Welcome to Memphis Motorsports Park!
06-18-2004 8:52 am
Good morning from a hot and steamy Memphis Motorsports Park! The weatherman says its going to be very warm and muggy all weekend, which means there will be a threat of unstable weather throughout the course of the day today and tomorrow. It will bet up into the upper 80s or lower 90s both days, which will make it tough on drivers and crews alike. The garage is open and trucks are rolling through inspection preparing for the first NCTS practice, which gets underway at 12:45 pm ET.
Memphis history
06-18-2004 8:56 am
Memphis Motorsports Park first came on the NCTS schedule in 1998, and has produced six winners in six races leading up to this season, four of which are former series champions:
1998: Ron Hornaday
1999: Greg Biffle
2000: Jack Sprague
2001: Dennis Setzer
2002: Travis Kvapil
2003: Ted Musgrave
One race has been won from the pole, three have been won from the third starting position, one race won from fourth position, and another from fifth starting position.
Chevrolet has dominated at Memphis, winning four of the six races. Dodge has one win, and Ford also has one win.
The track qualifying record was set in 1999 by Greg Biffle at 22.272 seconds/120.139 miles per hour. Travis Kvapil holds the race record, 1 hour, 41 minutes, 3 seconds/89.065 miles per hour, set in 2002.
Greg Biffle is the only two-time pole winner (1998 and 1999), with Bobby Hamilton, Jack Sprague, Jason Leffler, and Jon Wood also picking up the top qualifying spot.
Memphis Motorsports Park is 0.75 miles in length, and 11 degrees of banking in the corners and 4 degrees of banking on the straightaways. The straightaways are both measured at 1,100 feet.
Trying to gain approval...
06-18-2004 9:18 am
With the next short track event on the schedule at IRP in early August, many teams have entered here at Memphis hoping to gain approval to move up to one-mile and larger tracks. Once NASCAR reviews a driver's performance on the short tracks, he or she is then approved to compete at one-mile tracks such as Milwaukee and Gateway. Then approval is granted for the mile-and-a-half tracks, the two-mile tracks, and eventually Daytona.
Some drivers that are looking to gain approval for superspeedways are David Froehlich, Scotty Sands, J.C. Stout, Jarod Robie, Darren Shaw, and Paul White.
MacDonald back
06-18-2004 9:55 am
After a one-week hiatus, the No. 72 MacDonald Motorsports Chevrolet is back on the NCTS entry list. A quick search through the record book found that the team had attended each NCTS event since the 2000 season-opener at Daytona. Teri MacDonald is scheduled to be behind the wheel this weekend.
Cook looks to match...
06-18-2004 10:01 am
Terry Cook has always run well at Memphis Motorsports Park, with three top-10 finishes in six starts here, with a best finish of second in 2002. He comes to Memphis with a third-place effort in the last NCTS short track race at Mansfield, and looks to match the performance set by his corporate teammate earlier in the season here at Memphis. In May, Dave Steele drove his Power Stroke Diesel-sponsored USAC Silver Crown car to victory here at MMP. Cook's brother-in-law, Bobby East, finished third in that race.
David Reutimann, driver, No. 17 Toyota
06-18-2004 10:08 am
"Last year I was working as a fabricator for NEMCO Motorsports. We all knew that Greg Biffle was going to run the No. 7 Busch car, but he wasn't going to be able to qualify it here. The car unloaded good and we were on top of the sheet in practice. The only other car we were concerned about beating us was our teammate in the other NEMCO car, driven by Kyle Busch. I qualified the car and we were able to beat him, but I didn't get a chance to race the car."
Another open-wheel ace
06-18-2004 10:15 am
Yet another open-wheel ace is looking to make the jump to NASCAR racing. Paul White, the 2002 USAC Silver Crown Series champion, is entered this weekend in the No. 77 Sta-Max Chevrolet. White is receiving help from Loni Richardson's team here this weekend.
Chris Wimmer, driver, No. 63 Ford
06-18-2004 11:05 am
"We have two goals this weekend. One is to make the race, because these are tough fields to make. The second is to run all day in the race and get the best finish we can. I've been here before with the ASA car, and I am sure the truck will have a lot more power. We ended up on our roof coming to the checkered flag in that race though, so we don't want to repeat that!"
Shane Sieg, driver, No. 07 Chevrolet
06-18-2004 11:08 am
"We ran the All-Pro cars here before, so I have a pretty good feel for the track. I had to get all that feel in practice though, we blew a motor going into turn one on the first lap. Talk about a short day!"
Bun in the oven...
06-18-2004 11:31 am
One NCTS crew member is having a hard time keeping focused on the job at hand this weekend. Ed Riley, tire specialist for the No. 13 ThorSport Chevy and his wife Julie are expecting their first child in the coming weeks. "I wasn't supposed to come this week," Riley said. "I am on pins and needles, very nervous!"
Track schedule
06-18-2004 9:34 am
Here is the schedule for the day:
11:45 am ET: Drawing for qualifying
12:45-2:45 pm ET: NCTS Practice
4:00 pm ET: NCTS Bud Pole Qualifying
5:30-6:30 pm ET: NCTS Final Practice
7:30 pm ET: Garage closes
Kohuth in victory lane
06-18-2004 11:41 am
Former NCTS crew chief Tim Kohuth returned to victory lane over the weekend when his driver, Joel Kauffman, won the USAR Hooter's Cup Series race at Salem Speedway. It was Kohuth's first victory since going to winner's circle with Jason Leffler last May at Dover.
New TruckShots!
06-18-2004 11:53 am
New pictures are posted in the TruckShots gallery!
Click
here
!
An hour away...
06-18-2004 12:02 pm
Trucks will be on track in a little under an hour...the temperature has gone up a few degrees, but there may be some relief in sight: some clouds have started drifting towards the track, so some much needed shade may be on the way.
Trucks on track!
06-18-2004 12:50 pm
Practice is underway here at MMP...the early leaderboard:
1. Skinner
2. Chaffin
3. Starr
4. Sprague
5. Cook
6. Edwards
7. Crawford
8. Kvapil
9. Crafton
10. Parker, Jr.
Hot and slick
06-18-2004 12:53 pm
Many teams are facing a loose condition early in practice. With the sun beating down on the track, it is very slick already, which only aggrivates problems with the chassis. If a truck would ordinarily be a little loose, the track conditions magnify that condition, making it "a lot loose".
Engine trouble for the 02?
06-18-2004 12:55 pm
Kelly Sutton is reporting the engine in the No. 02 Team COPAXONE Chevrolet is sputtering and will not stay fired. "It sputters and pops, and when I push in the clutch it won't stay fired," she said to her crew. They have returned the truck to the garage area to work on the problem.
Busy busy busy
06-18-2004 12:57 pm
With two hours of track time and 41 trucks on the grounds, the track has already been a very busy place early in this session. Just 15 minutes into practice there have already been 33 trucks on the track. The top of the leaderboard sees Crafton, Hmiel, Sprague, Kvapil, and Skinner at the top after 15 minutes.
Tracy Hines, driver, No. 88 Chevrolet
06-18-2004 1:00 pm
"Right now it's just chirping the nose just a little bit. It is just a tick neutral to tight up off the corner. If we can get that tight condition fixed through the center, it will help us off the corner."
Carl Edwards, driver, No. 99 Ford
06-18-2004 1:01 pm
"The only place it is a little uncomfortable is when I touch the brakes to turn in, it is a little loose."
Crafton's spotter
06-18-2004 1:02 pm
Matt Crafton has a very experienced set of eyes watching the track for him from the spotter's stand. But the eyes are very used to seeing the track from the driver's seat rather than the crow's nest. Rick Carelli picked up the spotting duties last week in Texas and helped Crafton to a top-10 finish. In 1999, Carelli was involved in a serious crash going into turn three here at MMP that left him sidelined for the remainder of that season. Crafton is a short track (and a flat track) specialist, and with Carelli's years of experience, it should prove to be a very formidable combination.
Just a tick under 30 minutes...
06-18-2004 1:08 pm
Here is the complete rundown after about 27 minutes into the pre-qualifying practice here at Memphis:
1. Hamilton
2. Crafton
3. Hmiel
4. Sprague
5. Chaffin
6. Kvapil
7. Skinner
8. Edwards
10. Starr
11. Setzer
12. Musgrave
13. Cook
14. Crawford
15. Wood
16. Hines
17. Parker, Jr.
18. Huffman
19. Park
20. Hooper
21. Howard
22. Houston
23. Montgomery
24. Keselowski
25. Lester
26. Sieg
27. Reutimann
28. Love
29. Weaver
30. Whitt
31. Froehlich
32. Wimmer
33. Shaw
34. Stout
35. Sutton
Wood pick up a splinter?
06-18-2004 1:12 pm
Jon Wood is reporting that when he "puts wheel to it", the No. 50 Ford develops a push. That is not the only problem the team has had to work to overcome this session. Just after their last practice run, crew chief John Monsam found the left rear tire was flat. Per NASCAR rules, the team can take the tire to Goodyear and have it replaced, but due to the tire usage rules, unless the team wants to use another one of their four allotted sets of tires for the weekend, that is the only tire they can have replaced.
McFarland back...
06-18-2004 1:16 pm
Another team back in the garage area after taking a week off is the No. 59 HT Motorsports Dodge with driver Mark McFarland. McFarland, noted for his short track prowess, is currently 12th on the leaderboard.
Ultra gear change
06-18-2004 1:18 pm
The No. 2 Team ASE/CARQUEST Dodge team is working hard underneath the rear of the truck changing a rear end gear. "It is a little sluggish off the corner," driver Andy Houston reported on his last run.
Red flag...
06-18-2004 1:25 pm
The red flag waves over Memphis Motorsports Park for a quick spin by No. 08 Ken Weaver. The track crew made a quick inspection, and the green flag is expected back out momentarily.
Rundown
06-18-2004 1:33 pm
Here is the rundown after 52 minutes and 10 seconds of the first practice:
1. Hamilton
2. Crafton
3. Sprague
4. Musgrave
5. Wood
6. Hmiel
7. Setzer
8. Chaffin
9. Kvapil
10. Skinner
11. Parker, Jr.
12. Starr
13. McFarland
14. Edwards
15. Reutimann
16. Cook
17. Hines
18. Crawford
19. Hooper
20. Huffman
21. Park
22. Keselowski
23. Houston
24. Howard
25. Lester
26. Montgomery
27. Sieg
28. Love
29. Weaver
30. Whitt
31. Froelich
32. Wimmer
33. Shaw
34. Sutton
35. Stout
36. Sands
Oops!
06-18-2004 1:39 pm
One of the hardest things to get used to when you are new to a particular racing series are the operational proceedures. One such proceedure that one team wasn't used to was being cleared to enter the speedway for practice by passing technical inspection. The team in question made about a dozen laps before NASCAR officials called the truck back to the garage area for inspection. Five short minutes later, the truck had cleared inspection and was back on the track for practice.
Back to where it began...
06-18-2004 1:44 pm
Hank Parker, Jr. returns to Memphis Motorsports Park one year after making his first career NCTS start. Last season, he was called to replace David Starr, who was injured in a private test session in Milwaukee the previous week. He finished 15th here in his series debut last season.
Rundown 3
06-18-2004 1:51 pm
Here is the rundown with 50 minutes remaining:
1. Hamilton
2. Crafton
3. Sprague
4. Musgrave
5. Wood
6. Hmiel
7. Setzer
8. Skinner
9. Chaffin
10. Kvapil
11. Parker, Jr.
12. Starr
13. McFarland
14. Edwards
15. Reutimann
16. Cook
17. Hines
18. Crawford
19. Houston
20. Hooper
21. Huffman
22. Park
23. Keselowski
24. Howard
25. Lester
26. Montgomery
27. Sieg
28. Wimmer
29. Whitt
30. Love
31. Weaver
32. Froehich
33. Sutton
34. Shaw
35. Stout
36. Sands
37. MacDonald
Still to practice:
Hummel
Robie
Caudill
White
Rear gear problems on the 22
06-18-2004 1:58 pm
Bill Lester is reporting a "wierd ratcheting sound from the rear end." The truck did a little shuttering when the rear end made the noise at speed. The Bill Davis Racing team has the truck up on four stands and is in the process of changing the rear gear now.
Clean and green
06-18-2004 2:02 pm
The track has been clean and green since the Ken Weaver spin a half an hour into this practice.
Dennis Conner, crew chief, No. 2 Dodge
06-18-2004 2:05 pm
"The truck looks great through the corners, but we are just slow. We'll play with the springs some to see if we can't pick it up."
Dennis Setzer, driver, No. 46 Chevrolet
06-18-2004 2:07 pm
"It's decent through the center, but I am giving up a lot through the late exit."
Morgan-Dollar on the money in Memphis
06-18-2004 2:10 pm
In 2001, Dennis Setzer drove the No. 46 Morgan-Dollar Chevy to the team's first even win here at Memphis Motorsports Park. Since Setzer took over driving chores for the team that season, they have never finished outside the top-5 at MMP. In fact, Sezter has never finished out of the top-5 in five career starts here at MMP. His finishes are 5, 3, 1, 5, 3. If you believe in numerology, the No. 46 could be tough to beat tomorrow afternoon.
Red flag at MMP...
06-18-2004 2:17 pm
Debris on the track has brought practice to quick halt with about 25 minutes remaining in the session. The track is clean and back under green.
Rundown 4
06-18-2004 2:20 pm
With 23 minutes remaining...
1. Hamilton
2. Kvapil
3. Crafton
4. Sprague
5. Musgrave
6. Wood
7. Hmiel
8. Setzer
9. Skinner
10. Chaffin
11. Starr
12. Parker, Jr.
13. McFarland
14. Edwards
15. Lester
16. Reutimann
17. Hooper
18. Cook
19. Hines
20. Crawford
21. Houston
22. Huffman
23. Park
24. Keselowski
25. Howard
26. Montgomery
27. Whitt
28. Sieg
29. Wimmer
30. Love
31. Weaver
32. Froehlich
33. Sutton
34. Shaw
35. Stout
36. Sands
37. MacDonald
38. Robie
Yet to practice:
Hammel
Caudill
White
How important is qualifying?
06-18-2004 2:35 pm
How much effort do teams put towards a good qualifying run? While most teams have run 30-40 laps to work on qualifying setups, two teams have notably run less than 20. Shane Hmiel has only made 19 laps in Billy Ballew's No. 15 Chevy, while Bobby Hamilton does him one better by turning only 18 laps in his own No. 4 Dodge. Both have been in or near the top-10 for most of the session.
Rundown 5
06-18-2004 2:40 pm
As the sands fall out of the (two) hour glass, here is the final rundown of the pre-qualifying practice session:
1. Edwards
2. Sprague
3. Musgrave
4. Hamilton
5. Setzer
6. Chaffin
7. Skinner
8. Crafton
9. Wood
10. Kvapil
11. Starr
12. Parker, Jr.
13. McFarland
14. Sieg
15. Crawford
16. Huffman
17. Lester
18. Reutimann
19. Hmiel
20. Hooper
21. Cook
22. Park
23. Whitt
24. Love
25. Hines
26. Houston
27. Howard
28. Keselowski
29. Caudill
30. Montgomery
31. Froehlich
32. Sutton
33. Wimmer
34. Weaver
35. Shaw
36. Stout
37. Sands
38. MacDonald
39. White
40. Robie
David Starr, driver, No. 75 Chevrolet
06-18-2004 2:59 pm
"I don't have any complaints so far. I am glad to be back after missing this race last year, this is a fun fun track. Right now the track seems to be in pretty good shape even with it being as hot as it is. It has plenty of grip. That's the one thing about track conditions and weather, they are the same for everyone."
Rick Crawford, driver, No. 14 Ford
06-18-2004 3:02 pm
"We are not where we want to be right now. But we tried some stuff and we made some gains late in that practice. We mainly worked on race runs, but we spent some time on qualifying at the end there."
Paul White, driver, No. 77 Chevrolet
06-18-2004 3:07 pm
"We had a vibration that made the truck keep jumping out of gear. Compared to a Silver Crown car, it feels like I am sitting 10 feet off the ground. It's top heavy, and a lot slower than the open wheel cars. Of course, I am not up to speed yet, so that might be part of it."
Paul White, driver, No. 77 Chevrolet
06-18-2004 3:07 pm
"We had a vibration that made the truck keep jumping out of gear. Compared to a Silver Crown car, it feels like I am sitting 10 feet off the ground. It's top heavy, and a lot slower than the open wheel cars. Of course, I am not up to speed yet, so that might be part of it."
Carl Edwards, driver, No. 99 Ford
06-18-2004 3:14 pm
"That was fast, but now we are working on making sure we can do that more than just one lap."
Travis Kvapil, driver, No. 24 Toyota
06-18-2004 3:18 pm
"It went pretty good. We unloaded in the top-10. We only made a few changes in practice and then switched to qualifying mode. We fought being loose off the truck and made a couple of changes and got it pretty close. Then we went to qualifying trim and fought tight conditions. We’re going to make a couple of changes before qualifying and if they’re where we need to be then we’ll be top-five."
Hank Parker, Jr., driver, No. 21 Toyota
06-18-2004 3:51 pm
"I am pretty happy with the truck right now. If I had to take a guess, I think we have a truck that can win this race."
Get well wishes...
06-18-2004 3:53 pm
Get well wishes go to Lisa Hughes Kennedy, the PR rep for Brad Keselowski. Kennedy tore some ligaments in a fall out of a transporter at the ARCA race in Kansas a couple of weeks ago, and has been sidelined since.
Live! Qualifying
06-18-2004 4:01 pm
Make sure you click over to TruckSeries.com's EXCLUSIVE coverage of Live! Bud Pole Qualifying from Memphis...going on NOW!
Weather report
06-18-2004 4:44 pm
As of 4:47 pm ET, the National Weather Service reports that the temperature one mile away from Memphis Motorsports Park is 99 degrees, with a heat index of 116.
David Reutimann, driver, No. 17 Toyota
06-18-2004 5:10 pm
"We are terrible right now. I don't...there is nothing I can say. I don't know what is the matter, we are just off right now."
Win from the pole $$$
06-18-2004 5:16 pm
Series sponsor Craftsman posts a $2,000 per race rolling bonus to whomever can win both the pole and the race on any given weekend. The bonus has not been won this year, so it is up to $16,000 this weekend. It is the highest the bonus has been since it's inception at Homestead in 2000. It was last awarded when Bobby Hamilton won at Homestead to close the 2003 season.
Bobby Hamilton, driver, No. 4 Dodge
06-18-2004 5:31 pm
"Until last year, we never really brought the best stuff we had here. I would always bring whatever we had just laying around the shop, show trucks or whatever. This weekend hasn't started out the way I wanted it to, I didn't want to come to the media center after qualifying and here I am. I wanted to qualify fourth or fifth and I just missed it. The truck has felt the same since we unloaded it, all we have done is put some tape on it and got it ready to qualify. We won't make any changes to it unless the motor falls out, and then all we'll do is pop a new one in it."
Robert Huffman, driver, No. 12 Toyota
06-18-2004 5:52 pm
"We didn't practice that well at all. To qualify 8th is a bit of a pleasant surprise."
Ted Musgrave, driver, No. 1 Dodge
06-18-2004 5:53 pm
"It's pretty cool to be back up front for the second week in a row. We won the 200th race here last season, and this year it is the 225th race. There must be some sort of scenario there. And we have the same truck we won with last season. It was a brand new truck last season, and this is the first time we have raced it this season. The guys stayed late working on getting this thing ready, which is why we didn't get parked until first thing this morning, we didn't get here until the middle of the night. This is a track that veterans can really excel. Looking at turn three it is really tempting to drive it in really hard down there, but us older guys know better. The more you slow down sometimes the faster you go."
Happy Hour is on!
06-18-2004 5:58 pm
We are about 10 minutes into Happy Hour practice...the rundown:
1. Hamilton
2. Sprague
3. Chaffin
4. Hmiel
5. Crafton
6. Wood
7. Edwards
8. Lester
9. Musgrave
10. Starr
11. Whitt
12. Kvapil
13. Parker, Jr.
14. Cook
15. Hooper
16. Skinner
17. Crawford
18. Houston
19. McFarland
20. Keselowski
21. Howard
22. Setzer
23. Reutimann
24. Montgomery
25. Hines
26. Love
27. Weaver
28. Froelich
29. Sutton
30. MacDonald
Qualifying notables...
06-18-2004 6:03 pm
Sprague becomes the first driver to win multiple poles in 2004; his previous fast qualifying effort came at Martinsville Speedway in April...Sprague now has 22 career NCTS poles, which leads the category...the last time Sprague raced in the NCTS at Memphis, he also started from the pole; he finished 23rd after receving damage in an accident...Musgrave starts on the front row for the second consecutive week; he started from pole last week at Texas...Hamilton has yet to start outside the top-10 in an NCTS race at Memphis...each manufacturer is represented within the top-5 qualifiers (Chevy, pole; Dodge, second; Ford, third; Toyota, fifth)...
Kelly Sutton, driver, No. 02 Chevy
06-18-2004 6:08 pm
"We made a few adjustments before qualifying, and just missed the set-up. The Team COPAXONE Chevy is better than that, but we'll take the start on a provisional and get to work for the race set up. Happy hour will let us experiment so we can bring home a strong finish tomorrow afternoon."
HH Rundown 2
06-18-2004 6:11 pm
Here is Rundown 2 from Happy Hour:
1. Hamilton
2. Sprague
3. Chaffin
4. Hmiel
5. Musgrave
6. Crafton
7. Wood
8. Edwards
9. Starr
10. Lester
11. Whitt
12. Kvapil
13. McFarland
14. Parker, Jr.
15. Cook
16. Hooper
17. Skinner
18. Caudill
19. Crawford
20. Houston
21. Keselowski
22. Howard
23. Setzer
24. Reutimann
25. Montgomery
26. Park
27. Hines
28. Love
29. Weaver
30. Froehlich
31. Sutton
32. MacDonald
Jack Sprague, driver, No. 16 Chevrolet
06-18-2004 6:19 pm
“Going out third in the order, actually we went second, we didn’t know if we could put down a lap that would hold. You just don’t know if the clouds were going to blow in and cool it down enough for guys later in the order to beat us. We have been quick right off the truck today. The Chevy Trucks Silverado is good. I was just a little loose out of two but she stuck good and we were able to hang on to get the pole. We were pretty happy with the lap so even if we had ended up second or third, it gives us a good starting spot for the race and that is important here. I was worried about the 99 (Carl Edwards) , the 1 (Ted Musgrave) and the 4 (Bobby Hamilton). When the sun stayed out and it stayed hot, I felt a little better as they went through the order. It is definitely hot and it does affect the handling of the truck because the track is going to get slicker the hotter it is. During qualifying you through the best setup you can to get one good lap even if you have to hold your breath. For the race, you build a little adjustability in it so if the clouds come over and the track cools down, you can make an adjustment that helps keep you where you need to be. I love this track. It is one of my absolute favorite tracks on our schedule. I have always qualified pretty well here and ran well unless we had some kind of problem or got in a wreck. It is a great track for the fans because they can see virtually the entire track and see all the action. We could race here twice a year and I wouldn’t mind at all."
Dennis Setzer, driver, No. 46 Chevrolet
06-18-2004 6:20 pm
“We are about where we were in practice, we were hoping to pick up a little bit, but it seems like the track lost a little bit of grip. We got a little sideways on the second lap, unfortunate for us. It will be important to start towards the front, to get a good pit stall, the guys have been doing a great job on pit road, but we just need to get them a good spot to work out of."
Dennis Setzer, driver, No. 75 Chevrolet
06-18-2004 6:21 pm
“I am disappointed with it. We couldn’t get it through one and two. First lap I overdrove the corner a little bit, we were a little tight in the center. The second lap I was loose off of two. It wasn’t what we were looking for. We thought we could run in the 22.80s. Which would have picked us up from practice to qualifying but we didn’t. I probably could have done a little bit better than we had. This truck was good in practice, and we have another happy hour coming with a little bit more work to do. We will just shake it off and work on the race.”
Matt Crafton, driver, No. 6 Chevrolet
06-18-2004 6:23 pm
“I just gave a little too much just made some little mistakes. I like short tracks like Memphis; it puts the driver back in the seat. At the superspeedways it is all about aerodynamics, short tracks bringing the importance back to the driver. We practiced well this morning, and I guess my qualifying effort was OK.”
Shane Hmiel, driver, No. 15 Chevrolet
06-18-2004 6:25 pm
We'll have a top ten qualifying run for sure. The truck did well out there in practice we were running some fast laps but we never got out in time during practice to do a mock qualifying run. The Spondivits Restaurants - Alpharetta Self Storage Chevy Silverado plans to be up front this whole weekend. I have to thank Andy Camp and Larry Thacker for coming on board with us this weekend. We plan a good run for them, we almost had it last week. It won't be long."
Terry Cook, driver, No. 10 Ford
06-18-2004 6:26 pm
“We really haven’t hit on a setup to where we really want to be. Looking at the positives, we’ve picked up a solid two-tenths of a second for qualifying, which you always want to be able to run your fastest lap in qualifying. We still need to pick up quite a bit of speed so we’ve going to work on that during Happy Hour. Jamie Jones, Ron Denton, and the entiure Ford Power Stroke Diesel by International Racing team have gotten together and have got a completely different package from where we’ve been running in practice. We’ll see what happens here in Happy Hour. We’re optimistically excited with the truck. It’s the same truck we ran third at Mansfield (Motorsports Speedway). I know we’ve got a good truck and a good team. We just got to find our magic setup and that’s what we’re working on.”
Happy Hour over!
06-18-2004 6:28 pm
Put a fork in us folks...we are done for the day. Well, make that THEY are done for the day! TrackSideLive! will still keep on going until they make us leave for the day! We'll go get the scoop in the garage and keep you abreast of all the developing news from the track. Times will be posted shortly...keep it locked on TruckSeries.com for the rest of the news from Memphis!
Ol' Trucker Qualifies Sixth at MIS
06-18-2004 7:07 pm
Brendan Gaughan qualified sixth for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series event at Michigan this weekend:
"There's a lot of room to miss things here at Michigan, and if you can stay up front you can miss even more. We're starting off good, so we'll see if we can finish it off. We're looking forward to a good run for the Jasper yellow car. The Jasper Engines Dodge hasn't done quite as well as the Kodak Dodge. We want to look good for the Jasper folks. Michigan was good to us last year in the trucks. We'll see if we can make it good for us this year in the car. This is a fun place. It's close to Mr. Penske's home and also close to Jasper Engines home in Jasper, Ind. The Midwest is a big market for those guys. Roger has done well here in the past. Our truck was dominant here last year. Right now I'd just like to have the car just as balanced. When cars are good balance comes easy. This one feels pretty balanced."
Andy Houston, driver, No. 2 Dodge
06-18-2004 7:10 pm
"Right now all I know is a pound of flour makes a pound of biscuits. It's been a long day for us, and it'll probably get longer. We need to come up with a plan, but we are running out of time. I am sure they will come up with something."
Jon Wood, driver, No. 50 Ford
06-18-2004 7:13 pm
"I messed up in qualifying and we ended up 7th. It's not a big deal though, we'll be okay during the race."
Bob Keselowski, crew chief, No. 29 Ford
06-18-2004 7:14 pm
"Brad is doing just fine. It's the truck that is the problem right now. We didn't get to bring the truck we had so much success here before, that is the one we crashed at Dover."
Travis Kvapil, driver, No. 24 Toyota
06-18-2004 7:16 pm
"A place like Memphis really puts it back into the driver's hands. It is fast and everything, but it is a lot more like racing on a Saturday night back at home. We had a good qualifying run. I mean, it's good, but I am not ecstatic about it. Someone has to be the first one to win two here, it might as well be me!"
Brad Keselowski, driver, No. 29 Ford
06-18-2004 7:17 pm
"My practice run is basically like how my qualifying run went. I'm a little confused. I know the times that we've been running and it isn't matching up. I feel like the truck is running well. We're just a little concerned because we know the speeds it takes to run up front in the race. I think we should turn off the computer during Happy Hour and go out there and see what the truck can run."
Mike Skinner, driver, No. 42 Toyota
06-18-2004 7:20 pm
"We really tried some things that we probably shouldn’t have done right before qualifying. We ran a lot of laps in practice, and we didn’t have any tires left for happy hour to speak of. We kept making changes and obviously we went the wrong way on that deal. We’re trying some other things for happy hour to try to compliment what we did for qualifying and if we can’t fix it, we’re just going to go back to the way were and start the race. I think our truck will be OK in the race. I seem adapt to these places pretty good."
Memphis Qualifying Day Wrap-up
06-18-2004 7:25 pm
It is time to call it a day from Memphis Motorsports Park...the heat and humidity never subsided, but all the NCTS teams persevered and had a pretty solid day in the end. Only one incident slowed the on-track action, but that doesn't mean it was a dull day. Although the two fastest qualifiers went out early, they had to duck several silver bullets fired by some pretty heavy hitters to keep their spots on the front row. We will pick up coverage tomorrow morning when the garage opens, just after 9 am ET. Good night everybody!
Good morning from Memphis...it's raceday!
06-19-2004 9:45 am
Good morning from Memphis Motorsports Park...the weather is 180 degrees different than yesterday, clouds moved in last night, and a few claps of thunder rolled through as well. The temperature is expected to hit 85 degrees, and the humidity seems to be a lot more manageable than yesterday. The overcast is expected to stay for a while, which should make working conditions here a lot more tolerable than yesterday.
To the back...
06-19-2004 9:49 am
The No. 84 Southern Piping Co./I Dig Pigs Ford driven by Jamie Caudill will start the O'Reilly 200 from the tail of the field this afternoon due to an engine change. Caudill will be credited with a 28th place start, but will drop to the rear on the pace laps and take the green from the final row.
Busy as a beehive...
06-19-2004 9:53 am
The garage area is teeming with activity this morning. The crews are busy prepping the trucks, while the pit boxes are being set up and NASCAR officials are working on getting the tech line ready for business. The finishing touches are being put on the track as banners are going up and decals are being placed in all the strategic locations. Be sure to keep it locked on to TrackSideLive! throughout the day for all the news and notes from MMP...
Charlie Long, crew chief, No. 84 Ford
06-19-2004 10:34 am
"We had an oil line that was crimped, and it dropped the oil pressure. It didn't drop to zero, but it fell to about 15 pounds, and we just weren't comfortable with that. We had another engine in the truck so we changed it. We would have liked to have taken out the first engine and inspected it, but we just didn't have enough time. When you lose pressure like that you have to worry about the bearings. We have run good here in the past. We finished fourth here with Chad Chaffin, and we were running 11th or 12th the last time we were here and got crashed. We weren't all that good yesterday, but I think we'll get better as the race goes on."
Hope to win it with a Bang!?
06-19-2004 11:45 am
Bang! Racing took a page from the Morgan-Dollar Motorsports playbook and selected pit stalls at the turn four end of pit road. M-D crew chief Danny Gill has selected the first pit stall at the turn four end of pit road several times and converted it to victory. The advantages are ease of entrance, and usually, ease of exit because the teams around you are usually off the lead lap by the time you need to make a pit stop. Can Bang! Racing turn the trick here in Memphis? Time will tell...
Pit road map
06-19-2004 11:53 am
Here is the pit road layout for the O'Reilly 200, starting at the turn one pit exit and continuing back to the turn four pit entrance (Ray Dunlap's assignments in purple, Wendy Norris' assignments in green):
Sprague
Hmiel
Montgomery
Sutton
Setzer
Sieg
Love
Crawford
Hines
Lester
Wood
Open Stall
Break in pit wall
Hamilton
Chaffin
Howard
Starr
Wimmer
Edwards
Scoring camera/Start-Finish Line
Musgrave
Huffman
Houston
Froehlich
Parker, Jr.
Keselowski
McFarland
Reutimann
Park
Hooper
Whitt
Weaver
Crafton
Caudill
Cook
Stout
Skinner
MacDonald
Kvapil
Large turnout...
06-19-2004 12:11 am
There are a LOT of people here at MMP already this morning. One trackside observer called it the largest turnout this early on raceday as he had ever seen at Memphis for a Truck Series race. The spectators are visiting the Expo area right outside the front gates, and many of them have already claimed their seats in the main grandstand on the frontstretch.
Spears success
06-19-2004 12:12 am
While the team has never visited victory lane here in the NCTS, Spears Motorsports does have a win here at Memphis Motorsports Park. In 2001, Billy Bigley drove the team's car to victory lane in the ARCA Re/MAX Series race held the day before the NCTS race here.
Special Awards...
06-19-2004 12:15 am
NCTS Communications Director Owen Kearns will present the following special awards during driver introductions:
Bud Pole Award: Jack Sprague
Featherlite Most Improved Driver (Texas): Matt Crafton
International Truck Crew Chief (Texas): Danny Gill, No. 46
Mobil 1 Command Performance Texas): Dennis Setzer
Raybestos Rookie of the Race (Texas): David Reutimann
Waste Management Picking Up Places (Texas) Jack Sprague
WIX Filters Lap Leader Award (Texas): Ted Musgrave
Driver's meeting next...
06-19-2004 12:18 am
Next on the docket for the day is the NCTS driver's meeting...series director Wayne Auton will discuss the proceedures of the event and take questions from drivers and crew chiefs. One topic expected to be discussed by several teams is the new pit road opening proceedures and clarification of the free pass rules, newly instituted at Texas last week.
Scoring freeze...
06-19-2004 1:01 pm
Wayne Auton announced in the driver's meeting that the scoring freeze technology is here at Memphis and will be employed during all caution periods. The system involves a series a loops run across the speedway and a computer system that tells NASCAR officials where each truck was in relation to the previous loop when the caution comes out. The system is intended to reduce both the level of confusion during the sorting process when the caution comes out, and to reduce the number of laps run under caution.
Must maintain...
06-19-2004 1:04 pm
Drivers must maintain a minimum lap time of 25.31 seconds during the event today. Trucks that are taken to the garage for repairs following an on-track accident will have one opportunity to make those repairs and return to the speedway to maintain that minimum time.
Sun poking through
06-19-2004 1:05 pm
The sun has finally poked through the overcast here at Memphis Motorsports Park...however, the temperature is still relatively pleasant. There is a gentle breeze blowing, which also helps keep the "misery index" under control.
Pre-race preview...
06-19-2004 2:40 pm
The drivers are lined up in the infield ready to cross the stage for driver introductions, the trucks are staged on the grid on pit road, and the fans are making their way to their seats...what kind of race do they have in store for them today? Averages show they will see a pretty competitive race with about 10 lead changes, anywhere between 6 and 9 cautions, and possibly even some heated tempers.
No one has ever repeated to win more than one race here at Memphis Motorsports Park. Will that streak continue today? If it does, the driver to make it seven faces in seven races will have to go through two of the toughest short trackers in the series: Ted Musgrave and Dennis Setzer. Musgrave starts his second consecutive event from the front row and looked very strong yesterday. Setzer struggled in the final practice yesterday, but many observers believe he will be among the strongest once the green flag flies.
The sun has re-emerged through the cloud, meaning many of the setups worked on during happy hour practice last night will probably give the drivers the same feeling today. The teams that made adjustments to deal with the overcast we dealt with throughout the morning may be facing some serious handling difficulties.
The biggest issue of the day may be tires. Several teams reported some abnormalities with their tires, giving them some serious handling issues in the practice sessions. Some tire specialists even reported that some tires are slightly softer than the regular compound that Goodyear brought. Wll some tire specialists group these supposed softer tires for a late dash to the checkered? A late pitstop with 40 laps to go may be to take on four tires with a little extra grip.
Toyota can also make a statement here today. Mike Skinner has a knack for winning inaugural events, and while the NCTS has been here for six previous races, this is his first ever attempt here. Travis Kvapil looked strong in practice, and Robert Huffman has been on a streak lately, and is a short track specialist.
Look for a very entertaining event, with some twists and turns that seem to come out of the blue. Enjoy the race on Speed Channel, and as soon as the checkered flag waves, click on to TruckSeries.com for all the post-race coverage, EXCLUSIVELY on TrackSideLive!
Unofficial Results
06-19-2004 5:35 pm
Hamilton
Hmiel
Musgrave
Setzer
Edwards
Crafton
Sprague
Wood
Chaffin
Starr
Park
Parker, Jr.
Kvapil
Hines
Whitt
Huffman
Reutimann
Montgomery
Crawford
Houston
Love
Sieg
Lester
Howard
Hooper
Skinner
Cook
Froehlich
Caudill
Stout
Sutton
MacDonald
McFarland
Weaver
Keselowski
Wimmer
Shane Hmiel, driver, No. 15 Chevrolet
06-19-2004 6:08 pm
"We had a lot of fun out there today. This truck was really good of the corners, and super strong off turn two. These DEI engines are super stout. It's just the same old thing every week, these lapped trucks are always in the way. It's the same people every week too. If you're that slow, just take it to the house boys, stay off the track and let us race."
Rick Crawford, driver, No. 14 Ford
06-19-2004 6:09 pm
"I think that call to come in and get tires off sequence was going to pay off and be a really good move. Mike (Skinner) and I got to racing pretty hard there and I drove it in pretty hard going into three. I got loose and rather than take him out, I got on the brakes a little too hard and spun myself out."
Dennis Setzer, driver, No. 46 Chevrolet
06-19-2004 6:11 pm
"We had a good day. We stayed out of trouble and had a good day in the points. But fourth, for us, is just mediocre. We're here to win."
Jack Sprague, driver, No. 16 Chevy
06-19-2004 6:13 pm
“I didn’t know the caution came out. My spotter didn’t say anything about the yellow. I slammed on the brakes as soon as I saw the yellow light flash on the wall. I don’t know what else I could have done. They tell us we are supposed to watch the trucks in front of us, the trucks behind us, the yellow lights on the wall and everything else. If we are supposed to react as soon as the flag and/or light are displayed, they need to put a light on the dash so that as soon as they flip the switch, we see it right there in front of us. It is important to be able to slow immediately when there is trouble on the track, but they have to help us out inside the truck because we are already focused on so many things that are going on around us.”
Crewman taken to the hospital...
06-19-2004 6:14 pm
Jonathan Bruns, crewman for the No. 10 Power Stroke Diesel Ford, was taken to a local hospital for evaluation after an incident on pit road. He is reported to be awake and alert.
Matt Crafton, driver, No. 6 Chevy
06-19-2004 6:20 pm
“We had a real good day today and a great truck. We have good momentum for the next four or five races we have in a row. The guys made at least a half dozen changes this morning and Wally (Rogers) and the guys did a good job in the pits. We made only one stop for fuel and four tires and no chassis changes.
“We got up to maybe fourth and could have been beating on the door for a win but we weren’t very good on short runs. We needed long green flag runs because it took a while for the truck to come to me. In the second half of the race we had five and ten lap runs. With all those yellows I knew we were in trouble. We had that last nine lapper and I got up on the wheel gave it everything I had and we picked up a couple more spots.”
Hank Parker, Jr., driver, No. 21 Toyota
06-19-2004 6:21 pm
We had an awesome truck right off the bat. We were coming through the pack, running some good lap times and we made contact with another truck. We had to battle from the back of the pack a couple of times. If we had a little better track position, I think we would have had something for the trucks up front."
David Starr, driver, No. 75 Chevy
06-19-2004 6:23 pm
"We had a decent day, but we were tenth. That isn't at all what we wanted. Just four laps before the finish we were running with the 99 truck, and look where he ended up. But a top-10 is good. We're on our way out of here to go to Graceland...going to go see Elvis!"
Weaver OK
06-19-2004 6:26 pm
Ken Weaver was evaluated and released from the infield care center following his accident on lap 139.
Terry Cook, driver, No. 10 Ford
06-19-2004 6:30 pm
“The Ford Power Stroke Diesel by International Racing truck just didn’t have a setup we wanted today. The team made adjustments under just about every caution and never really hit on it. We had a bad pit stop at the race’s midpoint under the green flag and it set us back when the caution flag came out one lap later. We’re going to Milwaukee next weekend and will look for better results there.”
Robert Huffman, driver, No. 12 Chevrolet
06-19-2004 6:31 pm
"We were just too loose at the start. We pitted to adjust it, but we ended up tight all day long after that. It was just survival today. Hopefully this week here wil turn it around and we can go have some good finishes. After Milwaukee, we go to Kansas and we have been running pretty well on the mile and a half tracks."
Steve Park, driver, No. 62 Dodge
06-19-2004 6:33 pm
"This is really the first race this season that we haven't had bad luck. Maybe all of the good luck charms the fans are sending has helped. It is another decent finish, and we need those. I really needed long green-flag run. The cautions at the end didn't help us at all. The Orleans Dodge ran best after long runs. The lapped cars were hard to get around. I was pretty upset with all of the cautions at the end. I think we would have had a better finish it stayed green."
Bobby Hamilton, driver, No. 4 Dodge
06-19-2004 6:34 pm
"I didn't even think about about that until you mentioned it just now (joining his son Bobby, Jr. as a winner at Memphis Motorsports Park). That is pretty cool, don't ya think? It got pretty exciting there at the end. Shane is pretty good for that. But it was fun, wasn't it?"
Memphis post-race notables...
06-19-2004 6:36 pm
Hamilton becomes the first Tennesseean to win an NCTS race in his home state...with Hmiel finishing second, it marks the eighth time in eight races that the driver that led the halfway point failed to lead the last lap...Hmiel's second-place finish was his first career NCTS top-5 finish; his previous best came at Charlotte in May (6th)...Ted Musgrave led the most laps for the second consecutive race and again failed to win; he was second last week in Texas and third here in Memphis...Dennis Setzer finished fourth, his sixth consecutive top-5 finish at MMP...Carl Edwards matched his MMP finish from 2003 with a fifth place effort...Tracy Hines scored his first Raybestos Rookie of the Race award by finishing 14th
Brandon Whitt, driver, No. 38 Ford
06-19-2004 6:40 pm
"We had a decent day. That stop for tires early was some pretty good strategy. We wanted a good long green flag run and that is what we got. But we got a little help down there in turn three and spun out. But we recovered to a solid 15th place. We had a good truck, it's not like we lucked into it."
Shane Hmiel, driver, No. 15 Chevrolet
06-19-2004 7:00 pm
“Everybody here know what I went through so I am feel so fortunate to come back like this and finish so well. I feel like I am the best racecar driver I think I have ever been and I am with the best team I have ever driven for. I have good engines, good trucks. Every week we are competitive and it feels good to come to the track every weekend knowing we have a chance to win. We are getting to tracks I have been to but places like Martinsville and Atlanta where you run wide open took a little getting used to but I am getting really comfortable and used to the truck and the team."
Jon Wood, driver, No. 50 Ford
06-19-2004 7:01 pm
"We had a great truck on long runs, and we were heading for a pretty solid finish. But then I backed in to my teammate there and fell back."
Ted Musgrave, driver, No. 1 Dodge
06-19-2004 7:04 pm
"We were hoping that we would run 60 or 70 laps in a row again. That's what our truck was set up for, but as you seen in the end, wow, those five laps sprints, our truck wasn't ready for that. I had a hard time keeping it down in the center and as it went on, the race came to me. That's just unfortunately because you don't know how many cautions you're going to have at the end."
Carl Edwards, driver, No. 99 Ford
06-19-2004 7:07 pm
"We survived. I knocked the front valance in and that gave us trouble from the beginning, so we were a little bit tight. We only had one pit stop. (Crew chief) Cowboy (Starland) and the rest of the Superchips guys did a good job of getting it dialed in as good as they could. Just a little too tight. Fifth play is okay. We only lost four points to Dennis Setzer. That's a good championship day for us."
Chad Chaffin, driver, No. 18 Dodge
06-19-2004 7:08 pm
"We had a pretty rough day, actually. We qualified ninth and we were really fast in Happy Hour. We really thought we were going to have a great truck today. You know all of those guys worked on their trucks overnight, we weren't as fast as compared to the field as we needed to be to make a lot of passing."
Memphis post-race thoughts...
06-19-2004 7:09 pm
Wow...you read it here first folks...we predicted something totally unexpected would happen to change the face of the race in Memphis, but even we didn't expect it to be THAT unexpected! Who ever would have guessed that the leader would be black-flagged out of the lead, and then fight his way back to seventh. The Billy Ballew Motorsports team has really turned the corner and Shane Hmiel turned in one of the strongest performances of the 2004 season, only to fall less than a half a second short at the finish. Winner Bobby Hamilton joins an elite group of NASCAR drivers to have won races on the same track as their son by joining Bobby Jr as a winner at MMP. The fans in the stands saw some of the best short track racing of the season, and the continuing drama of the season-long points standings continues to build going to Milwaukee. Remember folks...Milwaukee is now a one-day show on Friday, with practice, qualifying, and the race all on one day. Your source for EXCLUSIVE coverage of Live! Qualifying and of course all the scuttlebutt from the garage, both pre-race and post-race, is TruckSeries.com. Keep it locked to the toughest site on the Internet for more exclusive features during the week...and we will pick up coverage from trackside next Friday morning. Good night everybody!
SAFER 'Soft Wall' Installation at Atlanta Set for September
08-17-2004 11:53 am
The installation of the new Steel and Foam Energy Reduction (SAFER) barrier walls at Atlanta Motor Speedway is expected to begin on Tuesday, Sept. 7, in time for testing for the speedway’s fall race weekend, the Oct. 29-31 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500.
IndyCar's Bryan Herta & National Aerobatic Champion Kirby Chambliss are Part of History in the SpeedFreaks Pits
08-16-2004 5:37 pm
phat·ic adj. (fat-ick) - Of, relating to, or being speech used to share feelings or to establish a mood of sociability rather than to communicate information or ideas
SPEED Channel Hires Severs as Public Relations Manager
08-23-2004 10:23 am
Becky Severs joins SPEED Channel as public relations manager for the network's motor sports programming. Severs has served as an independent contractor for SPEED for nearly two years, working primarily on the network's live and exclusive coverage of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
