8/8/04… Chad Chaffin won his second race of the year on the .686 mile Indianapolis Raceway Park oval. Regular Busch Series driver and Cup Series rookie Johnny Sauter was burning up the track in a rare Truck Series outing, dominating the event when his truck went south, allowing Chaffin to take the lead at the end of the race when it counted. Chaffin made his pass with less than a half a lap remaining to take the checkered flag!

A couple of the Cup Series drivers found out that short track racing with the trucks isn't as easy as it looks. Michael Waltrip lost control of his truck after only a mere 14 laps and was wrecked out of the event, while his retired brother D W finished the race in the 28th position, three laps down. Ken Schrader, another Cup Series veteran, also found the wall and wrecked out at lap 75.

Following Chaffin across the finish line in the top ten were Johnny Sauter, Bobby Hamilton, Travis Kvapil, Carl Edwards, Shane Hmiel, Matt Crafton, Rick Crawford, rookie Tracy Hines, and Denny Hamlin. The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Jack Sprague -- #16 Chevy – finished 18th
2. Bobby Hamilton -- #4 Dodge – finished 3rd
3. Travis Kvapil -- #24 Toyota – finished 4th
4. Mike Skinner -- #42 Toyota -- finished 13th
5. Chad Chaffin -- #18 Dodge -- finished 1st
6. Johnny Sauter -- #43 Chevy – finished 2nd
7. Denny Hamlin -- #03 Chevy – finished 10th
8. Carl Edwards -- #99 Ford – finished 5th
9. Ted Musgrave -- #1 Dodge – finished 25th
10. David Reutimann* -- #17 Dodge – finished 17th

Bobby Hamilton's third place finish moved him up one spot to take the driver's point's lead over Dennis Setzer by a mere five points. Carl Edwards remains in third listed with a -122 down from new leader Hamilton. Chad Chaffin's victory moved him up two spots to fourth listed with a -138. Matt Crafton remains in fifth listed now with a -174. Travis Kvapil moved up one spot to sixth listed with a -189, followed by Ted Musgrave, whose paltry finish caused him to lose three spots down to seventh listed now with a -230. Rick Crawford, Mike Skinner, and Jack Sprague remain in 8th, 9th, and 10th respectively listed with a -291, -351, and a -363.

Next week the Truck Series moves east to Nashville Superspeedway for the Toyota Tundra 200. One of the Sam Bass Gibson designer guitars will be up for grabs as the trophy, viewable on the SPEED channel Saturday, August 14th, at 5 pm eastern.

Last season's winner of the Nashville event was rookie Carl Edwards, followed by Ted Musgrave, Rick Crawford, David Starr, Brendan Gaughan, Chad Chaffin, Jon Wood, Dennis Setzer, Travis Kvapil, and Matt Crafton.

Chad Chaffin won the Bud Pole Award in the #18 Dodge with a speed of 130.596 miles per hour. There were three caution periods for a total of 17 laps out of the 150 lap event on the 1.333 mile oval.

08/15/04… The wily racing veteran Bobby Hamilton had been trying to win the coveted Nashville Superspeedway Gibson guitar winners trophy for 15 years. The native Tennessean has entered all kinds of different events at the track in different racing series just to get a chance to own one of the designer trophy guitars that has been the benchmark of the speedway for many years.

As usual, Hamilton's #4 Square D sponsored Dodge was a powerhouse. He started 15th and by lap 40 he had worked his way solidly into the top five and was a contender for the win from that point on in the 150 lap event. Bobby Hamilton Jr. started out on the pole with the #04 Dodge, owned by his father, and led a lot of laps until his dad got up there with him. Bobby Jr. has a lot of experience on the concrete surfaced Nashville Superspeedway from racing there in the Busch Series. Then, Jr. handed the reins over to his dad, with veteran Ted Musgrave also knocking on the door to get the win away from the Hamilton's. Toward the end of the event, Texan David Starr found himself up there in the fray at the front dueling with Musgrave and the Hamilton's for the lead spot.

Following Hamilton across the finish line were David Starr, Ted Musgrave, Bobby Hamilton Jr., Steve Park, Johnny Benson, Matt Crafton, rookies Robert Huffman and David Reutimann, and Mike Skinner. The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Bobby Hamilton Jr. -- #04 Dodge -- finished 4th
2. David Reutimann* -- #17 Toyota -- finished 9th
3. Dennis Setzer -- #46 Chevy -- finished 19th
4. Matt Crafton -- #6 Chevy -- finished 7th
5. Shane Hmiel -- #15 Chevy -- finished 11th
6. Bill Lester -- #22 Toyota -- finished 31st
7. Robert Huffman* -- #12 Toyota -- finished 8th
8. David Starr -- #75 Chevy -- finished 2nd
9. Hank Parker Jr. -- #21 Toyota -- finished 15th
10. Travis Kvapil -- #24 Toyota -- finished 13th

It was good to see Steve Park get a top five finish, he's had some terrible luck over the last few years in both the Busch and Cup Series. I'd like to see him keep his ride in the #62 Orleans sponsored Dodge that Brendan Gaughan won in so much last season. Another oddity was having two rookies finish in the top ten with so much aggressive racing that is prevalent in the Truck Series. Former Cup Series drivers Johnny Benson and Mike Skinner both fought hard for their positions, with former Cup veterans making up half of the top ten finishers.

After race 15 on the 25 event Truck Series schedule, Bobby Hamilton has increased his lead in the driver's championship point's standings to 84 points over second place driver Dennis Setzer. With ten events remaining in the season, Setzer still has a chance to move back up to the top spot that he held for several weeks before Hamilton took over. Chad Chaffin moved up one spot to third listed now with a -196, followed by Carl Edwards who dropped down one spot to fourth listed with a -204. Matt Crafton remains in the fifth position listed now with a -213. Ted Musgrave's third place finish moved him up one spot to sixth listed with a -245, followed by defending Truck Series Champion Travis Kvapil who dropped down one spot to seventh listed with a -250. The points take a higher turn now with Rick Crawford and Mike Skinner remaining in eighth and ninth listed with a -385 and a -402 respectively. David Starr's second place finish moved him up one spot to round out the top ten with a -403.

The next event for the Truck Series is ten days away. Race #16 is the O'Reilly 200 at the Bristol Motor Speedway on Wednesday, August 25th at 9 pm eastern. The event will be aired live by the SPEED channel.

Last season's winner of the mid-week Bristol night race was Travis Kvapil, followed by Robert Pressley, Rick Crawford, Brendan Gaughan, Dennis Setzer, Matt Crafton, Chad Chaffin, Jon Wood, Jason Leffler, and Kevin Harvick rounding out the top ten.

Ted Musgrave won the Bud Pole Award in the #1 Mopar Dodge with a speed of 123.562 miles per hour. There were six caution periods for a total of 27 laps out of the 200 lap event on the 0.533 mile oval concrete surfaced short track.

08/28/04… Carl Edwards won his third event of the 2004 season and the sixth of his Craftsman Truck Series career. The sophomore driver worked his way up to the front after getting relegated to the rear of the field from making unapproved changes due to damages suffered in a qualifying altercation.

The race appeared to belong to Mike Skinner, who led the majority of the 200 lap event (127 laps) which ended up taking 206 laps to complete. Skinner was trying to hold off Dennis Setzer, who had fresh tires, and the two got together taking them both out of contention. Although it cost Skinner his chances for a first victory in 2004, the altercation dropped Setzer farther down in the championship point's standings.

Shane Hmiel found himself in a better position after the Skinner/Setzer altercation, and vied for the win with Edwards during the green, white, checker restart that ensued. Following Edwards across the finish line in the top ten were Shane Hmiel, Matt Crafton, Robby Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Hank Parker Jr., David Starr, Travis Kvapil, Steve Park, and Ken Schrader. The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Ken Schrader -- #52 Chevy -- finished 10th
2. Mike Skinner -- #42 Toyota -- finished 23rd
3. David Starr-- #75 Chevy -- finished 7th
4. Shane Hmiel -- #15 Chevy -- finished 2nd
5. Carl Edwards -- #99 Ford -- finished 1st
6. Kevin Harvick -- #92 Chevy -- finished 5th
7. Terry Cook -- #10 Ford -- finished 24th
8. Chad Chaffin -- #18 Dodge -- finished 29th
9. Steve Park -- #62 Dodge -- finished 9th
10. Matt Crafton -- #6 Chevy -- finished 3rd

After the event, the Setzer and Skinner teams got into a big shouting match sprouting obscenities which could be heard the length of pit road. The Setzer camp was livid about being held up by the slower Skinner who knew he was on older tires, while they were vying for championship points. The Skinner contention was upset about being hit from the rear and getting spun out of the event which could possibly have given Skinner his first victory of 2004. When things cooled down some, the Skinner team realized that he would have been hard pressed to win the event on old tires if he was having a problem holding off Setzer, and they conceded that they shouldn't have been holding Setzer up as he was vying for championship points. Blame it all on the "heat of the moment," both teams were racing for real estate that each thought they had a right to at that given time. Actually, both teams did have a right to the space; it was just one of those racing deals.

The driver's point's standings remain the same at the top. Bobby Hamilton had a paltry run at Bristol, finishing 12th. Dennis Setzer was trying hard to gain points on him, but didn't have any luck. Hamilton holds the top spot by 96 points over second place Setzer. Event winner Car Edwards moved up one spot to third listed with a -146, followed by Matt Crafton who moved up one spot to fourth listed with a -175. Travis Kvapil's top ten finish moved him up two spots to round out the top five listed with a -235.

Chad Chaffin, who finished several laps down in 29th place dropped down three positions to sixth listed with a -247. Ted Musgrave also had major problems and dropped down one spot to seventh listed with a -290. Musgrave was at the top of the standings last season, but has fallen short this year by a wide margin. David Starr moved up two spots to eighth listed with a -384, followed by Rick Crawford who dropped down one spot to ninth listed with a -400. Mike Skinner's bad luck dropped him down one spot to round out the top ten listed with a -425.

The next Truck Series event is in two weeks at the Richmond International Raceway. The Craftsman Truck Series 200 is scheduled to be aired live by the SPEED channel on Thursday, September 9th, at 8:30 pm eastern.

Last season's winner of the September night event t Richmond was Cup driver Tony Stewart. He was followed across the finish line in the top ten by Robert Pressley, Ted Musgrave, Jon Wood, Dennis Setzer, Rick Crawford, Brendan Gaughan, Bobby Hamilton. Travis Kvapil, and Johnny Sauter.