Click here for our NEW! TrackSideLive! Garage Photos! from July 5, 2003 at Kansas Speedway

This concludes Trackside Live! presented by The Orleans from the Kansas Speedway and the O’Reilly 250.  Keep it locked right here at TruckSeries.com for special coverage of the Kentucky charity softball game at Northern Kentucky University between the NCTS drivers and the Speed Channel media team next Thursday, and all the action from the Ford 225 at Kentucky Speedway on Friday and Saturday.

An abbreviated post race report (sorry folks…airline schedules aren’t flexible, even for Trackside Live!) starts NOW!!!

Jason Leffler, #2 Team ASE/CarQuest Dodge:        “We had some right front damage from that collision on pit road but we got past that.  The truck was just as fast afterward.  What hurt was gas mileage.  We had that caution with 70 to go, but there was no use stopping because we couldn’t make it from there.  No use pitting twice when you only need to pit once.” (5:41 pm ET)

Jon Wood, #50 Bob Graham for President Ford:     “I hope this says something to the critics out there.  I am always reading on TruckSeries.com that people are saying this, that, and the other and you can’t let it get to you.  I love this place.  I wish they would build 24 or 25 of them just like it as a matter of fact.  It is awesome the way the fans have the access the way they do here.  I won my first pole in a real racecar here in the Winston West and should have won the race.  We had our first top-5 here in 2001, and I am just so happy to win my first one here.  I love Kansas.  Everything is just such a blur.” (5:38 pm ET)

Terry Cook, #29 Power Stroke Ford:           “I wish I knew what it was.  If I did, we would fix it.  Right now, we aren’t very good.  We were better than this last year, and we weren’t good here last year at all.” (5:34 pm ET)

Dennis Setzer, #46 Axciom Chevrolet:         “We had a great day.  At times we had a good truck and a not so good truck.  At the end, it was really good.  If we had a few more laps, we had something for them.  We’ll load it up and take it to Kentucky next week.  It is a good truck.  We ran it the last two, and we’ll go with it again next week.” (5:31 pm ET)

Brendan Gaughan, #62 The Orleans Dodge:            “I missed a shift on the start and the 14 got us from behind.  It is not like NASCAR was going to black flag us or anything, but they wanted it off. We just barely missed getting that last piece off there.  But the sign of a good team is how you handle adversity and how you overcome it.  We did that today and managed to come out of here with a good finish.” (5:29 pm ET)

Bill Lester reached a milestone here at Kansas Speedway with his first career top-10 finish.  At the conclusion of the race, Lester took a trip to the infield care center to take some IV fluids and oxygen, however, he is reported to be just fine.  (5:20 pm ET)

Matt Crafton, #88 Menards/Enzyme Magic Chevrolet:        “I had a run up behind the 59 and heard it go pop-pop.  I reached over and switched ignition boxes and it stopped.  Then a couple of laps later, it started doing it again.  It just swallowed a valve on us.” (5:17 pm ET)

Rick Crawford, #14 Circle Bar Ford:             “The 62 missed a shift on the start and I just about cleared him.  Just about.  But, we came down and got it fixed.  No harm, not foul.” (5:13 pm ET)

Trackside LIVE! coverage of the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 will resume after the checkered flag drops.  Make sure you tune into the Speed Channel coverage from Kansas Speedway, which gets started at the top of the hour.  (1:38 pm ET)

NEW PICTURES POSTED!!!  CLICK HERE FOR TrackSideLive! Garage Photos! POSTED AT 1:35 pm ET!

Engines will crank for the O’Reilly 250 at 2:17 pm ET. (12:47 pm ET)

Matt Crafton, #88 Menards/Enzyme Magic Chevrolet:        “About where we thought we’d be.  We were 10th and 11th in the two practice sessions.  When we came in, we thought we might end up further back.  I guess the track got greasy and slowed some guys down.  We’re confident we can race from 10th tomorrow.  We’ve gotten pretty consistent with our qualifying.  We aren’t challenging for the top-five yet, but we have been getting ourselves into the front half of the field.  It’s a lot easier to stay on the lead lap and finish in the top-10 when you start in the front half.” (12:43 pm ET)

Notes from the NCTS driver’s meeting…NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Director Wayne Auton cautioned drivers about entering pit road, saying it comes up very quickly when you are at speed on the racetrack; there are several hashmarks on the speedway to alert drivers when the entrance to pit road is approaching…pit road speed is 45 miles an hour, and will be in effect from 50 feet before the first pit stall until 50 feet after the last stall…drivers must stay below the white line until they reach turn two when exiting pit road…the teams are allowed to set up their pits as soon as IRL qualifying is over (it just started), which should allow them just over an hour to get their pits set up…the minimum lap time drivers must maintain during the race is 38.1 seconds…each team will have one chance to maintain minimum speed if they are involved in an accident and are forced to the garage for repairs…drivers are urged to tell their crew chief if they need assistance exiting their truck after the race; the trucks will be parked on pit road when the checkered flag falls, and NASCAR will have several EMTs available to assist drivers with fluids, oxygen, or just a cool wet towel…finally, NASCAR commended the drivers for showing respect to other teams by not driving through each other’s pit stalls when entering and exiting the pits…(12:08 pm ET)

MLB Motorsports has secured the use of Doug Keller’s Chevrolet for the start of today’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 for driver Michael Dokken.  The team’s primary truck was damaged beyond repair in yesterday’s crash in turn four.  (11:43 am ET)

Several teams were seen changing gears this morning in preparation for track conditions to change throughout the course of the 167 laps.  Most teams were adding gear to prevent the wheels from spinning off the corners.  “You can buzz the tires off the turns in qualifying, but you can’t do that all day during the race and expect to be up front,” said Wayne Cook, crew member for Terry Cook’s #29 Power Stroke Diesel Ford.  Some of the teams seen working under the rear end of their trucks include the Ultra Motorsports teams, K-Automotive, Roush Racing, Spears Motorsports, and Bobby Hamilton Racing.  ThorSport and Ballew Motorsports were two of the notables that had not changed gears this morning.  (11:41 am ET)

Here are the pit assignments for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250.  The drivers covered by Ray Dunlap will be listed in red, the drivers covered by Phil Parsons will be listed in blue:

Chaffin

Pressley

Parker, Jr

Lester

Break in pit wall

Musgrave

Setzer

Menard

C. Edwards

Boys

Dokken

Crawford

Shepherd

Hooper

Kvapil

Break in pit wall

Hamilton

Crafton

MacDonald

Price

Leffler

Scoring camera/Start-Finish

Empty stall

Wood

Stover

Gordon

Horn

Break in pit wall

Jones

Hendrick

Boyd

Hill

Bickle

Bell

Sanders

Bonifield

Dotter

Cook

Break in pit wall

Gaughan

Briggs

Whitt (11:25 am ET)

Today’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 marks milestones for two long-time teams in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.  Spears Motorsports, owned by Wayne and Connie Spears will be making their 200^th series start.  The Spears Motorsports team has been running the series since the series’ inception, only missing two events in 1998 when they were also running a full season of Winston West and contending for a series championship with Kevin Harvick.  Other Spears Motorsports drivers included Bill Sedgwick, Bobby Gill, Nathan Buttke, Dan Press, Kevin Harvick, Lonnie Rush, Marty Houston, Billy Bigley, Jr., and current drivers David Starr and his temporary replacement Hank Parker, Jr.  ThorSport, which was formerly known as SealMaster Racing, will be making its 150^th series start.  The team, owned by Duke and Rhonda Thorson, has only had two drivers in its #88 Chevrolets, Terry Cook and Matt Crafton.  The team made its debut at The Milwaukee Mile in 1996.  (9:48 am ET)

Travis Kvapil, #16 IWX Motor Freight Chevrolet:                “These guys won the race last year, but we brought a new truck this year.  The truck was brand new at Texas.  We’ve been tuning on it.  We just can’t run behind someone in traffic, we lose the air on the nose.  I hate to complain about it because it is something everyone has to deal with. It’s just going to make it very hard to pass.” (9:39 am ET)

Michael Dokken, #36 James Western Star Sterling Dodge:            “I am okay, just disappointed.  We had the truck running pretty well in practice even though we kinda messed up a little during qualifying.  We went off into the turn and had a right front go flat on us.  I think I must have hit some debris or something over there because we had no warning at all anything was wrong.” (9:36 am ET)

Good morning from Kansas Speedway.  Weather today is a carbon copy of yesterday, hot, humid, and hazy.  There is a thin layer of clouds above the speedway now and a nice breeze keeping everyone cool, but the weatherman expects it to be a scorcher today.  Keep it locked on TruckSeries.com for all the action from the track as it happens as we lead up to the green flag for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series – O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 Pre-Race Coverage:  July 4, 2003

Brendan Gaughan, #62 The Orleans Dodge:            “Shane Wilson is a hero.  Those guys worked their tails off today.  We didn’t have one major problem, but a combination of little small things.  But we overcame them and we have a truck that should be able to go out there and compete for the win.  I am not going to say we’re going to go and dominate, but we will be in contention.” (8:48 pm ET)

Ted Musgrave, #1 Team Mopar Dodge:        “It gets this hot up in Wisconsin.  Once a year.  We had a pretty smooth day.  We fought a little loose and tight, but we have a good truck for the race.  If someone gets out front, this will be the kind of race where he might be able to pull away.  When the trucks are in traffic, there just isn’t enough air there.  But don’t tell anyone, I think we’ll be okay tomorrow.  This truck will be okay.”  (8:45 pm ET)

Practice is over…a final rundown will be posted on the main page shortly.  (8:23 pm ET)

Michael Dokken has been treated and released from the KU Med Care Center. (8:22 pm ET)

Trucks are back on the track at Kansas.  NASCAR will extend the session another five minutes.  (8:14 pm ET)

Jerry Hill, #5 amIhealthy.com Dodge:          “We went through the crash site and hit some debris.  I think it was a brake rotor or something.  It looks like we have a hole in the oil pan. We are going to take a look at it and see if we need to change it.  It would be a shame if we did, because this is a pretty good engine.” NOTE: Team owner Rick Ware diagnosed a hole in the transmission as well.  (8:09 pm ET)

Red flag out at Kansas!  Michael Dokken has crashed coming off of turn four.  The truck is stopped on the frontstretch and safety crews are now attending to Dokken and the truck.  Dokken is out of the truck under his own power.  (7:54 pm ET)

The rundown with just 8 minutes remaining in practice:

            Musgrave, Edwards, Hamilton, Setzer, Wood

            Gaughan, Kvapil, Chaffin, Lester, Pressley

            Leffler, Crawford, Jones, Cook, Crafton

            Parker, Jr., Menard, Dokken, Horn, Whitt

            Hooper, Bell, Stover, Bickle, Hill

            Boys, MacDonald, Gordon, Price, Sanders

            Lavender

Randy MacDonald, #72 Greenfield Truck Center Chevrolet:           “We had a good finish last week even if it wasn’t a good run.  We haven’t had a lot of laps here today.  Nothing major, but we have had a lot of little problems to work through.” (7:51 pm ET)

Stan Boyd will be practicing the #08 for Jody Lavender the next time the 08 takes to the racetrack.  (7:48 pm ET)

Travis Kvapil, #16 IWX Motor Freight Chevrolet:    “I have to roll out of the throttle and get to the bottom.  It just gets really tight, and it is killing us because we can’t hold anyone off when they get a good run on us.” (7:46 pm ET)

TruckSeries.com would like to wish a happy birthday to NASCAR inspector Eugene “Gene” Colvin.  Colvin is a Sedalia, Missouri, native and is fortunate enough to celebrate his birthday close to home.  Being a Missouri native, many other NASCAR officials have been ribbing Eugene because he has hit fellow Missourian Kenny Schrader’s truck number as his age.  (7:44 pm ET)

Bill Lester, #8 Dodge Motorsports Dodge:    “I stuck my nose under the 75 there and it felt pretty good.”  (7:39 pm ET)

Matt Crafton has yet to take to the track during final practice as the ThorSport team works on a sway bar problem on the #88 Menards/Enzyme Solutions Chevrolet. (7:37 pm ET)

Jody Lavender, #08 Lavender Discount Carpets Chevrolet:           “We just had the air taken off the spoiler and got a little loose there.  I tell you, I am on the edge of out of control anyhow.  I hate to be this slow and be that uncomfortable out there.  We will try to make it better, but at this point, it is so bad, I don’t know that we can!” (7:35 pm ET)

Tina Gordon, #31 Microtel Inns Dodge:        “Kansas is a really neat track, but it is hotter than heck out there.  I tell you, my no-run mascara is really getting a workout out there!” (7:32 pm ET)

Pole winner Chad Chaffin had to pull off the speedway early in the final session because of smoke.  The team initially thought it could be a loose oil line, but it turns out the be a low tire pressure issue on the left front causing excessive tire smoke.  The team is checking the pressures all the way around and they will be back out shortly. (7:30 pm ET)

Bobby Hamilton, #4 Square D Dodge:          “The truck drives really good.  You have a lot of corner here and you carry a lot of speed through the corners.  All of the BHR trucks are running good.  This track is pretty regular in the heat, a lot of places go right into the dump when it gets warm like this.  This is a real consistent racetrack.  If you take care of yourself, drink a lot of fluid and eat right the heat won’t be a problem.  I hear it is not as hot here as it was last year.  As the weather wears on the pavement here, it rains, snows, and the sun shines on it, a second groove wears into it.” (7:29 pm ET)

Happy Half Hour is underway!  NASCAR was forced to shorten final practice after the oil down in qualifying delayed the remainder of the evening schedule.  Final practice will run from 7:25 through 8:00 pm ET.

Rick Ren, #29 Power Stroke Diesel/Oil Mate Ford:            “I want Terry out in a really tight draft as soon as we leave pit road.  We need to know what this thing will do with no air on the nose.  If it is okay, we’ll run 10 or 12 laps and then come in and check the tire temperatures.” (7:23 pm ET)

Hank Parker, Jr., #75 Spears Manufacturing Chevrolet:     “We felt tight in practice so we loosened it up.  We went out to qualify, and there was oil all over the place, which really loosened us up.  We were good through one and two, but we were really bad in three and four.” (7:21 pm ET)

Chris Horn, #58 Horn Engines Chevrolet:     “We are one and a half seconds quicker this year than were last year.  Kevin Cram is here with us this weekend and we are trying some stuff with the chassis, and that is what has done it.  We do our own engines, we just don’t have the resources to lease them.  It is our business.  It just costs us for the parts and the time, the labor doesn’t cost me anything.  We need to make some changes for Happy Hour, like adding a gurney and playing with the spoiler.  You can grit your teeth for one lap, but if you do that all race you won’t have any teeth left!” (7:19 pm ET)

Aaron Daniel, #11 Chick Motorsports Ford:             “We just didn’t have enough track time.  We are trying to sort out a new truck, and we just ran out of time.  Not a good day.  We came here and never sat in a truck before and ran 17^th, and it has been progressively worse, and I don’t have an explanation for it.  I just can’t tell you how much this hurts.” NOTE: Daniel is a Kansas City, Missouri native. (7:15 pm ET)

Eric Jones, #03 Team EJP/Safelite Auto Glass Chevrolet:              “We went out right after the oil down and came around through it.  I saw it and when I looked up, the red wasn’t out I drove right through it.  When I got to the flagstand, the red was out, so we came in and cooled it back off.  We didn’t change tires.  Scuffs were the way to go, but it didn’t help us out that much.  We only had one hard corner on them as it was.  We are just pleased as we can be.  This is the team’s best qualifying effort ever, and we just hope we can get the same kind of finish in the race.” (7:11 pm ET)

Paul Menard, #33 Turtle Wax/Menards Chevrolet:             “We fought a loose condition early, but we worked on it all day and it was okay for qualifying.  We changed air pressure, shocks, springs, everything.  I was actually flat through one and two, but I had to burp it in three and four.  We were the first one out after the oil down, and it was terrible.  There was still oil everywhere.  Sitting there for all that time wasn’t actually that bad.  I came this close to falling asleep in the truck, and I probably would have if they stopped talking on the radio!” (7:05 pm ET)

Carl Edwards, #99 Roush Racing Ford:        “The truck was just was loose on the run.  So loose I almost couldn’t drive it.” (6:19 pm ET)

Bill Lester, #8 Dodge Motorsports Dodge:    “Bobby (Hamilton) has a great spot for the start, he will have a great view of us on the start and critique us.  Actually, I am really surprised he is not up here in place of one of the two of us.  We use his setups and he does all the research and development.  It is a testament to the work he does that we are both up here.” (6:17 pm ET)

Jon Wood, #50 Bob Graham for President Ford:     “Chad, are you sure you weren’t qualifying for the IRL race?  About the only good thing about our run is we will get a good pit stall out of it.  I was thinking about doing a clean cut down the backstretch and going for that Waste Management Picking Up Places Award.  I compare having a teammate to going to a gunfight with two guns.  You have twice as many chances to hit someone, and I don’t mean that out on the racetrack!  (To which Carl Edwards, Wood’s Roush teammate, jokingly replied, “with me I am not so sure!”)  We come here with opposite setups and sometimes they both work.  When one doesn’t, we can play off each other and work with each other to get the other one faster.” (6:15 pm ET)

Chad Chaffin, #18 Dickies Dodge:    “We have had some really bad finishes on what should be our best days.  But it is great for all of BHR to have us up on the front row.  The crew chief had faith in the truck, I didn’t.  I didn’t think it would go that fast.  When they read off the time, all the guys on the crew had to do a double take.” (6:09 pm ET)

NASCAR has stopped qualifying for a track inspection.  Rich Bickle had a problem in the #15 Vokal Ford, and as Eric Jones took to the track, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Director Wayne Auton called Jones back to pit road so the track crew could perform an inspection an33d cleanup.  (4:29 pm ET)  UPDATE:  It was the #9 Fasscore Ford of Kenny Hendrick that dropped oil on the track.  Parked in the garage, the 9 truck has a puddle of oil under the rear end gear.  Unofficially, both Rich Bickle and Eric Jones will be allowed to requalify.  They are now in the garage cooling their engines and will be moved to the front of the line.  The time for Bickle will be deleted and he will receive two laps of qualifying. (4:42 pm ET)

Click here for our SPECIAL! TrackSideLive! Photos of the Kansas Charity Softball Game!

Rich Bickle, #15 Vokal Ford:             "It's just loose, loose, loose!  We need to loose all the tape, every bit of it, hopefully that will help tighten me up a little bit.  It's frustrating because it is so loose that its just unreal." (3:19 pm ET)

The Billy Ballew Motorsports team has converted back to Ford for this race only.  They have been running Dodges the past few weeks, but could not get the engine turned around in time to bring here to Kansas.  (3:18 pm ET)

To clarify the kill switch problem Bill Lester experienced in the first practice, Lester said there was a loose wire that shorted out the system.  “Better to have that problem and get it fixed in practice than in the race,” Lester said.  (3:10 pm ET)

Ted Musgrave, #1 Team Mopar Dodge:        “All we really worked on was race set-ups. We did try some stuff that was semi-qualifying stuff but what we are concentrating is race day things. We don't care where we qualify we just want to know where the truck is so that we can make it better in happy hour." (3:08 pm ET)

Kenny Hendrick, #9 Vokal Ford:       “We were fairly decent in that first practice and we should be even better in the second one. The motor was just a little slugish and we think we have that fixed. We should be good.” (3:06 pm ET)

Jon Wood, #50 Bob Graham for President Ford:     “We thought we might have had a problem with the motor so we went ahead and changed it. There was plenty of time between the two practices to make sure things were right. It is not that big of a deal to start in the back so we will be okay." (2:56 pm ET)

Close call on the speedway as Jody Lavender and Dennis Setzer came off of turn four moments ago.  Setzer closed on Lavender’s tailgate and took air off the spoiler of Lavender’s truck.  Lavender made a slow slide off of turn four and slid through the frontstretch grass in the infield.  No damage reported to either truck, and the track remains green.  (2:54 pm ET)

Green flag is back out…there was oil on the apron, none found on the speedway.  (2:50 pm ET)

The rundown as the red flag flies during the track cleanup for Edwards’ oil down:

            Hamilton, Musgrave, Setzer, Leffler, Crawford

            C. Edwards, Gaughan, Chaffin, Kvapil, Jones

            Wood, Crafton, Pressley, Horn, Lester