Musgrave Continues Hot Streak with Fourth in Charlotte; Maintains Second in Championship Standings

Ted Musgrave (Ronda Greer Photo)

Ted Musgrave and his No. 9 Team ASE Toyota team continued their streak of strong performances to start the 2006 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series with a fourth-place finish in the Quaker Steak and Lube 200 Friday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Musgrave now has six finishes of fourth or better to start the season, and sits second in the championship standings behind his Germain Racing teammate Todd Bodine.

"We haven't been outside of the top five yet, and we haven't been any worse than fourth all season long," Musgrave said following the race. "We just were a little off of Terry and Todd at the end, and I didn't want to hold them up and let the guys behind us close in and then have to deal with them. Everyone used their heads tonight. The tires threw us for a little bit of a loop tonight, but we didn't see any tire failures or anything like that. I think it was a lot like racing was back in the 70s and 80s with the harder tires, and that's why some of the veterans did so well here tonight."

Musgrave again piloted the No. 9 Team ASE Toyota towards the top five in the waning laps, putting himself in position to make a run for the win late in the going. A late race caution allowed Musgrave to make a run on leader Kyle Busch and second-place Terry Cook. Musgrave made a charge on the restart and was able to slip past Cook for several laps. But Musgrave's tires - which went the entire 201-mile distance - built up air pressure and wouldn't allow him to stay in the fight for the second position.

"We never changed tires at all tonight," he said. "They went the entire distance, but the right front built up a little more pressure than we wanted it to, and we were tight. Cook got a run on me, but I couldn't hold him off. I didn't want to hold them up by racing them because if you do then the next pack catches you and then you're stuck racing them. When Terry got his nose underneath me, I knew the battle was won and I fell back. I saw Todd (Bodine) coming and I didn't know if he had a truck that could get up and fight for the win or not, and I didn't want to hold him up if he could get up there and do it. We were big picture racing tonight."

Musgrave now sits just 17 points behind Bodine in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship standings heading into the next series event at Mansfield Motorsports Speedway. The City of Mansfield 250 is slated for 2:00 P.M. Eastern on Saturday May 27, and will be televised live on Speed. TruckSeries.com will have complete event coverage, starting with testing reports on Thursday, practice and qualifying updates on Friday, and pre- and post-race coverage on Saturday.