet new customers. That was enough for me to put me over the edge.

Q. Brian, can you talk more generally about how not only NASCAR but teams as well are going after sponsors with such a difficult economic environment. Do you see new ways or approaches that are being tried because of all the economic pressure?

BRIAN FRANCE: Well, I mean, they’re just being more aggressive. Listen, I think the number is going to be close to between 80 and 100 million dollars of new money that is predicted to flow into NASCAR from a team sponsorship in ’09. Now, that’s lower than we’ve traditionally had as a rate of increase. But nonetheless, with the backdrop of the economy we’re living in today, it’s fairly good.

Most of the teams in the Sprint Cup level are well-funded. There are obviously some teams that aren’t, but there are always teams that aren’t. Some of that is based on performance, not necessarily the economy. So teams that tend to perform consistently well tend to do very well in the sponsorship area as you would think.

But is it tighter? Are teams looking to be more creative? Sure. Are teams nervous or not hearing from their current sponsors about doing one thing or another thing differently or less? Sure. That’s just the nature of it. Every industry is looking around trying to get more value, trying to get more out of something that they’re already doing or may do in the future. That’s just the nature of dealing with and depending on corporate America to the level that NASCAR does.

Q. Are you concerned there is so much talk in the garage of merging teams as a sign of the pressure that’s out there?

BRIAN FRANCE: No. That’s been going on for a while and for various reasons. Teams have had alignments. Richard Childress did his engine alignment with DEI over the last year or so. There’s various things that are going on and that historically have gone on, whether teams line up as a vendor relationship, get engineering. Toyota’s changed the model a little bit in terms of how their teams share information.

What’s important is look at the quality of competitive teams that are present in NASCAR. Just a few months ago or less, we kept hearing there were too many good teams, too many well-funded teams, too many sponsors that may have to go home. It’s a cyclical situation. We’ll deal with it as we always have.

Q. Brian, there’s been some talk about whether or not they will limit the number of trucks a team can have. Is that a possibility? Are we perhaps looking at a spec engine down the road?

BRIAN FRANCE: Well, there’s not any plan to limit the amount of trucks at this point. Although, with the Truck Series, the manufacturers are particularly hard hit because of high fuel prices in those type vehicles, the pressure on all of our manufacturers. We’re going to try to accelerate items, as I said earlier, that can be very impactful to our team owners. We may take some more aggressive measures that we typically wouldn’t have taken just because we think it’s prudent to do that today.

I can’t tell you what all they are. I know that Steve O’Donnell, his whole group, Jim, the people back in Florida, are really, really looking at this. We will come back with some intelligent things to do. It’s things we should be doing anyway.

Q. Marcus, I have two things you’re going to answer or not because they’re proprietary. Would you mind sharing with us the number of years of this deal and would you mind sharing with us the percentage of your marketing budget that now goes to NASCAR, whether that’s the east, west, this series or title sponsorships. I know those are sort of touchy, but…

MARCUS LEMONIS: The term is multi-year. If NASCAR determines they want to communicate that, that’s fine. But it’s multi-year. It’s more than four.

Just about 6% of our total spend is in that arena. That’s primarily all of the global branding that we do. About 6% of our marketing spent.

Q. Is on NASCAR?

MARCUS LEMONIS: Yes. NASCAR and NASCAR-affiliated programs.

HERB BRANHAM: Brian and Marcus, thanks very much for joining us. We had a great turnout for a great announcement. We appreciate your time.

BRIAN FRANCE: Thank you and good afternoon to everybody.

MARCUS LEMONIS: Thank you.

HERB BRANHAM: Thanks to all the media for participating. As always, we appreciate the coverage.

An Interview With:
MARC DAVIS
KEVIN HARVICK

JOSH HAMILTON: Good afternoon, everybody and we will could come today’s NASCAR CAM VIDEO teleconference in advance of Sunday’s event at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the Pep Boys Auto 500, race No. 7 in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Today we are joined by two special guests. Only up we’ll have Marc Davis, who finished fifth in the NASCAR Camping World Series East and will be attempting to make his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut on Saturday at Memphis Motorsports Park in the No. 18 DLP HDTV Toyota. After Marc at approximately 2:00 PM we’ll be joined by Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 29 Shell Pennzoil Chevrolet in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Marc is joining us from the NASCAR Research and Development Center in Concord, North Carolina, while Kevin will be at Richard Childress Racing headquarters in Welcome, North Carolina.

Marc, you finished 16th in your national series debut in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series earlier this season; how did this race help prepare you for this weekend?

MARC DAVIS: It was definitely a great opportunity for us and a lot better race the way we finished off. We ran around 10, 11, 12 the whole race and it was a pretty good run for us and I’m really excited about the opportunity with DLP and Joe Gibbs Racing for our Memphis Nationwide debut.

Q. You already have a NASCAR start under your belt, is there a sense of confidence since this is not truly a big debut for you, but also with as good as the 18 car is, do you have a lot of confidence going into this race at Memphis?

MARC DAVIS: Yeah definitely, Joe Gibbs Racing organization had an awesome year this year, and especially the 18, as well. So I’m looking forward to being in the DLP car this weekend and go out there and perform my best and go out there and stay out of trouble and get way up front.

Q. Just kind of curious, you’ve actually I think been with Gibbs racing for a while through their development program. Can you talk a little bit about your relationship with Gibbs Racing and what they have meant to your career so far?

MARC DAVIS: Yeah, definitely, just everyone over here at Joe Gibbs Racing is like a huge family. This is my third year under contract with them. I started back in 2006 racing late models and two years in the Camper World Series, and now a good opportunity to make our Nationwide debut. So I’m really excited for these guys and looking forward to it.

Q. Also, I think you’ve been doing this for a while, but yet you are still so young at the same time. Talk about what it was like kind of growing up as a kid, racing, and just not what your average kid when they were in school, and I think you even might have switched high schools so that racing would be a little more convenient for you. Can you just talk about what it was like growing up and racing at the same time?

MARC DAVIS: Well, I started racing when I was six years old, and I’ve been in this sport for 12 years now and started out having fun with my dad racing in midget cars and did well, and it was all about having fun. That’s what it’s all about right now.

So moved up to the series and ended up moving to North Carolina. I’m from Maryland originally, so it was a big change to come up from Maryland and come down here, but I knew a lot of people already and so it was just one of those things that you got to do to commit to it.

Q. And also, Joe Gibbs obviously has a great stable of drivers and things. What kind of advice have you got maybe from some of the other Job Gibbs drivers, and you’re obviously going to be filling the seat for Joey Logano, who has set things on fire since he started this year.

MARC DAVIS: It’s really great to have such great teammates here. It’s good to be able to bounce ideas off of each other. Joey Logano and I, we grew up together racing all the way back in core midget cars, and so it’s good to have a good teammate like that to kind of relate to myself with.

Q. Obviously this is a massively huge opportunity for to you get a top-tier team like this. How did the whole deal originally come about? Did Joe or JD contact you and did you believe it was them on the other line?

MARC DAVIS: Yeah, definitely, we knew we were going to get a whole season in the Camper World Series again and hopefully up for a championship, and we fell short of that this year. And we had been talking about doing some Nationwide racing earlier in the season and just came up that Memphis happened to be the right time for us. And got that deal put together and really excited about that and go out there and have some fun and perform.

JOSH HAMILTON: You finished fifth in the Camping World Series East this year, your second full year in the series; how do you think that driving those cars the past two years has prepared to you drive in the Nationwide Series this weekend?

MARC DAVIS: It’s definitely a great series to be in. The whole Camping World Series has definitely changed from what it used to be, and even between the last two years, definitely the competition level has gotten a lot better between last year and this year. There’s a lot more Cup-affiliate teams in the series and a lot more development drivers.

So it’s definitely a good series to step up to and get out with the stock cars and having the spec motor, it’s definitely a good motor and really reliable. So go out there and we get to run on some of the big tracks; ran good at Phoenix and Loudon and Iowa and Dover, as well. It’s definitely a good developmental series and looking forward to some more drivers coming out of it.

Q. What do you think will be the steepest part of the learning curve as you move up to this level?

MARC DAVIS: Well, with the whole Nationwide Series, the big thing is probably just going to be getting used to the longer races. We have run some longer races in the past and just try and get the whole strategy deal worked out. And there’s more pit strategy involved in the Nationwide races and the Cup races than there in the Truck Series or Camper World Series like I’m used to. That’s going to be a learning curve, but I’m on a good team and good sponsors and good teammates, so I’m looking forward to it.

Q. What do you think that you’ve learned along the way already that’s going to adapt the best when you start to race with some of the top racers in the league?

MARC DAVIS: Well, at Joe Gibbs Racing, they have the best racehorses, and the people around me, so I feel like I’m surrounded by some of the best people in the sport. And that’s definitely something to learn from, so I’m looking forward to it, and all of these guys are helping me get to the point right now, and still a long way to go but it’s definitely getting closer.

Q. We talked to Joey yesterday, and he said that since he’s going to be coming back from Atlanta in the first lap, he’s going to see the first lap of the face – he’s been doing a lot of practice on the video games. Have you been doing that sort of same kind of preparation, or are just going to come straight in and hit the practices really hard once you get to Memphis?

MARC DAVIS: Definitely. We use them a little bit to get used to the racetrack. It’s not exact details but gives you a good game plan to go to the race track. You know what to expect somewhat. So done that and watched some of the Memphis tapes from the previous years and go out there and get some practice going. So I think we’ll be pretty good and definitely, the 22 will probably use us a little bit to bounce ideas off of since Joey won’t be in the car for practice.

Q. Just kind of curious, have you sat down yet and really looked at the rest of the year and then looked on to next year and kind of come up with some kind of game plan or have you got your own personal goals ahead to the future? And I guess Joe Gibbs Racing, have they handed you some goals of what they would like to see you achieve in the future?

MARC DAVIS: Well, we have been sitting down the last week or two and trying to – helping me put some goals together and get some game plans going since the off-season is coming up pretty soon here. Looking at some more races for the end of the season. Not sure what all going to happen exactly. We are looking at some deals next year being outsourced from Joe Gibbs Racing to some of our tier teams (indiscernible). So nothing is laid out in stone yet, but it’s looking that way right now.

JOSH HAMILTON: Marc, thanks a lot for your time today, thanks for joining us, and good luck this weekend attempting your first Nationwide Series race.

We welcome Kevin Harvick. Kevin comes into Atlanta sixth in the series standings. Kevin, is it safe to say that Atlanta is a special place for you to return to as you got that first memorable NASCAR Sprint Cup win there back in 2001?

KEVIN HARVICK: Yeah, it’s definitely a cool place to go back to just for the fact that your first win is something that you only do one time. Obviously every time we go back there, that’s what a lot of people want to talk about, and we are excited that we ran good in the first race there this year, so we are looking forward to going back this week.

Q. Had a question for you about Shane Wilson, since he’s been named crew chief for Clint next year and you worked with him during the 2006 Nationwide championship season, how do you think those two will fit together?

KEVIN HARVICK: I actually did not know he had been named the crew chief, so I guess I’m a little bit out of the loop. Obviously Shane has done a great job with everything that’s gone on in the Nationwide Series. We had a lot of success over the couple of years that I ran the car and won a lot of races.

I think he and Clint are going to have some success together, and I’m really excited for Shane just for the fact that he’s had so much success at RCR and been able to accomplish so many things that he definitely deserves the opportunity on that car.

Q. Do you think NASCAR should change up the tracks from year-to-year just to make things a little interesting?

KEVIN HARVICK: Well, you know, obviously I think it’s tough to build a consistency in knowing where you’re going and what you’re doing and put the schedule together so many months in advance. That would be probably something that’s pretty hard to do and probably take a couple years in advance to make those things happen.

Obviously I think the schedule is mixed up a little bit next year, not a whole lot, but you know, it’s hard to tell what the right mixture of what racetracks are in the Chase, but they have Talladega and leading up to the race you have the Bristol and Richmond races that obviously have a lot of excitement.

You know right now, I think our Chase format is really good for our sport and leads up to the 26th race and has a lot of excitement over the 13th, 14th, 12th, 11th place guys that, you know, sometimes we don’t get the exposure if we’re not racing for a championship and we’re not up in the points. I think it’s created a lot of excitement in races in the past that have not had that.

Q. Have you heard anything about the tire this weekend since I guess the racing was awkward in the spring race; do you expect it to be better this weekend?

KEVIN HARVICK: I don’t know about the tire to be honest with you. Obviously I’m not a Goodyear engineer, so I didn’t build the tire, and obviously the race at the beginning of the year was tough to drive. But that’s what we get paid to do. So it all depends on what you’re looking for when you’re watching the race I guess.

Q. In 2006, you won 14 races between Cup and Nationwide but did not win the title, and I guess somewhat overshadowed what you really accomplished that year. Do you think Kyle Busch is going through the same thing this year because he’s not going to win the Cup title this year; that the 20 wins he had will be overshadowed?

KEVIN HARVICK: I think obviously he’s had a really good year. The way that our sport works is if you’re not hot at the right time, you don’t come out on top and win the championship. It’s all about being consistent through the whole year, no matter whether it’s the old-style points or the new-style points, with the year he had, he would not be on top.

When you have a year like that, obviously you want to finish it off with a championship and we were fortunate to finish our year off with a Nationwide championship, and I think we finished third or fourth in the Cup points.

It’s obviously going to be tough for him to have won that many races and not win the championship, but that’s just how tough our sport is.

Q. Looking back at 2005, Carl Edwards burst on scene by winning the Atlanta race and following up in Texas to get into Chase contention; what do you remember about him as a driver and person there, and what do you think of him now?

KEVIN HARVICK: I don’t remember much, so I guess I’m the wrong person to ask that question.

Q. I would like to ask you about Shane Wilson, because Richard Childress Racing named him today as Clint Bowyer’s crew chief for ’09, and you have experience with him; did you talk a little bit about that?

KEVIN HARVICK: Yeah, I guess have I would liked to have been in that RCR loop with the naming of Shane Wilson as the crew chief, but I guess I was a little bit out of the loop here.

Obviously Shane has earned that right to get that opportunity with the 33 car and I’m excited for him as a person, and he’s a good friend of mine and I think obviously with Clint’s situation, I think Shane will be a good fit. It’s great to see people get promoted within the company and get the opportunity to do that.

Q. Are you saying you didn’t know about that until now?

KEVIN HARVICK: That’s what I’m saying.

Q. Wow, okay. Well, what did you like about him so much? What can you tell us about him as a crew chief?

KEVIN HARVICK: Shane is just a really, really organized person. He’s really good with his people and understands what it takes to keep his people headed in the right direction, and that’s the majority of the battle of what we do on a week-to-week basis is keeping our people happy and keeping them understanding what you want to do next to accomplish on that side of it.

So he’s really good with that and always has done a really good job on the Nationwide side of it. I think he’ll do a good job in the Cup Series.

Q. You’ve done so much for the feeder series and Craftsman Truck Series and Nationwide, can you talk about the health of the Craftsman Truck Series particularly with both Ford and Dodge pulling back their financial support?

KEVIN HARVICK: I think as I look at the entry list for the races this weekend, and obviously the Truck race is pretty solid. And you look at the Nationwide Series, I think there’s 50 cars in it for the Memphis race. Obviously this is a tough time in our economy and sponsors are waiting a little bit longer than what they had before to place their sponsorship than in the past.

So everybody is just kind of wait and see on who the president is going to be and where the economy is going to turn. I really feel confident in the fact that we have been through this before with the manufacturers supporting the Truck Series.

The Nationwide Series has really never had any manufacturer support other than technical support. So it’s going to be more like it was before Toyota came into the Truck Series and kind of be back to the same formula as far as sponsorship dollars that you need to make your Truck team function.

Q. Do you feel like you’ve gotten a strong return on investment?

KEVIN HARVICK: I don’t really look for investment to be honest with you. I race because I like to race in the Truck Series, and you know, the main reason that we race the trucks is to win races and make sure that on the day, had something to do; that was the biggest reason that we stayed in it in the past. I thoroughly enjoyed being in the Truck Series garage, and that’s what I like to do in my spare time.

We don’t necessarily look – we don’t look for investment at all on a return for the Truck Series.

Q. Some drivers and some professional stick-and-ball players think that butterflies are a good thing to get before race day or a big day. Do you agree with that, and do you still get butterflies, and is there a best way to handle them I guess?

KEVIN HARVICK: I don’t necessarily know that there’s ever butterflies anymore. But there’s definitely that anticipation of what’s going to happen that day and what you need to do with your car depending on how it was in practice and how you think the track is going to change for that particular race.

I would say the anticipation of what you need to do to your car and the things inside that you can relay back to the team are more on your mind than being nervous for sure.

Q. Yesterday Yarborough was on and we were talking about the drivers of the past without the benefits of power steering and stuff like that; do you think the drivers of the past had to be a little bit more athletic to handle those cars?

KEVIN HARVICK: I would definitely say the drivers of the past are not near as athletic as the drivers of today, for sure. Obviously the guys that raced in the past are just pretty much just brute, strong guys and that was just kind of the nature of the sport at the time.

So I would definitely say that today’s drivers are more athletic than the drivers of old.

Q. I’m totally thrilled to see that you’re putting Ryan Newman in a truck this weekend. I cannot personally wait to see him race in a truck. I talked with him today and he was so psyched. Can you talk a little about Ryan racing a truck?

KEVIN HARVICK: Well, Ryan and myself and our wives are really good friends and we are really excited to have Ryan in there. We’re excited to make the change. We’re just excited as an organization to kind of have fun with the two trucks as we head towards the end of the year here.

Ryan was able to drive the truck, and so it will be fun to just kind of share that experience with your friends, and he gets his first experience with a truck and obviously taking him to Atlanta for the first time is probably the best place that we can take him with all of the success that he’s been able to have with the poles and as well as he runs there.

It will be fun to watch and we are excited to give him his first start.

THE MODERATOR: Kevin, thanks a lot for your time today. We certainly appreciate you joining us and good luck on Sunday.

In The Garage

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Atlanta Natives
David Ragan (Unadilla) – No. 6 driver
Reed Sorenson (Peachtree City) – No. 41 driver
Bill Elliott (Dawsonville) – No. 21 driver
Jason Jones (Rhine) – No. 5 mechanic
Jayme Christianson (Marietta) – No. 83 media relations
Chris Golder (Alpharetta) – No. 88 shock specialist
Jacob Norman (Marietta) – No. 45 front-tire changer
Adam North (Sonoraville) – No. 31 jack man
Paul Craven (Summerville) – No. 45 jack man
Kenneth Purcell (Savannah) – No. 48 jack man
Jason Jones (Rhine) – No. 5 rear tire carrier
Sheila Lumpkin (Atlanta) – No. 9 scorer
Mike Brown (Statham) – No. 22 spotter
Shane Bourgeois (Peachtree City) – No. 41 pit support
Byron Goggin (Tifton) – No. 20 pit support

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Atlanta Natives
Scott Brook (Carrollton) – No. 15 mechanic
Jerel Dawson (Danielsville) – No. 6 pit support
Kevin Gravitte (Conyers) – No. 13 jack man
Billy Ballew (Atlanta) – No. 51 owner

NASCAR Nationwide Series Tennessee Natives
Bobby Hamilton Jr. (Nashville) – No. 24 driver
Marty Oody (Loudon) – No. 5 front tire changer
Tim Whelan (Nashville) – No. 5 gas man
Brett Jones (Lebanon) – No. 27 gas man
John Reese (Mt. Juliet) – No. 27 jack man
Butch Waugh (Murfreesboro) – No. 27 rear tire carrier
Danny Rankin (Chattanooga) – No. 2 rear tire changer

Johnson Dominates, Lead Grows
Two-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson won his 13th career Chase race this past weekend at Martinsville. The Johnson-specific storylines:

• The list of superlatives grows: dominant, relentless, unstoppable. With his fifth career Martinsville win, Johnson extended his standings lead to 149 points. Johnson now heads to Atlanta, where he has three wins and a series-best Driver Rating of 113.4.

• All season long, Johnson’s quest was to match Cale Yarborough’s record of three consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series titles. Yarborough did in from 1976-78, besting some of the all-time greats: Richard Petty, Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip. Johnson’s competition is likewise stout: fellow series champions Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth.

• What makes Johnson so good is his ability to handle playoff pressure. Thus far, the series has returned to five of the six Chase tracks (New Hampshire, Dover, Talladega, Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Martinsville). During the “regular season” races at those tracks, Johnson averaged 126.8 points. During the Chase at those tracks, he has averaged 167.6 points per race.

Biffle, Edwards Optimistic
The task looks daunting. But it’s not impossible by any means. Greg Biffle trails Johnson by 149 points with four races remaining. The largest deficit overcome since the current points system was implemented in 1975: 144 points. In 1992, eventual champion Alan Kulwicki trailed Bill Elliott by 144 points with four races remaining.

Biffle, as does teammate Carl Edwards in fourth and Jeff Burton in third, needs strong finishes and no mistakes.

The schedule shakes out favorably for the Roush Fenway Racing duo of Biffle and Edwards. Three of the four remaining tracks are 1.5-miles in length, a Roush favorite.
Edwards has two Atlanta wins, while Biffle finished fourth there in March.

The Ratings Game: Cream Rises at Atlanta
This Sunday’s Pep Boys Auto 500 should feature the best-of-the-best in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series running up front. The top-10 drivers in Atlanta Driver Rating are all Chase contenders, led by points leader Jimmie Johnson. Take a look:

Jimmie Johnson 113.4
Tony Stewart 104.4
Dale Earnhardt Jr. 103.6
Carl Edwards 102.8
Greg Biffle 102.3
Jeff Gordon 96.6
Matt Kenseth 94.1
Jeff Burton 92.8
Clint Bowyer 89.4
Kyle Busch 88.5

NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES

JGR Future On Display At Memphis
Marc Davis and Joey Logano, both 18, will comprise the Joe Gibbs Racing team at Memphis this weekend. Logano is the “seasoned veteran” of the two, having started 15 races this year including his series debut.

Davis, meanwhile, seeks his first series start after making his NASCAR national series debut last month at Gateway in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (he finished 16th). He’ll have to qualify on time to make the race at Memphis, but will have a stout ride in a No. 18 Toyota that’s totaled nine wins with Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin this year. Davis finished sixth in the NASCAR Camping World Series East this season; Logano was the champion of that series last year.

Memphis Home To Young Talent, Series Debuts
Davis and Logano will have plenty company in the youth movement this weekend at Memphis. Fellow 18-year-olds Austin Dillon and James Buescher are in the mix along with Landon Cassill, 19, who trails Bryan Clauson by two points in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings. Chase Miller, 21, and Cale Gale, 23 are entered along with Steve Wallace, 21, who made his series debut in 2005 at Memphis. Other notable series debuts at the track are Juan Pablo Montoya (2006) and Dario Franchitti (2007).

Last Stand-Alone Of Season
Memphis is the last of nine stand-alone races on the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule and the final time this year double-duty drivers will make the back-and-forth trek, this time from Atlanta. Series-only regulars have won three of the previous eight stand-alone races this year. David Reutimann is the defending winner at Memphis, his first NASCAR national series win.

Elvis Fan Bowyer Seeks Title “Unification”
Four races are left and Clint Bowyer’s lead over Carl Edwards in the driver championship is at 196 points. Brad Keselowski remains in the hunt, 286 points behind in third. The largest deficit overcome to claim the driver championship with four to go is 127 points by Rob Moroso (who was in fifth place) in 1989.

Bowyer – a huge Elvis Presley fan – has the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet back in first place in the owner point standings over the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota for the first time in 21 races. After a split decision in the driver and owner championships last year, RCR looks to unify the title and claim its third consecutive owner crown. Childress and Teresa Earnhardt are tied at four.

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES

Benson Back on Top
Johnny Benson carries a 65-point lead into the E-Z-Go 200. That’s the sixth-largest lead after 21 races in series history. When Benson won for the fifth time of the year at Martinsville Speedway this past weekend, it marked the ninth time in 2008 the No. 1 spot has changed hands. Ron Hornaday Jr. entered the race with a lead of 39 points and finished 29th. He also lost the lead at Martinsville a year ago but recovered to win his third championship.

Busch Looks for Atlanta Record
Kyle Busch goes for his third consecutive victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway and fourth overall, which would match the series’ single-track record. His owner, Billy Ballew, is from the Atlanta area and still has a chance to win the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series owners’ title. Ballew currently is third, 209 points behind leader Gail Davis.

Newman Makes NCTS Debut
Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman set to make his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut this weekend, driving the No. 2 Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet. His new boss, Harvick, won the 2007 Daytona 500.

First Win For Benson At Martinsville

DAYTONA BEACAH, Fla. (Oct. 20, 08) – It took 11 attempts but Johnny Benson (No. 23 Toyota) can now mark Martinsville off the winless list after grabbing the checkered flag Saturday. Passing Ron Hornaday Jr. (No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet) on the 155th of 200 laps, Benson kept his truck in front and beat Martinsville’s most recent winner Dennis Setzer (No. 18 Dodge) by .785 seconds.

The victory tops his best previous finish of third back in 1995, the series’ inaugural season. It is Benson’s fifth of this season, all of his wins falling in the last 11 races.

With the hard fought race behind him, Benson said, “It wasn’t easy but it was nice not seeing anything in front of you.

“This track’s got such a rich history to it,” he added. “Very cool to be in Victory Lane here.”

With one more down and four races to go, Benson and team head to Atlanta this week, a track where in seven starts he has yet to visit Victory Lane. He was a forgettable 30th at AMS in March.

With five wins though under their belt for the year, the veteran driver feels they’re competitive and will keep his eye on his main goal: winning.

“We’re not going to do anything different these last four or five races,” he said. “My goal is to go out there and win the race. All I care about is winning.”

This Championship Battle Ain’t Over Yet

With his win Saturday Johnny Benson took the points lead once again from rival Ron Hornaday, Jr. Hornaday entered the race 39 points over Benson and led 154 laps before the No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet ran out of fuel, relegating the reigning champion to a 29th-place finish.

This scenario is all too familiar to the three-time champion. Hornaday went into Martinsville a year ago with a 14-point lead over Mike Skinner (No. 5 Toyota Tundra Toyota). After an eighth-place finish he subsequently lost the points lead to Skinner, who won the race. Skinner headed to Atlanta with an 11-point lead over Hornaday.

This marks the ninth time in 2008 that the lead has swapped hands. Benson took the lead from Hornaday following his win at Kentucky in July. Hornaday was as far back as 119 points before regaining the advantage after Talladega on Oct. 4.

Benson’s now 65-point lead over Hornaday is the sixth-largest lead in series history after 21 races. Greg Biffle, who led Jack Sprague by 125 points after the 21st race in 1999, is the only driver with a lead larger than Benson’s failing to win the title. Sprague prevailed as the lead changed three times in the last four races.

Looking forward to the remaining four races, Hornaday and Benson have past victories stacked in their favor. Hornaday has wins at Atlanta, Texas, Phoenix, and Homestead-Miami. Benson has a win at Phoenix and is the defending winner at Homestead-Miami.

With the points lead in his grasp, Benson isn’t taking any comfort being on top. “Anything can happen,” he said.

“Every year in these truck races it comes down to the last lap at Homestead,” Benson added. “You’ve really got to pay attention to what’s going on, keep people in sight.”

Atlanta Homecoming For Rowdy & Ballew Motorsports

Kyle “Rowdy” Busch may not hail from the state of Georgia but racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend will be a homecoming of sorts for the driver and his Billy Ballew Motorsports team. Atlanta is a place where the young driver knows how to get things done. Busch hopes to take the No. 51 Miccosukee/NOS Energy Drink Toyota to Victory Lane for the third consecutive time, and for the fourth time in his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career.

Busch, who has three wins, seven top fives, 12 top 10s and one Keystone Light pole so far for this season, knows a win Saturday would not only add to his impressive stats, but would be huge for his owner, Atlanta-area native Billy Ballew.

“It’s a big race for Billy (Ballew) and it would be big to win it,” he said. “I think we’ve got a good shot at it. Hopefully, things go our way,” said Busch.

He also has a good idea who his main competition will be. “(Ron) Hornaday has always been fast there so we know he’ll be strong and the guy to beat.” The pair finished one-two in March.

His team owner thinks it isn’t out of the realm of possibility either. “With the way Kyle Busch runs, it is possible to think that he can win three in a row and four wins at Atlanta Motor Speedway,” said Ballew.

And about being home he said, “Being in Atlanta is always nice with all the family and friends coming to the race, and it would be even more special if we could win again.”

A win this week would help the No. 51 team in the Owners’ Championship battle. The team currently stands third, 209 points behind Gail Davis and the No. 23 Toyota Tundra.

“It would help Billy to win that,” said Busch of the championship. “Hornaday had a bad finish at Martinsville so that sort of helped us out a bit. But Johnny (Benson) is still up there and doing really well, too,” he added.

Ballew recognizes the chances as well. “Being only 209 points out of the Owner’s Championship, it is still achievable with four races left to go,” said the owner. “Hopefully, we’ll have a good streak of luck and get the Championship. Either way, we’ve had a great season with Kyle driving for us.”

In The Loop:

Once again, the points lead may change hands between Johnny Benson and Ron Hornaday Jr.

Benson re-took the points with his win last weekend at Martinsville, the ninth time the top spot has changed this season. How long his reign at the top lasts depends a lot on his run this weekend at Atlanta, a track at which he has struggled recently.

In seven Atlanta starts, Benson has no wins. He has also finished outside the top 25 in three of the last four Atlanta races. A continuation of those numbers combined with a strong run by Hornaday could spell trouble for Benson.

But there’s another side to the Benson success spectrum. He has three top-three finishes at Atlanta. In other words, it’s all or nothing for the current points leader.

Since the inception of Loop Data in 2005, Benson has a Driver Rating of 96.9, an Average Running Position of 13.0, 56 Fastest Laps Run and has run 68.5% of the laps among the top 15.

On the other hand, Hornaday has been strong at Atlanta recently. He has been the runner-up in the last two Atlanta races, leading a race-high 81 laps in this season’s March Atlanta race.

Since 2005 at Atlanta, Hornaday has a Driver Rating of 99.2, an Average Running Position of 10.8, 53 Fastest Laps Run and has run 62% of the laps among the top 15.

Also watch for another strong run from Kyle Busch, who looks to go three-for-three at Atlanta. Busch has won each of his three Atlanta races and has a Driver Rating of 138.0, an Average Running Position of 3.0, 69 Fastest Laps Run and has run 97.2% of the laps in the top 15.

This Week’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Leaders
(Through 21 races of the 25-race season)
Points leader – Johnny Benson (3,178)
Driver Rating – Ron Hornaday Jr. (115.6)
Laps led – Ron Hornaday Jr. (1,134)
Victories – Johnny Benson, Ron Hornaday, Jr. (5)
Keystone Light Poles – Ron Hornaday, Jr. (4)
Top-five finishes – Johnny Benson (13)
Top-10 finishes – Mike Skinner (16)
Raybestos Rookie Leader – Colin Braun
Races led – Ron Hornaday Jr. (17)
Weeks in Top 10 – Three drivers with 21

Battle For Most Popular Driver

Who is the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ Most Popular Driver? Its up to you to decide. Better hurry and cast your vote if you haven’t already. Voting ends Friday, Oct. 31. This is an opportunity for the first time in series history, that voting for the Series’ Most Popular Driver is in the hands of the fans.

Be sure to check out NASCAR.com and vote for your favorite. More than 50,000 votes have been cast since voting began July 5.

Director’s Take: Wayne’s Words

“This weekend we get to go back to Atlanta where the trucks had a chance to race earlier this year.

“Atlanta keeps it interesting and always seems to produce exciting racing, something this series is known for. You are going to see three and sometimes four-wide racing.

“There are a couple important keys to winning at this track. One of them may seem simple but getting on pit road is a big key.

“Also, tire management. That call on when to put on the last set could be a factor in taking the win. Going with old tires and track position vs. new tires and maybe passing a bunch of trucks with the laps winding down is a difficult decision at Atlanta.” — Wayne Auton, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Director

Atlanta Motor Speedway became part of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule in 1997. Like Martinsville last week, it’s one of three tracks that appear twice on the 2008 schedule.

Etc. & Quotable

Ryan Newman To Make Debut … Ryan Newman, the 2008 Daytona 500 winner, will be behind the wheel of the No. 2 American Commercial Lines Chevrolet for team owner and 2007 Daytona 500 winner Kevin Harvick this weekend. This will be Newman’s first career start in the series.

“It’s the first time I have ever really had the opportunity to run in the Truck Series,” said the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver. “Everyone has always told me how much fun they have running the trucks, and now I’ve got the shot to see what it’s like.”

Newman has seven NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole awards at Atlanta. He’ll look to take that success and hopefully apply it to the truck.

“From what I understand, running in the truck there, you are wide open,” he said. “It’s a really fast track; trucks stick real good.”

“I expect to go there and have fun,” he added. “But in saying that, we should run in the top five and have a shot at the win in the end. KHI has two really strong trucks.”

Hamlin Return To Series … Fellow NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin will return to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series this weekend behind the wheel of the No. 15 Hyprene Ergon Toyota for Billy Ballew Motorsports.

This will be Hamlin’s first series start at Atlanta. In eight previous series starts, he has two top-10 finishes. Hamlin’s last truck race was at Martinsville in March.

“I’ve watched the trucks at Atlanta and it’s a wild race,” said Hamlin. “I’ve actually watched it from Billy’s suite at the track and it just looks like fun, so when he asked if I was interested, I jumped at the chance.”

“Getting in a truck there was an easy decision,” he added. “Atlanta will be different, but it’s a challenge I’m looking forward to.”

“The Ergon Racing team builds great trucks, so I expect to go out there and run competitive.”

Wallace Added To Field … Chrissy Wallace (No. 9 Toyota) will make her fifth start of the year at AMS. She has three top-20 finishes.
Manufacturers’ Battle

With the help of Johnny Benson, Toyota celebrated its 50th win in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Martinsville Speedway. The manufacturer solidifies its place in the championship standings, putting Chevrolet 18 points behind.

Toyota will clinch its third consecutive championship by finishing ahead of Chevrolet at Atlanta or in any of the remaining races.

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series 2008 Manufacturers’ Championship Standings Following Race 21 of 25 at Talladega Superspeedway:

Toyota 151
Chevrolet 133
Ford 100
Dodge 78

Rookie Standings

Rookies only have four more races before the yellow stripe comes off the rear bumper cover. Colin Braun (No. 6 Con-way Freight Ford) continues to lead fellow Rookie of the Year contender Donny Lia (No. 81 Nationrides.com Chevrolet).

Since switching to Toyota, Brian Scott (No. 16 Albertson’s Toyota) has seen his season rebound. Scott sits in third in the rookie title battle, only four points behind Lia.

These young drivers get a second stab at Atlanta this weekend to improve on their performances from earlier in the season. Scott finished 17th; Lia is behind him in 20th, and Braun brought his truck home 28th.

Up Next:

After the action at Atlanta, the series will head out west to the Lone Star state where Ron Hornaday Jr. bids to make it back-to-back wins at the 1.5-mile track. The Chevy Silverado 350 takes place Oct. 31.

Along with June winner Hornaday, five other former race winners are expected to compete. Ted Musgrave won last year’s Silverado 350.

Fast Facts

The Race: E-Z-GO 200
The Place: Atlanta Motor Speedway
The Date: Oct. 25, 2008
The Time: 1 p.m. ET
Race Distance: 200 miles / 130 laps
TV: SPEED, 12:30 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, Sirius. Listen locally on WEKS-FM 92.5
Track Layout: 1.54-Mile oval
2007 Winner: Kyle Busch
2007 Pole: Ron Hornaday, Jr.
2008 Standings:
Rk Driver Points
1 J. Benson 3,178
2 R. Hornaday Jr. 3,113
3 M. Crafton 2,951
4 T. Bodine 2,946
5 M. Skinner 2,896
6 E. Darnell 2,877
7 R. Crawford 2,856
8 D. Setzer 2,694
9 J. Sprague 2,668
10 T. Cook 2,575

Schedule: Friday: Practice, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. and 1:30-2:50 p.m. Saturday: Qualifying, 9:10 a.m.

MARTINSVILLE, VA. — Polesitter Ron Hornaday Jr. led the first 154 laps of Saturday’s Kroger 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway, but Johnny Benson led the next 46 — including the one that counted.

With Hornaday running out of fuel during a five-lap sprint to the finish, Benson cruised to the finish line .785 seconds ahead of Dennis Setzer, and ahead of a multicar wreck off Turn 4. Rick Crawford was third, followed by Kyle Busch and Todd Bodine.

After running out of fuel, Hornaday came to a stop on the track, dropped to 29th at the finish and saw his 39-point lead over Benson in the championship standings transformed into a 65-point deficit with four races left in the season.

Benson, who had never before led a lap in the Truck series at the .526-mile short track, won his fifth race of the season and the 14th of his career in vaulting past Hornaday for the points lead.

With more than three hours to kill between qualifying and the race itself, Benson watched Sprint Cup practice and took his observations to heart.

“I learned a lot today,” Benson said. “I watched the 24 (seven-time Martinsville winner Jeff Gordon), and I watched a bunch of different lines, sitting around for about three hours waiting for the race to start.”

As it turned out, however, it was a fuel shortage that kept Hornaday from battling Benson for the win. The field was bunched for a restart on Lap 196, after Jeff Green slammed the backstretch wall to bring out the ninth caution of the race, but the anticipated battle between Benson and Hornaday never developed.

“We’ve just got to get better fuel mileage,” said Hornaday, the defending series champion. “We’ve got to go back and figure this thing out. I don’t know where this puts us (in the standings), but it was a bad day for us. I was saving fuel the whole time — trying to. I was shutting the truck off, flipping it back on. Still didn’t save enough.”

One critical decision came early in the race, on Lap 36, when Benson took four tires and fuel under caution, while Hornaday retained the top spot with a fuel-only stop. With fresh rubber on his No. 23 Tundra, Benson worked his way to the front.

On Lap 81, Benson passed Kevin Harvick for the second position, and after a restart on Lap 120, he and Hornaday ran side by side for the lead for five laps, with Hornaday able to hold the top spot on the outside of Benson.

The two drivers repeated that scenario after a restart on Lap153, but this time Benson, with his fresher tires, was able to pass for the lead when Hornaday’s Chevrolet slipped in Turn 3 on Lap 155.

Also this weekend, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will race Saturday at Martinsville. The NASCAR Nationwide Series has its final off-week of the season.

Storylines for this weekend follow, starting with a look at “in the garage” local angles for the Martinsville Speedway weekend, a group highlighted by two Chase competitors from Virginia – Jeff Burton and Denny Hamlin.

In The Garage

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Jeff Burton (South Boston) – No. 31 driver
Denny Hamlin (Chesterfield) – No. 11 driver
Elliott Sadler (Emporia) – No. 19 driver
Robert “Bootie” Barker (Brookneal) – No. 66 crew chief
David Bryant (Farmville) – No. 88 car chief
Todd Brewer (Manassas) – No. 96 car chief
Jeff Curtis (Fairfax) – No. 31 engineer
Darian Grubb (Floyd) – No. 88 engineer
Tom Stewart (Hampton) – No. 88 engineer
Brandon Evans (South Hill) – No. 48 engineer
Rick MacGowan (Reston) – No. 96 engineer
Kevin Kidd (Tazewell) – No. 19 engineer
Tommy Wallace (Richmond) – No. 07 mechanic
Jim Jenkins (Hampton) – No. 88 mechanic
Alan Howard (Covington) – No. 84 shock specialist
Todd Bosserman (Waynesboro) – No. 48 shock specialist
Tracey Ramsey (Fredericksburg) – No. 31 tire specialist
Charles Moles (Floyd) – No. 07 tire specialist
Franky Nester (Ridgeway) – No. 31 transporter driver
Barry Sheppard (Stuart) – No. 07 transporter driver
Kirk George (Ararat) – No. 24 transporter driver
Jay Hackney (Haysi) – No. 2 front tire changer
Curt Bowman (Meadows of Dan) – No. 31 gas man
Caleb Hurd (Pulaski) – No. 24 gas man
Rodney Rhodes (Hickory) – No. 10 gas man
Andy Pope (Midlothian) – No. 21 gas man
Ed Watkins (Richmond) – No. 19 jack man
Ben Surface (Pulaski) – No. 96 rear tire carrier
Mark Robertson (Richmond) – No. 20 spotter
Ryan Quann (Richmond) – No. 42 pit support

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
Jim Harris (Lynchburg) – No. 59 owner

Jeff Hensley (Ridgeway) – No. 16 crew chief
Trip Bruce (Chester) – No. 23 crew chief
Hal Ralston (Staunton) – No. 6 engineer
Chuck Day (Alexandria) – No. 33 engine tuner
Curtis Key (Chesapeake) – No. 40 general manager
Dan Mrak (Woodbridge) – No. 11 catch can man
Curtis Martin (Rocky Mount) – No. 23 rear tire changer
Scott Blackburn (Mechanicsville) – No. 16 rear tire changer
Mary Quay (Halifax) – No. 22 scorer
Kevin Riddle (Martinsville) – No. 5 pit support

Halfway: Chase Reaches Its Mid-Point
Five races are complete in the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. The plot thickens – in a variety of directions. Check it out:

• Coming into Sunday’s event, the top three drivers – Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Burton and Greg Biffle – are separated by only 86 points.

• Jimmie Johnson has the points lead coming into a track where he has seriously excelled. Johnson has won four times at Martinsville since 2004. His chances of winning a third consecutive series championship look more realistic all the time. Only one driver has ever pulled off that trifecta – Cale Yarborough from 1976-78.

• Jeff Burton is in the sport’s top echelon – for the second time. The South Boston, Va. native was one of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ premier drivers from 1997-2000, posting 15 wins during that four-season span, driving for car owner Jack Roush. After a several-season slump, Burton has returned to prominence the last few years with owner Richard Childress, who he joined in 2004.

• Two weeks ago, the Chase made an always-precarious stop at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ biggest track, 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway. This week, the Chase comes to the series’ smallest track, .526-mile Martinsville Speedway. Those two disparate layouts have one undeniable common denominator – unpredictability, due to close-quarters racing. A bump here, a spin there … and the standings could easily be altered drastically, this Sunday.

• When the Chase’s top seed, Kyle Busch, fell far behind after the first two Chase races, Carl Edwards looked like the smart pick to win the title. With five races to go, however, Edwards’ title chances are on the ropes. He crashed at Talladega and had engines problems this past week at Lowe’s Motor Speedway – resulting in finishes of 29th and 33rd. He comes into Martinsville fourth in points, 168 points behind Johnson. Edwards has one top 10 in eight races at Martinsville, and a Driver Rating of 72.4 over his last seven races there.

The Ratings Game: Hendrick Duo Top Martinsville Driver Rating
Clearly, Hendrick Motorsports has figured out Martinsville Speedway. Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson rank one-two in Driver Rating over the last seven races at Martinsville, one of the trickiest tracks in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Over that span, Gordon has an average finish of 2.3, while Johnson has a 3.0. Below are the top 10 drivers in pre-race Driver Rating at Martinsville. (x-denotes non-Chase driver)

Jeff Gordon 124.5
Jimmie Johnson 121.2
Tony Stewart 116.3
Dale Earnhardt Jr. 100.7
Denny Hamlin 100.6
Kyle Busch 93.3
x-Jamie McMurray 87.9
Kevin Harvick 87.4
x-Ryan Newman 85.8
Jeff Burton 85.3

NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES

Testing….1,2,3
This final open week of the season begins with the final “new car” test of the season, scheduled for Monday and Tuesday at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Seven teams are expected for the session. It’s the first test at an intermediate track for the car following the inaugural test at Richmond International Raceway in early September. Seven teams are expected to participate including Joe Gibbs Racing which did not test at Richmond last month. Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Roush Fenway Racing (two teams), Richard Childress Racing, JD Motorsports and Michael Waltrip Racing tested at Richmond and are back at LMS.

Championship Battle: Bowyer Maintaining Series Lead
Clint Boywer’s lead in the series points over Carl Edwards remains at 196 points. Third-place Brad Keselowski is still in the hunt, 286 points behind. in third.

Championship Battle, Part 2: RCR Entry Takes the Lead
Clint Bowyer’s second-place finish this past week at Lowe’s Motor Speedway also helped his car owner, Richard Childress, take the lead in the car owner championship standings. The No. 2 entry driven by Bowyer has a one-point lead over the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota that has had a variety of drivers this year. Joey Logano drove the No. 20 at LMS, finishing 14th.

Record Chasing: Kyle Busch Eyes Ard
Kyle Busch’s win at Lowe’s Motor Speedway last Friday night was his ninth victory of the year in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. The series record is 10 set in 1983 by two-time series champion Sam Ard.

Busch is not expected to compete in the next event, the final stand-alone of the season at Memphis Motorsports Park on Oct. 25, but is planning on running in the following three events to close out the year at Texas Motor Speedway, Phoenix International Raceway and Homestead-Miami Speedway. He won the fall race at Phoenix last year and also won at Texas and Phoenix earlier this year. With Busch out at Memphis, JGR development driver Marc Davis, 18, will attempt to make his NNS debut.

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES

Championship Battle Picks Back Up
Ron Hornaday Jr. reassumed the championship lead with a second-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway. Johnny Benson, who entered the season’s 20th race with a single-point advantage, is 39 points out after finishing 11th. The lead changed hands for the seventh time in 2008.

Hornaday’s lead is fourth-closest in series history following the season’s 20th race. Point leaders after 20 races have won the championship in three of the past four seasons and nine times in the series’ 13 previous years. The last 20-race leader failing to become champion was Dennis Setzer in 2005.

Setzer Looks for Four Pack
Dennis Setzer won Martinsville Speedway’s March 31 race, matching Mike Skinner’s record of three victories at the .526-mile track. Setzer attempts to become the series’ third different driver to win four races at a single track. (Brendan Gaughan and Todd Bodine, Texas Motor Speedway).

Contenders Looking for First Martinsville Win
Coming into Martinsville, the last short-track race of the NCTS season, Hornaday and Benson are among five short-track winners in 2008. While neither Hornaday nor Benson has a victory at Martinsville despite a combined 22 starts, the two have victories at the tracks on the remainder of the schedule. Hornaday has wins at Atlanta, Texas, Phoenix and Homestead-Miami; Benson at Phoenix and Homestead-Miami.

Youngest Skinner to Debut at Martinsville
Dustin Skinner, youngest son of 2005 NASCAR Craftsman Truck champion Mike Skinner, will attempt to make his first NCTS trace this weekend at Martinsville, running the No. 03 Germain Toyota. Dustin, 23, follows in his father’s and brother Jamie’s footsteps — both made their NASCAR debut at Martinsville.

Several other new names will be behind the wheel of some trucks this weekend: Hermie Sadler (No. 48 Chevrolet), Jamie McMurray (No. 09 Zaxby’s Ford), Kevin Harvick (No. 2 American Commercial Lines Chevrolet), Sam Hornish, Jr. (No. 4 Bobby Hamilton Racing Dodge).

Then, there are some series veterans set to strap into new rides. Terry Cook will pilot the No. 59 Team ASE/Harris Trucking Toyota for the remainder of the season while Jack Sprague will be in the No. 60 Wyler Racing Toyota.

Martinsville Truck Race Started Big And Grew From There

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Oct. 13, 2008) – Martinsville Speedway’s Clay Campbell wasn’t among the doubters when the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was created.

The track was among its charter hosts in 1995 and added a second event to the schedule in 2003.

Saturday’s Kroger 200 marks the 20th time series drivers have competed at the south Virginia track — second only to Texas Motor Speedway’s 21 races.

“We knew the series would be good and it would be big,” said Campbell. “We just didn’t have any idea how big and how good it would be.”

Martinsville’s race was one of 17 short track races on the inaugural schedule. Just six remain; two on the flat, .526-mile oval.

To say that action is constant is an understatement.

“Our two truck races have grown into huge fan favorites,” said Campbell. “Fans know when they come to Martinsville Speedway for a truck race, they are in for a special show.

“Some of the best races we’ve ever had can be found in those (19) truck races that have been here.”

Mike Skinner (No. 5 Toyota Tundra Toyota) nearly won Martinsville’s inaugural race. He’s one of seven drivers competing this week who participated in the 1995 event.

Three of them — Skinner, Dennis Setzer (No. 18 Dodge Dealers Dodge) and Jack Sprague (No. 60 Wyler.com Toyota) — are among 15 Martinsville Speedway winners.

Skinner’s eldest son, Jamie, made his NASCAR Craftsman Truck debut in 1997. The driver’s second son, Dustin, hopes to do likewise on Saturday.

“It’ll be a real special weekend for me because it’ll be the first time I’ve got to race against one of my sons in a NASCAR race, or any race for that matter,” said Skinner.

Fathers and sons have competed in 16 races—the last in 2007 when Bobby and Bobby Hamilton Jr. participated at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Setzer Says: Drive With Care And Follow Directions

It can be said that Martinsville Speedway is Dennis Setzer’s personal playground.

Setzer added a third Martinsville victory to his resume when he captured March’s Kroger 250. The North Carolina native has seven top-five and 10 top-10 finishes and has led 458 laps in his 17 Martinsville appearances.

He’s failed to finish just once — his first race in 1995.

Setzer is one of two drivers in this week’s field bidding for a record-matching fourth victory at a single track. Mike Skinner swept both Martinsville races in 2007, adding to a 1996 victory.

“I think it takes two things to have success at Martinsville; the first being track position and second taking care of your equipment,” said the 48-year-old Setzer. “It is easy to get aggressive during practice and use up your brakes and tires.”

Ultimately, Setzer thinks the make-or-break factor is the crew chief. Saturday’s Kroger 200 likely is a one-stop affair and pit timing is crucial.

“Track position is so important. I think the crew chief is more important than the driver now,” he said. “He has to make the call when to come down pit road and when to stay out.”

Director’s Take: Wayne’s Words

“Like many of my generation, I grew up attending NASCAR races at Martinsville Speedway. Everyone has a favorite track for many reasons but Martinsville always has stood out with me — particularly because the fans are so enthusiastic.

“Racing at Martinsville is pretty basic: Get your track position and protect it but at the same time, keep the nose on the truck. Sometimes that’s a pretty tall order, especially as competitive as the racing has become in 2008.

“It’s an old story but one that bears repeating visit after visit to Martinsville. No matter how much the technology advances and how big your brakes become, it doesn’t mean a driver can abuse those brakes.

“You never can have enough pedal, especially in the closing laps.

“Pit strategy has become extremely important with the increased durability of the Goodyear Wrangler tire. Speeds just don’t fall off like they once did and track position usually trumps fresh rubber even with more than half a race to go.

“That puts a tremendous burden on the crew chief to chart a strategy that will get his driver in and out with both track position and enough Sunoco fuel to carry the truck to the finish.

“That doesn’t mean everything’s out of the driver’s hands — especially on pit road. The best strategy can be foiled by a speeding ticket or bad luck. The pits are tight and the potential for being boxed in or a collision is always there.”
— Wayne Auton, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Director

This Week’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Leaders
(Through 20 races of the 25-race season)
Points leader – Ron Hornaday, Jr. (3,027)
Driver Rating – Ron Hornaday Jr. (115.2)
Laps led – Ron Hornaday Jr. (980)
Victories – Ron Hornaday, Jr. (5)
Keystone Light Poles – Three drivers with three
Top-five finishes – Johnny Benson, Ron Hornaday, Jr. (12)
Top-10 finishes – Mike Skinner (16)
Raybestos Rookie Leader – Colin Braun
Races led – Ron Hornaday Jr. (16)
Weeks in Top 10 – Three drivers with 20

Martinsville Speedway is one of four tracks to host a race in each of the series’ 14 seasons. It’s also one of three to appear twice on the 2008 schedule. The .526-mile layout is one of five tracks of less than a mile in length currently scheduled.

In The Loop:

The statistics say this will be the perfect matchup this weekend: Ron Hornaday Jr. (No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet) vs. Johnny Benson (No. 23 Toyota Tundra Toyota); head-to-head, for the coveted top spot as the season quickly winds down.

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series has raced at five short tracks this season, with the sixth and final bout on tap for this weekend.

Two drivers are the class of the short-track field: Hornaday and Benson. The two lap the field in short-track stats this season – much like they have everywhere else in this bitterly-fought championship campaign.

At those tracks under a mile, Hornaday and Benson’s stats mirror each other. Each has one win, two top fives and three top 10s.

But Hornaday is slightly better at the short tracks this season. In the five races, he has a Driver Rating of 114.0, an Average Running Position of 10.1 and 146 Fastest Laps Run.

Benson has a Driver Rating of 109.8, an Average Running Position of 10.5 and 119 Fastest Laps Run.

No driver has registered a top 10 in all five of the short tracks this season, but Mike Skinner has done it in four. Plus, he swept Martinsville last season, scoring a perfect Driver Rating of 150.0 in the spring race. Count on him making a run for Victory Lane. In the four short-track races this season, Skinner has a Driver Rating of 91.0, an Average Running Position of 10.8 and 30 Fastest Laps Run.

Manufacturers’ Battle:

Between the 2004 Kroger 200 and the Kroger 250 in 2006, each of the series’ four manufacturers won at Martinsville Speedway.

Since then, however, the scoring has been decidedly lopsided. Toyota, the current Manufacturers’ Championship leader, won four straight races beginning in the spring of 2006, a streak broken by Dennis Setzer’s Dodge in March.

With a 12-point lead with five races remaining, Toyota would appear to have a significant edge.

The truck maker’s closest rival Chevrolet, despite owning a Martinsville-high six victories, last won with Bobby Labonte in the spring of 2005.

Toyota has won 11 of the season’s 20 races. Each has a pair of victories on short tracks.

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series 2008 Manufacturers’ Championship Standings Following Race 20 of 25 at Talladega Superspeedway:

Toyota 142
Chevrolet 130
Ford 96
Dodge 72

For Title Contenders, The Kroger 200 Means Playing Defense

Neither Ron Hornaday Jr. nor Johnny Benson has a Martinsville Speedway victory on his resume.

But looking at the big picture — the 2008 championship — a solid performance likely will satisfy both.

Fact is, with five races to go and the title contenders separated by 39 points, winning probably isn’t foremost in their minds.

That’s what one previous champion guesses.

“Heading into Martinsville protecting your points position means you want to leave Martinsville with a top-five finish,” said Todd Bodine (No. 30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota), who (along with two other champions; see chart) wasn’t able to do that in 2006. “You have to be protective about your racing.

“Basically, you are there to qualify decent, make laps and stay out of trouble. If someone is pushing the issue to pass you, you’re gonna let them go. You don’t put you or your truck in position to not have a good run.”

Bodine “escaped” the Kroger 200 despite his finish for one simple reason: He entered the race with a 91-point lead. Hornaday doesn’t have that luxury. One slip and the advantage swings back to Benson.

“Overall, I’ve had some success at the track,” said Hornaday, who finished third in 2007 and has seven top-10 finishes in 12 previous Martinsville appearances. “So hopefully we can take care of business this time around.”

Adds his crew chief, Rick Ren, “There is also a chance this will be a one pit stop race so it’s very important to have a ’money stop’ and keep your driver up front.”

Bodine, who would like to join elder brothers Geoffrey and Brett as Martinsville winners, figures all of that is well and good — until you factor in the variables.

“You can have a really good truck, excellent pit stops, be running up front and get a flat tire, have an issue with a lapped truck or a brake failure,” he said. “A million things that you can’t control can go wrong. If you don’t have a good run there, it can kill your points chase.”

Etc. & Quotable:

Final Short Track ‘Go’ … The Kroger 200 is the season’s sixth and final short-track race. Both Hornaday (Memphis) and Benson (O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis) are among the year’s five winners.
Seven Winners In The Field … Joining Setzer and Skinner this week are Rick Crawford (No. 14 Circle Bar/Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford), Jamie McMurray (No. 09 Zaxby’s Ford), Jack Sprague, David Starr (No. 11 Red Horse Racing Toyota) and Jon Wood (No. 21 The Barnhill Group Ford). This is McMurray’s first appearance since his Oct. 23, 2004 Martinsville victory at the wheel of Jim Smith’s Team ASE/Carquest Dodge.
New Rides For Two … Sprague will be back in the truck in which he won the 2006 Kroger 200 following his release Oct. 6 by Kevin Harvick Inc. Terry Cook, Wyler Racing’s previous driver, moves to the No. 59 Team ASE/Harris Trucking Toyota based in Martinsville.
‘Visitors’ Eye Martinsville Win … Kevin Harvick replaces Sprague in the No. 2 R&L Chevrolet. Harvick last appeared at Martinsville with a third-place finish in the 2007 Kroger 250. Kyle Busch (No. 51 Miccosukee/NOS Energy Drink Toyota) looks for his fourth series win of the year. Busch’s fifth-place finish in his 2005 Kroger 200 debut is his track best. Set for his series debut is Sam Hornish Jr. who’ll belt up in the No. 4 Ford out of the BHR-VA stable.
Caisse Tries Again … NASCAR Camping World Series East veteran Sean Caisse (No. 9 Toyota) failed to make his debut at New Hampshire Motor Speedway when inclement weather washed away qualifying. “I’ve always thought Martinsville Speedway was the ideal track for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series,” said Caisse. “It’s a really cool bumping, banging and aggressive track.”
Talent Identified Here

Martinsville Speedway has a way of identifying rookie talent. Raybestos Rookies of the Year Travis Kvapil, Carl Edwards and Todd Kleuver each posted second-place finishes at the .526-mile track — Edwards and Kleuver in the Kroger 200.

This spring’s Kroger 250 saw two Raybestos candidates log top-10 finishes. Donny Lia (No. 81 NationRides Chevrolet) was ninth; Scott Speed (No. 22 Red Bull Toyota) was 10th.

Not so coincidentally, perhaps, each subsequently recorded a NASCAR Craftsman Truck victory. Lia won at Mansfield Motorsports Park on May 24 followed six days later by Speed at Dover International Speedway.

NASCAR Raybestos Rookie of the Year Standings After 20 Races of the 2008 Season:

1. Colin Braun 182
2. Donny Lia 152
3. Brian Scott 145
4. Justin Marks 131
5. Marc Mitchell 108
6. Scott Speed 97
7. Andy Lally 71

Who Is The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ Most Popular Driver?

Have you cast your vote yet? For the first time in series history, voting for the Series’ Most Popular Driver is in the hands of the fans.

Be sure to check out NASCAR.com and vote for your favorite. More than 50,000 votes have been cast since voting began July 5. Voting ends Oct. 31.

Up Next:

Kyle Busch eyes his fourth Atlanta Motor Speedway victory — and third win in a row at the Hampton, Ga., facility — when the series makes its second stop of 2008 at the 1.54-mile track. Current championship leader Ron Hornaday Jr., AMS’ spring 2005 winner, finished second to Busch in March and in last fall’s Atlanta 200.

Fast Facts

The Race: Kroger 200
The Place: Martinsville Speedway
The Date: Oct. 18, 2008
The Time: 3 p.m. ET
Race Distance: 105.2 miles / 200 laps
TV: SPEED, 2:30 p.m. ET
Track Layout: .526-Mile oval
2007 Winner: Todd Bodine
2007 Pole: Todd Bodine
2008 Standings:
Rk Driver Points
1 R. Hornaday Jr. 3,027
2 J. Benson 2,988
3 M. Crafton 2,809
4 T. Bodine 2,791
5 E. Darnell 2,771
6 M. Skinner 2,769
7 R. Crawford 2,691
8 J. Sprague 2,538
9 D. Setzer 2,524
10 T. Cook 2,460

Schedule: Friday: Practice, 11-11:50 a.m. and 1:45-3:30 p.m. Saturday: Qualifying, 10:10 a.m.

MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY 2008
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES
EVENT SCHEDULE
REVISED AS OF 3:30 PM, OCTOBER 17, 2008

Friday, October, 17th

NSCS QUALIFYING (TWO LAPS – ALL POSITONS)-CANCELLED
LINE-UP SET PER THE RULE BOOK

3:00 PM NSCS GARAGE & REGISTRATION CLOSES

4:00 PM NCTS REGISTRATION CLOSES
4:00 PM NCTS GARAGE CLOSES

Saturday, October, 18th
6:30 AM ***HOT PASS IN EFFECT***(ENTIRE INFIELD AREA)
6:30 AM TRACK SERVICES MEETING
7:00 AM NCTS GARAGE & REGISTRATION OPENS
8:00 AM 8:50 AM NCTS FINAL PRACTICE
9:30 AM NSCS GARAGE & REGISTRATION OPENS
10:10 AM NCTS QUALIFYING (TWO LAPS, ALL POSITIONS)
11:30 AM 12:15 PM NSCS PRACTICE
12:15 PM 12:45 PM TV EXHIBITION RUN
12:30 PM NCTS DRIVER/CREW CHIEF MEETING (GOODYEAR TENT)
12:50 PM 1:50 PM NSCS FINAL PRACTICE
2:30 PM NCTS DRIVERS INTRODUCTION – SECURITY–CLEAR PIT ROAD
3:00 PM NCTS RACE (200 LAPS, 105.2 MILES)
4:00 PM NSCS GARAGE & REGISTRATION CLOSES
4:00 PM NCTS REGISTRATION CLOSES

Sunday, October, 19TH
7:30 AM NSCS GARAGE & REGISTRATION OPENS
10:30 AM TRACK SERVICES MEETING
12:00 N NSCS ** HOT PASS IN EFFECT ** ENTIRE INFIELD AREA – UNTIL ONE HOUR AFTER RACE
11:30 AM NSCS DRIVER/CREW CHIEF MEETING (GOODYEAR TENT)
1:00 PM NSCS DRIVERS INTRODUCTION – SECURITY–CLEAR PIT ROAD
1:30 PM NSCS RACE (500 LAPS, 263 MILES)
2:30 PM NSCS REGISTRATION CLOSES
ALL TIMES ARE LISTED IN EASTERN

10/17/08 NSCS MAR 08-02 TENTATIVE, SUBJECT TO CHANGE

Also this weekend, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will race Saturday at Martinsville. The NASCAR Nationwide Series has its final off-week of the season.

Storylines for this weekend follow, starting with a look at “in the garage” local angles for the Martinsville Speedway weekend, a group highlighted by two Chase competitors from Virginia – Jeff Burton and Denny Hamlin.

In The Garage

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Jeff Burton (South Boston) – No. 31 driver
Denny Hamlin (Chesterfield) – No. 11 driver
Elliott Sadler (Emporia) – No. 19 driver
Robert “Bootie” Barker (Brookneal) – No. 66 crew chief
David Bryant (Farmville) – No. 88 car chief
Todd Brewer (Manassas) – No. 96 car chief
Jeff Curtis (Fairfax) – No. 31 engineer
Darian Grubb (Floyd) – No. 88 engineer
Tom Stewart (Hampton) – No. 88 engineer
Brandon Evans (South Hill) – No. 48 engineer
Rick MacGowan (Reston) – No. 96 engineer
Kevin Kidd (Tazewell) – No. 19 engineer
Tommy Wallace (Richmond) – No. 07 mechanic
Jim Jenkins (Hampton) – No. 88 mechanic
Alan Howard (Covington) – No. 84 shock specialist
Todd Bosserman (Waynesboro) – No. 48 shock specialist
Tracey Ramsey (Fredericksburg) – No. 31 tire specialist
Charles Moles (Floyd) – No. 07 tire specialist
Franky Nester (Ridgeway) – No. 31 transporter driver
Barry Sheppard (Stuart) – No. 07 transporter driver
Kirk George (Ararat) – No. 24 transporter driver
Jay Hackney (Haysi) – No. 2 front tire changer
Curt Bowman (Meadows of Dan) – No. 31 gas man
Caleb Hurd (Pulaski) – No. 24 gas man
Rodney Rhodes (Hickory) – No. 10 gas man
Andy Pope (Midlothian) – No. 21 gas man
Ed Watkins (Richmond) – No. 19 jack man
Ben Surface (Pulaski) – No. 96 rear tire carrier
Mark Robertson (Richmond) – No. 20 spotter
Ryan Quann (Richmond) – No. 42 pit support

NASCAR Truck Series
Jim Harris (Lynchburg) – No. 59 owner

Jeff Hensley (Ridgeway) – No. 16 crew chief
Trip Bruce (Chester) – No. 23 crew chief
Hal Ralston (Staunton) – No. 6 engineer
Chuck Day (Alexandria) – No. 33 engine tuner
Curtis Key (Chesapeake) – No. 40 general manager
Dan Mrak (Woodbridge) – No. 11 catch can man
Curtis Martin (Rocky Mount) – No. 23 rear tire changer
Scott Blackburn (Mechanicsville) – No. 16 rear tire changer
Mary Quay (Halifax) – No. 22 scorer
Kevin Riddle (Martinsville) – No. 5 pit support

Halfway: Chase Reaches Its Mid-Point
Five races are complete in the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. The plot thickens – in a variety of directions. Check it out:

• Coming into Sunday’s event, the top three drivers – Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Burton and Greg Biffle – are separated by only 86 points.

• Jimmie Johnson has the points lead coming into a track where he has seriously excelled. Johnson has won four times at Martinsville since 2004. His chances of winning a third consecutive series championship look more realistic all the time. Only one driver has ever pulled off that trifecta – Cal Yarborough from 1976-78.

• Jeff Burton is in the sport’s top echelon – for the second time. The South Boston, Va. native was one of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ premier drivers from 1997-2000, posting 15 wins during that four-season span, driving for car owner Jack Roush. After a several-season slump, Burton has returned to prominence the last few years with owner Richard Childress, who he joined in 2004.

• Two weeks ago, the Chase made an always-precarious stop at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ biggest track, 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway. This week, the Chase comes to the series’ smallest track, .526-mile Martinsville Speedway. Those two disparate layouts have one undeniable common denominator – unpredictability, due to close-quarters racing. A bump here, a spin there … and the standings could easily be altered drastically, this Sunday.

• When the Chase’s top seed, Kyle Busch, fell far behind after the first two Chase races, Carl Edwards looked like the smart pick to win the title. With five races to go, however, Edwards’ title chances are on the ropes. He crashed at Talladega and had engines problems this past week at Lowe’s Motor Speedway – resulting in finishes of 29th and 33rd. He comes into Martinsville fourth in points, 168 points behind Johnson. Edwards has one top 10 in eight races at Martinsville, and a Driver Rating of 72.4 over his last seven races there.

The Ratings Game: Hendrick Duo Top Martinsville Driver Rating
Clearly, Hendrick Motorsports has figured out Martinsville Speedway. Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson rank one-two in Driver Rating over the last seven races at Martinsville, one of the trickiest tracks in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Over that span, Gordon has an average finish of 2.3, while Johnson has a 3.0. Below are the top 10 drivers in pre-race Driver Rating at Martinsville. (x-denotes non-Chase driver)

Jeff Gordon 124.5
Jimmie Johnson 121.2
Tony Stewart 116.3
Dale Earnhardt Jr. 100.7
Denny Hamlin 100.6
Kyle Busch 93.3
x-Jamie McMurray 87.9
Kevin Harvick 87.4
x-Ryan Newman 85.8
Jeff Burton 85.3

NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES

Testing….1,2,3
This final open week of the season begins with the final “new car” test of the season, scheduled for Monday and Tuesday at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Seven teams are expected for the session. It’s the first test at an intermediate track for the car following the inaugural test at Richmond International Raceway in early September. Seven teams are expected to participate including Joe Gibbs Racing which did not test at Richmond last month. Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Roush Fenway Racing (two teams), Richard Childress Racing, JD Motorsports and Michael Waltrip Racing tested at Richmond and are back at LMS.

Championship Battle: Bowyer Maintaining Series Lead
Clint Boywer’s lead in the series points over Carl Edwards remains at 196 points. Third-place Brad Keselowski is still in the hunt, 286 points behind. in third.

Championship Battle, Part 2: RCR Entry Takes the Lead
Clint Bowyer’s second-place finish this past week at Lowe’s Motor Speedway also helped his car owner, Richard Childress, take the lead in the car owner championship standings. The No. 2 entry driven by Bowyer has a one-point lead over the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota that has had a variety of drivers this year. Joey Logano drove the No. 20 at LMS, finishing 14th.

Record Chasing: Kyle Busch Eyes Ard
Kyle Busch’s win at Lowe’s Motor Speedway last Friday night was his ninth victory of the year in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. The series record is 10 set in 1983 by two-time series champion Sam Ard.
Busch is not expected to compete in the next event, at Memphis Motorsports Park on Oct. 25, but is planning on running in the following three events to close the season at Texas Motor Speedway, Phoenix International Raceway and Homestead-Miami Speedway. He won the fall race at Phoenix last year and also won at Texas and Phoenix earlier this year.

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES

Championship Battle Picks Back Up
Ron Hornaday Jr. reassumed the championship lead with a second-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway. Johnny Benson, who entered the season’s 20th race with a single-point advantage, is 39 points out after finishing 11th. The lead changed hands for the seventh time in 2008.

Hornaday’s lead is fourth-closest in series history following the season’s 20th race. Point leaders after 20 races have won the championship in three of the past four seasons and nine times in the series’ 13 previous years. The last 20-race leader failing to become champion was Dennis Setzer in 2005.

Trucks Back In Action
The series returns to action at Martinsville Speedway for the Kroger 200 on Oct. 18. This will be the season’s sixth and final short track race. The event begins a three weekend stretch on tracks visited earlier this year: Martinsville, Atlanta Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway.

Setzer Looks for Four Pack
Dennis Setzer won Martinsville Speedway’s March 31 race, matching Mike Skinner’s record of three victories at the .526-mile track. Setzer attempts to become the series’ third different driver to win four races at a single track. (Brendan Gaughan and Todd Bodine, Texas Motor Speedway).

Contenders Looking for First Martinsville Win
Hornaday and Benson are among five short track winners in 2008. While neither Hornaday nor Benson has a victory at Martinsville despite a combined 22 starts, the two have victories at the tracks on the remainder of the schedule. Hornaday has wins at Atlanta, Texas, Phoenix and Homestead-Miami; Benson at Phoenix and Homestead-Miami.

New Faces Visit The Series
Several new names will be behind the wheel of some trucks this weekend: Hermie Sadler (No. 48 Chevrolet), Jamie McMurry (No. 09 Zaxby’s Ford), Kevin Harvick (No. 2 American Commercial Lines Chevrolet), Sam Hornish, Jr. (No. 4 Bobby Hamilton Racing Dodge).

Then, there are some series veterans set to strap into new rides. Terry Cook will pilot the No. 59 Team ASE/Harris Trucking Toyota for the remainder of the season while Jack Sprague will be in the No. 60 Wyler Racing Toyota.

Martinsville Truck Race Started Big And Grew From There

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Oct. 13, 2008) – Martinsville Speedway’s Clay Campbell wasn’t among the doubters when the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was created.

The track was among its charter hosts in 1995 and added a second event to the schedule in 2003.

Saturday’s Kroger 200 marks the 20th time series drivers have competed at the south Virginia track — second only to Texas Motor Speedway’s 21 races.

“We knew the series would be good and it would be big,” said Campbell. “We just didn’t have any idea how big and how good it would be.”

Martinsville’s race was one of 17 short track races on the inaugural schedule. Just six remain; two on the flat, .526-mile oval.

To say that action is constant is an understatement.

“Our two truck races have grown into huge fan favorites,” said Campbell. “Fans know when they come to Martinsville Speedway for a truck race, they are in for a special show.

“Some of the best races we’ve ever had can be found in those (19) truck races that have been here.”

Mike Skinner (No. 5 Toyota Tundra Toyota) nearly won Martinsville’s inaugural race. He’s one of seven drivers competing this week who participated in the 1995 event.

Three of them — Skinner, Dennis Setzer (No. 18 Dodge Dealers Dodge) and Jack Sprague (No. 60 Wyler.com Toyota) — are among 15 Martinsville Speedway winners.

Skinner’s eldest son, Jamie, made his NASCAR Craftsman Truck debut in 1997. The driver’s second son, Dustin, hopes to do likewise on Saturday.

“It’ll be a real special weekend for me because it’ll be the first time I’ve got to race against one of my sons in a NASCAR race, or any race for that matter,” said Skinner.

Fathers and sons have competed in 16 races—the last in 2007 when Bobby and Bobby Hamilton Jr. participated at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Setzer Says: Drive With Care And Follow Directions

It can be said that Martinsville Speedway is Dennis Setzer’s personal playground.

Setzer added a third Martinsville victory to his resume when he captured March’s Kroger 250. The North Carolina native has seven top-five and 10 top-10 finishes and has led 458 laps in his 17 Martinsville appearances.

He’s failed to finish just once — his first race in 1995.

Setzer is one of two drivers in this week’s field bidding for a record-matching fourth victory at a single track. Mike Skinner swept both Martinsville races in 2007, adding to a 1996 victory.

“I think it takes two things to have success at Martinsville; the first being track position and second taking care of your equipment,” said the 48-year-old Setzer. “It is easy to get aggressive during practice and use up your brakes and tires.”

Ultimately, Setzer thinks the make-or-break factor is the crew chief. Saturday’s Kroger 200 likely is a one-stop affair and pit timing is crucial.

“Track position is so important. I think the crew chief is more important than the driver now,” he said. “He has to make the call when to come down pit road and when to stay out.”

Director’s Take: Wayne’s Words

“Like many of my generation, I grew up attending NASCAR races at Martinsville Speedway. Everyone has a favorite track for many reasons but Martinsville always has stood out with me — particularly because the fans are so enthusiastic.

“Racing at Martinsville is pretty basic: Get your track position and protect it but at the same time, keep the nose on the truck. Sometimes that’s a pretty tall order, especially as competitive as the racing has become in 2008.

“It’s an old story but one that bears repeating visit after visit to Martinsville. No matter how much the technology advances and how big your brakes become, it doesn’t mean a driver can abuse those brakes.

“You never can have enough pedal, especially in the closing laps.

“Pit strategy has become extremely important with the increased durability of the Goodyear Wrangler tire. Speeds just don’t fall off like they once did and track position usually trumps fresh rubber even with more than half a race to go.

“That puts a tremendous burden on the crew chief to chart a strategy that will get his driver in and out with both track position and enough Sunoco fuel to carry the truck to the finish.

“That doesn’t mean everything’s out of the driver’s hands — especially on pit road. The best strategy can be foiled by a speeding ticket or bad luck. The pits are tight and the potential for being boxed in or a collision is always there.”
— Wayne Auton, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Director

This Week’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Leaders
(Through 20 races of the 25-race season)
Points leader – Ron Hornaday, Jr. (3,027)
Driver Rating – Ron Hornaday Jr. (115.2)
Laps led – Ron Hornaday Jr. (980)
Victories – Ron Hornaday, Jr. (5)
Keystone Light Poles – Three drivers with three
Top-five finishes – Johnny Benson, Ron Hornaday, Jr. (12)
Top-10 finishes – Mike Skinner (16)
Raybestos Rookie Leader – Colin Braun
Races led – Ron Hornaday Jr. (16)
Weeks in Top 10 – Three drivers with 20

Martinsville Speedway is one of four tracks to host a race in each of the series’ 14 seasons. It’s also one of three to appear twice on the 2008 schedule. The .526-mile layout is one of five tracks of less than a mile in length currently scheduled.

In The Loop:

The statistics say this will be the perfect matchup this weekend: Ron Hornaday Jr. (No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet) vs. Johnny Benson (No. 23 Toyota Tundra Toyota); head-to-head, for the coveted top spot as the season quickly winds down.

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series has raced at five short tracks this season, with the sixth and final bout on tap for this weekend.

Two drivers are the class of the short-track field: Hornaday and Benson. The two lap the field in short-track stats this season – much like they have everywhere else in this bitterly-fought championship campaign.

At those tracks under a mile, Hornaday and Benson’s stats mirror each other. Each has one win, two top fives and three top 10s.

But Hornaday is slightly better at the short tracks this season. In the five races, he has a Driver Rating of 114.0, an Average Running Position of 10.1 and 146 Fastest Laps Run.

Benson has a Driver Rating of 109.8, an Average Running Position of 10.5 and 119 Fastest Laps Run.

No driver has registered a top 10 in all five of the short tracks this season, but Mike Skinner has done it in four. Plus, he swept Martinsville last season, scoring a perfect Driver Rating of 150.0 in the spring race. Count on him making a run for Victory Lane. In the four short-track races this season, Skinner has a Driver Rating of 91.0, an Average Running Position of 10.8 and 30 Fastest Laps Run.

Manufacturers’ Battle:

Between the 2004 Kroger 200 and the Kroger 250 in 2006, each of the series’ four manufacturers won at Martinsville Speedway.

Since then, however, the scoring has been decidedly lopsided. Toyota, the current Manufacturers’ Championship leader, won four straight races beginning in the spring of 2006, a streak broken by Dennis Setzer’s Dodge in March.

With a 12-point lead with five races remaining, Toyota would appear to have a significant edge.

The truck maker’s closest rival Chevrolet, despite owning a Martinsville-high six victories, last won with Bobby Labonte in the spring of 2005.

Toyota has won 11 of the season’s 20 races. Each has a pair of victories on short tracks.

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series 2008 Manufacturers’ Championship Standings Following Race 20 of 25 at Talladega Superspeedway:

Toyota 142
Chevrolet 130
Ford 96
Dodge 72

For Title Contenders, The Kroger 200 Means Playing Defense

Neither Ron Hornaday Jr. nor Johnny Benson has a Martinsville Speedway victory on his resume.

But looking at the big picture — the 2008 championship — a solid performance likely will satisfy both.

Fact is, with five races to go and the title contenders separated by 39 points, winning probably isn’t foremost in their minds.

That’s what one previous champion guesses.

“Heading into Martinsville protecting your points position means you want to leave Martinsville with a top-five finish,” said Todd Bodine (No. 30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota), who (along with two other champions; see chart) wasn’t able to do that in 2006. “You have to be protective about your racing.

“Basically, you are there to qualify decent, make laps and stay out of trouble. If someone is pushing the issue to pass you, you’re gonna let them go. You don’t put you or your truck in position to not have a good run.”

Bodine “escaped” the Kroger 200 despite his finish for one simple reason: He entered the race with a 91-point lead. Hornaday doesn’t have that luxury. One slip and the advantage swings back to Benson.

“Overall, I’ve had some success at the track,” said Hornaday, who finished third in 2007 and has seven top-10 finishes in 12 previous Martinsville appearances. “So hopefully we can take care of business this time around.”

Adds his crew chief, Rick Ren, “There is also a chance this will be a one pit stop race so it’s very important to have a ’money stop’ and keep your driver up front.”

Bodine, who would like to join elder brothers Geoffrey and Brett as Martinsville winners, figures all of that is well and good — until you factor in the variables.

“You can have a really good truck, excellent pit stops, be running up front and get a flat tire, have an issue with a lapped truck or a brake failure,” he said. “A million things that you can’t control can go wrong. If you don’t have a good run there, it can kill your points chase.”

Etc. & Quotable:

Final Short Track ‘Go’ … The Kroger 200 is the season’s sixth and final short-track race. Both Hornaday (Memphis) and Benson (O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis) are among the year’s five winners.
Seven Winners In The Field … Joining Setzer and Skinner this week are Rick Crawford (No. 14 Circle Bar/Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford), Jamie McMurray (No. 09 Zaxby’s Ford), Jack Sprague, David Starr (No. 11 Red Horse Racing Toyota) and Jon Wood (No. 21 The Barnhill Group Ford). This is McMurray’s first appearance since his Oct. 23, 2004 Martinsville victory at the wheel of Jim Smith’s Team ASE/Carquest Dodge.
New Rides For Two … Sprague will be back in the truck in which he won the 2006 Kroger 200 following his release Oct. 6 by Kevin Harvick Inc. Terry Cook, Wyler Racing’s previous driver, moves to the No. 59 Team ASE/Harris Trucking Toyota based in Martinsville.
‘Visitors’ Eye Martinsville Win … Kevin Harvick replaces Sprague in the No. 2 R&L Chevrolet. Harvick last appeared at Martinsville with a third-place finish in the 2007 Kroger 250. Kyle Busch (No. 51 Miccosukee/NOS Energy Drink Toyota) looks for his fourth series win of the year. Busch’s fifth-place finish in his 2005 Kroger 200 debut is his track best. Set for his series debut is Sam Hornish Jr. who’ll belt up in the No. 4 Ford out of the BHR-VA stable.
Caisse Tries Again … NASCAR Camping World Series East veteran Sean Caisse (No. 9 Toyota) failed to make his debut at New Hampshire Motor Speedway when inclement weather washed away qualifying. “I’ve always thought Martinsville Speedway was the ideal track for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series,” said Caisse. “It’s a really cool bumping, banging and aggressive track.”
Talent Identified Here

Martinsville Speedway has a way of identifying rookie talent. Raybestos Rookies of the Year Travis Kvapil, Carl Edwards and Todd Kleuver each posted second-place finishes at the .526-mile track — Edwards and Kleuver in the Kroger 200.

This spring’s Kroger 250 saw two Raybestos candidates log top-10 finishes. Donny Lia (No. 81 NationRides Chevrolet) was ninth; Scott Speed (No. 22 Red Bull Toyota) was 10th.

Not so coincidentally, perhaps, each subsequently recorded a NASCAR Craftsman Truck victory. Lia won at Mansfield Motorsports Park on May 24 followed six days later by Speed at Dover International Speedway.

NASCAR Raybestos Rookie of the Year Standings After 20 Races of the 2008 Season:

1. Colin Braun 182
2. Donny Lia 152
3. Brian Scott 145
4. Justin Marks 131
5. Marc Mitchell 108
6. Scott Speed 97
7. Andy Lally 71

Who Is The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ Most Popular Driver?

Have you cast your vote yet? For the first time in series history, voting for the Series’ Most Popular Driver is in the hands of the fans.

Be sure to check out NASCAR.com and vote for your favorite. More than 50,000 votes have been cast since voting began July 5. Voting ends Oct. 31.

Up Next:

Kyle Busch eyes his fourth Atlanta Motor Speedway victory — and third win in a row at the Hampton, Ga., facility — when the series makes its second stop of 2008 at the 1.54-mile track. Current championship leader Ron Hornaday Jr., AMS’ spring 2005 winner, finished second to Busch in March and in last fall’s Atlanta 200.

Fast Facts

The Race: Kroger 200
The Place: Martinsville Speedway
The Date: Oct. 18, 2008
The Time: 3 p.m. ET
Race Distance: 105.2 miles / 200 laps
TV: SPEED, 2:30 p.m. ET
Track Layout: .526-Mile oval
2007 Winner: Todd Bodine
2007 Pole: Todd Bodine
2008 Standings:
Rk Driver Points
1 R. Hornaday Jr. 3,027
2 J. Benson 2,988
3 M. Crafton 2,809
4 T. Bodine 2,791
5 E. Darnell 2,771
6 M. Skinner 2,769
7 R. Crawford 2,691
8 J. Sprague 2,538
9 D. Setzer 2,524
10 T. Cook 2,460

Schedule: Friday: Practice, 11-11:50 a.m. and 1:45-3:30 p.m. Saturday: Qualifying, 10:10 a.m.

Season Hits Stretch Run
When Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 is complete, the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup will have reached its halfway point. Time grows short, with only six races remaining in the season.

What to watch for in terms of the Chase, on Saturday night:

• Two-time defending series champion Johnson retained the points lead despite an up-and-down Talladega afternoon that culminated in a ninth-place finish. Johnson has five career victories at LMS and a series-high Driver Rating of 116.5 there. He is trying to become only the second driver to win three consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup titles. Cale Yarborough (1976-78) holds that record.

• The top four drivers in the standings this week are separated by only 99 points. First place Jimmie Johnson leads Carl Edwards by 72, Greg Biffle by 77 and Jeff Burton by 99.

• Roush Fenway Racing had a tough go of it at Talladega, with its three championship contenders – Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth –getting caught up in a lap 175 accident. All is not lost, as all three are solid at LMS. Kenseth has a win there, Biffle finished second in May and Edwards has an average finish of 7.6.

• Jeff Gordon is the defending champion of the Bank of America 500 but get this: That event, in October 2007, was the last time he visited Victory Lane – 35 races ago. Gordon finished a disappointing 38th this past Sunday Talladega, and comes in this week eighth in points.

• Tony Stewart’s win at Talladega jumped him four spots in the point standings and gave him some new life in the championship race. The two-time champion sounded optimistic in his post-race comments from Talladega, saying “We’re not even halfway through the Chase yet. Anything can happen.” Stewart looked like the Coca-Cola 600 winner in May, but a tire problem on Lap 397 crushed any hopes of victory.

Kasey Kahne Involved In A Personal Chase – Of History
Kasey Kahne isn’t part of the 12-driver Chase field, but that won’t prevent him from being one of the favorites Saturday night. No driver has ever swept all three Lowe’s Motor Speedway events in a single season. Kahne has a chance to do so; in May, he won the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race and the Coca-Cola 600 on successive weekends.

New Faces Attempt to Make NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Debut
Brad Keselowski and Scott Speed will attempt to make their NSCS debut this weekend for Hendrick Motorsports and Red Bull Racing, respectively.

Keselowski is a two-time winner on the NASCAR Nationwide Series this season and Speed has won once on the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series this year, is the ARCA/REMAX points leader and is a former Formula 1 driver.

NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES

500 For Finch
Nineteen years ago this week, at this race in Charlotte, James Finch watched driver Jeff Purvis start the first NASCAR Nationwide Series race for his Finch Racing team. Purvis finished 40th due to a blown engine, but Finch’s series foundation was set.

It’s fitting that Finch, one of the longest-tenured owners in the series, will have veteran Mike Bliss in his No. 1 Chevrolet Friday night in Charlotte. Finch has accumulated 11 wins and eight poles in his series career and Bliss could be a dark horse contender to bring the colorful owner a victory on his big night. Bliss’ lone win in the series to date came in this race in 2004.

Keselowski Comes Full Circle
Last May at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Brad Keselowski practically grew up in front of everyone’s eyes. The 24-year-old had finished third, his career best. He was also involved in a late-race scrape with Denny Hamlin that led to a post-race confrontation by each driver’s team on pit road. Keselowski, however, kept his composure and gained plenty of respect in the process.

Since that night, Keselowski’s career has blossomed. He’s won two races, his first pole and stood as high as second in the standings (he’s currently third). Saturday at LMS, he’s set to make his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut for Rick Hendrick. He’ll drive the No. 25 Chevrolet and will need to qualify on time in order to make his first start.

Friday Night, Under The Lights, At Home In Charlotte
After an open week, standings leader Clint Bowyer brings a 196-point lead over his main competitor, reigning champion Carl Edwards, to the always-anticipated Friday night “home” race in Charlotte.

There are five races left for Edwards to reel Bowyer in. Edwards has won at Lowe’s Motor Speedway before and is coming off four consecutive top-five finishes this season. But since his win in 2006, Edwards hasn’t finished better than 13th in his last four races at LMS.

Final New Car Test At LMS
The final open week of the season starts with on-track activity next Monday and Tuesday with the final scheduled test of the year for the series’ new car. It made a successful debut for each of the four manufacturers last month at Richmond. The garage opens at 7 a.m. each day with practices from 9 a.m. – noon and 1 – 5 p.m. The garage closes at 5:30 p.m. each day. This test also is the last for each of the three national series in 2008.

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES

Hornaday Back on Top
Ron Hornaday Jr. reassumed the championship lead on Saturday, finishing a second at Talladega Superspeedway. Johnny Benson, who entered the season’s 20th race with a one-point advantage, is 39 points out after finishing 11th. The lead changed hands for the seventh time in 2008.

Defending Champ in Prime Position
Hornaday’s lead is fourth-closest in series history following the season’s 20th race. Point leaders after 20 races have won the championship in three of the past four seasons and nine times in the series’ 13 previous years. The last 20-race leader failing to become champion was Dennis Setzer in 2005.

First an Off Week, Then Familiar Territory
Teams take their final one-week break of the season before heading for Martinsville Speedway on Oct. 18. The Kroger 200 is the season’s sixth and final short track race. The event begins a three weekend stretch on tracks visited earlier this year: Martinsville, Atlanta Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway.

Championship Contenders Yet to Visit Martinsville Victory Lane
Hornaday is the last champion to win a short track race in his title season (O’Reilly Raceway Park in 2007). Hornaday and Benson are among five short track winners in 2008. Neither Hornaday nor Benson has a victory at Martinsville despite a combined 22 starts.

Setzer Looking for Fourth Martinsville Win
Dennis Setzer won Martinsville Speedway’s March 31 Kroger 250 matching Mike Skinner’s record of three victories at the .526-mile track. Setzer attempts to become the series’ third different driver to win four races at a single track. (Brendan Gaughan and Todd Bodine, Texas Motor Speedway).

In The Garage: North Carolina Natives In NASCAR

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

Raymond Fox (Concard) – No. 43 car chief
Mike Bumgarner (Huntersville) – No. 5 car chief
Steve Lane (Winston-Salem) – No. 40 crew chief
Tony Eury Jr. (Kannapolis) – No. 88 crew chief
Todd Berrrier (Kernersville) – No. 29 crew chief
Rodney Childers (Mooresville) – No. 19 crew chief
David Hyder (Trinity) – No. 21 crew chief
Luke Lambert (Mt. Airy) – No. 31 engineer
Jeremy Bullins (Walnut Cove) – No. 07 engineer
Andy Street (Kernersville) – No. 29 engineer
Craig Griffitts (Thomasville) – No. 22 engine tuner
Cameron Brown (East Bend) – No. 07 engine tuner
Alan Morgan (Aberdeen) – No. 16 engine turner
Billy Davis (Charlotte) – No. 88 engine tuner
Claude Queen (Robbinsville) – No. 10 engine tuner
Kevin Grubb (High Point) – No. 96 engine tuner
Billy Hinkle (Thomasville) – No. 07 mechanic
Wes Motsinger (Winston-Salem) – No. 07 mechanic
Johnny Owens (Kannapolis) – No. 07 mechanic
Jeremy Price (East Bend) – No. 07 mechanic
Mike Scearce (Lexington) – No. 07 mechanic
Tyler Stutz (Walnut Cove) – No. 07 mechanic
Jason Hunt (Greensboro) – No. 5 mechanic
Shannon McGlamery (Winston-Salem) – No. 24 mechanic/spotter
Clint Pittman (Lexington) – No. 29 mechanic
David Cropps (Mt. Airy) – No. 10 mechanic
Ben Cook (Denton) – No. 84 pit crew coach
Mark Mauldin (Spencer) – No. 5 pit crew coach
Tony Tolley (Dobson) – No. 96 pit crew coach
Hartwell Pritchett (Durham) – No. 10 shock specialist
Chris Rivers (Concord) – No. 84 tire specialist
Jim Pollard (Greensboro) – No. 42 transporter driver
Rocky Boggs (Burlington) – No. 42 transporter driver
Randy Davis (Shelby) – No. 9 transporter driver
Jeff Craven (High Point) – No. 29 transporter driver
Rick Ogborn (Lenior) – No. 44 transporter driver
Don Angel (Maiden) – No. 21 transporter driver
Greg Gunnell (Mt. Airy) – No. 31 engine builder
Heath Silver (Ashville) – No. 42 catch can man
Eric Hoyle (Ashville) – No. 41 catch can man
Britt Goodrich (Gastonia) – No. 12 catch can
Jason Dalrymple (Concord) – 88 catch can man
Jamie Frady (Hendersonville) – No. 24 catch can
Michael Warren (Mt. Airy) – N o. 77 front tire carrier
Jonathan Wallace (Elizabeth City) – No. 31 front tire carrier
Dail Long (Thomasville) – No. 07 front tire carrier
Austin Craven (Wallburg) – No. 43 front tire carrier
A.J. Heister (Asheboro) – No. 45 front tire carrier
Scott Reiniger (Salisbury) – No. 12 front tire carrier
Colin Pasi (Concord) – No. 16 front tire carrier
Mike Houston (Concord) – No. 24 front tire carrier
Alex Smith (Cary) – No. 96 front tire carrier
Dustin Coonfield (Statesville) – No. 77 front tire changer
Ben Brown (Charlotte) – No. 12 front tire changer
Jason Pulver (Lexington) – No. 29 front tire changer
Nick Hensley (Asheville) – No. 77 gas man
Randy Hildreth (Charlotte) – No. 41 gas man
Matt Sauer (Concord) – No. 45 gas man
George Whitney (Chocowinity) – No. 12 gas man
Ike Snead (Bakersfield) – No. 77 jack man
David Cox (Statesville) – No. 41 jack man
Eric Wilson (Taylorsville) – No. 9 jack man
Carey Wimbish (Hickory) – No. 07 jack man
Michael Klein (Monroe) – No. 16 jack man
Jason Hunt (Greensboro) – No. 5 jack man
Jeff Cook (Charlotte) – No. 24 jack man
Trey Burklin (Charlotte) – No. 84 jack man
Chip Goode (Statesville) – No. 42 rear tire carrier
Jason Fowler (Winston-Salem) – No. 31 rear tire carrier
Dustin Stanley (Lewisville) – No. 07 rear tire carrier
Trent Cherry (Charlotte) – No. 12 rear tire carrier
Jeff Knight (Matthews) – No. 24 rear tire carrier
Jody Fortson (China Grove) – No. 20 rear tire carrier
Aaron Smith (Denton) – No. 31 rear tire changer
Jim Carbon (Catawba) – No. 9 rear tire changer
Jake Lind (Welcome) – No. 07 rear tire changer
Ben Bowdon (Julian) – No. 43 rear tire changer
John Oehler (Mooresville) – No. 9 windshield/driver support
Yolanda Grubb (Asheboro) – No. 24 scorer
Marcia Bradshaw (Charlotte) – No. 48 scorer
Leslie Britton (Charlotte) – No. 29 scorer
Cam Hall (Salisbury) – No. 19 scorer
Joel Edmonds (Dobson) – No. 16 spotter
Eddie Masencup (Winston-Salem) – No. 5 spotter
Keith Barnwell (Hudson) – No. 10 spotter
Mike Chance (Hope Mills) – No. 4 pit support
Tim Hussey (Ramseur) – No. 22 pit support
Gary Stoots (Thomasville) – No. 31 pit support
Wayne Harron (Lexington) – No. 07 pit support
Jim Williams (Edenton) – No. 88 pit support
John Hudgins (Statesville) – No. 19 pit support
Coy Hedrick (Lexington) – No. 07 second gas man
Rick Tulbert (Lexington) – No. 29 second gas man

NASCAR Nationwide Series

Cam Strader (Wilson) – No. 5 car chief
Gary Showalter (Huntersville) – No. 31 car chief
Shane Huffman (Hickory) – No. 66 car chief
Jake Lind (Welcom) – No. 2 chassis specialist
Tony Eury Sr. (Kannapolis) – No. 88 crew chief
Bob Schacht (Mooresville) – No. 75 crew chief
Tommy Morgan (Mooresville) – No. 31 crew chief
Ronald Jones (Roanoke Rapids) – No. 29 engine tuner
Scott Larson (Denver) – No. 31 engine tuner
Edgar Aleman (Troutman) – No. 27 engine turner
Danny Earnhardt Jr. (Mooresville) – No. 88 mechanic
Tim Taylor (Statesville) – No. 31 mechanic/transporter driver
Cruz Gonzales (Yadkinville) – No. 2 tire specialist
Chris Justice (Greensboro) – No. 24 tire specialist
Thomas Goodman (Mooresville) – No. 32 tire specialist
Brian Carrigan (Taylorsville) – No. 7 tire specialist
Gary Hartley (Goldsboro) – No. 2 transporter driver
Dennis Gammons (Mt. Airy) – No. 29 transporter driver
Mark Konzer (Mooresville) – No. 24 transporter driver
Mike Myers (Salisbury) – No. 33 transporter driver
Nathan McGuire (Mooresville) – No. 24 catch can man
Jeff O’Farrell (Mooresville) – No. 31 catch can man
Jeff Shoaf (Salisbury) – No. 5 front tire carrier
Michael Sandlin (Mooresville) – No. 88 front tire carrier
Shane Stevenson (High Point) – No. 2 front tire carrer
Phillip Norris (Knightdale) – No. 29 front tire changer
Cory Ott (Mooresville) – No. front tire changer
Donald Colwell (Greensboro) – No. 33 front tire changer
Nick Deal (China Grove) – No. 88 gas man
Alvin Chodora (Huntersville) – No. 31 gas man
Chad Koontz (China Grove) – No. 12 jack man
Nick Sutton (Franklin) – No. 11 jack man
Chris Martin (Mt. Airy) – No. 29 rear tire carrier
Steve Bailey (Brevard) – No. 12 rear tire carrier
Brandon Blake (Charlotte) – No. 5 rear tire changer
Ricky Turner (Albemarle) – No. 11 rear tire changer
Richard Boyles (High Point) – No. 88 rear tire changer
Daniel Morgan (Mooresville) – No. 31 rear tire changer
Tyler Green (China Grove) – No. 70 spotter

Bodine Makes It A Sweep At Talladega

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Oct. 6, 2008) – Todd Bodine (No. 30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota) needs a broom. The 2006 series champion surged to the top with a little help from the No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet of Ron Hornaday Jr. to win big at Talladega last Saturday.

With his victory, Bodine, also the defending winner at Talladega, became the first driver to accomplish three straight wins on a superspeedway, thanks to his win in the 2008 season opener at Daytona.

The trio of Roush Fenway Racing Fords dominated at the drop of the green flag.

“We knew the Fords were going to be tough,” Bodine said. “We had a good truck. I knew if we could get ourselves positioned in the right spot at the end of the race, we would have a shot at it.”

Crew chief Mike Hillman Jr. was glad to have the race in the books. “Talladega’s always scary,” Hillman Jr. said. “When its all said and done, we’re sitting back here again. This is three superspeedway wins in a row. It’s great.”

Bodine was quick to acknowledge his team as he celebrated his 14th series win. “There is a lot of hard work that goes in at the race shop to get to us to this point,” he said. “I’m just the end result of a lot of hard work. What I do on the race tracks just complements what goes on at the shop.”

Bodine also might want to consider the number 20 as a lucky number. The driver has won race No. 20 in three of the last four seasons.

Is This The Pair To Beat?

Reigning series champion Ron Hornaday Jr. might have come in second to his friend Todd Bodine Saturday, but that runner-up finish sent the veteran driver to the top of the championship standings.

While Talladega Superspeedway is known for its unpredictability on the track, a shake-up in the standings is almost just as predictable. Hornaday swiped the lead from Johnny Benson (No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Toyota) who went into the weekend with a single-point lead over his rival. Benson now trails Hornaday by 39 points.

Seems Hornaday and crew chief Rick Ren know how to get it done. They also could make history should the team hold off the competition. If the No. 33 is on top after the last race, Hornaday Jr. will be the first back-to-back champion in the series and the first four-time series champion.

In this final stretch, he is heading to tracks where he and his team have had success. While he hasn’t visited Victory Lane at Martinsville, in 12 starts he’s amassed four top-five and seven top-10 finishes.

The veteran driver also has wins at Atlanta, Texas, Phoenix and Homestead-Miami..

A good omen for the team — the leader following the 20th race of the season has gone on to win the championship in three of the last four seasons and nine times overall in the 13-year history of the series.

Last year, Hornaday was the leader after a seventh-place finish put him 14 points over Mike Skinner (No. 5 Toyota Tundra Toyota).

Manufacturers’ Battle

Toyota keeps the lead after the beating and banging at Talladega. Ron Hornaday Jr. fought hard but Chevrolet will have to wait until next year to try and notch a win at one of the “big tracks” on the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule.

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series 2008 Manufacturers’ Championship Standings Following Race 20 of 25 at Talladega Superspeedway:

Toyota 142
Chevrolet 130
Ford 96
Dodge 72

Points Battle Shuffle After Dega

Not only did Ron Hornaday Jr. take away the points lead from Johnny Benson and his No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Toyota team, but the guys behind him played a round of musical points swap.

While Matt Crafton (No. 88 Menards Chevrolet) holds on to his third-place spot 179 points out of second, he has his eye on the drivers behind him.

Todd Bodine’s win helped him leap from seventh to fourth in the standings, shuffling Erik Darnell (No. 99 Northern Tool + Equipment Ford) out of the spot to fifth.

Darnell, who started from the pole, dominated the majority of the race, leading the most laps with 48. However, he ended his day with a 12th-place finish after losing some positions during the final stop on Lap 68.

The jump in standings has Bodine only 18 points behind Crafton, yet just 20 over Darnell.

Mike Skinner brought his No. 5 Toyota Tundra Toyota home among the top 10 but slipped from fourth to fifth. Chances are he and Darnell will swap spots again. A mere two points separate the two.

This Week’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Leaders
(Through 20 races of the 25-race season)
Points leader – Ron Hornaday, Jr. (3,027)
Driver Rating – Ron Hornaday Jr. (115.2)
Laps led – Ron Hornaday Jr. (980)
Victories – Ron Hornaday, Jr. (5)
Keystone Light Poles – Three drivers with three
Top-five finishes – Johnny Benson, Ron Hornaday, Jr. (12)
Top-10 finishes – Mike Sinner (16)
Raybestos Rookie Leader – Colin Braun
Races led – Ron Hornaday Jr. (16)
Weeks in Top 10 – Three drivers with 20

Rookies Hold Their Own

Rookies made a strong showing over the weekend at the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway. Colin Braun kept his No. 6 Con-way Freight Ford up front, even overcoming a blown tire on Lap 84 to finish fourth.

“It definitely was an exciting race for me,” Braun said. “I learned a lot, obviously, racing up front with guys like Todd (Bodine) and Ron (Hornaday, Jr.) and Kyle (Busch). That’s the best of the best right there. It was a lot of fun.”

The 20-year-old, who started the day behind his two Roush Fenway Racing teammates in third, opens a 30-point lead over fellow rookie Donny Lia.

Brian Scott also was among the top of the field. The freshman driver brought his No. 16 Albertson’s Toyota to a seventh- place finish, his best career finish in the series and his third top-10 of the season.

“It was a good day all around,” Scott said. “We weren’t always in the front, but we were always able to get there when we wanted to. You just can’t be upset with a top-10 finish at a place like this.”

NASCAR Raybestos Rookie of the Year Standings After 20 Races of the 2008 Season:

1. Colin Braun 182
2. Donny Lia 152
3. Brian Scott 145
4. Justin Marks 131
5. Marc Mitchell 108
6. Scott Speed 97
7. Andy Lally 71

In The Loop:

Here’s what two wins and six top-five finishes in the last seven races will produce: The points lead and the top spot in every key Loop Data statistical category.

Those accolades all now belong to Ron Hornaday Jr., the defending NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion.

With his second-place finish at Talladega, Hornaday nabbed the series lead from Johnny Benson, and pushed his statistics to the top of the charts.

Hornaday leads the series in Driver Rating (115.2), Average Running Position (7.1), Fastest Laps Run (410) and Laps in the Top 15 (2,869 for a percentage of 86.5%).

Also helping his statistical cause this weekend was Talladega winner Todd Bodine, who is one of three full-time drivers with a Driver Rating over 100.0 (Benson and Hornaday are the others).

Bodine has a season Driver Rating of 102.6, an Average Running Position of 8.1 and 152 Fastest Laps Run. He also has a series-best Pass Differential (passes minus times passed) of 243. Bodine has 683 passes, compared to being passed only 440 times.

With yet another strong run—this time at Talladega—Colin Braun continued his ascent into the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series hierarchy. Braun, who holds the top spot in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings, had a Driver Rating of 115.9 and an Average Running Position of 5.7 at Talladega. The performance improved his season-to-date Driver Rating to 85.1.

Up Next:

The series will return to action at the .526-mile track of Martinsville Speedway for the Kroger 200 on Oct. 18. Dennis Setzer took his No. 18 Dodge to Victory Lane there in March.

Fast Facts

The Race: Kroger 200
The Place: Martinsville Speedway
The Date: Oct. 18, 2008
The Time: 3 p.m. ET
Race Distance: 105.2 miles / 200 laps
TV: SPEED, 2:30 p.m. ET
Track Layout: .526-Mile oval
2007 Winner: Todd Bodine
2007 Pole: Todd Bodine
2008 Standings:
Rk Driver Points
1 R. Hornaday Jr. 3,027
2 J. Benson 2,988
3 M. Crafton 2,809
4 T. Bodine 2,791
5 E. Darnell 2,771
6 M. Skinner 2,769
7 R. Crawford 2,691
8 J. Sprague 2,538
9 D. Setzer 2,524
10 T. Cook 2,460

Schedule: Friday: Practice, 11-11:50 a.m. and 1:45-3:30 p.m. Saturday: Qualifying, 10:10 a.m.

When I was a kid, there was a popular game we often played. It goes by several different names depending on where you live, but in our neck of the woods we called it “Gossip”.

You’ve probably played this game. One person whispers a story into the ear of the person sitting alongside, and that person in turn passes it along to the next ear in line. When the story has traversed the entire room, the last person in line must repeat it out loud to everyone.

Usually, the story is barely recognizable as its former self. Verbal plastic surgery performed during its travels has filled in a few cracks here and there, enhanced some parts, and eradicated others. The skeleton of truth is in there, but you’d need the archeological skills of Indiana Jones to dig it up.

Apparently, some folks over at Michael Waltrip Racing were engaged in their own version of the game recently.

Here’s what happened. Kenny Wallace was preparing to run the #00 car for MWR in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega, so he went over to the shop to be fitted for his seat. According to an article by Wallace, which was posted on SPEEDTV.com, several MWR crew members approached him while he was there and told him a rumor was going around that Rusty Wallace, Kenny’s brother, would be driving for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. next season.

You can’t help but wonder at this point whether Kenny told the car builders that seat was feeling a little hot.

Here’s an edited version of Kenny’s comment: “Everyone wants to know if my brother Rusty Wallace is coming out of retirement to drive for Dale Earnhardt Inc. next season … All I can say is that where there’s smoke, there’s fire. And he is definitely considering stepping back into a racecar. He’s considering this huge move because he watched Brett Favre come out of retirement in the NFL and his good friend Mark Martin is giving it another shot next year at Hendrick …”

This was on a Tuesday night. Imagine what the story began to sound like as it worked its way into the ears and out of the mouths of various media outlets and everyone who reads, watches and listens to them – people like you and me, in other words.

Not to mention the NASCAR garage, where rumors and opinions fly around so fast and furiously you need a crash helmet to ensure the safety of your sanity, and even that isn’t a completely sure thing.

On the Wednesday morning following Kenny’s comment, Rusty Wallace released his own statement, which might be construed as somewhat of a rebuttal: “I love Kenny to death; he’s been trying to get me back in a car ever since I retired after 2005. While any rumors like this are certainly flattering, they’re untrue. I have a long-term commitment to ABC and ESPN and I really love what I’m doing right now,”

Phrases like “I love so-and-so to death” or the perennial favorite “Bless his little heart” are like those lipstick-wearing pigs and pit bulls we’ve been hearing so much about lately. They’re trying to be one thing, but they’re really something else altogether. Often they serve as disclaimers, refuting the words of others without coming right out and saying they were wrong.

Rusty’s rejoinder seemed pretty definite, but when I put my power of perspicacity to work, I have to admit I’m leaning more toward Kenny’s version of the story.

It seems nearly surreal that some folks may be familiar with Rusty only in his current role as a television broadcaster. I do realize, however, that there are some very new fans who may not have those cherished NASCAR memories of classic battles between Wallace and guys like Darrell Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt. So here’s the Rusty Wallace primer.

Rusty had 55 career NASCAR wins. He was the 1989 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion, and in 1998, he was named one of NASCAR’s 50 greatest drivers of all time. He was handsome, brash, mouthy and pure adrenaline-filled fun to watch on the track. He retired after the 2005 season, after winning a race that year and finishing eighth in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings. He went out on top, as a great athlete should, celebrating his departure from the No. 2 Miller Lite car with a final season branded “Rusty’s Last Call”. He was controversial and cool, and NASCAR lost a great personality the day he ran his final race.

Lipstick on a pig, indeed. In the immortal words of Cyndi Lauper, those true colors will always come shining through. Brett Favre came out of retirement and threw six touchdowns in a single game. Michael Jordan came out of retirement and won three additional NBA championships. Lance Armstrong is coming out of retirement, and I don’t know about you, but I can’t picture him in any color jersey other than yellow.

As for Rusty Wallace, who knows? We can’t predict what might happen, but we know for sure that one thing never changes. You can take the boy out of the race car, but you can never, ever take the racer out of the boy.

The Miller Brewing Company and its various products grace the hood of another driver now, but no matter. Whatever Rusty Wallace is serving us next year, bartender, set me up. I’m ready for another round.

Storylines for this weekend follow, starting with a look at “in the garage” local angles for the Talladega weekend.

In The Garage: Alabama Natives In The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

Kane Relogle (Dothan) – No. 24 engineer
Ronny Crooks (Hueytown) – No. 20 shock specialist
Todd Foster (Birmingham) – No. 20 rear tire changer
Jimmy Kitchens (Hueytown) – No. 07 spotter

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series

Rick Crawford (Mobile) – No. 14 driver
JR Norris (Mulga) – No. 15 truck chief
Jeremy Lewis (Mobile) – No. 2 truck chief
Greg Passen (Birmingham) – No. 51 tire specialist
Kelly Stewart (Theodore) – No. 7 transporter driver
Randy Armstrong (Mobile) – No. 2 rear tire changer
Kevin Ray (Eastaboga) – No. 11 spotter

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

Talladega: Unpredictability Personified
When the inherent unpredictability of close-quarters restrictor-plate racing meets the inherent drama of the Chase, anything can happen. That makes Talladega arguably the ultimate “wild-card” race in the 10-race Chase.

On Sunday, no lead will be safe, as first-place Jimmie Johnson continues his drive to win a third consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup championship.

Johnson has one win here (2006), while his closest competitors struggle. Edwards has an average Talladega finish of 24.0 and Biffle has a 25.3.

Johnson Shines Brightest on Biggest Stage
Put Jimmie Johnson right there with Joe Montana, Michael Jordan, Reggie Jackson, Derek Jeter and Tiger Woods. Not only do they all handle big stage pressure, they embrace it – and thrive on it.

Johnson shines in the playoffs – his 12 Chase wins are by far the most of any driver. Add big race crew chief Chad Knaus and the flawless work of his crew, the No. 48 team becomes almost unbeatable when it counts the most.

This season, there may be more pressure than ever before. Johnson no longer is merely chasing history – he is stalking it. Johnson’s victory at Kansas gave him the lead in the points. He is trying to become the second driver in history to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship three consecutive years. Cale Yarborough is the only driver to have achieved that trifecta, via a 1976-78 sweep.

Edwards, Biffle All Out on Final Lap
Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle know the importance of each point. The proof was in the final half lap at Kansas Speedway. Edwards attempted a daring dive to pass Jimmie Johnson for the win on the final lap at Kansas, but momentum forced him back up the track and into the wall. Then seconds later, Biffle darted past Gordon to finish third – and grab an extra five points.

The Earnhardt Factor: It Can’t be Overlooked
Talladega is the track where Dale Earnhardt Jr. has enjoyed his most success in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, with five victories. It’s obviously a good time for this week’s trip to the big track, as Earnhardt comes in eighth in the series points, 190 behind leader Jimmie Johnson.

Are the stars aligned for an Earnhardt victory? His team’s sponsor is also the race sponsor. And rest assured the usual pro-Earnhardt crowd will be in full vocal force at Talladega for the Amp Energy 500, knowing that Earnhardt’s championship chances need a serious boost.

Gordon Quietly In Position, Could Make Some Noise
Four-time series champion Jeff Gordon comes into Talladega sixth in the points, but somehow, he remains winless in 2008. He’s 143 points behind Jimmie Johnson.

Gordon won both of last season’s Talladega races, and leads all active drivers with six Talladega wins, so a late-season charge toward a fifth title could start on Sunday.

Joe Gibbs Racing Have Something to Prove
Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch ranks 11th and 12th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings, respectively, but Talladega may offer a silver lining in an otherwise dismal Chase.

Talladega is one of four tracks at which Stewart has yet to win, but he’s come close. The two-time champion has six runner-up finishes at Talladega. Teammate Busch won the spring Talladega race, and is looking for three consecutive restrictor plate wins (he also won the July Daytona race).

NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES

Bowyer’s Championship Assault On Hold With Open Week
NASCAR Nationwide Series drivers and teams have off this weekend, but pick up again Oct. 10 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. They then enter an extended work week with the second and final scheduled new car test of the year Oct. 13-14.

Clint Bowyer’s runner-up finish at his home track at Kansas cushioned his championship points lead over Carl Edwards. Bowyer goes into the open week with a 196-point advantage over the reigning series champion with five races to go.

Owner, Rookie Title Races On Edge
The owner championship and Raybestos Rookie of the Year races aren’t so cushy, though. Bowyer’s second-place finish at Kansas closed the No. 2 Chevrolet of Richard Childress Racing to within 33 points of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in the owner standings. Childress has his eyes on his second consecutive owner title and fifth overall.

Meanwhile Bryan Clauson has moved to within one point of leader Landon Cassill in the rookie race. Clauson finished 21st at Kansas, taking advantage of Cassill’s absence from the event. The 19-year-olds each have at least two races remaining on their 2008 schedules to decide the rookie winner.

Get A Grip: Top 10 Spots Up For Grabs
There’s also a scramble among drivers in the bottom half of the top 10 in points. They look to keep themselves entrenched, while some are just on the fringe looking to make a late-season move for a coveted top-10 spot in the series standings.

Mike Wallace holds the eighth position but Jason Leffler is only nine points back in ninth. Marcos Ambrose is 10th, 34 points behind Leffler. Veteran Jason Keller is in 11th, 72 points out of 10th. Keller, meanwhile, can’t concentrate solely on catching Ambrose – David Stremme is lurking only six points behind Keller in 12th.

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES

Bodine Looks for Big Track Sweep
Todd Bodine goes for three consecutive victories on the series’ two biggest race tracks. Bodine is the defending winner of the Mountain Dew 250 and captured the 2008 season opener at Daytona International Speedway. No driver has been able to win three straight races on such tracks.

Crawford Aims for Home Track Win
Alabama native Rick Crawford came within .014 seconds of winning the biggest race in his home state, finishing second to Bodine at Talladega a year ago. He’s already won at Daytona; a victory would make him the third series competitor to win races at both tracks.

Championship Battle Back On
Every one of the final six races figures to be crunch time for championship leader Johnny Benson and Ron Hornaday Jr., who trails Benson by a single point. At stake: Benson’s first series title; for Hornaday, becoming the series’ first four-time and back-to-back champion.

Logano Makes Truck Debut
Joey Logano will get some more seat time this weekend, as he makes his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut. He will drive the No. 59 Toyota. Logano, as he prepares to run full-time next season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, has already run two NASCAR Sprint Cup and 14 NASCAR Nationwide Series races.

No ‘Dega Love for Young Guns
Who will step up at Talladega – a veteran or one of the series’ “young guns.” In 11 races at Talladega and Daytona, only one driver (Carl Edwards, 24, Daytona 2004) under the age of 40 has been able to crack Victory Lane at either track.

Busch, Wallace On Talladega Entry List
Two visiting drivers could spoil the party for series regulars. Kyle Busch finished second at Daytona and won Talladega’s spring NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Aaron’s 449. Mike Wallace makes his 2008 debut. Wallace won the series’ inaugural Daytona race in 2000.