Driver of the No. 85 Chevrolet E85 FlexFuel Silverado Begins Steady Climb in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Point Standings

High Sierra Photo

Dennis Setzer did what he does best Friday night at California Speedway, run smooth, consistent laps and be a contender throughout the entire race.

Setzer brought the No 85 Chevrolet E85 FlexFuel Silverado to the Racetickets.com 200 checkered flag in the 10th finishing position.

Starting 12th in the order, the Newton, NC native ran with the lead pack of 10 to 12 trucks working his way to the top-five and ran there for the middle stages of the race.

A round of pit stops on lap 59 jumbled the running order with some trucks taking two tires, some taking four and some not stopping at all. Crew chief Eric Phillips saved the best set of tires for the final stages of the scheduled 100-lap race. When Setzer returned to the fray with his four new Goodyear Wranglers, he marched his way back toward the front of the field.

"We were really good for most of the night and that #85 FlexFuel Silverado would really dig through the corners," said Setzer. "The truck was pretty neutral all night except for the last twenty laps. It got really tight after we were racing those guys real hard there at that time. I had to race those guys so hard there in the end just to get back to the top ten and I believe we just used up everything we had.

The race was slowed by two more caution periods as the laps ticked off setting up a green-white-checkered dash to the checkered on lap 106. Setzer had reported to the crew that his No. 85 Silverado was starting to get tight with about 10 laps to go. When the race went green the final time, despite having good rubber underneath him, the handle wasn't quite there for him to move up in the order at the finish.

"Our pit stops were great," Setzer concluded. "Eric made a great call to save our best tires for the end. I think if the race would have stayed green during the final thirty or forty laps, we could have come out of this thing in a lot better shape than tenth. But it's not a bad finish and we'll just have to get ready to go to Atlanta here in a few weeks."

The finish put Setzer in 11th in the NCTS point standings with two of the 25 races on the 2006 schedule in the books.

After a short break, Setzer and his No 85 Chevrolet E85 FlexFuel Silverado team will be back in action on March 17th at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The Atlanta 200 is set to take the green flag at 9:15 p.m. Eastern with live coverage provided by SPEED TV, MRN Radio and XM Satellite Radio.