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Ford 200
| Homestead-Miami Speedway
Race No. 25 | November 18-19, 2004
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Good morning from South Florida!
11-18-2004 8:16 am
The sun crested over the Atlantic very early this morning, the dew on the ground has evaporated, and there is a rumble of 46 V-8 engines reverberating through the garage area at Homestead-Miami Speedway as the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series prepares for the 25th, and final, event of the 2004 season. Practice for the championship-deciding Ford 200 is scheduled for an 8:30 am ET start, which is just moments from now. If you are trapped in an office with nothing but flouroscent light to get you through the day, turn your monitor away from the door so the boss won't see what you're looking at and keep it locked on to TruckSeries.com...we'll keep you updated on everything going on with the championship battle as well as the race for the final checkered flag of the season right here at TrackSideLive, presented by Team ASE and CARQUEST.
Trucks are rolling!
11-18-2004 8:21 am
The trucks have rolled on to the track, and practice is underway...we'll keep you abreast of all the action as it happens!
They Said It, Practice 1 No. 1
11-18-2004 8:26 am
Kevin Starland, crew chief, No. 99 Ford: "Remember Carl, this track is very sandy and you have sticker tires on there, so take it easy until you get some heat in the tires. It's going to be slick."
Deborah Renshaw, No. 29 Ford: "It doesn't remind me of any place yet. There is a lot of throttle time here. There is a lot of room here. No we need to work on it and get faster."
Shane Hmiel, No. 15 Chevrolet: "I don't think we need to scuff tires maybe a lap or two at the most."
They Said It, Practice 1 No. 2
11-18-2004 8:31 am
Robert Huffman, No. 12 Toyota: "It doesn't feel like it's getting down on the front end at all. Let's take some spring out of the right front."
Trip Bruce, crew chief, No. 2 Dodge: "I have heard a lot of chatter about scuffs or stickers. Maybe we can go and scuff in a set and let them sit here for a while and see what they do. I don't think there is a difference in five minute scuffs or two hour scuffs."
Hank Parker, Jr., No. 12 Toyota: "Let's take that 400 out of the right front."
Mike Skinner, No. 5 Toyota: "It is real, real good coming off the turn. The problem is I can't get into the corner, it's like it has too much right front spring. We need to go with the Vegas spring. I would take out a good 75 out of the right front."
Practice 1 Rundown 1
11-18-2004 8:42 am
1. Setzer, 32.114
2. Crafton, 32.138
3. Musgrave, 32.289
4. Starr, 32.290
5. Lester, 32.334
6. Labonte, 32.340
7. Kahne, 32.360
8. Park, 32.417
9. Bodine, 32.465
10. Sprague, 32.476
11. Benson, 32.495
12. Kvapil, 32.638
13. Cook, 32.644
14. Crawford, 32.705
15. Chaffin, 32.764
16. Hmiel, 32.774
17. Reutimann, 32.811
18. Houston, 32.820
19. Keselowski, 32.832
20. Schrader, 32.857
21. Huffman, 32.902
22. Parker, Jr., 32.919
23. Montgomery, 32.969
24. Whitt, 33.125
25. Hines, 33.149
26. Jefferson, 33.176
27. Skinner, 33.239
28. Edwards, 33.258
29. Biffle, 33.289
30. Lynch, 33.370
31. Sutton, 33.552
32. Murphy, 33.571
33. Schendel, 33.603
34. Wood, 33.606
35. Renshaw, 33..795
36. Small, 33.860
37. Patton, 33.906
38. Norris, 34.615
39. Bagwell, 35.933
They Said It, Practice 1 No. 3
11-18-2004 8:49 am
Mike Skinner, No. 5 Toyota: "It feels like the front end is a hundred miles away from where it needs to be. We need to put out the big fire first before we start making little minor changes. When I go down into the corner, if I use my normal entry, the truck will get up into the marbles and into the wall."
Terry Cook, No. 10 Ford: "It feels pretty sporty."
Tracy Hines, No. 88 Chevrolet: "It doesn't feel as tight in turns one and two, but I think it is the way I am driving it down in there."
TruckShots posted
11-18-2004 8:54 am
The first batch of TruckShots from Thursday morning are now posted in our exclusive photo gallery.
Click here to check it out
...don't forget, you can make comments, vote for your favorite images, and view the images by most page views, and a whole lot more!
They Said It, Practice 1 No. 4
11-18-2004 8:56 am
Shigeaki Hattori, No. 01 Toyota: "I can go down to the bottom and then it is big tight. Getting in the corner it is a 9. Coming off the corner, it is a 5."
Mike Skinner, No. 5 Toyota: "I can say it 47 different ways, we need to fix the problem getting into the corner."
Practice 1 Rundown 2
11-18-2004 9:05 am
1. Labonte, 31.736
2. Hamilton, 31.839
3. Lester, 31.910
4. Musgrave, 31.935
5. Setzer, 32.003
6. Crafton, 32.010
7. R. Smith, 32.037
8. Chaffin, 32.096
9. Starr, 32.121
10. Kvapil, 32.121
11. Reutimann, 32.164
12. Park, 32.173
13. Schrader, 32.204
14. Bodine, 32.233
15. Edwards, 32.272
16. Sprague, 32.275
17. Jefferson, 32.289
18. Huffman, 32.298
19. Cook, 32.343
20. Kahne, 32.360
21. Crawford, 32.379
22. Wood, 32.450
23. Biffle, 32.476
24. Benson, 32.495
25. Schendel, 32.507
26. Keselowski, 32.576
27. Hines, 32.637
28. Hmiel, 32.663
29. Norris, 32.729
30. K. Weaver, 32.820
31. Montgomery, 32.969
32. Patton, 32.975
33. Houston, 32.976
34. Sanders, 33.088
35. Sutton, 33.135
36. Murphy, 33.150
37. Hattori, 33.243
38. Cope, 33.368
39. Small, 33.375
40. Renshaw, 33.411
41. E. Jones, 33.754
42. Bagwell, 35.933
Team Chick changing an engine
11-18-2004 9:15 am
Team Chick Motorsports is busy changing an engine after Eric Jones experienced some engine problems out on the track. The team is busy pulling the primary engine out, and will have a back-up Tri-Star powerplant installed shortly. They hope to make it back out before the end of practice.
They Said It, Practice 1 No. 5
11-18-2004 9:17 am
Terry Cook, No. 10 Ford: "I didn't feel tight. I just felt it bouncing over the ripples."
Jack Sprague, No. 16 Chevrolet: "I went through one and two really good. I think we are close enough to scuff some tires and figure out how to qualify this thing."
Practice 1 Rundown 3
11-18-2004 9:55 am
1. Chaffin, 31.307
2. Labonte, 31.585
3. Benson, 31.654
4. Sprague, 31.676
5. Park, 31.694
6. Crafton, 31.695
7. Musgrave, 31.714
8. Starr, 31.742
9. Edwards, 31.767
10. Hamilton, 31.774
11. Schrader, 31.791
12. Reutimann, 31.851
13. Lester, 31.895
14. Kvapil, 31.929
15. Whitt, 31.985
16. Setzer, 32.003
17. Bodine, 32.022
18. Norris, 32.026
19. R. Smith, 32.037
20. Parker, Jr., 32.077
21. Kahne, 32.086
22. Schendel, 32.148
23. Hmiel, 32.162
24. Jefferson, 32.199
25. Hines, 32.245
26. Cook, 32.282
27. Montgomery, 32.291
28. Huffman, 32.298
29. Wood, 32.319
30. Crawford, 32.379
31. Skinner, 32.394
32. Biffle, 32.404
33. Houston, 32.487
34. Keselowski, 32.576
35. Hattori, 32.630
36. Sanders, 32.670
37. Weaver, 32.820
38. Patton, 32.850
39. Lynch, 32.909
40. Sutton, 32.939
41. Renshaw, 33.016
42. Murphy, 33.056
43. Small, 33.244
44. E. Jones, 33.293
45. Cope, 33.368
46. Bagwell, 35.123
Schedule for Thursday
11-18-2004 10:03 am
Here is the schedule for today's NCTS activities at Homestead-Miami Speedway: 8:30 am-10:45 am ET: NCTS Practice 1 pm ET: NCTS Bud Pole Qualifying (
Click here for Live! Bud Pole Qualifying Powered by the Chevrolet Silverado All-Stars
, an exclusive feature of TruckSeries.com) 4:15 pm ET (approx.): NCTS Final Practice (time permitting)
Practice 1 Rundown 4
11-18-2004 10:33 am
Just five minutes remain in practice...here is the rundown as they stand:
1. Chaffin, 31.295
2. Reutimann, 31.370
3. Labonte, 31.585
4. Musgrave, 31.630
5. Benson, 31.654
6. Park, 31.672
7. Sprague, 31.676
8. Crafton, 31.695
9. Schrader, 31.725
10. Starr, 31742
11. Whitt, 31.755
12. Edwards, 31.767
13. Hamilton, 31.774
14. Skinner, 31.868
15. Lester, 31.895
16. R. Smith, 31.895
17. Kvapil, 31.929
18. Bodine, 31.947
19. Setzer, 32.003
20. Kahne, 32.007
21. Norris, 32.026
22. Parker, Jr., 32.033
23. Schendel, 32.148
24. Hmiel, 32.162
25. Montgomery, 32.194
26. Hines, 32.195
27. Jefferson, 32.199
28. Crawford, 32.238
29. Cook, 32.282
30. Huffman, 32.298
31. Murphy, 32.314
32. Wood, 32.319
33. Biffle, 32.404
34. Houston, 32.487
35. Keselowski, 32.576
36. Sanders, 32.614
37. Hattori, 32.630
38. Jones, 32.743
39. Weaver, 32.820
40. Patton, 32.850
41. Lynch, 32.909
42. Sutton, 32.939
43. Renshaw, 33.016
44. Small, 33.244
45. Cope, 33.368
46. Bagwell, 34.856
Championship contender press conference just concluded
11-18-2004 12:22 am
The four championship contenders just met with the media in a high spirited 20 minute press conference. TrackSideLive! was there, and we will have the full press conference posted here shortly.
Stickers versus scuffs
11-18-2004 12:37 pm
Many teams were finding the one-year-old asphalt here at Homestead-Miami Speedway to be a little tricky with sticker tires this morning. Several tried stickers and washed up the track and out of the groove, and found that scuffed tires (sometimes with as many as 15 laps on them) were the fastest and best handling combination. Many teams will attempt to qualify on scuffs rather than go with sticker (new) tires.
TrackSideAudio!
11-18-2004 1:25 pm
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High Sierra Photo
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Earlier NASCAR held a press conference featuring (from left, Carl Edwards, Bobby Hamilton, Dennis Setzer and Ted Musgrave) contenders for the championship in the Craftsman Truck Series.
Listen
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Click here
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Notable Quotables No. 1: Ford Post-qualifying
11-18-2004 3:23 pm
Jon Wood, No. 50 Ford: "We're just fighting it; that's about it. We haven't been good since we unloaded and we need to use every minute of Happy Hour to get it turned around. Passing isn't a problem here, so it's not as big of a deal to start in the back, just when it comes to pick pit stalls. This track is pretty easy to work with people on, with it being so wide, but first we need to get the truck handling where we can pull around people and make the pass."
Terry Cook, No. 10 Ford: "We say it every week, we've got a good race truck, but for whatever reason, we go into qualifying mode and we're terrible. We're going to go to work on it. Qualifying is behind us. It doesn't really matter where you start, it's where you finish. We just didn't want to be back there too far, but it looks like we're going to be back there a little ways at any rate. We'll get ready for Happy Hour, but just knowing we have a good race truck is
somewhat comforting. Obviously, something we need to work on during the off-season is our qualifying packages. Knowing that we're going to impound the trucks after a lot of qualifying sessions next year will probably help a
ton. We just need to figure out how to make it qualify and race fast, and we'll work on that during the off-season."
HOW HAS THE TRACK AGED SINCE LAST YEAR AND HOW IS TIRE WEAR?
"Tire wear is fine. The track seems to have a lot of grip. I think it's lost a little bit of grip from last year, but it still has a lot of grip. Right now, it seems like the track is getting slicker the hotter it gets. If you're loose you're just going to
get looser, and if you're tight you're just going to get tighter. It doesn't means it's going to be looser for everybody, it just means the track is losing overall grip and everybody is starting to slip and slide around a bit, and that was our problem in qualifying."
WILL THERE BE TWO RACING GROOVES TOMORROW?
"I definitely think so. I'd like to see the top groove move up a little bit and I think it will. Unfortunately, we're the first to
race, and typically during the race is when it moves up so by the time the Busch race and the Cup race gets around here they should have a great three-groove track. Right now, I think we have a solid two-groove track."
Carl Edwards, No. 99 Ford: "The guys did great and we've just got a great truck and a great team. The way we've been
running lately, we're a championship-caliber team, it's just we didn't run this way the whole season. The Cup car has really been helping my Superchips team a lot, as far as getting that experience. Hopefully we can stay up there and lead a couple of laps, so this will be fun. The neat thing about this place is the way the banking varies from the bottom to the top, I think you'll see a lot like what we see at Atlanta and everybody will go into the corner and fan out and run three wide."
DID YOU GET EVERYTHING OUT OF THE TRUCK IN QUALIFYING?
"I feel really good about that. I feel like the track has slowed down quite a bit and we went a tick faster than we
did in practice, so I feel really, really good about it. The guys did an awesome job of getting everything and all of their little tricks to get it to go as fast as it would go because I thought it was a really slow lap. As comfortable as it felt and as slippery as the track felt, I didn't think it was going to be that fast."
HOW HAS THE TRACK AGED SINCE LAST YEAR? "I really like it. The only thing that's hard about it is that it's so perfect
and seamless that you can't see the seams; you can't tell where the banking changes. A couple of times I found myself loosening it up by putting the left-front tire on the seam. You can't really see it and you can just feel it; it's that good."
TALK ABOUT YOUR MENTALITY ENTERING THE RACE GIVEN YOUR CURRENT STANDING IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP?
"We're just going to try to win the race and cap off the season right for Superchips. The championship isn't going to be won or lost right here in this race. It's the whole season, but this race can be lost right here, so we're going to make sure not to do that."
Rick Crawford, No. 14 Ford: "They really built a race track here at Miami-Homestead Speedway. I have had some success here in both configurations. I've won here, and last year we led to the white flag and got beat by Hamilton on the last lap. You can race here and have a good time and showcase the talents of your team. It takes the total package
to win here. It's a good race track here and we hope the Circle Bar Ford sponsored by Real Tree Outdoors can get up front tomorrow. Maybe we can sneak up on them with this camouflage paint scheme."
TALK ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING RUN.
"My truck was a little tight. If you can tell what you're truck is doing and know how to adjust it, you know what killed off some speed and I think that's what hurt me a little bit. It's a good effort and it's a little bit better than what we did last week, so we'll just keep trying to get better at it."
Greg Biffle, No. 44 Ford: "That was pretty near to being flat out. I just lifted a little bit in the corners to kind of set the nose. We just need a little more time to work at it and we'll get it a little better."
HOW ARE THE TRACK CONDITIONS RIGHT NOW?
"Right now the track isn't very slick, but with new tires you'll always think there's a lot of grip. We'll see in Happy Hour what it's like, and it might get a little slick. There will probably be a lot of three-wide racing in the corners tomorrow because the corners are real wide, and you'll need good grip to get the trucks to stick."
Notable Quotables No. 2: Chevy Post-qualifying
11-18-2004 3:29 pm
Matt Crafton, No. 6 Chevrolet: “I like being the last truck out because you know right away what you need to do and where you end up. This is our best qualifying effort so far. It seemed like we were one of the very few trucks who got a better second lap that first from a qualifying run. Our GM Goodwrench Silverado came off the truck fast and are pleased with our qualifying run. I was hoping to get Kevin Harvick Inc. their first pole. We came close but now we will just focus on getting our first win tomorrow and it will have a really good season for us. It would be nice to finish our last race for KHI in victory lane and really go out with a bang.”
Jack Sprague, No. 16 Chevrolet: “Our Chevy Trucks Silverado came off the truck fast. I was just a little tight for qualifying and our first lap was not even close to where we practiced but I knew what to expect so we were able to lay down a pretty decent second lap. We will have happy hour this afternoon to fine-tune our race setup. I am excited about the race tomorrow. This has always been a good place for us even though it has changed almost everytime we have raced here. This is our last shot to win a race this season so we really have our focus on the race tomorrow and ending the season with a great run.”
Bobby Labonte, No. 47 Chevrolet: “The No. 47 Chevrolet Silverado has been good since the first lap of practice. We put up some good laps during practice but we knew the track was going to change after Busch practice and the temperatures warmed up from what they were when we practiced this morning. I am happy with our qualifying effort and our starting spot for tomorrow’s race. It is a whole lot better than the 35th place we started from at Martinsville because of the rain. We are going back to the truck and discuss where we need to start happy hour so we can make the right changes to get us a good starting spot for tomorrows race.
David Starr, No. 75 Chevrolet: “Not really too happy with our qualifying effort in the Spears Silverado but I really feel like we have a good piece for tomorrow’s race. We had a pretty decent lap in practice this morning but the track warmed up a bunch and slicked up by the time qualifying started and we were just a little loose. I really feel good about the race tomorrow so we will just work on the improvements we need in happy hour.
Dennis Setzer, No. 46 Chevrolet: "We got real loose going into one there on the first lap and it hurt us quite a bit. I believe everyone that went out early backed up a little bit though. The clouds came out and cooled the track off late in qualifying, so that helped a lot of the guys who went out later. Our truck is driving pretty good, and I think with some adjustments, we will be fine for the race. Its just so competitive in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series that if you are off just a little bit, you are going to start or finish a lot worse than you would have just a year or two ago.
"This is a long race and I we all saw last year that anything can happen. I know that Danny and the guys will make some great adjustments and calls to get us there in the end. We'll just have to run our race and see how it all falls together tomorrow."
Shane Hmiel, No. 15 CHevrolet: “We were just too loose in qualifying. Between the rubber from Busch practice and the warmer temperatures, we just didn’t make quite the right adjustments on our Trimspa Silverado. But still, we don’t have a bad starting spot for tomorrow and the good news is we have happy hour to make some final race adjustments so we can make a run for our second win of the year. I would like to give my guys at Billy Ballew Motorsports one more win to thank them for the great season we have had in the No. 15 Silverado this season.”
Kelly Sutton, No. 02 Chevrolet: "Once again my crew made some great calls in the garage, and we picked up a bunch of time since practice. That gear change is exactly what we needed. The truck felt great, but was still a little loose getting down into one. Happy hour will give us a chance to fine tune the truck and get it in race trim. Homestead is one of my favorite tracks, and we ran very well last year, after starting in about the same place. When that green flag drops tomorrow, there are going to be 36 of us looking for our best finish of the season, and it ought to get pretty exciting."
How competitive was qualifying?
11-18-2004 3:32 pm
With 46 trucks taking time, it was one of the most competitive sessions of the season. There were some surprises along the way, including one driver in provisional land that is not used to being there, and one driver who has two trophies on his shelf from this season on his way home.
Pole Progression:
Scott Lynch, out first, 33.259 seconds, did not qualify
Jon Wood, out second, 32.300 seconds, starts 30th
Jack Sprague, out fourth,31.750 seconds, starts 4th
Carl Edwards, out 25th, 31.684 seconds, starts third
David Reutimann, out 40th, starts first
Big surprises in qualifying were Terry Cook, who qualified 35th, and will start 33rd after taking a provisional. But the biggest surprise in qualifying had to be Todd Bodine. Bodine has won two races this season in the Germain/Arnold Racing Toyota, but was forced to roll the truck on the trailer after a bad qualifying lap. Without running a full season, Bodine is not high enough in points to be eligible for a provisional, and does not have enough attempts to bump his way into the field.
Post Qualifying Audio!
11-18-2004 3:33 pm
After qualifying, TrackSideLive! heads to the garage for comments from
Dennis Setzer,
Bobby Hamilton,
David Starr,
Bobby Labonte
and pole sitter
David Reutimann.
Click on name for audio. You must have the Windows Media Player installed, or a program capable of handling Windows Media .wma files.
Click here
for free player
Notable Quotables No. 3: ToyotaPost-qualifying
11-18-2004 3:40 pm
David Reutimann, No. 17 Toyota: “We didn’t unload that way, but the guys made a bunch of changes and got it really good in practice. There was lot less grip when we qualified, than it had been all day. So, the truck drove quite a bit different. I expected to run quite a bit quicker than that, but if you look at the times a lot of the guys fell off. The track probably had a little less grip.”
We started off doing race runs this morning. Once we got comfortable in race trim – about halfway or two-thirds of the way through practice – we started working on qualifying runs. Early, early on we got it comfortable in race trim—felt like it was really consistent and that’s when we made the switch to qualifying trim. It was pretty good at that point too. Didn’t drive anything like it did during qualifying. It was pretty tight during qualifying trim, tracks a little hotter. I've never raced here before in this configuration. Two years ago when it was flat, I started a Busch race here and ran two laps and the motor broke. I've been coming here for years in All-Pro cars back eveen when it was square, before they reconfigured it. But, never have run any laps with the way it is now.
One of our strong points has been at the bigger race tracks this year.
Bill Lester, No. 22 Toyota: “Going into qualifying, I was extremely apprehensive. We rolled off the hauler and we were really good. Then we put ‘stickers’ on and got kind of lost. We went in the wrong direction. We tried to recapture what we had this morning, and we weren’t able to do that. So, we weren’t really sure what we had going into qualifying. We were a little too free on entry. But, the qualifying run backs up what we did this morning. We’re really confident on long runs and think we’ll have a good race truck.”“
Mike Skinner, No. 5 Toyota: “It’s been three really disappointing weeks. I think we went from the best team out there in my opinion -- to the middle-of-the-pack. It’s really a sad, sad, thing to watch. The only thing to do is get through this race and then sit down and reevaulate things with Bill Davis. Hopefully, we can put something together that will let us race for the championship. It’s a shame because we have the best horsepower we ever had, a great body and great people to work with at TRD (Toyota Racing Development).”
Todd Bodine, No. 30 Toyota: "“We’re pretty disappointed. Since we began running the Tundra at Richmond, we’ve been fast everywhere. My truck’s been running great. We’ve been focusing on being fast in the race, rather than fast in qualifying. Obviously, we struggled today. I’m not really sure exactly what happened during our run, but we had an engine problem and are temperatures were low. So, I’m not exactly sure what it was. We’ll have to look it over and find out what was the problem.”
Shigeaki Hattori, No. 01 Toyota: “We had a good test at Chicago and Kentucky, but this track is totally different. I drove this track before when it was different, but I’ve never driven it with the high banking. The other big problem this morning was that I’ve never driven in traffic. That was a new experience. This morning, we didn’t do any qualifying practice and we didn’t use any ‘srubbed’ tires. Also, I hit the wall this morning, but they were able to fix. I’m getting better ever time I drive the truck, but I didn’t have as much seat time as I would have liked.”
Notable Quotables No. 4: Raybestos Rookie Post-qualifying
11-18-2004 3:45 pm
David Reutimann, No. 17 Toyota:
YOU'VE BEEN FAST ALL DAY.
"We didn't unload that way but the guys made a bunch of changes and got it really good in practice. The track was a lot less free and had a lot less grip when we qualified than it had been all day. The truck drove a quite a bit different. I expected to run quite a bit quicker than that. Looking at the times a lot of the guys fell off so the track probably had a little less grip in it. Hopefully it'll hold up. Shane Hmiel has got to run and some other guys. He's prone to run a good lap too so we'll see how it shakes out." DID
YOU FOCUS ON RACE OR QUALIFYING SETUP IN PRACTICE?
"We started off doing race runs and then about ¾ of the way through practice we switched to qualifying, once we got comfortable in race trim. We'll see what it does. Early on we got it really, really comfortable in race trim and felt like it was really consistent and that's when we made the switch to qualifying trim. It was pretty good at that point, too. It didn't drive anything like it did earlier today. It was pretty tight in qualifying trim but the track is a little hotter and some other stuff."
HAVE YOU RACED HERE BEFORE?
"Never raced here in this configuration. I started a Busch race and made seven laps before the motor broke two years ago when it was flat. I've been coming here for years in All Pro cars and everything back even when it was kind of a square before they reconfigured it the first time but have never run any laps with the way that it is now."
YOU SEEM TO RUN WELL AT TRACKS THAT ARE THIS SIZE.
"I think one of our strong suits has been the bigger racetracks this year. Bobby Kennedy and Jason Overstreet have a lot of experience doing that. It was a good effort on everybody's part. I think we are a little bit better on the bigger racetracks. We're going to try to get better at the smaller stuff in the off-season."
IS THAT BECAUSE OF WIND TUNNEL TIME AND AERODYNAMICS?
"I think it all adds up. There's not any one thing that makes a huge difference because everybody's got good stuff. You try to step up when you can and make changes and I think that's what Toyota's done. I felt like we had a shot at the pole. I really felt like we had a shot at it. I felt like that at Atlanta, too. After Chad went out there and didn't run as good as I expected him to run, I was watching some guys there and some guys were falling off and some weren't. I knew if our truck drove like it did in practice that we'd have a shot at a good position."
IS THE GOAL A TOP-FIVE FINISH HERE IN THE RACE?
"We'll do our final practice and see what we've got there. I'm pretty excited about tomorrow. We're out here in the homeland here. It was make a lot of the bad stuff we've had go this year if we get a good top-five finish out of here strong like that."
IS IT EXTRA SPECIAL TO RUN WELL HERE?
"It is. I've got lots of friends and family coming down and stuff like that. It would be good to put on a show for them. We've got people from NTN here too so they deserve a good run as well as do all the people at Toyota. Everybody needs a good run."
REUTIMANN PRESS CONFERENCE
"It really didn't run as good in our qualifying laps as it did in practice but I think a lot of guys gave up a little bit. I think the track lost some grip because the track temp was quite a bit hotter than when we practiced this morning. We unloaded decent, but not really where we needed to be. Jason Overstreet and Bobby Kennedy made the adjustments that we needed and we got pretty good. We were really good in qualifying trim. We knew that the first lap was probably going to be our best lap because of the way our truck was and how we had it geared. One lap was fortunately all we needed because the second lap wasn't too great. It's good to come here to Homestead, a track that I've never been on before in this new configuration and get a pole. That's pretty special."
WHAT IS IT GOING TO TAKE TO DO WELL HERE IN THE RACE?
"In practice I never really got around anybody. I was all by myself. In final practice hopefully we'll make the adjustments we need to make to be good. You're going to have to have your truck rolling through the center good. I think the groove is probably going to move up as our race goes on. Right now it's kind of on the bottom. The trucks seem to be pretty bad aero-tight behind another truck because they punch such a big hole in the air anyway. Your truck is going to have to rotate good through the center. The tires don't seem to be an issue; Goodyear brings a great tire everywhere we go. The main deal is to get your truck going good through the center and try to stay up front and get some air on the nose."
HOW SPECIAL WOULD IT BE TO DO WELL IN YOUR HOMESTATE?
"It'd be great. We don't get the chance to come to Florida too often. Daytona is a special place and this place has always been cool. It's neat to come down here. I've got a lot of friends and family coming down so it would be good to do well in my home state. It wouldn't hurt my feelings any to come out of here with a win."
DID YOU HAVE TO BUY A LOT OF TICKETS?
"I kind of scammed on some sponsors and stuff to get 'em . They helped us out a lot. NTN has been good to us all year. I try to sneak 'em on the sponsor stuff."
HOW DOES THIS CONFIGURATION COMPARE TO THE OLD DESIGN?
"I ran the All Pro Series when it was kind of a square and then when the reconfigured it I ran a Busch race down here. We made seven laps and had a motor failure. It's way better. It's not the same racetrack. This is a cool place. It's very racy. They got it right. It's smooth as glass and you can't ask for much more, I don't think."
Ken Weaver, 08 Chevrolet: "We ran a second and a half better than that in practice. We changed the tape around and I didn't know that we had made that change. We were way too loose. I couldn't get in the corner, couldn't get through the corner. That 10 square inches of tape probably sent us home."
Chase Montgomery, No. 8 Dodge: "I think the track's definitely slowed down. This place hasn't been good to us today. We've struggled a little bit, just can't get the truck to turn like we want to. We'll work hard in happy hour and we'll have something good for tomorrow. I have a lot of confidence in my guys and I know they'll pull through when it's all said and done. I think the track is slowing down."
Kelly Sutton, No. 02 Chevrolet: "We've been fighting a loose truck all day. The first lap I just wanted to feel it out and make sure that it was going to stick and it did. I probably could have pushed it a little bit more but I didn't want another repeat of Darlington. Hopefully we'll make the race and be able to finish this one. The guys have really worked hard to give me a good truck and they need a good finish to keep the morale up. I've got a great group of guys behind me and I just hope I can finish tomorrow. Last year we finished 19th here and started 26th. The competition level has grown quite a bit since last year so it would be a goal just to make the race, there's 47 trucks here, and finish it."
Robert Huffman, No. 12 Toyota: "I'm real happy with that. I was getting kind of concerned after practice. We had a little bit of an engine trouble with a water leak and never really got up to speed like I wanted to get up to. The guys really worked hard and made some good changes on the truck. I think we could have went a little faster if I'd had that in practice."
YOU WILL HAVE HAPPY HOUR AT THE SAME TIME OF DAY THAT YOU WILL RACE.
"That's real important here. A lot of these places that we've been to, we haven't had that opportunity, to have a practice close to our race time. To be able to do that here at the last race with as many trucks as we've got here and as close as the competition is going to be, it's real critical to practice as much as you can."
CAN YOU SCORE A TOP-FIVE FINISH HERE?
"I sure hope so. It's always good to come off a top-10 finish into the next race but I don't want to jinx myself because every time I do we have a bad run. We'll take what we can get and get ready for next year."
Brandon Whitt, No. 38 Ford :
YOU PICKED UP ON THE SECOND LAP
"That's about the only good news for that qualifying run. We tightened up a ton for qualifying. I don't know what happened. Usually when the track gets hotter, it's gets looser but that wasn't the case today. We expected to up in the top-15 where we were in practice but unfortunately it's not going to happen."
DID THE RUBBER THAT THE BUSCH CARS PUT DOWN IN THEIR PRACTICE AFFECT THE TRACK?
"I think that might have done something. I hear a few of the truck complaining about being tight too so I think could have had something to do with it as well. We're going to go back and see what we could have done different and make changes for happy hour."
Brad Keselowski, No. 63 Ford: "I don't think that's going to make the show. I drove as hard as I could there and got down into one and two and got real loose. We'd been fighting loose all day and it was a little better but not enough and with the track conditions heating up made it even a little slicker. We'll see. It's going to real close but I'm not thinking it's going to make the race."
COULD WE SEE YOU FULL TIME IN A TRUCK NEXT YEAR? "If we find some sponsorship opportunities, for sure. We've got to keep working on that and keep running better. I feel like this is a pretty good truck and it'd race well but doesn't have the qualifying package in it that it needs to go fast for qualifying."
Tracy Hines, No. 88 Chevrolet: This is only the second time that I've got to run this truck. The first one was at California and we ended up with 20 laps on the track. We've been gaining on it all day. We're just trying to shrink the distance from the pole guys and we're getting there. This is the first time that I've ever seen this joint so we're making gains. I think we've got a really good drivable truck for the race so we'll see what happens."
Notable Quotables No. 5: Dodge Post-qualifying
11-18-2004 4:04 pm
Bobby Hamilton, No. 4 Dodge: “This Dodge drives good. We worked on race-run stuff. That’s what we tested for down here. We’ve got to look at the big picture. We would like to have qualified on the front row, but we couldn’t afford to give that much time up and try to get it back for happy hour.
“Homestead is the best racetrack that we come to.”
(FROM AFTERNOON PRESS CONFERENCE) How is the team feeling right now?
“It’s been pretty relaxed. I threatened to fire every one of them halfway through the year if they even focused on this thing. So, honestly (the pressure) has been pretty easy for my people because I really just made them have fun with this and not focus on it. You know, you have to sit back and look at what got all of us in all of this position, and that was winning races and running up front all of the time. And the minute you lose sight of doing your job, making weekends like that, that’s the minute the points start going away. I told them last week, they had a bad stop the first week at Darlington, I came over the radio – I never say anything – and I said, ‘Calm down. Have fun. Forget it. Brush it off. Let’s go out and race. Let’s see if we can win the race, you know?’ Obviously we’re into the last race and we have to be careful what we do, but for them it’s just been a pleasure watching them bop around, have fun, throw water balloons at one another. The other day they were in a wrestling match up in the hauler while practice was going on and I said, ‘Okay, I’ll sit here and let them get through wrestling.’ It’s been pretty cool, seeing them, as the owner, staying in a laid back attitude mode.”
Can you point out one or two things that stand out for your team this year…
“Just turnover – I think Ted (Musgrave) mentioned that they had to move people around a lot this year. Ted’s team has always been one of the championship teams every year. Just little things that go on, like how Dennis (Setzer) had to move a shop. Ted and them had to replace people, they had to get Gene (crew chief, Nead) back after four or five races. I didn’t lose one person. I’ve got the same people that’s been there on my team for four years now. The only thing I’ve changed in my whole organization was the truck driver off the No. 18, and I had just hired him at the first of the year. He was sort of a stranger to it. That’s the big thing, is when you can build a foundation with a race team and there’s no communication gaps. I think that’s half the battle right there.”
On your pledge to win the championship earlier this year…
“My pledge is simple. What am I going to do, go up there and say, ‘Oh, it’s all over with. I just lost 79 points, and I’m one point out of the lead?’ That’s silly. I’m a very positive person this year. I’ve engrained that in my people. So, right off the bat I don’t think Dennis (Setzer) can outrun me in the last three races. Dennis thinks he can outrun me the last three races. That’s just a matter of opinion. That’s just the way it is. I’m a very, very serious person. I’ve got the cat by the you-know-whats because I own this thing, I can say what I want to, and I’m the driver, and I can do what I want to. I don’t have to listen to Jack.
“This (would be) my first NASCAR championship. But, let me tell you something, this championship is being gone after by Dodge and my people. I don’t care. I’ve won nine of them in my time. It’s no different. It pays a little more money, and it’s more stuff to dust. I’m not trying to be cocky. That’s just the way it is. I love racing. I love when that window net goes on, and that switch comes on, that’s when I get my rewards, period. I mean, that (championship trophy) is cool. I’d love to have my name on there. I’d love to see Bobby Jr., win a championship down the road. That’s what I’m into it for. I’d like to see the Hamilton name in the NASCAR record book. But, I’m old. I’m worn. I’m tired. It’s time for these guys (Carl Edwards, etc.). It’s okay. I would love to win this thing, but let me tell you something. If I don’t win this thing, this truck series is going to be taken care of by two other great champions. One of the three is going to be a great champion for this sport, and from an owner, that’s what I’m concerned about. I don’t think it could’ve been picked any better. I have nothing against Carl, but I didn’t want to see Carl win it because he’s leaving. This is a very good part of NASCAR where young drivers come in and learn and leave. But, I didn’t want to see a champion come in and then go to Nextel Cup and us not have a champion to represent the sport. It lies right here, and all three of these guys will do a good job however it lands.
“I think any of these guys, you almost don’t want to jinx the situation. I mean, when they call you and want you to write a speech? All three of these guys (Musgrave, Setzer, Edwards) have probably had to do it. Maybe even Carl. I don’t know…
– (Turns to Edwards) “Well, that’s right. You’re already out of it. (Laughs.) Sorry, buddy. When I get a good chance to gauge him I do, because he got me really good at Kentucky one night, so I’ve been trying to get him back. When he said something about, ‘Don’t be looking at my Mom,’ or something like that. And after that I couldn’t help it. I had to.” (Carl Edwards, says: “Yeah, she told me, ‘That Bobby Hamilton is a nice man.’) (Bobby replies:) “Tell her she don’t know him very well.” –
“When they call you and say, ‘We need you to write a speech.’ We’re all from the old school here, and it’s like, ugh, you just don’t talk about that. It’s like it’s sacred ground until you know you have the trophy. That’s the tough part. And to sit and make travel arrangements to be here instead of, like, nine. Just little things like that irritate me a ton, but I know it’s part of the business.
“I don’t think it was ever thought about by me. When we started this year it was like, ‘Oh yeah, let’s go after it!’ But, we had no idea that we would take off the way we did. All I did was change a couple people around, move them from one team to another, and both teams took off. So, I knew I got lucky on that, but to think that I’d be sitting here right now, getting ready to put a lot of emphasis on it… And when I went back to drive for my own team and get out of the Cup series, that was to take the pressure off and to slow down a little bit. It wasn’t a financial band-aid or nothing to do with anything. It was just something to do what I like to do for a change. My fun is when the window net goes up and that engine starts. So, I didn’t really put a timetable on it. We’ve been in business five years now. I think in any kind of NASCAR race if you’ve been in business five years and you can win a championship – if we do this – or if you finish second in five years, that’s a pretty cool deal.
“It makes it pleasurable. But we’ve had good years in the past. Joe Ruttman had come down to the last race or two of the year and was racing for a championship. So, I’m not the only guy that’s been able to do it. Joe had a very good year that year. We’ve had a pretty decent race team. And for me not being there at that time, I was pretty happy with that. We had to learn a lot. We were fortunate enough to be with Dodge and be able to test with people like Ultra Motorsports with Ted and them guys. It made our deal come around a lot quicker. As far as moving down. You can call it moving down, nobody is going to throw anything at you. Over or down, it doesn’t make any difference. It’s okay, because I do sleep now. Trust me. I sleep more in a night than I used to sleep in a month. I was thinking about Carl this morning. I was just lying in bed, and I was just thinking about Carl…” (laughs) (Carl: “Well, it’s better than you thinking about my mom.”) “Well, that’s sort of how I got there, actually… So, anyhow, I said, ‘Boy he’s such a cool kid.’ He is. He brings a lot to the sport, and he’s going to take a lot to Cup racing. And I just want to see him five years from now – all broke down, hair turning grey, and complaining. I’ve seen Jack back with Wally or with Martin, and Jack always carries them to turn three away from everybody, and you see that old hat all pushed down. I can’t wait to see him in that deal, you know? Nothing against Jack, because Jack is one of the best race teams in the business. But I like to see these guys come, and they’re like, ‘Whoa, I want a truck team again.’
“It happens a lot. We talk about all this stuff all the time, but one thing that keeps getting forgot about was last year. They had to park Travis (Kvapil) on the frontstretch. It took them 10 minutes to figure out who won the championship because of the penalization that Ted (Musgrave) got or whatever the deal was between the rest of the guys. How long has it been since that happened in NASCAR racing? Since the convertibles went across the start/finish line in 1955 at Daytona, or in 1958 or whatever it was? We haven’t had anything like that. We have been pretty close at times.”
Are there any team orders for tomorrow based upon the championship race?
“The only reason I entered a second truck is because like Dennis (Setzer) and them entered one. I don’t think Dennis and them entered one because of this, because that’s a sponsored truck and all. But, I’m like, ‘That’s a vehicle, so lets enter another one.’ The No. 59 is a truck that has to race every week. The No. 8 is a truck that has to race every week, and so does the No. 18. So, even though they’re under my umbrella, they have to race and do the best they can because they’re in a points situation too. But, the No. 04 got entered because the No. 47 is entered. That’s the extent of it.”
Ted Musgrave, No. 1 Dodge:
“That was decent. We weren’t really sure what to expect from the time difference and the temperature difference. I tried to hold it wide-open, and it actually got worse, sliding up being that way. So, I had to kind of re-adjust for turns three and four to stay on the bottom a little bit. The times just slowed down a little bit due to the temperatures.
“We’re pretty happy with the Mopar Dodge so far. We’re not on the pole, but this thing is driving really well, and it reacts really well. That’s a key here, that you can do something to the truck and it reacts for it. I think we’ve just got to play it smart when it comes race time. We’ve got a couple of things in our idea bag that we’re going to try here in practice and see if we can maneuver around trucks pretty well.”
(FROM AFTERNOON PRESS CONFERENCE)
“Evidently, maybe if the halfway flag comes out I’ll be eliminated. It’s pretty bleak for us, but we’ve had one heck of a second half of a season. The first part of the season didn’t turn out very well. We really got behind. I think we were down to 17th in points. It looked pretty bleak for doing anything – even to try and get a top 10 was a struggle. So, to take the team and rally around it and change it all… The whole organization got changed. The crew chief got changed. All the trucks got changed. Actually, after about the fifth or sixth race of the season we basically had to rebuild a whole organization and start over. So, I’m pretty proud of what the guys have done for the last couple of months, coming out strong like this. It just shows that they are championship-caliber people, we’ve just got to put together a full year of that and go for it. Now that Dodge has won the manufacturers championship, my goal right now – I don’t think I can win the championship here with these two guys (Bobby Hamilton and Dennis Setzer) being able to do what they’re doing – but I will have a shot to maybe go out and lead laps and try to win the race for Mopar. We’ve (he and Carl Edwards) got our own little race going here.
“When I came into this back in 2001, I think Jack Sprague clinched it at California, the second from the end of the race. He clinched the championship. But from there on every year we’ve been involved in the championship, and it always came down to the last race. Last year it came down to the last two or three laps. So, you can’t say we need to change things or it’s not exciting. I just love it, because every week you can slip from one spot to another. Every time you come out here and race in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, there’s always something going on. If it isn’t the great racing, it’s this points battle that’s going on. It always comes down right to the end. It keeps everyone in the stands. It keeps everyone wondering.”
About how this season has changed your view on things?
“Well, it’s not quite as nice on the racetrack. Maybe ask David Starr what happened last week. His throat is a little red right now… It was just cold and nasty, and after the race I went over to check his glands. It looked like they were swollen, so I had my hands around his neck to see if it was swelled up. But he wouldn’t swing first… It’s just on the racetrack I’ve always been really good racing against people. And year after year you get the same person, or something happened to you… And it’s just time – I’m only going to run another year or two – to say, ‘Okay, I remember you gave me about 10 shots. You right-reared me three times last week. It’s time to give it back. I’ll race everybody clean. We all race clean, but there’s some guys that you just can’t trust. That’s kind of a message to them that I’m not going to give up any inches on the racetrack for them anymore.”
Have you ever been a part of a team that shifted gears like this midseason?
“Well, not this bad. I know everybody in racing, if the season is not starting out very well then a lot of things get changed. You have a driver change or crew chief change. Things like that happen. But, we had a lot of changing going on. It just took a lot of hours and a lot of time, and to do that in the middle of the season – or even in a quarter of the way into the season – that’s pretty tough on a team. I think it happens from time to time with people, but you can’t win a championship by doing that. So, we’re preparing ourselves for next year.”
Do you expect payback in a championship finale?
“Paybacks aren’t really just given out. I was running for the championship battle last week, and couple laps ago a guy right-rears me getting in the corner and I about wreck and I’m going for the championship passing this guy on useless stuff. You’re not going to see anything today on a big racetrack. You just get on short tracks with a lot of beating and banging – we do that every week. But, when it gets down to a championship, there was another person on the racetrack that got Dennis and didn’t give him enough room. He’s running for the championship and it’s getting down to the end of the race. These other drivers need to just give us a little extra room, a little extra margin of error and let us fight it out between each other. Now, if gets down to the last lap and all four of us are going for the win there might be one hell of a wreck. But, we just don’t want to be involved in somebody else’s misfortunes mid-pack or whatever. That’s what that means. Just let us settle it out here.”
Steve Park, No. 62 Dodge:
“These guys did a good job, working hard on this Orleans Dodge, getting it to cut a good clean lap. We’re pretty happy with that. We slowed down a little bit from this morning. But, we figured we would with the heat and the sun coming out and stuff. They’ve done a fantastic job here in Miami just getting this racetrack to be a racetrack that we can race at. We love being here with the trucks. We’ll take that right now. I told my guys, ‘If we’re in the top 10, we’ll be in good shape.’ I just like the way the truck’s driving. Dodge gave us a great truck to come here and race with, and the whole race team has worked really hard with Kevin Kroyer’s engines to get us running pretty good. So, we’re pretty excited about that.
“The main thing is that graduating banking they put into when they redesigned this track that allows us to race on either the bottom or the top. So, a lot of tracks we go to you hear about people only being able to race on the low side and not have much passing. They’ve put a lot of thought into redesigning this racetrack, and they’ve made a racetrack that is just going to get better and better and better with age. It’s a fast racetrack right now. I think the fans need to come out and see a great race, especially with Bobby Hamilton running up in the championship and also the Cup series battle. It’s just a racetrack to wind down the season.
Kasey Kahne, No. 2 Dodge: “Well, we’ve got the same truck that we won with in Darlington last week, so it should be pretty good. It’s a good Dodge, but we just missed in qualifying a little bit there. It just didn’t really go fast. But, we worked a lot on the race setup this morning, and we’ll work some more on it in the afternoon, and hopefully it will be really good for tomorrow.
“I’m excited to be at this track. We should run good here in all three classes this week, I think. The truck should be really good, and I’m looking forward to all of the racing. We’d like to get a win on the Cup side of things. That’d be the biggest thing we’d like to do now, is to get that win. Hopefully, we’ll get a good finish out of this weekend, and get that win to wrap up the year. It’s been a busy season, and I’m about ready to call it a year.”
Happy Hour on now!
11-18-2004 4:42 pm
Happpy Hour has just started...the trucks took to the track at 4:45 pm ET and according to NASCAR, they are going to do their best to give them a full hour. Keep it locked on to TruckSeries.com for all the coverage, exclusively here on TrackSideLive!
Red Flag for Debris
11-18-2004 4:45 pm
A small piece of debris has stopped the practice session for the time being. Metal was spotted at the bottom of turn one. We should get back to green pretty quick.
Practice 2 Rundown 1
11-18-2004 4:59 pm
1. Labonte, 31.745
2 Reutimann, 31.891
3. Starr, 31.932
4. Hamilton, 31.943
5. Musgrave, 31.954
6. Chaffin, 31.963
7. Smith, 31.985
8. Park, 32.025
9. Sprague, 32.042
10. Crafton, 32.103
11. Skinner, 32.115
12. Benson, 32.143
13. Biffle, 32.201
14. Cook, 32.239
15. Huffman, 32.257
16. Hmiel, 32.323
17. Wood, 32.334
18. Whitt, 32.339
19. Hines, 32.351
20. Setzer, 32.376
21. Parker, Jr., 32.410
22. Kahne, 32.415
23. Crawford, 32.509
24. Houston, 32.531
25. Schrader, 32.543
26. Montgomery, 32.563
27. Norris, 32.566
28. Patton, 32.584
29. Kvapil, 32.663
30. Murphy, 32.710
31. Lester, 32.752
32. Schendel, 32.771
33. Renshaw, 33.463
34. Sutton, 33.463
35. Small, 33.907
Practice 1 Rundown 2
11-18-2004 5:18 pm
Timing is crazy right now, so we can only go back through the top-25 and no times are available:
1. Labonte
2. Kahne
3. Reutimann
4. Edwards
5. Starr
6. Park
7. Hamilton
8. Musgrave
9. Chaffin
10. Smith
11. Sprague
12. Crafton
13. Skinner
14. Benson
15. Biffle
16. Cook
17. Huffman
18. Setzer
19. Hmiel
20. Wood
21. Whitt
22. Hines
23. Parker, Jr.
24. Crawford
25. Schrader
Sparks out of the No. 2
11-18-2004 5:27 pm
A shower of sparks was seen behind the No. 2 Dodge just moments ago, and Kasey Kahne is off the gas bringing his truck back to the garage area. The team is already busy trying to diagnose what it is that is dragging on the truck, but they will not get a chance to go back out as NASCAR has called the final session due to darkness.
Post Happy Hour Audio!
11-18-2004 6:24 pm
After Happy Hour, TrackSideLive! heads to the garage for thoughts from
Greg Biffle,
Eric Norris,
Rick Crawford
and
Regan Smith.
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Good night everyone!
11-18-2004 6:16 pm
That's all folks...the garage is closed and we're outta here! We'll pick up coverage tomorrow morning, including coverage of the Roush Racing driver announcement. Good night everybody!
Good morning from Homestead!
11-19-2004 9:09 am
Good morning! It is Championship Day at Homestead-Miami Speedway as three drivers will battle it out for the 2004 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship. Bobby Hamilton has a 70 point lead on Dennis Setzer, and Ted Musgrave is looking for a break to make up some ground and put himself in the thick of the championship hunt. After thousands of laps of competition in 2004, 134 more are left to decide who takes home the trophy and who doesn't. Keep it locked on to TrackSideLive presented by Team ASE and CARQUEST as we count down to the start of today's Ford 200.
Roush Announcement at 9:45 am ET
11-19-2004 9:12 am
Roush Racing is expected to name the two drivers for the organization's NASCAR Camping World Truck Series teams at a press conference at 9:45 am ET this morning. It is expected they will name NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series veteran Ricky Craven to drive the 50 truck being vacated by Jon Wood, while the winner of the "Gong Show" will be tabbed to drive the No. 99 that Carl Edwards has driven the past two seasons. It is expected that former ASA Series driver Todd Kluever will be chosen to drive that truck in 2005. TrackSideLive! will be there at the press conference, and will have all the news as soon as it is concluded.
Carlos Contreras at Homestead
11-19-2004 9:20 am
Former NCTS driver Carlos Contreras is here at Homestead this weekend working on the finishing touches on a NASCAR Busch Series ride in 2005. "It looks like we have a deal for a ride in 2005," he said. "I want to go to my home race in Mexico and have a car good enough to win." Best of luck to Carlos on closing the deal and hopefully we'll see him running somewhere in NASCAR next season.
Roush Tabs Craven and Kluever for 2005 NCTS Rides
11-19-2004 11:43 am
Roush Racing Press Conference
Full Audio Transcript
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Jack Roush
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Ricky Craven
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Todd Kluever
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Jack Roush named veteran NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series driver Ricky Craven to drive one of its Ford F-150s in the 2005 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, and announced that ASA Series veteran Todd Kluever was the winner of the “Roush Race for the Ride” driver tryout and will drive the team’s second Truck Series entry next season.
Roush and Ford Motor Company will step up their involvement in the NCTS in 2005, with an emphasis on winning the series championship with Craven and the rookie of the year title with Kluever.
“We have had to step up to match what some of the other manufacturers are doing in the Truck Series now,” Roush said in a morning press conference at Homestead-Miami Speedway. “Our plan is to make a push for the championship with Ricky Craven. Roush Racing and everyone at Ford will give him everything he asks for, and then we are going to give him everything else that we think he needs. Hopefully we will get our championships together and allow him to become a bigger part of the Ford Racing family.”
Kluever has big shoes to fill, replacing Carl Edwards and following in the footsteps of current NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series point leader, and former Roush Racing ‘gong show’ winner Kurt Busch.
“We told Todd that he has big shoes to fill,” Roush said. “Kurt Busch came to the Truck Series in 2000 and won four races, the rookie of the year championship and finished second in the points to his teammate Greg Biffle. We told him we fully expect him to do the same next season and give Ricky a run for the money for the championship,” Roush said with a chuckle. “We just don’t want him to overtake him!”
While no formal announcement has been made, it is expected that Carl Edwards will move into either the No. 99 Ford in Roush’s Cup Series fleet on a full-time basis or take over the team’s No. 60 Ford in the Busch Series. Jon Wood will be named as a driver for ST Motorsports in the NASCAR Busch Series. That team currently fields Fords for drivers Stacy Compton and Robert Pressley.
Homestead track specs
11-19-2004 12:11 pm
The Homestead-Miami Speedway is a 1.5-mile oval with turns banked 16, 18, and 20 degrees in the turns (the banking is compound, with the flatter banking at the bottom and steeper banking at the top). The straightaways are equal in length, both 1,760 feet long. The 134-lap race distance translates to 201 miles. This is the third different configuration of the speedway. It opened in 1995 as a miniature version of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with four distinct corners and straightaways. Only two NCTS races were run on the first incarnation, 1996 and 1997. The track was then reconfigured to a true oval with turns banked at just 8 degrees. Five NCTS races were run on the track in that configuration, from 1998 through 2002. At the end of 2002, the track was demolished and the rebuilt it in its current layout, with the banked corners. Just one NCTS race has been run here on the current layout. Here are the previous pole and race winners at Homestead: 1996 - Pole, Geoff Bodine; Race, Dave Rezendes (started 10th) 1997 - Pole, Joe Ruttman; Race, Kenny Irwin, Jr. (5) 1998 - Pole, Jack Sprague; Race, Rick Crawford (12) 1999 - Pole, Randy Tolsma; Race, Mike Wallace (10) 2000 - Pole, Joe Ruttman; Race, Andy Houston (3) 2001 - Pole, Scott Riggs; Race, Ted Musgrave (3) 2002 - Pole, Mike Bliss; Race, Ron Hornaday (5) 2003 - Pole, Bobby Hamilton; Race, Bobby Hamilton (1) The track qualifying record, before yesterday, was 169.252 miles per hour/31.905 seconds. The race record, set by Hornaday in 2002, is one hour, 30 minutes, 30 seconds/133.260 miles per hour.
Race averages
11-19-2004 12:23 pm
Here is the statistical breakdown of the Ford 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway: The average starting position of the winner is 6.13. There has been one pole winner win, and the deepest anyone has come from on the grid to win is 12th. There are an average of 10 drivers on the lead lap at the end of the race, with a high of 18 in 1998 and a low of 6 in 2001 and 2002. There are an average of 11.4 lead changes , with a high of 17 in 1997 and 1999 and a low of 6 in 2002. There are an average of six leaders, with a high of 8 in 1997 and 1999 and a low of 5 in 1996, 2000, 2002, and 2003. There are an average of 6.5 caution flags, with a high of 11 in 1996 and 1997 and a low of 1 in 2002. There are an average of 26.9 caution laps, with a high of 52 in 1997 and a low of 4 in 2002. The cumulative average speed is 115.810 miles per hour.
Best finishes
11-19-2004 12:28 am
Here are the best finishes at Homestead-Miami Speedway for all the drivers entered in today's Ford 200:
Rick Crawford, 1st
Bobby Hamilton, 1st
Andy Houston, 1st
Ted Musgrave, 1st
travis Kvapil, 2nd
Jack Sprague, 2nd
David Starr, 3rd
Mike Skinner, 4th
Dennis Setzer, 6th
Terry Cook, 8th
Jon Wood, 8th
Matt Crafton, 9th
Chad Chaffin, 10th
Bill Lester, 18th
Kelly Sutton, 19th
Jason Small, 22nd
Derrike Cope, 23rd
Carl Edwards, 27th
Ken Schrader, 30th
Brandon Whitt, 35th
The following drivers are making their first NCTS start at Homestead:
David Reutimann, Bobby Labonte, Steve Park, Shane Hmiel, Kasey Kahne, Johnny Benson, Tracy Hines, Robert Huffman, Tim Schendel, Greg Biffle, Regan Smith, Chase Montgomery, J.R. Patton, Eric Norris, Sean Murphy, Deborah Renshaw
TruckShots!
11-19-2004 12:40 am
We have canvassed the garage area and have images of all the sights here at Homestead. Log on to our exclusive TruckShots gallery to see what is going on, and don't forget, you can leave comments, rate the images, sort by most viewed and much more!
Click here to log on and check it out
!
Bonus points breakdown
11-19-2004 12:42 pm
Taking a look at the bonus points earned throughout the season, and you get an idea of why Bobby Hamilton has a semi-comfortable lead entering the season finale.
Hamilton has earned 85 bonus points for leading laps this season, while Dennis Setzer has only earned 35 bonus points. That means of the 70 points that Hamilton has in hand entering the Ford 200, 50 of them have been earned by leading races and leading the most laps in races.
Ted Musgrave, third in points entering today's race, has scored the most bonus points this season with 95.
Top-10 YTD
11-19-2004 12:46 am
How were the top-10 in points at this time last season? Let's take a look:
Hamilton leads now, but was 6th this time last year.
Sezter is second and was fourth at this time last season.
Musgrave is now third, and was second in 2003.
Carl Edwards jumped from 8th last season to fourth this season.
Fifth-place Matt Crafton was 11th last year.
David Starr is the biggest mover, jumping from 14th in 2003 to 6th in 2004.
Travis Kvapil, the 2003 series champion entered the final race 3rd in points and sits 7th in 2004.
Steve Park is now 8th, but was not involved in the NCTS last year.
Jack Sprague had run one race at this time in 2003 and was 87th in points, and sits 9th entering today's race.
Tenth place Chad Chaffin is remarkably consistent as he was 10th at this time last year as well.
Rick Crawford, who is 11th, was 7th at this time last year.
Jon Wood dropped from 5th at this time in 2003 to 14th in 2004.
Terry Cook was 9th in 2003 and sits 16th in 2004.
Winning manufacturer YTD
11-19-2004 12:53 am
Here is the weekly manufacturer comparison:
Chevy: 2003, 6 wins; 2004, 6 wins
Ford: 2003, 6 wins; 2004, 6 wins
Dodge: 2003, 12 wins; 2004, 10 wins
Toyota: 2003, N/A; 2004, 4 wins
More YTD Stats
11-19-2004 12:55 am
Number of race winners: 2003, 12; 2004, 13
Average start of winner: 2003, 7.25; 2004, 7.67
Number of pole winners: 2003, 10; 2004, 11
Cumulative lead changes: 2003, 212; 2004, 220
Average lead changes per race: 2003, 8.83; 2004, 9.17
Average leaders per race: 2003, 5.79; 2004, 5.54
Total laps under caution: 2003, 690; 2004, 1027
Average caution flags per race: 5.71; 2004, 7.83
New ride announcements soon
11-19-2004 1:52 pm
Look for announcements regarding several drivers' futures in the coming days. Matt Crafton and Deborah Renshaw are expected to make formal announcements regarding their futures in the next 7-10 days. Others, including Chad Chaffin and Andy Houston, are still working on deals and hope to have something to announce in coming months.
ThorSport owner honored in California
11-19-2004 1:55 pm
Duke Thorson, owner of ThorSport Racing with his wife Rhonda, rarely misses an NCTS race. He will not be here this afternoon to watch the Nos. 13 and 88 compete as he will be in California. This evening, Thorson will be inducted into the Entrepreneur Hall of Fame in Palm Springs, California by master of ceremonies and host of NBC's Tonight Show Jay Leno. Thorson is the president of ThorWorks, manufacturer of SealMaster pavement sealer. Through the company's franchise group, SealMaster franchises have continually been rated one of the best business ventures by Entrepreneur magazine. In addition to his HoF induction, Thorson has also earned several Entrepreneur of the Year awards by various organizations.
Special Awards
11-19-2004 2:01 pm
Here are the special awards winners, to be presented during driver introductions:
Bud Pole Award: David Reutimann
Featherlite Most Improved Driver: Robert Huffman
International Truck Crew Chief: Trip Bruce
Mobil 1 Command Performance: Bobby Hamilton
Raybestos Rookie of the Race: Robert Huffman
Waste Management Picking Up Places: Steve Park
WIX Filters Lap Leader Award: Jon Wood
Pre Race Audio!
11-19-2004 2:07 pm
TrackSideLive! heads to the garage for some final thoughts before todays race. Check out
Mike Skinner,
Matt Crafton,
Andy Houston,
Tracy Hines
and
Brendan Gaughn.
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Pit road assignments
11-19-2004 2:12 pm
Here is the pit road layout for today's Ford 200:
Reutimann
Renshaw
Skinner
Break in pit road
Sprague
Murphy
Kvapil
Schendel
Norris
Cook
Houston
Patton
Biffle
Park
Break in pit road
Labonte
Sutton
Starr
Schrader
Parker, Jr.
Hines
Wood
Musgrave
Break in pit wall
Scoring camera/Start-Finish Line
Crafton
Huffman
Hamilton
Montgomery
Lester
Whitt
Setzer
Small
Kahne
Smith
Chaffin
Break in pit wall
Edwards
Crawford
Benson
Hmiel
Color key:
Chevrolet
Ford
Dodge
Toyota
Bold
= Championship contender
Trucks are fired up....championship on the line!
11-19-2004 3:31 pm
We'll do a little something different today...with the championship on the line, we'll keep everyone trapped in an office up to date on what is going on during the race here at TrackSideLive! The trucks are rolling off pit road right now, so keep it locked on TSL for all the news as it happens during the Ford 200.
Pre Race Audio!
11-19-2004 3:31 pm
Some final thoughts before the race from
Steve Park,
Jack Sprague
and
Bobby Hamilton.
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Race updates, 1-10
11-19-2004 3:33 pm
Update 1: Trucks on pace laps...Hank Parker and Deborah Renshaw need assistance off pit road. All trucks are rolling.
Update 2: Tracy Hines will drop to the tail of the field for the start because of an unapproved engine change. The one lap to go signal has been given.
Update 3: Matt Crafton holds off a three-wide charge by Carl Edwards and pole-sitter David Reutimann to lead lap one. As the field enters turn one to start lap 2, Kelly Sutton gets loose and collects Jon Wood. Both trucks are into the wall and come to a stop at the bottom of turn 2. Wood has severe damage to the tail of his truck while the nose of Sutton's truck is severely damaged. Both have brought their trucks to pit road for repairs.
Update 4: Crafton leads on the restart. Reutimann falls back to tenth from the pole. Robert Huffman gets loose off turn four, slides across the track and makes contact with the inside wall on lap 6. He ricochets off the wall and slides across the track, barely missing Tracy Hines and Jason Small.
Update 5: Huffman is out of his truck under his own power. He will go to the infield care center for evaluation.
Update 6: Terry Cook comes down pit road under the caution. Cook's truck showed a lot of smoke on the last restart and the team worked on fixing a tire rub. Crafton leads Steve Park, Carl Edwards, Mike Skinner and Bobby Labonte on the restart. Bobby Hamilton is tenth, Dennis Setzer is 21st.
Update 7: With the 50 and the 12 out of the race, Ted Musgrave has mamthematically been eliminated from the championship. Carl Edwards was eliminated when the green flag flew. The third caution of the race comes out on lap 14 when J.R. Patton gets loose in turn 4 and grazes the outside wall with the tailgate of his truck.
Update 8: Park, Hamilton, Chaffin, Montgomery, Cook, Hines, and Setzer all pit under caution. Crafton leads Skinner, Labonte, Edwards, and Sprague to the restart on lap 18. Hamilton is 27th, Setzer is 33rd.
Update 9: Lap 22, Skinner makes a run at Crafton, but loses second to Labonte. Hmiel moves into fourth, passing Edwards who falls to fifth. Labonte takes the lead out of two on lap 23 with Skinner following into second and Hmiel into third. Crafton settles into fifth as David Starr spins in turn two to bring out the fourth caution in lap 24. He doesn't make any contact and drives the truck away to rejoin the tail of the field.
Update 10: Everyone pits under caution. Crafton wins the race off pit road, followed by Musgrave, Edwards, Reutimann, Benson, Biffle, Parker, Schrader, Hmiel, and Labonte. Sean Murphy leads to the restart followed by Cook, Renshaw, Montgomery, and Setzer. Crafton lines up sixth.
Race updates, 11-20
11-19-2004 4:08 pm
Update 11: Lap 30, Murphy pulls away from Cook on the restart. Crafton up to third followed by Musgrave. Setzer runs 9th while Hamilton is running 31st. Crafton dips inside Cook on lap 32, but COok fights back on the outside leaving Crafton out to dry. He loses spots to Musgrave and Benson.
Update 12: Robert Huffman has been transported to a local hospital for further evaluation. He was awake and alert. Lap 36, Musgrave takes over the lead just before Kenny Schrader backs his truck into the outside wall coming out of turn four to bring out the fifthcaution on 38. Musgrave leads Murphy, Benson, Edwards, and Reutimann. Musgrave pits on lap 39 with about a dozen other drivers, including Sprague, Hines, Norris, Lester, Whitt and others. Benson leads to the restart on lap 40, followed by Edwards, Reutimann, Cook, and Labonte. Hamilton is 23rd, Setzer is 11th.
Update 13: The top-5 run under a blanket with Edwards and Labonte side by side for the lead. As Edwards clears to take the top spot, Schendel loses it off turn four and makes contact with the inside pit wall. The left front of his truck is damaged, and it brings out the sixth caution of the day on lap 45. Cook, Biffle, Setzer, Hamilton, Sprague, Lester, Small all pit. Hamilton takes fuel only, Setzer takes four tires. Schendel is out of the truck under his own power and will go to the infield care center for evaluation. Edwards leads Labonte, Reutimann, Labonte, and Hmiel. Hamilton restarts 24th, Setzer restarts 29th.
Update 14: Lap 56, Labonte fights for the lead, falls back to a race for second with Hmiel before losing control off turn four. He does a 90 degree spin and slides down the front stretch. No caution as the field is jumbled up. Edwards leads Hmiel, Benson, Reutimann, and Kahne. Labonte comes to pit road with flat spotted tires on lap 58. Hmiel takes over the lead on lap 58.
Update 15: Halfway rundown:
Hmiel, Benson, Kahne, Reutimann, Edwards, Crawford, Musgrave, Skinner, Crafton, Starr, Park, Kvapil, Smith, Sprague, Biffle, Chaffin, Hines, Parker, Cook, Murphy, Whitt, Hamilton, Houston, Norris, Montgomery, Setzer, Renshaw, Lester, Patton (-1), Labonte (-2)
Update 16: Kahne takes over the lead on lap 77. Edwards falls back to the back of the top-10. Kahne has lapped up to the 21st positon.
Update 17: Park comes to pit road on lap 86 for routine service. Hmiel breaks off and pits from second on lap 87 as well as Kvapil. Reutimann enters the pits on lap 88 just as Bobby Labonte's truck goes up in smoke on the front stretch to bring out the seventh caution of the day. Reuitmann and Skinner both drove down pit road without stopping. Park lost two laps on the exchange and has fallen back to 27th position. The caution saves Hamilton and Setzer, who both were within the leader Kahne's sights. Hank Parker receives the free pass and rejoins the lead lap.
Update 18: Kahne wins the race off pit road, followed by Benson, Musgrave, Starr, Sprague, Crafton, Biffle, Reutimann, and Hines. Setzer stayed out for the bonus points and leads a lap before pitting. He falls back to 19th. Hamilton is 15th.
Update 19: Carl Edwards brushes the wall out of turn 4 on lap 95. He continues on without pitting.
Update 20: Rick Crawford grenades an engine in turns one and two on lap 102 to bring out the eighth caution of the day. Shane Hmiel will get the free pass and rejoin the lead lap.
Race updates, 21-?
11-19-2004 5:01 pm
Update 21: Hmiel crossed the commitment line and came back on the track, which causes him to forfeit the free pass. He remains a lap down. Kahne leads Benson, Musgrave, Starr, and Sprague to the restart. Setzer will restart 11th and Hamilton will go from 15th.
Update 22: Benson and Park make contact out of turn two on the restart. Park does three 360s down the backstretch and fortunately does not hit anyone or anything. The caution waves for the 9th time on lap 108.
Update 23: Kahne leads Musgrave, Starr, Benson, and Reutimann on lap 122. Starr is 4 seconds behind the Ultra trucks.
Update 23: Shadows have enveloped all of turns one and two and two-thirds of the front stretch. Sunset is expected at 5:40 pm ET, and with the extreme number of cautions daylight could be an issue in a big hurry. Hmiel receives the free pass on lap 109 and will take a spot at the tail of the field for the restart on lap 110. Kahne leads Benson, Musgrave, Starr, Sprague, Reutimann, Biffle, Crafton, Skinner, Smith, Houston, Hines, Setzer, Edwards, Norris, Hamilton, Parker, and Hmiel as drivers on the lead lap.
Update 24: Lap 112, Hmiel slides through turn four. His spin does not bring out the caution and he continues on. Hmiel cuts a tire on the next lap and it tears up the left front fender before he can get to pit road.
Update 25: Kahne leads by sevent tenths of a second with five laps to go. Hamilton is 17th, Setzer 11th.
Steve Park, No. 62 Dodge
11-19-2004 6:00 pm
“The Orleans Dodge was good at the beginning of the race. I don’t know what to say. Obviously, it was a fast truck in the beginning of the race. Even on old tires we were fast. I don’t know what to say. I didn’t see how the race unfolded. I don’t know when people changed tires or stopped for fuel. It is very disappointing to end the season this way. I thought we would win a race before the end of the year. Putting the team together in February is what, I think, kept us from winning. Then we took it apart again in April. Then we tried to put it together again. We spent the whole season trying to put the team together instead of concentrating on races. It wasn’t until the last five or 10 races of the year that we were a team capable of consistently running in the top five. That is about as good as we got. I think the Craftsman Truck Series is great. I like the schedule. I like everything about it. The competition is fierce. The races, I think, are some of the best races out there. The races are probably not getting the credit they deserve, but they are slowly getting the credit they deserve. I’m really glad to be a part of the series. I had a good time this year. Dodge worked hard for the championship. I want to congratulate Bobby Hamilton. He flew the Dodge flag up front all year long. Congratulations to him. Dodge had done a wonderful job, not only winning the manufacturer’s title but the series championship, too.”
Shane Hmiel, No. 15 Chevrolet
11-19-2004 6:02 pm
“I’ve had rotten luck with tires these last few weeks. I don’t know what happened out there. Our truck was so fast. When we were leading I knew that I needed tires and Kasey was quicker than I was at that point so I let him by. We waited for our (pit) window to come in and get four fresh tires but got ourselves caught a lap down when the caution waved right after the stop. We knew we were fast enough to get back up there once we got the luck dog on the next caution. But I guess the pit official didn’t know that the pits were open and I went to come in and it just all got confusing out there. All I know is I was able to make my lap up and then unfortunately we cut a tire and that was the end of our day.” “I just want to thank Billy Ballew and the whole Billy Ballew Motorsports operation for the opportunity they gave me this year. I’ve grown a lot since the beginning of the season as a driver and a person. I’ve made a lot of good friends in the series and I’ll never forget having my first win in a major NASCAR Series race in a truck in Las Vegas. I’m glad I won it in my good friend Billy’s truck. I like the Craftsman Truck Series and I would love to come back and race again.”
Post Race Audio!
11-19-2004 6:56 pm
The last race of the 2004 season is over, and TrackSideLive! heads to the garage for some final thoughts on the Ford 200 and the year in truck racing. Check out comments from winner
Kasey Kahne,
Ted Musgrave,
David Starr
and Rookie of the Year winner
David Reutimann.
TrackSideLive! also talks with the 2004 NCTS Champion
Bobby Hamilton,
Rick Crawford
and
Matt Crafton.
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Notable Quotables No. 1: Ford Race
11-19-2004 7:34 pm
Jon Wood, No. 50 Ford:
"THIS IS OBVIOUSLY NOT THE WAY YOU WANTED TO END THE SEASON. WHAT HAPPENED?
"It's not, and it's frustrating any time you get in an accident. It just seems like Kelly Sutton is always looking for a wreck and it's just a shame that today I was in hers. I hate for it for all of these guys. We kind of struggled here the whole weekend. We qualified bad, but we were probably going to have a pretty good truck, and then to wrecked like that that early just shows stupidity on her part."
Terry Cook, No. 10 Ford: "One quote sums up our season: It's over. The track was good. It was slick early and as the sun went down it kept gaining more and more grip. It wasn't as good as it was last year. Last year it had three grooves, and we didn't get the third groove worked in until real late in the race. It was tough to pass early on and you really had to work your track position. Unfortunately when you've got to pit under green it's hard to make that up.
Then coming in for a window net dropping, that just sums up our season."
Carl Edwards, No. 99 Ford: "We thought we had a tire equalize or a wheel coming off there midway through the race when we were leading, and I thought it would be a lot wiser just to back off and run till the caution. We got to the caution and took the wheels off and there was nothing wrong. It was a little bit frustrating there. We must have had
a funny wheel hop or a wheel weight fell off. Then we went back out and it was too free on the throttle. I ended up trying to pass some people on the outside and hit the fence; it barely touched it. Then we broke a header, the header came off the head and it just wouldn't run quite right."
DID THE RACING GROOVE GET WIDER AS THE RACE PROGRESSED, AND WILL IT GET WIDER BEFORE THE CUP RACE ON SUNDAY?
"It was fun. It was wide. It will be great racing tomorrow and Sunday. You can run anywhere and I look forward to the Cup race because you'll be able to run anywhere."
Rick Crawford, No. 14 Ford:
WAS THERE ANY INDICATION THE MOTOR WAS ABOUT TO EXPIRE?
"It was actually running pretty good, top 10, and we moved up and the truck at times was really hauling the mail. The F-Series pickup picked up a small vibration in it and I thought it just ran out of fuel. It coughed on me and I realized we were down on power and we dropped a cylinder. We pitted for tires and adjustments and tried to let the motor guys look at the engine and I guess it was something internal."
Greg Biffle, No. 44 Ford: "I was probably a little too aggressive on the front shocks. I was just trying to pull the nose down too much, but it's been a long time since I've been back and I don't know what these trucks like, and, obviously, I just had a little bit too much shock on it."
WAS THE SETTING SUN AN ISSUE ON THE FRONTSTRETCH?
"It was a problem, and we're going to have to deal with it the rest of the weekend."
HOW MANY RACING GROOVES WERE THERE TODAY?
"It was a good two, two-and-a-half grooves, but these trucks you can't race side by side at all."
Brandon Whitt, No. 38 Ford: “It was an up-and-down day for sure, especially with our emotions. Things looked awfully good at times and we had some adversity, but everybody kept working, kept their heads up and did everything they could to come home with the best finish possible. It wasn’t what we wanted, for sure, but this crowd worked their hearts out today, and all season long.
Deborah Renshaw, No. 29 Ford: This was a really great way to finish out the season and I am really pleased with the run we had here today. “The truck was a little tight early in the day, but Bob (Keselowski) and the team made some great adjustment calls to the truck and then we were able to get out there and run some great laps. It was awesome, I was able to turn faster laps toward the end of the race toady than I was all during practice and qualifying yesterday. That is just a credit to this entire race team. There were also some pretty close calls on the race track and Kay (Keselowski) really kept me out of any trouble. This has been an incredible learning experience with the K Automotive team in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series this season. They have been behind me all the way and I can’t thank them enough for everything. I’m proud of how I raced today and that I was able to race a driver like Travis Kvapil lap after lap and still gain his respect and walk away with a 20th place finish. This is a great motivation for the 2005 season.”
Notable Quotables No. 2: Chevy Post-race
11-19-2004 7:39 pm
Dennis Setzer, No. 46 Chevy:
ON TODAY’S RACE:
” We just were so loose at the start. We made a lot of adjustments on our Chevrolet Silverado and we were getting better there with the gains we made but we still had some more we needed to gain to be where we needed to be. This Silverado team has been great all season, we will just come back and get them next year.
ON EARLY PIT STOP:
“We were just so loose that we really had a lot to gain if we could come in and make some adjustments that would tighten the chassis up. When we came in the second time, we were still a little loose and the third time we really made some headway. These guys on this team worked their tails off all week and worked hard to day. They never give up on this team and they will always have that attitude.
ON TODAY’S RACE STRATEGY:
“We pretty much took a go for broke strategy today because we knew it was really the only shot we had. We weren’t very good this weekend in practice and qualifying so we took a shot at it with a setup we knew would either make us really good or … It turned out not to be the best setup. We knew that unless Bobby (Hamilton) had some kind of trouble early in the race, we probably weren’t going to beat him for the championship. He was just racing to save his stuff back there, he wasn’t really that bad. He ran a very smart race today, he has a great team and I want to congratulate him on his championship.
“But Morgan Dollar has a great team and it isn’t a fluke that we are here second in the points for the second straight year. We will just go head to head with them again next year. We intend to be stronger and better and better next year and be a real contender up front from Daytona on.
Matt Crafton, No. 6 Chevrolet: “We were really strong at the beginning but then we got real, real loose in the middle of the race. I was on the radio yelling to tighten me up. On the first stop we took fuel only and as the tires wore off, we just got more and more loose. I was just hanging on for dear life because we ran 80 some laps on that one set of tires and I had no tires left. My left front was down to cords. They were just telling me to pit the next time by under green for tires when the yellow came out right, as I was on the front straight so we got lucky there. We just didn’t have the track position we needed at the end. The No. 6 GM Goodwrench Silverado started coming to me there at the end but track position was everything and we were too far back to do anything with the leaders.”
Jack Sprague, No. 16 Chevrolet: “Our Chevy Trucks Silverado started out too loose at the start then it got so tight that I couldn’t turn it at all. We lost a lot of track position on our first stop because of the adjustments the guys made to try and loose me up. They had a great stop but we changed so many things, it was just a lot to do in one pit stop. We got better but still a little tight so they made one more big change the next stop and then of course we went back to being a little loose. We weren’t terribly loose but enough that when someone got up behind me and took the air off; it was a handful to hang on to. My guys really worked hard today to help us rally back to get a top-ten finish and move up one position in the points. We have some strong momentum heading into next year and that is what is going to get us in the points hunt early and keep us there all year.”
Bobby Labonte, No. 47 Chevrolet: “We had an excellent truck. This No. 47 Chevrolet Silverado was just almost perfect. We were just cruising along there until we spun there on lap 65 or what ever it was. The No. 15 truck got up to the outside of us and took all the air off the spoiler. But, they didn’t throw a caution which we sure could have used so we lost a couple of laps coming down pit road to change tires and check over the truck. We were moving forward and with the way the cautions were falling, we may have been able to get back on the lead lap but then we blew a motor and that was the end of our day. I just want to thank Randy Goss and the great guys on the No. 47 crew as well as everyone at Morgan Dollar for the chance to drive the truck again. I had a blast out there.”
David Starr, No. 75 Chevrolet: “When they dropped the green flag today, I was racing backwards fast. As the race pressed on my Chevrolet Silverado got looser and looser. Dave McCarty and the crew did a great job of making the right adjustments and the crew did an awesome job picking me up spots on pit road. We raced really hard there in the end just to get to third and by that time, I didn't have anything left to chase down the one and two.”
WAS DARKNESS A PROBLEM OUT THERE TODAY:
“The darkness really wasn't a problem, but the sun was awful. It was so bad on some of the restarts that I had to suck up right behind Ted Musgrave who was in front of me just to to block the sun so I wouldn't run in to him.”
HOW DID THE TRACK COMPARE TO LAST YEAR:
“This is a totally different track than it was last year. We came down here for a Chevrolet test and when we showed up, you could see that the track was not dark like last year, it was much lighter. Once we tested you could really tell that the track had lost a lot of grip from last year. “
YOU FINISHED SIXTH IN POINTS, WAS THIS A GOOD YEAR FOR YOU GUYS:
“I love the Craftsman Truck Series. Its such a great place to race and I feel very fortunate to be here. I have a solid ride with a solid team and my owner Wayne Spears has been very good to me. This is all you can wish for as a driver. To be in a competitive ride on the national stage.
Shane Hmiel, No. 15 Chevrolet: “I’ve had rotten luck with tires these last few weeks. I don’t know what happened out there. Our truck was so fast. When we were leading I knew that I needed tires and Kasey was quicker than I was at that point so I let him by. We waited for our (pit) window to come in and get four fresh tires but got ourselves caught a lap down when the caution waved right after the stop. We knew we were fast enough to get back up there once we got the luck dog on the next caution. But I guess the pit official didn’t know that the pits were open and I went to come in and it just all got confusing out there. All I know is I was able to make my lap up and then unfortunately we cut a tire and that was the end of our day.
“I just want to thank Billy Ballew and the whole Billy Ballew Motorsports operation for the opportunity they gave me this year. I’ve grown a lot since the beginning of the season as a driver and a person. I’ve made a lot of good friends in the series and I’ll never forget having my first win in a major NASCAR Series race in a truck in Las Vegas. I’m glad I won it in my good friend Billy’s truck. I like the Craftsman Truck Series and I would love to come back and race again.”
Notable Quotables No. 3: Toyota Post-race
11-19-2004 7:46 pm
David Reutimann, No. 17 Toyota: “It looked like I was in a race to see how far back I could go when the green came out. It was just real ‘free.’ This place is like a superspeedway and if you get on the bottom of the track -- everyone drives right by you. In my infinite wisdom, I moved to the top of the track. Imagine that, everyone is driving by you, so you get to the top. When we did that, we started to move forward, rather than backwards. We started to get back to the front, but I think I had them tighten me up a little too much on the last stop.”
“It was a good way to finish the season. We got that pole, and we would have liked to get a win. We needed long runs to get a win, and that didn’t happen. During the race, the truck came around just like it did in practice. When I came in the pits, my guys did a great job and I was able to pick up a few spots every time. The motor ran great all day. It’s a good way to end the season and I can’t wait for next year.”
Mike Skinner, No. Toyota: “It was an O.K. day. I don’t know if we got too low on air pressures, but the right front tire felt like it was coming apart. My truck was shaking really, really bad and we lost a lot of track position. Then we came in and made a huge chassis adjustment, but we probably didn’t know the situation with the tires. So, we over-adjusted. It got really loose in the corner at the end. We’ve got a lot of work to do, but I can’t wait until next year. This is the first time in a few years that it’s the last race and the last corner and I wish we were racing next week. Usually, I’m ready for a break – but I wish we were racing next week.”
Johnny Benson, No. 23 Toyota:“We were good all day. My Tundra was perfect. The guys at Bill Davis Racing did a tremendous job and we had great pit stops. Right at the end, we got really, really tight that last run. I couldn’t do anything once the tires got worn down. We had a shot to run second, but I don’t know if we had a shot at taking the lead. But, we were sure going to go for it. Everyone did a great job today and I had a ball the second half of the season.”
More Post Race Audio!
11-19-2004 7:43 pm
Final comments on the Ford 200 and the season ending race at Homestead from
Chase Montgomery,
Tracy Hines
and
Sean Murphy.
Click on name for audio. You must have the Windows Media Player installed, or a program capable of handling Windows Media .wma files.
Click here
for free player
Notable Quotables No. 4: Raybestos Rookie Post-race
11-19-2004 7:51 pm
David Reutimann, No. 17 Toyota: "It feels good. I didn't tear it up. They dropped the green and we went to the back. This place reminds me of a superspeedway. You get hung on the bottom and everybody's got momentum and they just drive back by you. Once I got shuffled back to about 15th or so, we got to the outside and then we started moving back forward again. I had 'em tighten me up too much there at the end and that hurt us a little bit there on the final run. We could run down David but the closer I got to him the tighter I got. It was just a good effort all around. The motor ran great all day long. The thing ran awesome. The truck has been great all year. Everything that comes out of the shop is awesome. I can't wait until next year."
YOU WERE IN THE PROCESS OF MAKING A GREEN FLAG STOP WHEN THE CAUTION CAME OUT.
"I was thinking, man, come on. We kept rolling and kept rolling and didn't get a lap down so thank the Lord for that. The guys made good changes and made good calls. To back peddle as far as we did and then be able to come back up there and get a top-five, that feels pretty good."
COULD THE RACE HAVE PLAYED OUT ANY DIFFERENTLY TO GIVE YOU A BETTER CHANCE TO WIN?
"I don't really know. We were good and we needed long runs and we got a semi-long run there at the end. The longer we got the better our Toyota was. We had a lot of people from NTN here today so it was good to make a decent showing."
DID THE TRACK CHANGE AS THE SUN WENT DOWN?
"My truck felt like it had a lot more grip down here in three and four whenever it started getting darker and it felt good."
IT LOOKED LIKE THE TRUCK WAS STRONG ON A LONG RUN.
"It looked like I was in a race to see how far back I could get when the green dropped. We were just real free and this place is just about like a superspeedway. When you get on the bottom those guys just drive by you. In my infinite wisdom I moved to the top. Everybody is driving by you so you might as well get out there and then we started picking back through there. We made good stops and good changes. It was just a little bit too tight there at the end behind the 75 truck but all in all a good effort for Toyota, NTN Bearings, and everybody at Darrell Waltrip Motorsports."
Tracy Hines, No. 88 Chevroelt: "I had a really good run, a really good truck. I just messed up a little bit on one of the restarts. I think we were 11th and slid up high and got back to 13th. On two restarts I slid up there and I couldn't get the spots back as quick as I needed to. Everybody was racing so hard and this track, these mile-and-a-halfs, you get behind somebody and it's just hard to dive out and pass somebody. You get bound up on the bottom. Our truck was a lot better than 13th, that's for sure."
HOW REWARDING IS IT TO RUN WELL HERE WITH A SMALL TEAM, A TRACK WHERE AERO AND HORSEPOWER PLAY SUCH A LARGE ROLE?
"It's the first time on a mile-and-a-half all year that with this team that we've had a decent run. I think we knew that we had body problems through the year. This is one of our better bodies but still we can make 'em better and we're going to."
Chase Montgomery, No. 8 Dodge: "We were terrible. We were out to lunch all week. It's frustrating. These guys worked hard and there have been way more many times that they've given me good trucks. We came here and tested and it's just one of those deals where we didn't want to run like this. We'll go back and see if we can find something wrong with it."
WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR BOBBY HAMILTON TO WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP? YOU ARE NOW ON A CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM.
"Congratulations to Bobby. We're happy about that. It's cool to be on a championship team. It just proves the caliber of this race team. I learned a lot today. I got to ride behind Bobby and learn some stuff. Our truck just wasn't there. It's going to be cool to see what I can learn next year, moving over to the 18 and getting to work a little bit closer with Bobby. I'm looking forward to it."
REUTIMANN PRESS CONFERENCE
Jason Overstreet, crew chief, No. 17 Toyota: "It's good to win Raybestos Rookie of the Year. We fulfilled all our goals with the exception of a win. We ended on a good not with a solid run and another pole. We're excited and ready to go back and try it again."
HOW BIG OF A BOOST DOES THIS GIVE THE TEAM?
"It gives us a huge boost. It gives everybody the confidence and the desire to work a little harder and a little smarter for next year. We can look back on all the mistakes that we made this year and fix 'em."
DOES THIS GIVE YOU CONFIDENCE?
"I'm so glad that this day is over with because starting in Daytona I knew that it was going to come. This was an awesome day. It was good to finish in the top-five and win the pole. I'm ready right now for Daytona."
WHAT'S THE GOAL FOR NEXT SEASON?
"The goal for next year is to win races, win some poles and win some races and get up there and contend for that championship."
THIS IS YOUR FIRST SEASON AS CREW CHIEF. HOW HAS THIS SEASON BEEN FOR YOU?
"It's been just a huge learning experience, just the communication with our employees and team manager Bobby Kennedy and David being a rookie driver. A rookie driver working with a rookie crew chief with a rookie manufacturer, if they have all those rookie awards, I think we should get 'em."
HOW IMPORTANT HAS IT BEEN ABLE TO LEAN ON BOBBY KENNEDY?
"On a scale of 1-10, it's been a 50. It's all about having that solid backbone there to support us. When we got to that slump, he picked us right up."
Bobby Kennedy, team manager, No. 17 Toyota: "I'm very happy with our organization. One of our goals at the start of the season was to get Raybestos Rookie of the Year. We didn't finish in the top-10 in points, which was one of our goals, and it wasn't because of performance. We just had too many DNFs. The team is strong enough and every week we went somewhere that David had not been to before. He adapted very quickly. I'm pleased with the way that it all turned out."
YOU DID THIS WITH A FIRST YEAR DRIVER AND CREW CHIEF. WHAT WENT INTO THAT DECISION MAKING PROCESS?
"It didn't look like we were very smart to do that . We had a rookie crew chief, rookie driver, brand new team, brand new manufacturer, so I don't think there was any thought that went into it that said that this would be rational . Toyota was able to adapt rather quickly and the big reason why we are Raybestos Rookie of the Year is mainly because of Toyota."
WHAT KIND OF MOMENTUM DOES WINNING RAYBESTOS ROOKIE OF THE YEAR GIVE THE TEAM?
"I look for us to contend for the championship next year. We've ran well enough this year and we won't have to worry about going places that he's never seen before. I look for us to contend for the title next year."
Reutimann:
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE RAYBESTOS ROOKIE OF THE YEAR?
"It's huge. It means a lot because there was a good crop of rookies, a lot of guys that had a lot of laps in various cars. To win Raybestos Rookie of the Year above all those guys is one of the main goals that we set at the beginning of the year. To see that come full circle feels really good. The pressure is a little bit off now."
IT WAS A CLOSE BATTLE FOR MOST OF THE SEASON.
"It was a good battle. We started off the season and got the lead in the rookie deal but you know as well as I do that the points are spread out and sometimes it's hard to gain. It was one of those situations where I had a lot of guys back there running well and if we had some bad races, which we did, they could have got us. Fortunately all the guys pulled together and I started running better at some of the tracks that we needed to run at. That was the main thing that was hurting us was not finishing races."
YOU HAD A GOOD SEASON WITH AS A FIRST-YEAR DRIVER WITH A FIRST-YEAR CREW CHIEF AND MANUFACTURER.
"It's pretty special. Obviously at the beginning of the year we set some goals for ourselves. We didn't reach a lot of those but a lot of those we did. I've got some notes to fall back on now and I feel a lot better going to a lot of these racetracks, feel more comfortable in the truck. I feel like the communication level has been as good or better than it ever has been the last half of the season making great changes. I'm really excited about next year."
Darrell Waltrip, owner, No. 17 Toyota: "It's been a long year and we've had to clear a lot of hurdles. What people I don't appreciate or realize about David is there was hardly any track that he had been to. Every time he showed up at a racetrack that was the first time he had ever seen it, starting with Daytona. We came out of Daytona with a top-10 with a guy that had never raced there before and that's a difficult thing to do. We went to Atlanta and so many other places where he had never seen the racetracks, ran 'em on his computer, so I think that's the thing that impressed me the most about him. Yeah, we had some things that happened that would have been better if they hadn't. We had a couple or three wrecks and a couple of flat tires and if it hadn't been for that though we'd have been in the top-10 in points and who knows what might happen. But we'll have a great year next year. Bobby and everybody is back, David's back, NTN is back, all our people are back and so our team will be really strong next year. We ought to be able to contend for the championship."
WHAT DOES WINNING RAYBESTOS ROOKIE OF THE YEAR MEAN TO YOUR TEAM?
"Hey, what do I tell you all the time David? Any trophy, I don't care what it is, I don't care what it's for, just get a trophy . We've got a big trophy case and we need to start adding to it."
YOU BEAT A LARGE FIELD OF ROOKIES TO WIN RAYBESTOS ROOKIE OF THE YEAR.
"It's no small feat and I think again it's a credit to the team. Bobby Kennedy has done an incredible job of organizing things and giving David what he needed. David had done a great job. When he has a good day, it's a great day and we've had a couple of days that weren't so great but hardly any of them were of his own making. At Texas a truck under him gets loose and bam he's in the fence. He's at Phoenix last week and is running great, going to get a top-10 and has a flat tire. He's going to get a top-10 at Darlington and a truck spins out in front of him. So many things that were circumstances but today I think he showed what he could really do. He qualified on the pole, he fell back, the truck wasn't exactly comfortable for him and he fought back at the end. That's a lot of experience that I saw in him today."
DID THIS TEAM DO BETTER THAN YOU THOUGHT THEY WERE GOING TO THIS YEAR?
"I didn't have any expectations to tell you the truth . With the new manufacturer and with a Raybestos Rookie driver, and so many unknowns, it was hard to figure out what we would do. We got a little over optimistic I think when we started the year off with a pole at Atlanta and a third. I think we said 'Aw, this is easy. It won't be any problem' but we quickly learned that it was going to be a hard year's work."
Notable Quotables No. 5: Dodge Post-race
11-19-2004 8:04 pm
Bobby Hamilton, No. 4 Dodge, 2004 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion: “Obviously I’m pretty proud of all my people. I’ve done this stuff for a long time, and I’ve driven for a lot of other people. I know that if you don’t have good stuff, or if you don’t have good people to make this happen, it doesn’t happen very easy. I always tell people, ‘You can pull a rope easier than you can push it.’ And, trust me, if you don’t have good people, it’s like pushing a rope. I have a philosophy that I’ve never even mentioned before, but I call it the three P’s. It’s People, Product and Performance. And if you don’t have the first or the second, then the last one don’t happen. So, that’s sort of what we’ve built our race team off of.
“We pretty much knew everything that was going on. The engineers got together and actually wrote a program that they could just punch a button if Dennis led a lap, which he did, where I’d have to finish at. When he made a position or five positions they could punch it and they’d let me know where everybody was and what we had to do. Right there at the end they got a bunch of people a lap down and it got pretty wild on the restarts. So, I just fell to the tail end of the longest line because I had him (Setzer) five or six ahead of me. I think I was at 12th at that time. We had a good Dodge. Right there at about the end of the race my crew chief about fell off his seat. We ran like a 31.70 (sec.) or something at the end of the race, and the leader was running a 32.20. So, we had a good truck, but we just tried to use our head and stay out of trouble.
“These Dodges, they make a ton of horsepower, and the Chevrolets get like four or five more laps to a tank of fuel than we did. So, we made up our mind when we got like 15 or 20 laps in that we would stop and put gas in it. So, that put us in the back. Then we just started having to take care of stuff. We knew that’s what was going to happen.
“When Kasey got to me to lap me, I was concerned because I had right-front going down. We just didn’t want to advertise it, because a lot of people would scan it or whatever and try to take advantage of it. Then Kasey, being a team truck, or obviously a Dodge truck, he backed off a little bit. It wouldn’t have made any difference because he had to come in for gas in the next five laps and the other truck was 15 seconds behind me. But, the caution probably helped us from not having a tire go all the way down. It was only two pounds low, but it had a place cut where I’d hit something on the racetrack.
“I’m real light when it comes to a driver. That’s what I do to have my fun. I know I sound like a broken record, but it’s the truth. If I had to go talk to a sponsor and tell him I really cared about winning championships then I’d be lying. It’s all about the people and Dodge. Dodge hasn’t won a championship since (1975). To keep all of this stuff going, they’ve been back in this sport for three or four years now. It was huge to win their first championship, for somebody to win it, and I just wanted to be the guy to go out and win their first championship.
On being conservative, and dropping down to the bottom of the track…
“I would just pull over. It’s legal to pass to the right-hand side, so I didn’t want to take a chance to mess up anybody behind me. I didn’t want to go to turn one right off the gas, so I’d just pull over and let them pass me on the right side, where it wouldn’t get them in any kind of trick, rule-wise or anything. I was just trying to be respectful and safe at the same time. It’s easy to get hit in the back on restarts. So, I was just trying to keep from having that happen too.
“The emotion is a happy emotion. Last week was a disappointing emotion. I ran over my kid and wrecked him. Even though it was him missing a gear or whatever, you still don’t want that to happen. I had somebody ask me the other day, ‘Why did you feel this way?’ you know, they were trying pick it apart. And I said, ‘He’s my kid. You’d feel the same way. Trust me.’ It’s a different emotion. It just hasn’t sunk in for me. I mean, I know that I won the championship, and I knew going in that I was racing for the championship, but I’ve wanted it so bad so long for other people besides myself. You know something? When I’m about half drunk tomorrow night after the banquet it’ll probably sink in, and I’ll be too drunk to cry about it. I’ll be just having a good time.
“Probably half of them (race championships) I’ve won as an owner. That’s obviously a smaller series or whatever, but it really is the same thing. I think the biggest gratification that I had out of tonight was walking out on that stage and talking a few minutes with Mike Helton and him presenting it to me. I’ve always been a huge fan, and I’ve had my problems – everybody in racing has had their problems with the way NASCAR does things at times – but I’ve always been a big fan of Bill (France) Jr. Just some things he said to me back when I drove with the McClures or even the Pettys. He’d walk up and give you a pep talk, you know?. It’s just a vision that the family has had. And even though we get irritated with it sometimes, like Kenny Schraeder has said, it’s better than having a real job. Trust me. I was standing on the stage and I had just won a NASCAR championship, and I had my son, my grandchild, all of my guys. It’s almost like you write a script for it for a movie, and all of a sudden it lands that way. So, that’s a soft spot with it. But again, the championship deal is just icing on the cake for somebody else.
About being a driver and team owner in this series…
“It’s as difficult as you think it is, I guess. I’ve had some tough times. We hadn’t won all the races, so it’s not easy. They told me up on stage that I was the first guy since Alan Kulwicki to do it. And I think he and I are the maybe are the only ones in the modern era to do it. That’s weird how that had come full circle because Paul Andrews was hanging around in the pits, and he was the crew chief with Alan. So, you surround yourself with good people. I know this isn’t a good example, but Hendrick Motorsports has got a lot of great people that makes that race team what it is. And Bobby Hamilton Racing has a great support system with the people it has. My deal is structured very, very simple. I walk in there on Mondays. I hang around in the shop. I help design the chassis. That’s what I do for fun. On Tuesdays I sign the bills and talk about what we’ve got to do for testing and stuff. On Wednesdays they leave me alone – they do their job. And on Thursdays we’re going to the racetrack. That’s the way it’s been all year long. And basically all I did was took the middle people out so nobody could say, ‘Well, so-and-so told me this, or they didn’t tell me this.’ Then they have to come to me about everything. I’ve got 40 people. It isn’t that hard to juggle 40 people a week. It just isn’t that hard when you have people that do your travel, and crew chiefs that handle their people well.”
“Believe it or not I don’t even have a sponsor for next year. But I did win the championship, so I do have a resume to carry to somebody now. I just thought of that. That’s pretty cool about winning a championship. We’re really close on some things for the No. 4 truck. The No. 18 truck is done. It’s got probably the best sponsor it’s had since I’ve been in business. It’s a factory-backed team too. Chase Montgomery is going to drive it. And we’re putting together a deal with Ray on the No. 8 truck for some other people to run it some. We’re trying to get Chad located in the No. 59 truck. I don’t know if that’s going to work out or not. We’re still talking to Jim Harris about that. I told Chad that he could talk to other people. He’s talked to other teams at this time. But as far as sponsorships at Bobby Hamilton Racing, we’re going to be okay. I’m pretty sure.
On Dodge’s commitment to the NCTS
“Dieter Zetsche is in Germany, and he runs this whole thing. They’ve been wanting a championship. Dodge has been in this thing as long as Chevrolet has or Ford. There’s been eight championships won until now, and none of them had been Dodges. This is a performance business and they put a lot of emphasis on the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series because they feel like they sell a lot of vehicles by doing that. So, in return, they deserve a championship. You can’t give them a championship, you have to go out and earn it. So, saying that they deserve one, that’s not like you’re just going to give them one. It’s just took them this long for all of the teams to finally be spokes in a single wheel instead of being spokes in four different wheels. This is the first year that all of the Dodge teams have really worked together and shared information like you should do it.
On Kahne jumping in the No.2 for two straight wins…
“I think it’s great. I think there’s a truck being designed for some Cup drivers to come drive it. I like it as an owner because I think when we have Cup drivers, the ticket sales go up a little bit and it draws a little more interest to the series. So, I like it. It doesn’t bother me none. When you have good stuff you can outrun Kasey. We were going to beat Kasey last week, and he ended up winning the race because I ran over Bobby Jr., or whatever. It makes no difference to me. When I ran Busch, when the Cup guys come… I loved it when Dale Earnhardt, Sr., came and run Busch Series because if you ran with Dale Sr., you draw a lot of attention."
Kasey Kahne, No. 2 Dodge: “It was a great run. The Team ASE Dodge was really good. It’s cool that Bobby Hamilton was able to win the championship for Dodge. And Dodge won the manufacturers championship. It was a great year for Dodge. This Ultra Motorsports team has given me a great truck for both races. To go two for two – one win at Darlington and here at Homestead – is pretty awesome.
“At the start it we were wanting to get it rolling. The truck was better on used tires there. It was pretty fun being back there with all of those other trucks. It was a good time. We just kept getting better and better and worked our way up and had great pit strategy to get us up to the front. We needed to be there. I think if Ted would have started in the front of that final restart he would have won too. They had a great race truck also.
“We just had to keep running hard. The truck wasn’t as good in a way. The sun went down and there was a ton of grip on the track. We just kept running hard, and I would’ve had to spin out or something for him to pass us at that point. It was pretty nice to drive such a good handling truck.
“I had a lot of fun. It was pretty cool I’ve got to thank Ray Evernham and Doug Stringer – my Cup owner and Busch owner – for letting me do this.”
Ted Musgrave, No. 1 Dodge: “Kasey Kahne was really good, you know, and I was trying to chase him down but we got a little tight. We just experimented with a setup and we were just a little bit off. But, Ultra Motorsports came back with the two top Dodges again, so that’s pretty good. The Mopar team came on strong at the end of the season. We were just a flat tire away from a championship again.
“The teams vary. We fight for the championship every year and we just kind of had a little bit of bad luck at the end. As long as these guys hang together and build a good foundation for next year, we’ll come out strong and try again.”
“We were experimenting on a little setup there. We said, ‘The heck with it. We’re not going to win the championship, so let’s try something kind of off the wall.’ It was just one adjustment away from winning the race. That was pretty good, though, to see Kasey Kahne up there. I was chasing him down, but I got a little tight behind him so I had to ride so I didn’t burn the tires up. It was pretty good run for us. The track condition a little bit and we got tighter and tighter because it got cooler conditions. That kind of threw us a little bit of a curve. We knew it was going to get a little tight, but we didn’t know it was going to be this tight. I can’t bark on it, and complain about it because everybody did their job really well. Our Mopar Dodge ran pretty awesome, we were happy with it all day. If you look back at the year, we’re one of the teams that comes on really strong, and we’re one of the best teams here. If we can gather that goal more or less from the start, hopefully we’ll be on stage next time.
“I like to see Ultra Motorsports running 1-2, naturally. You’ve got to do that. It’s just getting back on track like we used to be, having good luck. My hat is off to the guys here. You’ve got to look back at Dover and we were back in 17th in points and 200 some points out of the lead. So, we came out of a great big hole, more or less, a canyon to dig out of and come up for running to the championship. If it wasn’t for the darn flat tire at Phoenix, we would’ve gad it. But, you know how it is. Would-haves, could-haves and all that stuff just doesn’t work. We’ll just try again next year.
“We’re ready for a break, but we’re ready for next season too. We’ve already tested at Talladega for Daytona. I’ve got my Daytona truck ready. We’ve got a couple of downforce trucks ready. Yeah, we’ve got to come out of the box kicking. We’re trying to be ahead of the game for once. We’ve never done that before. So, this year coming up we’re going to try and turn things around.”
Steve Park, No. 62 Dodge: “The Orleans Dodge was good at the beginning of the race. I don’t know what to say. Obviously, it was a fast truck in the beginning of the race. Even on old tires we were fast. I don’t know what to say. I didn’t see how the race unfolded. I don’t know when people changed tires or stopped for fuel. It is very disappointing to end the season this way. I thought we would win a race before the end of the year. Putting the team together in February is what, I think, kept us from winning. Then we took it apart again in April. Then we tried to put it together again. We spent the whole season trying to put the team together instead of concentrating on races. It wasn’t until the last five or 10 races of the year that we were a team capable of consistently running in the top five. That is about as good as we got. I think the Craftsman Truck Series is great. I like the schedule. I like everything about it. The competition is fierce. The races, I think, are some of the best races out there. The races are probably not getting the credit they deserve, but they are slowly getting the credit they deserve. I’m really glad to be a part of the series. I had a good time this year. Dodge worked hard for the championship. I want to congratulate Bobby Hamilton. He flew the Dodge flag up front all year long. Congratulations to him. Dodge had done a wonderful job, not only winning the manufacturer’s title but the series championship, too.”
TruckShots!
11-19-2004 8:19 pm
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That's gonna wrap it folks...2004 is done!
11-19-2004 8:25 pm
The champagne has been sprayed over the championship celebration, the transporters are loaded and headed for home, and preparations no turn towards tomorrow night's champions banquet at the Lowe's Hotel here in Miami. We're going to call it a night, and in turn, call it a season. It has been our pleasure bringing you exclusive coverage of all the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races in 2004, and we thank all of you for clicking over to TruckSeries.com to check it out. To all of the NASCAR officials, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series drivers and team members, and to all of the hard working PR reps who bust their tails to get us all of the wonderful information you read here, we would like to pass on our heartfelt gratitude for everything you do to make this possible. We would like to thank all of the tracks for their warm hospitality and for making sure everything is available to help us bring this all to you. For everyone at TruckSeries.com, and on behalf of allof our wonderful sponsors including Team ASE, CARQUEST, the Chevrolet Silverado All-Stars, Craftsman, RacingHotels.com, The Orleans Hotel, Yerf-Dog, Cooper/Lufkin Tools, Ultra Custom Wheels, and Snap-On Tools, we thank you for making TruckSeries.com the number one destination for on-line coverage of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Remember, Daytona is just 12 weeks away. We'll see you when testing commences for the Florida Dodge Dealers 250 at Daytona in January. Until then, good night everybody, have a safe off season, a wonderful holiday season, and remember, keep the shiny side up!
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