Hornaday, Skinner make championship noise … For the first time since the final race of 1996, former NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champions Mike Skinner (No. 5 Toyota Tundra Toyota) and Ron Hornaday Jr. (No. 6 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet) hold top-five rankings together in the title chase. Skinner, 11th in points as recently as Aug. 5, moved to fourth after his Sept. 8 victory at Richmond International Raceway. Hornaday's 10th-place performance boosted the 1996 and 1998 champion from fourth to third.

Don't look back, here comes Ted … Talk about making up ground: Ted Musgrave (No. 1 Mopar Dodge) was a distant, 227 points behind championship leader Dennis Setzer (No. 46 Chevrolet Z71 Silverado Chevrolet) just three races ago. The margin is now 49 following Richmond's event in which Musgrave finished fourth and Setzer 34th. Musgrave has finishes of second, sixth and fourth in his past three starts while Setzer has failed to finish higher than 14th. A finish of first or second at New Hampshire will make Setzer the series' second $4 million career winner. Setzer has won $3,972,249.

Chevrolet still leads manufacturer standings but … Toyota's fifth win of the season at Richmond marked the second time the second-year series manufacturer has won back-to-back races. Tundra trucks won four times in 2004, including consecutive victories by Todd Bodine (No. 30 Germain Motor Company Toyota) at California Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway. Chevrolet, with nine victories, remains the manufacturer championship leader with 122 points to Dodge's 99. Toyota has scored 98 and Ford 77.

Mexico City driver Ramirez eyes series debut … Jose Luis Ramirez (No. 08 Chevrolet) has entered Saturday's New Hampshire event. Ramirez finished 31st in the NASCAR Busch Series' Telcel Motorola Mexico 200 presented by Banamex in March. The 26-year-old Ramirez competed fulltime on the NASCAR Grand National Division, West Series in 2004. Carlos Contreras was the first native of Mexico to start a series race. Contreras appeared in 70 events. His best New Hampshire finish was 15th in 2002.

NASCAR Craftsman Truck graduates cut to The Chase … Three competitors who honed their driving skills in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series qualified for the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup, which begins Sunday at New Hampshire International Speedway. One - Greg Biffle - is the 2000 series champion. All three - Biffle, Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards - are former series Raybestos rookies of the year. Biffle, the 2002 NASCAR Busch Series champion, bids to become the first to win a championship in all three of NASCAR's national touring series.

ETC. …  At Richmond, Mike Wallace became the season's 35th different driver to lead a lap matching the series season record established in 2004. … Jack Sprague (No. 16 Chevy Trucks Chevrolet) has finished first or second in four of his seven starts at NHIS. Sprague also has won the Bud Pole three times - most recently last year. … The Sylvania 200 by Lowe's has been won twice from the pole. Winners have started no worse than fifth in each of the past five races. … Last year's race saw 19 drivers complete all 200 laps, a series record at NHIS. … The New Hampshire winner has gone on to capture the NASCAR Craftsman Truck title twice - Hornaday in 1996 and Sprague in 2001.

ON THE RIGHT TRACK
Five bid to become NHIS' first repeat winner … Five of New Hampshire's nine series winners are expected to compete in Saturday's Sylvania 200 by Lowe's. They are Hornaday (1996), Setzer (1999), Sprague (2001), Terry Cook (No. 10 Ford Power Stroke Diesel Ford, 2002) and Jimmy Spencer (No. 2 Team ASE Dodge, 2003).  Two former NHIS NASCAR Busch winners also are entered: Ricky Craven (No. 99 Superchips Ford, 1991) and Robert Pressley (No. 59 Harris Trucking Co. Dodge, 1993).

QUOTEBOOK
"Since they've changed the configuration of the track as far as opening up another groove on the bottom, the track has really gotten 'racey.'  Now if you got a good race truck, you can drive right around everybody and not touch them and stay out front all day long." - Terry Cook.

"We need to come to a track like this and hopefully turn our luck back around. This track has been pretty good to me over the years and our Silverado team needs a good run to get ourselves pointed back in the right direction." - Dennis Setzer, who counts five finishes of fifth or better at NHIS.

10 YEARS TOUGH
The 1996 season saw the greatest number of new tracks - six - added to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule. New Hampshire International Speedway joined the series along with Homestead-Miami Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Nashville Speedway USA, Nazareth Speedway and Watkins Glen International.

FROM THE ARCHIVES
New Hampshire International Speedway will be looking for its 10th consecutive different race winner on Saturday. It is the third track to bid for No. 10. Neither Texas Motor Speedway nor The Milwaukee Mile reached that number thanks to repeat wins, respectively, by Brendan Gaughan (No. 77 Jasper Engines & Transmissions Dodge) in 2002 and Musgrave in 2004. Homestead-Miami Speedway, site of the season-ending Ford 200 on Nov. 18, also has hosted nine series races without a repeat winner.

FAST FACTS

Next Event: Sylvania 200 presented by Lowe's. (Race No. 19 of 25).
Where:  New Hampshire International Speedway, (Loudon, N.H.)
When: 3:15 p.m. ET Saturday, Sept. 17.
Track layout: 1.058-Mile paved oval.
Race length: 211.6 miles/200 laps.
Posted awards: $515,630.
TV: SPEED Channel, 3 p.m.  ET.
Radio: MRN, XM Satellite.
2004 winner: Travis Kvapil.
2004 polesitter: Jack Sprague.

Pre-race schedule (all times local):  Friday - Practice 10:45 a.m. - 11:55 a.m. and 2:45 - 3:45 p.m. Saturday - Qualifying 10:05 a.m. Trucks impounded after qualifying.

The 2005 season is the 11th for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

The series visits 22 different tracks coast-to-coast measuring from .5-mile to 2.5-miles in length.

Four former champions - Mike Skinner (1995), Ron Hornaday Jr. (1996, 1998), Jack Sprague (1997, 1999, 2001) and Bobby Hamilton (2004) - will go head-to-head for the first time.

With Mike Skinner's Aug. 24 win at Bristol Motor Speedway all three of the "original" champions - Skinner, Hornaday and Sprague - have won in 2005. Hamilton has two wins.

Hornaday is the all-time series win leader with 27 victories.

One team owner - Ultra Motorsports' Jim Smith - has competed in all 260 races and has won at least once in all 11 seasons. Smith has 36 wins to share the all-time owner record with Roush Racing.

Nearly 60% of the series' 260 races have been decided by one second or less. In 2005, 10 of 16 races have sub, one-second margins of victory. Two others finished under caution. The closest finish at New Hampshire International Speedway is .189 second, Terry Cook over Dennis Setzer in 2002. Every NHIS event (excepting last year's race that finished under caution) has a winning margin of less than one second.

Series attendance is at an all-time high. In 1995, 400,000 attended 20 races. Last year, 1.1 million attended 25 races.

SPEED Channel continues to build series ratings. The series is the No. 3 motorsports series on cable TV trailing only NASCAR NEXTEL Cup and NASCAR Busch Series.

Thirty-two teams have attempted to qualify for the first 18 races, an all-time high.

More longtime NASCAR NEXTEL Cup drivers are competing in 2005 including Hamilton, Johnny Benson, Todd Bodine, Ricky Craven, Ted Musgrave, Robert Pressley, Jimmy Spencer and Mike Wallace.

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is one of the most diverse in NASCAR with two female drivers (Deborah Renshaw and Kelly Sutton), an African-American driver (Bill Lester) and a native of Japan (Shige Hattori). Sutton competes despite a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis.

Two Hispanic drivers are entered in this week's event. Cuban-American driver Aric Almirola has competed in two events with a best finish of 10th at Indianapolis Raceway Park. Mexico City's Jose Luis Ramirez is set to make his series debut. He is the second native of Mexico to compete in a series race at NHIS. Carlos Contreras appeared in three races with a best finish of 15th in 2002.

The series produces future NASCAR stars including Greg Biffle, a five-time NASCAR NEXTEL Cup winner in 2005, Kurt Busch, the 2004 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup champion and Carl Edwards qualified for the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup which begins Sunday at NHIS.

Biffle, the 2000 NASCAR Craftsman Truck and 2002 NASCAR Busch Series champion, could become the first to win a title in all three of NASCAR's national touring series.

"Young guns" in 2005 include Brad Keselowski, 21; Todd Kluever, 26; Chase Montgomery, 21; Timothy Peters, 24; and Brandon Whitt, 22. Whitt and Kyle Busch (20) have combined for three wins this season.

There have been 12 different winners in the season's first 18 races. The season record is 14. There were 13 different winners in 2004.

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship has been decided in the final race in nine of the series' first 10 seasons. The current leader is Dennis Setzer who leads Ted Musgrave by 49 points.

With a first or second place finish at NHIS, Setzer will become the series' second $4 million career winner. Sprague has won more than $5 million. Setzer's current total is $3,972,249.

Former champions Skinner and Hornaday are among the top five in the standings together for the first time since the final race of the 1996 season.

Nine runnings of the series at NHIS have produced nine different winners, a record it shares with Homestead Miami Speedway, The Milwaukee Mile and Texas Motor Speedway. Five of those winners - Terry Cook, Ron Hornaday Jr., Dennis Setzer, Jimmy Spencer and Jack Sprague - expect to compete in this week's race.

There have been three first-time winners at NHIS: Houston, Spencer and Jay Sauter.

Hornaday (1996) and Sprague (2001) won at NHIS in their championship seasons.

Ricky Craven (1991) and Robert Pressley (1993) won NASCAR Busch Series races at NHIS.

Houston and Kurt Busch won the Sylvania 200 as Raybestos Rookie of the Year contenders. Freshman drivers have produced five top-two finishes at NHIS.

The Sylvania 200 has been won from the pole twice, in 2001 (Sprague) and 2002 (Spencer). The last four winners have started first, second or third. This week's Craftsman Win from the Pole Bonus is $8,000. Skinner won at Richmond from the No. 2 starting position. He missed the pole - and the Craftsman Bonus it turns out - by one one-thousandth of a second, the difference between his fast qualifying lap and that of pole winner David Starr.

Seven of last year's top-10 finishers expect to compete in this week's race.

Four drivers who competed in the track's first NASCAR Craftsman Truck race in 1996 have entered this year's event. They are Hornaday, Sprague and Steve Park, who finished one, two and four. Mike Skinner was 27th.

Sprague and Setzer have finished on the lead lap of every race they have entered at NHIS - except 2000. Both were eliminated in a Turn 3 accident and completed two laps. Setzer has finished first, second, third, fourth and sixth in his other five New Hampshire appearances. Sprague has posted a win and three second-place finishes.

Spencer has led just one race at NHIS but the 124 laps he headed en route to Victory Lane in 2003 ranks No. 2 to Sprague's 529.

Five of the nine New Hampshire races have featured 10 or more lead changes.

All four of the series' manufacturers have won races at NHIS. Toyota is the defending winner. Chevrolet is the leader with four victories.