Craftsman®

Lucas Oil 200
Dover
SPEED • MRN • Sirius
Friday, May 13, 2011
4:45 PM ET
TV Time
8:00 PM ET SDD
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Practice Times
Thursday, May 12
2:30 PM - 3:45 PM ET
4:15 PM - 5:30 PM ET
Qualifying
Friday, May 13
!0:10 AM ET
Dover Pre-Race Season to Date
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DOVER
 


Kroger 250
Martinsville
SPEED • MRN • Sirius
Sat. April 2, 2011
2:00 PM ET
TV Time
1:30 PM ET
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Practice Times
Friday April 1
11AM - 12:20 PM ET
2:10AM-3:20 AM ET
Qualifying
Saturday April 2
10:40 AM ET
Martinsville Post Race
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MARTINSVILLE
POST RACE
Johnny Sauter (1)
Joe Shear Jr. (CC)
Kyle Busch (2)
Ron Hornaday Jr. (3)
Cole Whitt (R)


Too Tough to Tame 200
Darlington
SPEED • MRN • Sirius
Sat. March 12, 2011
5:00 PM ET
TV Time
4:30 PM ET
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Practice Times
Saturday March 12
9:00 AM-10:00 AM ET
10:30AM-11:30 AM ET
Qualifying
Saturday March 12
3:15 PM ET
Darlington Post Race
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DARLINGTON
POST RACE
Kasey Kahne (1)
Eric Phillips (CC)
Ron Hornaday, Jr. (2)
Todd Bodine (3)
Cole Whitt(R)


06-27-2005

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race Review: Milwaukee
TruckSeries.com Report Printer Version 

  Discuss



Friday's Toyota Tundra Milwaukee 200 marked the fourth race in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series history that the caution flag flew just once. The other three races took place at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2002 and The Milwaukee Mile and Michigan International Speedway the following season.

Brendan Gaughan set the all-time race speed record in the latter event at 154.044 mph.

The most recent race of the four saw the longest consecutive green flag run - at least from the opening lap. Friday's only caution, for Johnny Benson's Turn 1 spin, appeared on lap 144.

Milwaukee's 2003 event saw the first 133 laps run before caution appeared. At Miami, the only yellow came at lap 113.

"I don't think the threat of rain had anything to do with it," said Terry Cook, whose pass of David Starr for 10th place came with three laps to go. "Everybody was using their heads tonight. There was a little pushing and leaning on each other but it was done Truck Series style - it wasn't move them out of the way, dump them and wreck them."

The corollary to a nearly all green flag race - in most cases - is a reduced number of trucks finishing on the lead lap. Winner Dennis Setzer had lapped all but three of his rivals by the time that caution flew over the one-mile speedway. Four drivers eventually completed all 200 laps with fifth place Brendan Gaughan a lap behind.

That was the fewest lead lap finishers since Aug. 10, 2001 when just three drivers - Scott Riggs, Ted Musgrave and Rick Crawford - completed all 150 laps at Nashville Superspeedway.

Milwaukee's previous fewest lead lap finishers - seven - was recorded in 1996.

Setzer, with 14 victories, takes sixth place on the all-time career win list. He'd shared the spot with Joe Ruttman. He's the third different driver to lead the point standings this season.

Chevrolet's first victory at The Milwaukee Mile since 1997 was the fifth in a row by the truck maker in 2005. The streak began with Kyle Busch's May 20 victory at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Defending NASCAR Busch Series champion Martin Truex Jr. didn't quite match Busch's record in the Billy Ballew Motorsports No. 15 Chevrolet - but Truex showed a lot of class and respect for series regulars when Setzer and Jack Sprague got within lapping range.

Truex didn't exactly roll over but he gave the pair plenty of room.

"Those long green runs at the beginning killed us tonight," he said after finishing 19th. "We weren't very good to start and we had to pit and unhook the rear bar to be halfway decent. I didn't do too great a job but I had a great time.

"Maybe they'll have me back to give it another chance."

Much of the garage buzz concerned Max Jones returning to Roush Racing to guide the team's NASCAR Craftsman Truck and Busch Series fortunes. Jones, who most recently managed Eddie Cheever's Indy Racing League team, was the force behind Greg Biffle's 2000 championship - the first in NASCAR by Jack Roush - and Kurt Busch's rookie-of-the-year performance the same season that resulted in a battlefield promotion to the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series.

Todd Kluever, whose ninth-place finish was the Raybestos rookie contender's best since a fourth at Mansfield Motorsports Speedway in early May, looks forward to Jones' impact on both his and teammate Ricky Craven's fortunes.

"From what I can tell, when Max ran the truck teams before they ran superbly," said Kluever." I think if we have a guy back in that role where he can make sure both teams are even and getting the same things, it would just be a really good situation for all of us involved."

Ron Hornaday Jr. and Crawford will be after their 100th top-10 finishes when they belt up this Saturday at Kansas Speedway. Hornaday, fourth and Crawford, eighth, notched No. 99 in Milwaukee.

Bobby Hamilton's sixth-place finish was the defending series champion's 49th top 10.

Then there the swap of drivers on two Toyota teams. The No. 30 Germain/Arnold group released Chad Chaffin on Tuesday and replaced the Tennessee resident with Todd Bodine, who won twice in the Tundra a year ago.

Chaffin wasn't afoot long - latching onto what had been the No. 66 Fiddleback Racing equipment occupied by Bodine. Chaffin drove the truck - now numbered 60 and owned by Jeff Wyler - to a 17th-place finish. Neither driver nor owner, however, received championship points because of their post-entry status.

"Some really neat things happened this week," said Chaffin. "Tuesday evening I didn't even know if I was going to be here in Milwaukee. I knew I wasn't out of racing. But I didn't know where I'd be driving and wasn't sure about being able to stay with Toyota.

"I'm real positive about the future and real grateful for this opportunity."

Bodine, meanwhile, qualified on the front row but fell out after 141 laps with ignition woes.



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