2/09/02 -- The eighth season of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is soon to get underway at Daytona International Speedway. The Craftsman Trucks start their season on the Daytona track with the Florida Dodge Dealers 250 on Friday, February 12th, at 1 PM EST.

Right out of the box, the truck testing speeds are really fast. Jon Wood in the No. 50 Ford had the fastest single one lap testing speed of 184.790. Others among the top five fastest were Ron Hornaday in the No. 24 Chevrolet, 184.676; Travis Kvapil in the No. 60 Chevrolet, 184.532; Joe Ruttman in the No. 79 Dodge, 184.253; Matt Crafton in the No. 88 Chevrolet, 184.249.

As per usual, the speeds in the draft were somewhat faster. Mike Crafton recorded the fastest drafting speed of 187.556. He was followed by Rick Crawford in the No. 14 Ford with 187.512; Bryan Reffner in the No. 7 Chevrolet, 187.492; Joe Ruttman, 187.262; and David Starr in the No. 75 Chevrolet, 187.227.

There are around 35 “locked in, done deal” Trucks that will be competing in 2002, and there will be more by the time the season gets up and running when deals that are underway are completed. The Rookie of the Year candidates up to this point are; Loni Richardson, driving the No. 73 Chevrolet; Brendan Gaughan, driving the No. 62 Dodge; Trent Owen, driving the No. 15 Ford; and Bill Lester, driving the No. 8 Dodge.

There are very few open drivers’ jobs available, but there are well over twenty drivers looking to get a ride in the Craftsman Trucks. On the other hand, there are over thirty Truck teams looking for sponsorship, and corporate sponsors aren’t exactly knocking down the doors of race shops to advertise with their logo on the side of a Truck. Unfortunately, a lot of those teams will not see any competition during the 2002 season.

Some claim that the up and coming series is suffering growing pains. Last season it had a schedule of 24 races, and this season the truck schedule has been scaled back one race to 23. With the news of late concerning Chicago Motor Speedway canceling its 2002 racing schedule, it will cut the trucks down to 22 races. The series dropped the Mesa Marin Speedway in California and the Nazareth Speedway in Pennsylvania from their 2002 schedule.

Three of the Craftsman Truck Series regulars have moved up to the Busch Series. Three time series champion jack Sprague, Ricky Hendricks, and Scott Riggs will be driving in the Busch Series. Two former Winston Cup regulars will be driving trucks this season. Robert Pressley and Jason Leffler found themselves without a ride in Winston Cup and took jobs in the truck series. They will be joining another former Winston Cup Series driver, Ted Musgrave, who has had a lot of success racing the trucks. In his first full season last year, Musgrave led the series with seven wins, and finished second in points for the championship.

Although he had a ride for testing, Joe Ruttman, the winner of last season’s opener at Daytona and points leader for several weeks seems to be without a ride for 2002. Hopefully he will find a ride before the series gets too far into it’s’ season.

2/13/02 -- Former Winston Cup driver Ted Musgrave knows speed. He knows that when you make a success out of qualifying that you have to let it all hang out. You have to keep it constantly on the edge of destruction in order to get the most out of it. Last season he feels that he failed in that respect, and played second fiddle to Jack Sprague in the championship hunt. This season he hopes to rectify that error.

Musgrave won the pole position with a Dodge for the truck season opener at Daytona, the Florida Dodge Dealers 250, with a speed of 187.215 MPH. He referred to the trucks being easier to drive than the Cup racecars, and thinks they have an aero advantage over the tricky balancing of the racecars.

The main reason he was letting it all hang out on his qualifying run was to try and catch up to the efforts of second place qualifier Ron Hornaday Jr., another Cup and Busch Series veteran. Hornaday had already made his qualifying run of 185.778 MPH with a Chevrolet, which ended up as the second fastest speed of the day. Mike Bliss was third with a speed of 185.628 with a Chevrolet, and Brian Rose captured the fourth place starting position with his run of 185.368 with a Dodge. Jason Leffler, another Dodge driver and a former Cup rookie who was shuffled out of a Cup ride for 2002, ended up with the fifth fastest speed of 105.303.

2/16/02 -- The Craftsman Truck Series (CTS) raced its season opener at Daytona with the Florida Dodge Dealers 250 on Friday, February 15th. It was an exciting race, to say the least. The CTS drivers always seem to put on a good show. The race was mainly a veteran controlled event, with former Winston Cup (WC) and CTS drivers setting the pace throughout the event.

Former WC Series driver Robert Pressley became the second driver in CTS history to win the Daytona race in his first time in a Craftsman Truck event. Mike Skinner was the first to accomplish the feat in the 1995 event. Skinner was one of the race announcers for this season’s event.

Pressley drives the No. 18 Dodge sponsored Dodge for Bobby Hamilton Racing. Bobby Hamilton Jr. was present for the victory celebrations and stated that they had needed to find a driver who could give Ted Musgrave a run for his money and it looked like they had found him. Musgrave, who was last season’s leader at winning races and second in championship points, came in second. It appears that Musgrave will be hard to fight for this year’s championship.

The top four finishers were driving dodges. Following Pressley and Musgrave across the finish line was newcomer Brian Rose, driving the No. 4 Sunclear Energy sponsored Dodge. He was followed by veteran driver and last year’s Daytona race winner, Joe Ruttman, driving the No. 79 Obee’s sponsored Dodge. Truck series veteran Rick Carelli was fifth driving the No. 6 RE/MAX sponsored Kevin Harvick Racing’s Chevrolet. Terry Cook, David Starr, Carlos Contreras, rookie Jason Small, and Lance Norick rounded out the top ten. There were five Dodges, four Chevrolets, and one Ford finishing in the top ten.

The sanctioning body, in it’s infinite ignorance, decided to make a rules change for the truck series during the morning before the race. NASCAR was concerned with the high speeds that the trucks were running. Ted Musgrave had qualified at 187+ miles per hour and during practice on the previous day before the race drafting speeds were 194+ miles per hour. These speeds were quite a bit higher than the WC racecars were running. As a result, NASCAR made a move to slow the trucks down. It mandated a rule to remove one of the two three inch air intake hoses that goes to the air cleaner assembly attached to the tops of the carburetors. The reduced amount of air created an estimated 80 horsepower loss to the engines resulting in drafting speeds of 187 miles per hour during the race. I would not be surprised to see NASCAR outfit the trucks with four cylinder engines before they are through with their speed curbing agenda.

The truck series will be taking three weekends off until their next event at Darlington on March 15th. Then they will have three more weekends off before they race at Martinsville on April 13th.

3/16/02. Last season, Ted Musgrave was 74 points shy of winning the Craftsman Truck Series Championship. He captured the most wins in the series with seven, but a couple of DNF’s (did not finish) did him in at the end. He lost valuable points by not being out on the track until the end of the race. Series champion Jack Sprague only scored four wins, but he had 15 top five finishes compared to Musgraves’ 13.

Ted Musgrave, driver of the No. 1 Mopar Parts sponsored Ultra Motorsports Dodge is back this season with a vengeance. He captured the pole position in the season opener at Daytona, and ended up finishing second to Robert Pressley. This week, Pressley, driver of the No. 18 un-sponsored Bobby Hamilton Racing’s Dodge, finished second behind Musgrave. As far as Ted Musgrave is concerned, Darlington, “The Track Too Tough to Tame,” has been tamed! This was Musgraves eighth win in 29 career Craftsman Truck Series starts.

Musgrave and Pressley battled for the lead for the majority of the race, continuing the Dodge dominance of the series. The two former Winston Cup veteran drivers are now tied for the championship points’ lead. In addition to the win, Musgrave was leading at the halfway point and received the $7,500 bonus From Sears in celebration of their 75th year of selling Craftsman tools.

Six year Truck Series veteran Mike Bliss, driving the No 16 IWX Motor Freight Chevrolet, got past a hard charging Kevin Harvick to finish third. Winston Cup regular Harvick was driving his own No. 6 un-sponsored Chevrolet. Five year Truck Series veteran Rick Crawford finished fifth in the No. 14 Circle Bar Ford. Rounding out the top ten were: David Starr, No. 75 Spears Manufacturing Chevrolet; Travis Kvapil, No. 60 Cat Rental Chevrolet; Brian Rose, No. 4 Sunclear Energy Dodge; Jon Wood, U.S. Navy Ford; and Winston Cup regular Ken Schrader, No. 52, Federated Auto Parts Chevrolet.

The Craftsman Truck Series is really getting off to a slow start this season. Race number three of the 23 race 2002 schedule is the Advance Auto Parts 250 on the .526 mile Martinsville Speedway at Martinsville, Virginia. There will be another three week lay-off until the April 13th event. Last Season’s winner of the April Martinsville short track race was Scott Riggs. He was followed across the finish line by rookie Travis Kvapil, Terry Cook, Joe Ruttman, and Randy Tolsma.

4/13/02……… The Trucks finally made another appearance, their third of the season. It's been one race per month starting with the Florida Dodge Dealers 250 Daytona in February. The format will change next month in May when the trucks have three events.

Qualifying for the Advance Auto Parts 250 at Martinsville created the emergence of the first woman in truck race since Tammy Jo Kirk raced a truck at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on November 8, 1998. Angie Wilson qualified 34th in the 36 truck field.

Ted Musgrave won the poll position and his teammate, Jason Leffler, qualified second. Winston Cup owner Andy Petree qualified third with Rick Crawford and Dennis Setzer rounding out the top five. Winston Cup regular Kevin Harvick qualified in the 13th position and former Winston Cup Champion turned announcer, Darrell Waltrip, qualified 19th. Waltrip has had his best truck finish Martinsville, fifth, in nine previous starts.

Advance Auto Parts 250…… Dennis Setzer, driver of the No. 46 Axiom Chevrolet, started from the 33rd position and ended up crossing the finish line first. Setzer initially was slated to start from the fifth position, but was relegated to the rear of the field because of an illegal spring found during post qualifying inspection. From worst to first on the Martinsville track is quite an accomplishment! This was Setzer's first win this season and the seventh of his 98 truck series career starts.

Mike Bliss finished second, followed by Rick Crawford, Bobby Dotter, and Terry Cook, rounding out the top five. Positions six thru ten were Jason Leffler, Travis Kvapil, David Starr, rookie Brendan Gaughan, and Jon Wood.

Robert Pressley is still leading the driver's points standings with 481. Ted Musgrave is still second in the standings -20 with 461. David Starr is now in third position, moving up one spot, -38. Rick Crawford is in fourth, moving up four spots, -65. Mike Bliss moved up six positions and is now in fifth, -77. Positions six thru ten are: +1 Travis Kvapil, -81; -4 Brian Rose, -82; -2 Lance Norick, -96; +9 Dennis Setzer, -105; and Jon Wood is still in tenth, -109 down from the points leader.

Darrell Waltrip ended up finishing 34th after suffering mechanical problems that took him out of the race at lap 102. He managed to survive a spinout on lap 3 which put him near the back of the pack. He had worked his way up to 15th when his mechanical problems began.

Kevin Harvick wasn't as lucky as DW. After an altercation with Coy Gibbs, Harvick was reported to have stated on his two-way radio that he was going after him. It wasn't long before Gibbs had mechanical problems right in front of Harvick, checking up, causing Harvick to run into him. Harvick was black flagged and ordered off of the track and out of the race by NASCAR. In an interview after leaving the track and before entering the NASCAR trailer that he had been summoned to, Harvick claimed that he hadn't said anything about going after Gibbs. At any rate, NASCAR took Harvick out of the race at lap 188 causing him to record a paltry 29th place finish. I'm sure we haven't heard the last of this one.

Kudos to rookie Angie Wilson, driving the No. 81 Ware Racing's Dodge. Angie suffered brake problems and was forced to leave the race at lap 234. She finished in the 23rd position after starting 34th. Angie moved to the Craftsman Truck Series from the Goodies Dash Series. She finished last season 24th in driver's points with one top five and two top tens finishes in only seven starts.

Next Race…… Race No. 4 on the Craftsman Truck Series schedule is the Ram Tough 200 on May 5th at Gateway International Raceway, Madison, Illinois. The winner of last season's Gateway race was Ted Musgrave. He was followed across the finish line by Scott Riggs, Terry Cook, Rick Crawford, rookie Travis Kvapil, rookie Ricky Hendrick, rookie Matt Crafton, Jack Sprague, Dennis Setzer, and rookie Billy Bigley.

5/6/02……… It's been a while since the Craftsman Truck Series has raced. This spring, the series seems to be getting off to a slower than usual start. Things are moving right along now though, as there will be three Craftsman Truck Series races this month, compared to the paltry 'one race per month' scenario we've seen since February. May 19th will see the trucks racing in Colorado, and then at the end of the month they will make an appearance at Dover.

This week's race was on the unique 1.25 mile pear shaped oval Gateway International Raceway across the river from St. Louis, Missouri. The track is actually located in Madison, Illinois, and not in St. Louis as is touted by NASCAR and its owners, Dover Motorsports Inc.

The pear shape of the racetrack offers quite a challenge to drivers. Turns one and two require down shifting because of the short tight corner, then up shifting leaving turn two. Turns three and four don't require shifting because they are wide sweeping super-speedway type turns with 11 degree banking, compared to the lesser 9 degree banking in turns one and two.

As a contrast to this season's event, here are the finishing positions for last years Truck Series race at Gateway. Ted Musgrave crossed the finish line first, winning the event from the pole position. He was followed by Scott Riggs, who is now a winning rookie racing in the Busch Series. Terry Cook finished third ahead of Rick Crawford. Positions five thru seven were won by rookies Travis Kvapil, Ricky Hendrick, and Matt Crafton. Jack Sprague finished ninth followed by Dennis Setzer. Rookie Billy Bigley rounded out the top ten finishers. Three time Truck Series Champion Jack Sprague and Ricky Hendrick are also rookies in the Busch Series this season.

Ram Tough 200…… The Truck Series was lucky it had the Gateway track to race on instead of the mess that the other two series had to face at Richmond. Gateway appears to be a racer's track and the trucks raced around it with ease. When the laps had been completed, Terry Cook crossed the finish line first with the No. 29 Power Stroke Diesel Ford. This was Cook's first win in 87 races, and the Ohio native was chomping at the bit to end his dry spell. This was Cook's second career win in his seventh year in the Craftsman Truck Series. It was also Ford's first victory this season.

Former Winston Cup driver Jason Leffler finished second in the No. 2 team ASE Dodge, with pole winner Mike Bliss crossing the line in third with the No. 16 IWX Motor Freight Chevrolet. Rick Crawford was fourth in the No. 14 Circle Bar Motel Ford, with David Starr crossing the line behind him in the No. 75 Spears Manufacturing Chevrolet. Positions six thru ten were: Dennis Setzer, No. 46 Chevrolet; Jon Wood, No. 50 Ford; Brian Rose, No. 4 Dodge; Lance Norick, No. 90 Chevrolet; and Matt Crafton, No. 88 Chevrolet. There were no rookies finishing in the top ten.

Although the official driver's point's haven't been tabulated yet, reports have Rick Crawford as the current points lead with a 20 point lead over Ted Musgrave. Musgraves 11th place finish coupled with Robert Pressley's 31st place finish changed the driver's points considerably.

Next race…… The next event for the truck series is the Rocky Mountain 200 at the Pikes Peak International Raceway at Colorado Springs, Colorado on Sunday, May 19th. The race is scheduled to be televised by ESPN at 4 P.M. Eastern.

Last year's winner at Pikes Peak was Joe Ruttman. He was followed across the finish line by Scott Riggs, Jack Sprague, Ted Musgrave, rookie Ricky Hendrick, rookie Matt Crafton, rookie Travis Kvapil, Dennis Setzer, Rick Crawford, and rookie Chuck Hossfeld.

5/20/02……… The Craftsman Truck Series made its way to Fountain, Colorado for the Rocky Mountain 200 at the Pikes Peak track. The former Winston Cup drivers once again led the qualifying effort. Jason Leffler won the pole with Ted Musgrave sitting in the front row beside him. This is the third time this season that the two have set on the front row in only five races. Mike Bliss qualified third followed by Gateway winner Terry Cook and Dennis Setzer.

The Pole sitter didn't win the race in the No. 2 Team ASE Dodge, but he came in a close second on the heels of Mike Bliss, who took the checkered flag driving the No. 16 IWX Motor Freight Chevrolet. The race was rather boring for a truck outing, there wasn't the usual slam bang approach to the event.

Travis Kvapil finished a close third in the No. 60 CAT Rental Chevrolet, followed by last week's winner Terry Cook in the No. 29 Power Stroke Diesel Ford. Davis Starr finished fifth in the No. 75 Spears Manufacturing Chevrolet. Positions six thru ten were: No. 14 Rick Crawford, Circle Bar Ford; No. 46 Dennis Setzer, Axiom Assoc. Chevrolet; No. 39 Steve Portenga, Roto-Router Chevrolet; No. 20 Coy Gibbs, MBNA Chevrolet; No. 4 Brian Ross, Perry Connection Dodge.

Former points leader David Starr took a hit in the driver's points. He moved back to second, just one point behind Mike Bliss, who moved up three spots to number one with 754 points. Rick Crawford remains at third with 726 points, -28 from the leader. Jason Leffler's second place finish moved him up two positions to fourth, -31 down from the leader. Ted Musgrave lost three positions and is now at fifth with 713 points, -41 from the leader. Positions six thru ten are: +2 Dennis Setzer, -77; Brian Rose, -79; +2 Lance Norick, -101; Jon Wood, -104; +2 Terry Cook, -118.

Next week is another open weekend for the Craftsman Truck Series. On Friday, May 31st, the trucks will run the MBNA 200 at Dover Downs International Speedway, Dover, Delaware. The event will be televised live by ESPN at 3:30 P.M. Eastern.