NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Notes

03-08-2005 | TruckSeries.com Report

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Notes

ETC. … Shane Hmiel will drive Billy Ballew's No. 15 Chevrolet at Atlanta. Hmiel, a NASCAR Busch Series regular, won in the Atlanta resident's truck last September at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Kerry Earnhardt drove for the team in the season's opening two races.

QUOTEBOOK  "I had the best seat in the house for one of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series' best finishes in its 10-year history. Coming off of four, (Bobby) Hamilton and (Mike) Skinner were working each other over. I had a feeling they may take each other out and I was directly behind them. At the start-finish line, Skinner's truck lost it and got sideways. Hamilton won and we weren't sure if we finished second or third." - David Reutimann, No. 17 NTN Bearings Toyota, Bud Pole winner and third-place finisher in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series' Atlanta Motor Speedway debut.

10 YEARS TOUGH  Roush Racing joined the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series fulltime in 1996 with Joe Ruttman, who teamed with fellow NASCAR NEXTEL Cup competitor Chuck Bown the following season. Martin scored the team's first victory - of a record 36 with seven different drivers - on Sept. 28, 1996 at the old North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway. The team didn't begin a driver development program until 1998 when Biffle won Raybestos Rookie of the Year honors - the first of three from the Roush stable to win the award. Biffle set the single-season victory mark of nine in 1999. Busch won four times in 2000, an all-time series high for a rookie competitor. Edwards is the team's most recent winner on Aug. 25, 2004 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Fast Facts
What: World Financial Group 200 (Race 3 of 25).
Where: Atlanta Motor Speedway.
When:  9:15 p.m. ET, Friday, March 18.
Track layout: 1.54-mile banked paved.
Race length: 200.2 miles/130 laps.
Posted awards: $495,082.
TV: SPEED Channel, 9 p.m. ET.
Radio: MRN, XM Satellite.
2004 winner: Bobby Hamilton.
2004 polesitter: David Reutimann.

Pre-race schedule (all times local): Friday - Practice 9:00 a.m. - 10:10 a.m. and 10:55 a.m. to 11:55 a.m. Qualifying 5:10 p.m. Trucks impounded after qualifying.

Top 10 drivers: 1. Bobby Hamilton  355. 2. Ricky Craven 330. 3. Jimmy Spencer 321. 4. Ted Musgrave 310. 5. Matt Crafton 280. 6. Steve Park 279. 7. Johnny Benson 271. 8. David Reutimann 256. 9. Dennis Setzer 254. 10. Casey Atwood 251.