8/2/03……….. Rookie Carl Edwards won the second truck race of his career using fuel mileage pit strategy to gain track position, and tenacity to keep the lead. Edwards had been on a hot streak in July, finishing all of his July races within the boundaries of the top five positions. When most of the hard chargers fell by the wayside needing a fuel stop, Edwards piloted his un-sponsored Roush Racing No. 99 Ford to victory, running on fume as his truck faltered with low fuel pressure as he crossed the finish line.

Travis Kvapil, Bobby Hamilton, Brendan Gaughan, and Edward’s teammate Jon Wood finished in the top five in that order. Ted Musgrave, Ken Schrader, Dennis Setzer, Terry Cook, and Matt Crafton, finished in positions six thru ten.

The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Terry Cook -- No. 29 Ford – finished 9th
2. Jason Leffler -- No. 2 Dodge – finished 15th
3. Chad Chaffin -- No. 18 Dodge – finished 12th
4. Ted Musgrave -- No. 1 Dodge -- finished 6th
5. Carl Edwards* -- No. 99 Ford – finished 1st
6. Brendan Gaughan -- No. 62 Dodge – finished 4th
7. Mike Skinner -- No. 15 Dodge – finished 22nd
8. Rick Crawford -- No. 14 Ford – finished 14th
9. Travis Kvapil -- No. 16 Chevy – finished 2nd
10. Kenny Hendrick -- No. 9 Ford – finished 31st

Travis Kvapil moved up one spot to take the driver’s point’s lead away from Brendan Gaughan by a mere ten points. Kvapil no has 2170 points with Gaughan dropping back to 2160. Ted Musgrave and Dennis Setzer are still in third and fourth place with a -51 and a -107. Bobby Hamilton’s fifth place finish moved him up two spots to round out the top five with a -137. Jon Wood is still in sixth place, now listed with a -139 while Rick Crawford dropped down two spots to seventh listed with a -159. Jason Leffler, Terry Cook, and rookie Carl Edwards still round out the top ten with a -195, -273, and a -298.

The Cup and former Cup drivers in the race didn’t enjoy much luck. Ken Schrader, the current driver of the No. 49 BAM Racing Dodge in Cup, had the best finish for current Cup drivers crossing the line in seventh. Former Cup driver turned truck racer, and the truck series first champion, Mike Skinner, finished four laps down in 22nd position. Former Cup racer and three time Cup Champion Darrell Waltrip finished in 29th position, 53 laps down, out of the race with suspension problems.

Next week the Truck Series heads to Nashville for race No. 15 on their 25 race 2003 schedule. The Federated Auto Parts 200 will be aired live on the SPEED channel on Friday, August 8th at 9 p.m. eastern.

Last season’s winner of the event was Mike Bliss. He was followed across the finish line by Rick Crawford, Ted Musgrave, Bobby Hamilton Jr., Dennis Setzer, rookie Brendan Gaughan, Terry Cook, Jon Wood, Robert Pressley, and Mike Wallace.

Mike Bliss won the Bud pole award with a speed of 157.322 miles per hour. There were three caution periods for a total of 13 laps out of the 151 laps on the 1.333 mile oval.

8/9/03……….. Rookie Carl Edwards took the honors for the second week in a row, capping off three victories so far in his rookie season. The win was for fourth this season for Roush Racing as Edwards raced his un-sponsored No. 99 Ford across the finish line. His teammate, Jon Wood, who finally garnered sponsorship from the Graham for President campaign, won earlier this season at Kansas.

The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Chad Chaffin -- No. 18 Dodge – finished 6th
2. Brendan Gaughan -- No. 62 Dodge – finished 5th
3. Bobby Hamilton -- No. 4 Dodge – finished 11th
4. Ted Musgrave -- No. 1 Dodge -- finished 2nd
5. Jason Leffler -- No. 2 Dodge – finished 24th
6. Carl Edwards* -- No. 99 Ford – finished 1st
7. Bill Lester -- No. 8 Dodge – finished 16th
8. Terry Cook -- No. 29 Ford – finished 14th
9. Jon Wood -- No. 50 Ford – finished 7th
10. Travis Kvapil -- No. 16 Chevy – finished 9th

It appears that Edwards will be the Raybestos Rookie of the Year in the Craftsman Truck Series. He has well over a 100 point lead and with just ten races remaining in the series for 2003. It will be hard to beat the consistent Edwards, who just might possibly tie or even beat Kurt Busch’s record of four wins in his rookie season. Considering the bonus points that are awarded to the top driver at season’s end, Edwards is a shoo-in.

Brendan Gaughan’s better finish of fifth over Travis Kvapil’s ninth place finish gave him the nod to take over the championship points with a seven point lead over Kvapil. Gaughan is now listed with 2315 points compared to Kvapil’s 2308. Ted Musgrave and Dennis Setzer is still listed in third and fourth place with a -21 and a -105. Either driver stands a chance to take the lead at the next race at Bristol. Jon Wood and Rick Crawford both moved up one position to fifth and sixth with a -133 and a -139. Bobby Hamilton dropped down two spots to seventh with a -152 while Jason Leffler remains in eighth with a -248. Rookie Carl Edwards’s win moved him up one spot to ninth with a -258 while Terry Cook dropped back one spot to round out the top ten with a -297.

Next week the truck series joins the Cup and Busch Series at Bristol. The trucks will not race next weekend, but will continue on Wednesday night, August 20 at 8:30 p.m. eastern. As usual, the SPEED channel will broadcast the event.

According to my records, the truck series hasn’t raced at Bristol since the 1999 season. Denis Setzer is the only regular driver still racing in the series to have finished in the top ten, crossing the line in the fifth position at the Coca-Cola Family 200 on June 5th, 1999.. Other regular drivers in the series who have experience racing the trucks at Bristol are Terry Cook, Rick Crawford, and David Starr. Cook finished 15th in the June 1999 race, while Crawford finished 21st and Starr (a rookie) finished 19th. Cup driver Kevin Harvick was also in that race, finishing 6th in the No. 98 Porter Cable Power Tools Ford. It’s possible that Harvick will also enter the Bristol Truck race as the Cup race will be held during the weekend following the Wednesday night event.

8/21/03……….. Ted Musgrave broke Ron Hornaday Jr.’s four year old qualifying record of 121.213 miles per hour with a speed of 123.562 on the high banked .533 mile concrete oval. Actually, the first six qualifying drivers broke Hornaday’s old record.

There were two Cup regulars in the lineup, Kevin Harvick qualifying in the tenth position in his No. 6 Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevy, and Ken Schrader in the No. 52 Federated Auto Parts Chevy qualifying in the 14th position. Jason Leffler, former Cup driver and current stand in driver of the No. 0 Pontiac qualified 17th in the No. 2 ASE Dodge. Harvick loves racing his truck and this week he’s racing for Kyle and Patti Petty’s Victory Junction Gang Camp.

Harvick was one of two drivers who had planned to enter all three of the NASCAR events at Bristol week, but by now we’ve all heard that the other driver, Jimmy Spencer, was grounded by the sanctioning body for his altercation with Kurt Busch. As a result, Harvick will be the only one racing in all three of the major series. Spencer had his appeal on the grounding heard early Wednesday morning, and was denied the opportunity to race this week at Bristol.

There were only four rookies in the race, Tina Gordon, who was fourth in the standings, was mysteriously missing from the action. Strange as it seems, you’d think that she would be keeping up her rookie points. Carl Edwards is by far the point’s leader and will most likely win the championship being over 100 points ahead going into Bristol. Randy Briggs and Jody Lavender were tied at 135 points each in second and third place. Gordon was fourth with 96 points followed by T. J. Bell rounding out the top five with 77 points.

The O’Reilly 200 was the setting for Travis Kvapil’s first win of the season, his third career win, and also of his rise to the top of the Craftsman Truck Series driver’s points. It appeared that Cup driver Kevin Harvick had the win in the bag. He dominated the event, but was plagued with bad luck with a blown tire after the white flag had signaled the last lap. Kvapil easily moved to the front and took the win.

Robert Pressley followed Kvapil across the finish line in the No. 159 Melling Dodge, with Rick Crawford, Brendan Gaughan, and Dennis Setzer rounding out the top five. Matt Crafton, Chad Chaffin, Jon Wood, Jason Leffler, and Kevin Harvick finished in the top ten.

The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Ted Musgrave -- No. 1 Dodge – finished 15th
2. Brendan Gaughan -- No. 62 Dodge – finished 4th
3. Jon Wood -- No. 50 Ford – finished 8th
4. Terry Cook -- No. 29 Ford -- finished 27th
5. Matt Crafton -- No. 88 Chevy – finished 6th
6. David Starr -- No. 75 Chevy – finished 18th
7. Chad Chaffin -- No. 18 Dodge – finished 7th
8. Carl Edwards* -- No. 99 Ford – finished 11th
9. Rick Crawford -- No. 14 Ford – finished 3rd
10. Kevin Harvick -- No. 6 Chevy – finished 10th

Travis Kvapil moved up to the top spot with 2488 points, just eight points ahead of former point’s leader Brendan Gaughan. Ted Musgrave is still in third place, now listed with a -71. Dennis Setzer is still in fourth with a -123 followed by Rick Crawford who moved up one spot to fifth listed with a -147. Jon Wood dropped down one spot to sixth listed with a -164. Positions six thru ten remain the same with Bobby Hamilton listed with a -198, Jason Leffler -279, rookie Carl Edwards -301, and Terry Cook rounding out the top ten with a -388.

Next week the truck series has a weekend off. The next race on the schedule is the Virginia is for Lovers 200 at Richmond International Raceway. The event will be run on Thursday, September 4th, at 8 p.m. eastern, and will be televised live by the Speed channel.

The winner of last season’s September night race at Richmond was Cup driver Tony Stewart. He was followed across the finish line by Cup driver Kevin Harvick, mike Bliss, Rick Crawford, Terry Cook, Coy Gibbs, Ted Musgrave, Stacy Compton, Bobby Dotter, and Cup driver Ken Schrader.