2/12/03……… Qualifying for the Florida Dodge Dealers 250 is in the books. Jason Leffler, former Winston Cup driver and last season’s Craftsman Truck Series premier “bridesmaid” easily won the pole. Leffler set a record coming in second six times last season, and is still winless in the series.

Leffler won a season high record of eight poles in the truck series last season and now already has one for 2003. He was the first to go out, and his time held throughout the time trials.

Last season’s defending champion of the Daytona 250 won the second starting spot. Robert Pressley was a veteran cup driver before losing his job driving the No. 77 Jasper Ford to Dave Blaney at the end of the 2001 season. He drove the No. 18 Dodge truck last season for Bobby Hamilton Racing, but since Bobby Hamilton got shuffled out of his Cup ride, he came to the truck series and Pressley ended up out in the cold with someone else driving the No. 18.

Not to be completely outdone, Jim Harris of Harris Trucking put Pressley in a truck for the Daytona race. He will participate in Friday’s race driving the No. 159 Dodge. Lefflers’ teammate Ted Musgrave will start third in the No. 1 Mopar dodge, with another non-regular starting in the fourth position. Ed Barrier will start the No. 6 Dukes Mayo/Dollar General Chevrolet.

Terry Cook will be starting fifth in the No. 29 Power Stroke Diesel Ford with Robert Pressley’s replacement, Chad Chaffin, starting sixth in the No. 18 Dickies Dodge owned by Bobby Hamilton Racing. Travis Kvapil starts seventh in the No. 16 TWX Motor Freight Chevrolet with Bill Lester right behind him in the No. 8 Dodge Motorsports Dodge.

Non-regular Mike Wallace starts ninth in the No. 52 Federated Auto Parts Chevrolet with Bobby Dotter rounding out the top ten starters in the No. 08 People Against Drugs Chevrolet.

The trucks do not run restrictor plates at the Daytona track due to their bad aerodynamics. The truck series pole speed of 182.994 MPH was nearly four miles per hour below Jeff green’s Winston Cup pole speed set with a restrictor plate.

Special mention goes out to Tina Gordon, a rookie who is also the only female starter in the 36 truck field. She will start the No. 31 3M Dodge from the 24th position. Three other rookies are starting the race. Randy Briggs starts in 17th with the No. 53 Toolboxgrill.com Ford, along with Doug Keller starting the No. 27 Van Am Tool & Engineering Chevrolet in the 26th position and Carl Edwards starting the No. 99 Roush Racing Ford from the 29th position. Edwards was hired to drive the No. 99 for Roush when Kyle Busch reneged on his agreement to drive the truck starting in May when he turns 18 years of age. Busch has since signed with Hendricks Motorsports and will be racing in the ARCA series until he turns of age to drive in any of the top NASCAR divisions for Hendrick.

2/15/03……… When the dust settled over Daytona International Speedway, Rick Crawford had emerged the winner after a close encounter of the third kind with Robert Pressley and Travis Kvapil at the finish line. It wasn’t quite close enough for a photo finish, but it was close enough to get fans on the edges of their seats whether they were in their living rooms or in the grandstands.

Crawford was really gleeful to retort that his No. 14 Circle Bar Ford had taken the Dodge Dealers race. On top of that, the No. 16 IWX Motor Freight Chevrolet driven by Travis Kvapil took second place. Third place went to Robert Pressley driving the No. 159 Harris Trucking Dodge. I think it’s fitting that Pressley finished right ahead of the guy who fired him at the end of last season, Bobby Hamilton in the No. 4 Square D Dodge. Andy Houston rounded out the top five finishers in the No. 15 Cooper Tools Ford.

Mike Wallace and Dennis Setzer finished 6th and 7th in Chevrolets, with Jon Wood and Terry Cook finishing 8th and 9th in Fords. Last season’s top rookie, Brendan Gaughan, rounded out the top ten with a Dodge.

The 100 lap season opening truck series event was marred by cautions. In most cases, tires appeared to be the problem. It NASCAR’s constant attempt to protect the good name of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. any possibility of a tire problem was played down to a minimum. You won’t read anything about bad tires at NASCAR.com, or you won’t hear anything about it over the NASCAR sanctioned broadcasts.

During the race the TV announcers kept stating that drivers were running over debris on the track cutting down the tires. They are told by NASCAR to say that. The only thing that makes them look stupid is the fact that the only tires that get cut down running over debris are right fronts. A left rear tire never blows out from running over debris, just the right fronts. Well folks, we aren’t as stupid as NASCAR thinks we are!

They had the TV cameras on one tire that’s cap entirely separated from the inner liner and came apart in one round separate piece. It’s apparent that Goodyear brought a soft rubber compound to Daytona. Anytime the bring the soft compound to a race they have problems with the right fronts not holding up. This is largely due to the aggressive set-ups used by some of the crews. If the set the degree of camber too high and lean the tire in to far, it causes it to get too hot and then it will come apart. Usually the teams are warned about this before the competition begins, but teams have to set the cars up to the handling characteristics sought by their drivers, so there isn’t much that can be done to appease the situation.

Mark Martin lost his right front just as he took the flag at the end of the Winston Cup 125 mile qualifying race that he was running. The blown tire caused him to hit the wall hard enough to require the use of a back up car for the Daytona 500. The truck race was 100 laps, and the Busch and Winston Cup races will be 50 and 100 laps more that that. We will certainly see more tire problems before the racing action ends at Daytona.

The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Jason Leffler – No. 2 Dodge -- finished 30th
2. Robert Pressley -- No. 159 Dodge – finished 3rd
3. Ted Musgrave -- No. 1 Dodge – finished 29th
4. Ed Barrier -- No. 6 Chevrolet -- finished 13th
5. Terry Cook -- No. 29 Ford – finished 9th
6. Chad Chaffin -- No. 18 Dodge – finished 17th
7. Travis Kvapil -- No. 16 Chevrolet – finished 2nd
8. Bill Lester -- No. 8 Dodge -- finished 18th
9. Mike Wallace -- No. 52 Chevrolet – finished 6th
10. Bobby Dotter -- No. 8 Chevrolet – finished 11th.

3/16/03……….. Mother Nature isn’t done with NASCAR this early in the season, and she let that be known without doubt when she ruined the qualifying trials Thursday for the Darlington Craftsman 200 truck race.

This has been the case in the other of NASCAR’s top divisions this season, causing problems and heartaches for lots of hopeful event participants. When qualifying is rained out and the field has to be set via owner’s points this early in the season, only those who were in the point’s hunt last season are able to make the race. This shuts the door for the newcomers and for those who are only running on a limited schedule who are trying to make the race.

At least with the truck series, unlike Winston Cup, there aren’t usually enough slated entries to where the race participation limit will be exceeded, so no one was sent home because they didn’t have the points from last season to go on. As of Thursday night, there were 34 entries for the race.

The big news coming out of pre-race activities at Darlington was the signing of General Mills Honey Nut Cheerios with the No. 8 Bobby Hamilton Racing entry. General Mills was proud to announce their association with the up and coming African American driver Bill Lester. Lester, on the other hand, is equally excited about the association with his favorite cereal. Lester claims that he has been heating the Honey Nut Cheerios since he was a kid and now he will get all he wants for free!

Another African American story coming from the truck series recently concerns rap singer Cornell Haynes, better known to his fans as simple “Nelly.” Haynes is reported to have partnered with Billy Ballew Motorsports to form the new entity named Vokal Racing Team. The No. 15 Ford truck will be sponsored by Haynes’s Vokal Clothing Company and will be driven by current driver Andy Houston until a suitable minority driver can be found.

Bobby Hamilton took the checkered flag for the second race of the season. The win was a fitting trophy for the veteran Cup driver who was slicked out of his Cup career at the end of last season. On the other hand, his win was like taking candy from a baby. The majority of the truck series field didn’t have any Cup and very little Busch Series experience. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that his win doesn’t amount to much.

The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Travis Kvapil -- No. 16 Chevrolet – finished 4th
2. Rick Crawford -- No. 14 Ford – finished 7th
3. Ted Musgrave -- No. 1 Dodge – finished 2nd
4. Jason Leffler -- No. 2 Dodge -- finished 6th
5. David Starr -- No. 75 Chevrolet – finished 9th
6. Dennis Setzer -- No. 46 Chevrolet – finished 28th
7. Chad Chaffin -- No. 18 Dodge – finished 5th
8. Terry Cook -- No. 29 Ford – finished 8th
9. Brendan Gaughan -- No. 62 Dodge – finished 3rd
10. Jon Wood -- No. 50 Ford – finished 19th

Four drivers out of the top ten were former Cup drivers; they have invaded the truck series just as they have the Busch Series. Robert Pressley, another former Cup driver who was routed out of that series, finished in the tenth position.

The high attrition of the race tells the tale of the skill levels of the competitors. When the checkered flag flew, less than half of the field had fallen by the wayside to reflect on lessons learned the hard way.

Next week the third Craftsman Truck Series race of the season is at Mesa Marin Raceway at Bakersfield, California. The Lucas Oil 250 is scheduled to be televised by the SPEED channel at 5 PM EST on Sunday, March 23rd.

The last time the truck series visited Mesa Marin was on March 17th, 2001. The OSH 250 race was won by Ted Musgrave. He was followed across the finish line by Jack Sprague, Brendan Gaughan, Rick Carelli, Scott Riggs, Joe Ruttman, Terry Cook, Ricky Hendrick, Billy Bigley, and Randy Tolsma.

3/23/03……….. Qualifying for the Lucas Oil 250 at the Mesa Marin Speedway didn’t offer any surprises. The 2001 winner of the last truck event at the track easily took the pole, but didn’t set the track on fire. Ted Musgrave set this season’s pole speed at 93.293 miles per hour, which was quite a ways off of the pace set in 1999 when Stacy Compton set the record of 95.092 on the half mile track.

The fact that there are three former Cup drivers in the top five starters doesn’t offer any surprises either. Musgrave, Hamilton, and Pressley all got top five starting positions, while the other Cup veteran, Jason Leffler started from the 30th position.

It was a great day for the truck series as one of its own won the race. Dennis Setzer, who got his first win at Mesa Marin in 1998, took the checkered flag after dominating the majority of the event. The win on the .5 mile oval makes one win for Setzer per season for six straight seasons.

Tina Gordon, driver of the No. 31 3M/Microtel Dodge, is leading the rookie point’s standings after the series third race with 29 points. Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Roush racing Ford is in second place with 28 points. Randy Briggs, driver of the No. 53 Dodge is right on their heels with 27 points. Doug Keller, driver of the No. 27 Keller Motorsports Chevy, is close behind with 25 points. Jody Lavender, driver of the No. 08 Hartsville Community Bank Chevy is bringing up the rear with 15 points. Lavender missed the first race at Daytona and will have a hard row to hoe in keeping up with the rest of the rookie class. Although, there will be a couple of rookies who don’t make races during the season, but then again, Lavender could also be one of them.

The top ten drivers and how they finished:

1. Ted Musgrave -- No. 1 Dodge – finished 5th
2. Bobby Hamilton -- No. 4 Dodge – finished 4th
3. *Carl Edwards -- No. 99 Ford – finished 15th
4. Robert Pressley -- No. 159 Dodge -- finished 11th
5. Jon Wood -- No. 50 Ford – finished 2nd
6. Brandon Miller -- No. 6 Chevy – finished 8th
7. Brendan Gaughan -- No. 62 Dodge – finished 3rd
8. David Starr -- No. 73 Chevy – finished 9th
9. Terry Cook -- No. 29 Ford – finished 10th
10. Matt Crafton -- No. 88 Chevy – finished 29th

4/6/03……….. Martinsville, Virginia is the setting for the upcoming race number four in the Craftsman Truck Series. The event will be held on Saturday, April 12th and will be televised live by the SPEED channel at 1 p.m. Eastern. Qualifying highlights will be shown on the Speed channel during the Trackside at Martinsville TV show at 7 p.m. April 11th.

Truck racing fans are in for a treat at Martinsville. Darrell Waltrip and his broadcasting crew are going to bring the race to the fans from the nitty gritty. D. W. will be wired for sound from the seat of his No. 17 Tide sponsored Chevy while driving in the race. Larry McReynolds will be assuming the spotting duties high above the racetrack and Jeff Hammond will be sitting in the war wagon in D. W.’s pits calling the action from there. Waltrip will be driving his brother Michael’s truck and using Michael’s Busch Series pit crew.

All three will be wearing live microphones and reporting the action as they see it. This ought to be a real treat, something that hasn’t been attempted before. We’ve heard NBC’s Wally Dallenbach describe the track from the driver’s seat as he circumvents it, but this will be a live broadcast from a race driver during an actual short track truck race.

Last season’s winner of the Martinsville truck race in April was Dennis Setzer. He was followed across the finish line by Mile Bliss, Rick Crawford, Bobby Dotter, Terry Cook, Jason Leffler, Travis Kvapil, David Starr, rookie Brendan Gaughan and Jon Wood.

Ted Musgrave was on the pole with his No. 1 Mopar dodge with a speed of 92.846 miles per hour. There were 14 caution periods for 80 laps out of the 250 lap event.

Rookie Tina Gordon deserves special mention for making it to the top of the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings in the Craftsman Truck Series. Tina left Mesa Marin Speedway leading the rookie standings over Roush Racings Carl Edwards by one point. The driver of the No. 31 Microtel Inns Dodge has 28 rookie points going into Martinsville. Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Roush Racing Ford, has 27 points.

Kevin Harvick will be making his return to the Martinsville truck race and would just as soon put the debacle that surrounded him last season at Martinsville behind him. Harvick was parked for his on-track actions during last season’s race and then was suspended for the weekend’s activities, including the Cup race, for his actions snubbing NASCAR after his truck was taken out of the race.

Harvick was black flagged off of the track by NASCAR, then parked his No. 6 Chevy truck by the NASCAR hauler and went to his motor home stating that if NASCAR officials wanted to talk, they would have to come to him. This infuriated the officials who quickly suspended him for the weekend’s activities.

Be sure to check back here next week for a rundown on the Martinsville truck race and other truck racing news………

4/13/03……….. The fourth month of the 2003 season set the stage for the fourth race of the season in the Craftsman Truck Series. Ted Musgrave defended his 2002 pole position, but didn’t get as much speed for the number one starting spot as he did in 2002. His qualifying time of 91.297 was a full mile per hour off of the 92.864 speed that he set last season.

Winston Cup driver Kevin Harvick (finished 3rd), who got parked during last season’s event started 13th behind TV commentator and former three time Winston Cup Champion Darrell Waltrip, who crossed the line with a respectable seventh place finish.

The Advance Auto Parts 250 was the setting for Dennis Setzer to repeat his performance in last season’s Martinsville Advance Auto parts 250 Truck race. There had been eight consecutive Craftsman Truck Series winners at the track until Setzer repeated. This was Setzer’s ninth series win, and his second win in a row, having taken last month’s victory at Mesa Marin. Setzer was also honored to record Chevrolet’s 100th win in the Craftsman Truck Series.

The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Ted Musgrave -- No. 1 Dodge – finished 2nd
2. Bobby Hamilton -- No. 4 Dodge – finished 5th
3. Travis Kvapil -- No. 16 Chevy – finished 18th
4. Andy Petree -- No. 33 Chevy -- finished 10th
5. Dennis Setzer -- No. 46 Chevy – finished 1st
6. David Starr -- No. 75 Chevy – finished 12th
7. Rick Crawford -- No. 14 Ford – finished 6th
8. Robert Pressley -- No. 59 Dodge – finished 17th
9. Ken Schrader -- No. 52 Chevy – finished 14th
10. Carl Edwards* -- No. 99 Ford – finished 4th

Bobby Hamilton is still the point’s leader in the driver’s standings with 670 points. Rick Crawford and Brendan Gaughan are still in the second and third positions with a -39 and a -76. Ted Musgrave moved up four spots to fourth with a -79, followed by race winner Dennis Setzer who also moved up four spots and is now in fifth place with a -80. With only 80 points separating the top five in the series, anything can happen at this early stage of the season.

Travis Kvapil dropped down two spots to sixth with a -101 while Terry Cook remains in seventh with a -113. Robert Pressley and Jon Wood both lost three spots down to eighth and ninth with a -119 and a -150. Jason Leffler is still in tenth with a -156. The biggest movers in truck series points were Kevin Harvick who moved up 18 points to 25th, and Rich Bickle who moved up 10 points to 27th. Honorable mention goes out to rookie Stephen Rhodes who moved up 16 points to the 33rd position in the standings.

The next Craftsman Truck Series race will be race No. 5, the Hardee’s 200, at Charlotte Motor Speedway (I don’t use the new track name). This will be the first time ever that the trucks have raced at Charlotte, so there aren’t any stats from previous races to report. Charlotte is a really fast 1.5 mile track with 24 degree banked corners. The trucks should provide a wild race for the fans at this venue. None of the drivers have any experience with the trucks on this track; everyone will start with an even slate. It’s a race that you certainly don’t want to miss!

5/17/03……….. The opening festivities for the long awaited Hardee’s 200 at Charlotte got under way Thursday evening. A big surprise was in store for all! Among all of the hoopla surrounding NASCAR’s association with African American activist Jesse Jackson, the first black driver in the modern era of NASCAR racing won the pole position for the Charlotte truck race.

The only other black driver to win a pole starting position in NASCAR was Wendell Scott, who accomplished the feat in a Chevrolet for a Grand National race on the half mile dirt track of the Savannah Speedway in 1962. (Joe Weatherly won the race in a Pontiac.)

Bill Lester, driver of Bobby Hamilton Racing’s No. 8 Dodge, won the pole with a speed of 175.893 miles per hour. Lester’s best start prior to that this season was an 8th place start at Darlington. He’s finished in the top twenty in the first four races in the season, with his best finish of 13th coming at Mesa Marin Raceway in California.

Bobby Hamilton Racing had all three of its entries starting in the top ten and Roush Racing had two entries starting in the top ten. Last season’s top bridesmaid, Jason Leffler, started in the front row beside of Lester, and Kevin Harvick continued his hot streak by starting third. The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Bill Lester -- No. 8 Dodge – finished 15th
2. Jason Leffler -- No. 2 Dodge – finished 21st
3. Kevin Harvick -- No. 6 Chevy – finished 5th
4. Jon Wood -- No. 50 Ford -- finished 22nd
5. Bobby Hamilton -- No. 4 Dodge – finished 7th
6. *Carl Edwards -- No. 99 Ford – finished 12th
7. David Starr -- No. 75 Chevy – finished 17th
8. Ted Musgrave -- No. 1 Dodge – finished 1st
9. Brendan Gaughan -- No. 62 Dodge – finished 2nd
10. Chad Chaffin -- No. 18 Dodge – finished 8th

Ted Musgrave fought sophomore driver Brendan Gaughan hard and clean for the inaugural win on the storied Charlotte track. Both drivers had overcome incidents on pit road that set them back in the field, but perseverance paid off. The win was Musgrave’s 11th in the Craftsman Truck Series and his first of the 2003 season. He had previously scored seven wins in 2001 and three in 2002.

Following Musgrave and Gaughan across the finish line were Rick Crawford, Travis Kvapil, and Kevin Harvick to round out the top five. Finishing in positions six thru then were: Jeremy Mayfield, Bobby Hamilton, Chad Chaffin, Matt Crafton, and Rich Bickle.

The top two spots in driver’s points remain the same with Bobby Hamilton leading with 821 followed by Rick Crawford with a -20. Ted Musgrave’s win moved him up one spot to third with a -50, while Brendan Gaughan dropped down one spot to fourth with a -57. Travis Kvapil moved up one spot to round out the top five in points with a -92. Point’s positions six thru ten changed very little. Dennis Setzer lost one spot to sixth and now has a -137. The rest of the positions remain the same with Terry Cook at -143, Robert Pressley at -200, Jon Wood at -204, and Jason Leffler at -207.

The next truck series event is race No. six at Dover International Speedway. The MBNA Armed Forces Family Truck 200 is scheduled to be televised live on Friday, May 30th at 4:30 p.m. on the SPEED channel.

Last season’s winner of the Dover truck race was Ted Musgrave. He was followed across the finish line by Robert Pressley, Rick Crawford, David Starr, Mike Bliss, Coy Gibbs, rookie Brendan Gaughan, Tom Carey Jr., Jason Leffler, and Terry Cook.

Rick Crawford won last season’s pole with a speed of 150.414 miles per hour. Musgrave set the race pace with an average speed of 104.545 miles per hour which is a race record. There were six caution flags for a total of 33 laps out of the 200 lap race on the one mile concrete oval.

5/31/03……….. Qualifying Rained Out …… By now everyone knows that Mother Nature rained on the Craftsman Truck Series qualifying parade at Dover this past Thursday. According to the rule book, teams are lined up according to owner’s points when they get rained out of qualifying, just like in the Busch and Cup Series. This resulted in putting Bobby Hamilton on the pole, a fitting gift for the veteran driver who celebrated his 46th birthday that day.

Sponsor Woes??? It’s really hard to believe that Roush Racing can’t find a sponsor (s) for its truck program. Jon Wood, driver of the Roush No. 50 F-150 Ford is 10th in driver’s points while Rookie Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Roush F-150 Ford is 12th in driver’s points and leading the rookie standings.

It isn’t that Roush had a bad record in the truck series. Roush trucks have accounted for 28 victories, more than any other racing organization in the series. They took the championship with Greg Biffle in 2000, and won rookie of the year honors in 1998 with Biffle, and with Kurt Busch in 2000.

Any sponsor who backs Roush’s truck program would be getting its advertising on two trucks for the price of one. How could a major corporation beat a deal like that? Roush has fielded both trucks without sponsorship so far this season, but time is running out for keeping these two teams afloat while searching for sponsorship.

There has to be more to it than is meeting the eye. There has to be some reason why the Roush organization is having these sponsor problems. Are they demanding too much money? Do they require a longer running contract than sponsors are willing to commit to? It’s hard to say on both counts. I have to insert the fact here that Roush Racing also lost sponsorship for its No. 9 Busch Series car that was driven by Jeff Burton, and winning races right and left. The team had to be shut down this season for lack of funds.

MBNA 200……. Jason Leffler finally won a truck race in the No. 2 ASE/CARQUEST Dodge. He was known as the consummate bridesmaid last season, coming in twice a total of six times in 2002. Actually, he’d have probably been a bridesmaid again at Dover if Ted Musgrave’s engine hadn’t have blown. Leffler has been knocking on the door since joining the truck series after losing his Cup ride at the end of the 2001 season. He had 13 top five starts, eight of them pole starts, and 11 top five finished in his first season. He started on the pole in this season’s opener at Daytona and has three top five starts and three top ten finishes so far this season, including his recent win at Dover.

It was fitting to see Leffler get his win on the debut of championship crew chief Dennis Conner’s joining the team. Conner has 23 victories as a crew chief in the Truck series, which is the present record, and has won three Craftsman Truck Series championships with Jack Sprague. Conner may have been just what Leffler needed to break his bridesmaid streak.

The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Bobby Hamilton -- No. 4 Dodge – finished 2nd
2. Rick Crawford -- No. 14 Ford – finished 8th
3. Ted Musgrave -- No. 1 Dodge – finished 21st
4. Brendan Gaughan -- No. 62 Dodge – finished 18th
5. Travis Kvapil -- No. 16 Chevy – finished 5th
6. Dennis Setzer -- No. 46 Chevy – finished 9th
7. Terry Cook -- No. 29 Ford – finished 20th
8. Rich Bickle -- No. 15 Ford – finished 32nd
9. Robert Pressley -- No. 159 Dodge – finished 10th
10. Jason Leffler -- No. 2 Dodge – finished 1st

Bobby Hamilton still holds the driver’s points lead with 996 points after six races. Rick Crawford is still in second place, gnawing at Hamilton’s heels with a -43. Travis Kvapil moved up two spots into the fray and is now listed with a -112. Brendan Guaghan is still in fourth with a -123 while Ted Musgrave rounds out the top five after dropping down two spots with a -125.

Dennis Setzer is still in sixth place and is now listed with a -174 followed by Jason Leffler whose win moved him up two spots with a -197. Terry Cook dropped down one spot to eighth with a -215 followed by Jon Wood who moved up one spot to ninth with a -219. Chad Chaffin moved up one spot to round out the top ten with a -233.

Next week the truck series moves to the Texas Motor Speedway for race No. 7. The O’Reilly 400k is scheduled for Friday, June 6th and will be televised by the SPEED channel at 9 p.m. eastern.

Last season’s winner was rookie Brendan Gaughan. He was followed across the finish line by Travis Kvapil, David Starr, Rick Crawford, Ted Musgrave, Robert Pressley, Matt Crafton, Coy Gibbs, Jon Wood, and Lance Norick.

Jason Leffler won the Bud pole with a speed of 180.355 miles per hour. There were six cautions for 29 laps out of the 167 laps on the 1.5 mile oval.

The Texas race will feature the first all-female pit crew servicing the No. 49 Team Texas truck sponsored by Aarons will driven by Shawna Robinson. The all-female Aaron’s Dream Team plans on running two more races this season, again at Texas on Oct 11th after the race at Las Vegas on Sept. 27th. Truck Owner Mike Starr will have four qualified mechanics ready in case repairs are needed during the race. I’ll be sure to include future updates on their progress.

6/8/03……….. Brendan Gaughan kept up his rookie tradition of winning at Texas Motor Speedway. Gaughan won both races there during the 2002 season while he was in his rookie year. He capped that off by winning the O’Reilly 400k Friday night, the first Texas race of the 2003 season.

Gaughan became only the second driver in the history of the Craftsman Truck Series to win three straight races at one particular track. Jack Sprague accomplished that feat by winning both races at the Phoenix track in 1996 and the first race there in 1997. If Gaughan can win the return race at Texas on October 11th, he’ll set a record in the Craftsman Truck Series of winning four consecutive races at one track. As phenomenal as the sophomore driver is at the Texas track, I’m sure he’ll be trying with all of his might!

Rookie Carl Edwards followed Gaughan across the finish line. Edwards was in the lead looking to take his first victory when Gaughan passed him late in the race for the win. Jon Wood, the other Roush Racing driver finished third with Travis Kvapil and Dennis Setzer rounding out the top five. Starr, Hamilton, Chaffin, Cook, and Crafton all finished with top ten positions.

The much ballyhooed female Dream Team put on their show for the delight of the Texas fans. The admitted publicity stunt engineered by Texas Motor Speedway General Manager Eddie Gossage came off better than expected. The girls did their best in the pits allowing driver Shawna Robinson to finish the race in the 18th position five laps down. When it comes right down to apples and oranges, the girls didn’t hamper Robinson one bit. She was initially penalized for jumping the start of the race that cost her one lap, and then was penalized another lap for speeding on pit road. These penalties ended up causing her to finish the race five laps down. She did finish though, and the Dream Team will be back in action at Las Vegas and again at Texas.

The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Bobby Hamilton -- No. 4 Dodge – finished 7th
2. Rick Crawford -- No. 14 Ford – finished 14th
3. Travis Kvapil -- No. 16 Chevy – finished 4th
4. Ted Musgrave -- No. 1 Dodge -- finished 13th
5. Brendan Gaughan -- No. 62 Dodge – finished 1st
6. Dennis Setzer -- No. 46 Chevy – finished 5th
7. Jason Leffler -- No. 2 Dodge – finished 27th
8. Terry Cook -- No. 29 Ford – finished 9th
9. Jon Wood -- No. 50 Ford – finished 3rd
10. Chad Chaffin -- No. 18 Dodge – finished 8th

Bobby Hamilton is still the driver atop of the point’s standings with 1152 points. Rick Crawford is second with a -73 followed by Brendan Gaughan whose win moved him up two spots to third with a -99. Travis Kvapil and Ted Musgrave both dropped a spot to fourth and fifth with a -108 and a -152.

Dennis Setzer, who has won two races this season (Mesa Marin and Martinsville), is still in sixth place with a -175. Jon Wood’s third place finish moved him up two spots to seventh with a -205, followed by Terry Cook who remains in eighth with a -233. Chad Chaffin moved up one spot to ninth with a -247 followed by Davis Starr who rounds out the top ten with a -267.

The next Craftsman Truck Series race is in two weeks at Memphis Motorsports Park. Race No. 8 on the 2003 season schedule is the O’Reilly 200. The event is scheduled to be televised live by the SPEED channel on Saturday, June 21st at 3 p.m. eastern.

Last season’s winner of the O’Reilly 200 at Memphis was Travis Kvapil. He was followed across the finish line by Terry Cook, Ted Musgrave, Jason Leffler, Dennis Setzer, Rich Bickle, Davis Starr, Coy Gibbs, Rick Crawford, and Brian Roe.

Jason Leffler started from the Bud Pole with a speed of 117.971 miles per hour. There were eight cautions periods for a total of 32 laps out of the 200 lap race on the three quarter mile oval track.

6/22/03……….. Roush Racings Jon Wood won the pole for the Craftsman Truck Series 200th event with a speed of 117.223 miles per hour. Both of Roush’s un-sponsored truck teams made the top five with rookie Carl Edwards qualifying fifth. It seems that Roush has trouble with all of his sponsorships. His Busch teams have had to be closed down, and he’s losing sponsorship in the Cup series for Jeff Burton’s No. 99 CITGO Ford at the end of the season.

Carl Edwards is sitting atop of the rookie standings with 84 points, leading second place Tina Gordon by 29 points. Jodie Lavender is third with 53 points followed by Randy Briggs with 52 points. With only three points separating positions two thru four (55, 53, 52), it will be a toss-up to see who will battle Edwards for the Championship during the remaining races in the season. T. J. Bell and Doug Keller hold positions five and six with 27 and 25 points, so they are far enough down the line to where they won’t be a factor in the rookie battle any time soon.

In the seven races leading up to the Memphis event, Edwards holds the lead as highest finishing rookie of the race. Edwards has two top five finishes, second at Kansas and fourth at Martinsville. His other rookie of the race finishes were at Charlotte crossing the finish line in 12th place and at Mesa Marin, crossing the finish line in 15th place. Randy Briggs was rookie of the race in two races, finishing 14th at Daytona and 13th at Darlington. T. J. Bell is the other rookie of the race winner finishing 12th at Dover.

Ted Musgrave led the most laps of the O’Reilly 200 in Memphis and took the win with the no. 1 Mopar sponsored Dodge to give Ultra Motorsports it’s 28th Craftsman Truck Series win, tying them with Roush Racing for the most wins in the series. It was Musgrave’s second win of the season and his 12th win since joining the series and Ultra Motorsports full time in 2001. Musgrave was the sixth different winner in the six truck series races that have been held at the facility.

Following Musgrave across the finish line were Travis Kvapil, Dennis Setzer, Jon Wood, rookie Carl Edwards (scoring another top five and rookie of the race finish), Jason Leffler, Bobby Hamilton, Brendan Gaughan, Terry Cook, and Matt Crafton.

The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Jon Wood -- No. 50 Ford – finished 4th
2. Chad Chaffin -- No. 18 Dodge – finished 28th
3. Ted Musgrave -- No. 1 Dodge – finished 1st
4. Travis Kvapil -- No. 16 Chevrolet -- finished 2nd
5. * Carl Edwards -- No. 99 Ford—finished 5th
6. Rick Crawford -- No. 14 Ford – finished 11th
7. Jason Leffler -- No. 2 Dodge – finished 6th
8. Bobby Hamilton -- No. 4 Dodge – finished 7th
9. Dennis Setzer -- No. 46 Chevrolet – finished 3rd
10. Terry Cook -- No. 29 Ford – finished 9th

Bobby Hamilton is still leading the driver’s point’s battle with 1303 points. Travis Kvapil moved up two spots to second place and is now listed with a -84. Rick Crawford dropped down one spot to third with a -94 followed by Brendan Gaughan with a -108. Ted Musgrave is still in fifth position and is now listed with a -118 deficit down from leader Hamilton.

Dennis Setzer, Jon Wood, and Terry Cook are still holding positions six thru eighth with a -159, -191, and a -246. Jason Leffler moved up two spots to ninth with a -272 with rookie Carl Edwards moving up four spots to round out the top ten with a -309.

Next week the truck series begins a solid eight week stint beginning with the GNC Live Well 200 on the Milwaukee Mile. The event will be aired by the SPEED channel on Saturday, June 28th at 3 p.m. eastern.

Last season’s winner of the event was Terry Cook. He was followed across the finish line by Jason Leffler, Coy Gibbs, rookie Brendan Gaughan, Ted Musgrave, Davis Starr, Robert Pressley, Mike Bliss, Jon Wood, and Travis Kvapil.

Terry Cook won the Bud pole award with a speed of 119.784 miles per hour. There were three caution periods for a total of ten laps out of the 203 lap race on the one mile oval.

6/29/03……….. Brendan Gaughan finally won a race at a track other than Texas Motor Speedway. Gaughan held on to best Jason Leffler for his fourth career win in his sophomore year in the truck series.

Cup driver Kevin Harvick wrecked out of the race on the fifth lap of the event when he tangled Stan Boyd. Ken Schrader, the other Cup driver who was racing on his weekend off finished 21st, seven laps down.

The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Terry Cook -- No. 29 Ford – finished 7th
2. Brendan Gaughan -- No. 62 Dodge – finished 1st
3. Carl Edwards* -- No. 99 Ford – finished 15th
4. Dennis Setzer -- No. 46 Chevy -- finished 5th
5. Jon Wood -- No. 50 Ford – finished 10th
6. Rick Crawford -- No. 14 Ford – finished 3rd
7. Chad Chaffin -- No. 18 Dodge – finished 13th
8. Ted Musgrave -- No. 1 Dodge – finished 4th
9. Hank Parker Jr. -- No. 75 Chevy – finished 8th
10. Ken Schrader -- No. 10 Chevy – finished 21st

The big deal with Gaughan’s win is his taking command of the driver’s points race. The problem with this is that he is only in the lead by one lousy point! Gaughan’s win moved him up three spots to first place with 1380 points. Bobby Hamilton and Rick Crawford are tied with 1379 with Hamilton dropping down one spot and Crawford remaining at third. Travis Kvapil dropped down two spots to fourth with a -11 while Ted Musgrave remains in fifth with a -30.

Dennis Setzer is still in sixth and is now listed with a -73, followed by Jon Wood -134, Terry Cook -172, Jason Leffler -174, and rookie Carl Edwards -268, rounding out the top ten.

Next week the truck series moves to the Kansas Speedway for race No. 10. The O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 is scheduled to be aired by the SPEED channel on Saturday, July 5th at 2 p.m. eastern.

The winner of last season’s event was Mike Bliss. He was followed across the finish line by Dennis Setzer, Coy Gibbs, Jason Leffler, Ted Musgrave, Terry Cook, Robert Pressley, Carl Edwards, Jon Wood, and Matt Crafton.

Jason Leffler won the Budweiser pole award with a speed of 165.812 miles per hour. There were six caution periods for a total of 29 laps out of the 250 mile 167 lap race on the 1.5 mile oval.