On a day when much was expected of the #40 Chevrolet Silverado, Moore's handling woes began early in the race and just got progressively worse. What might have been a successful adjustment to the race truck late in the race was foiled by an accident on a restart that forced Moore to take evasive action but resulted in damage to the front end of the truck and ending any chance Ryan might have had at a top finish.

"I was sideways loose most of the race, and it's just a miracle that we didn't wreck and amazing that we still managed to finish on the lead lap", Moore said. "It's a little disappointing because from what we had (race truck speed) during yesterday's three practice sessions, we thought we were going to have a big day today", Moore added.

Moore, who was amongst the top 15 trucks in speed through Friday's practice sessions and the fastest of the 12 Craftsman Truck Series' Raybestos Rookie-of-the-Year candidates, was the first truck out to qualify on Saturday morning and turned in the 23rd best lap time with two very loose laps. It probably was a sign of things to come in the race, although during the very early stages of the event, Moore showed some signs of progress.

He busted into the top 20 by lap nine, and even after pitting on lap 14 following the race's second caution to top off his truck's gas tank and to make a slight chassis adjustment, Moore quickly moved from the 35th position on the track to 30th only to have the looseness intensify.

More adjustments on two more caution flag pit stops helped some, and by the halfway mark of the race, the #40 was showing in the 24th position. On lap 60, he was up to 23rd and driving with a little more confidence, but the pit stop he made on lap 68 was a killer.

Moore pitted for 4 fresh tires and fuel. He exited the pits in the same position he held (23rd) when he came in for service, but that was all lost when the gas man was unable to get the second can of fuel into the truck.

This necessitated a second stop, pushing Moore back seven positions to 30th when the race was restarted on lap 72. Two laps later, a big-time wreck involving the truck of Timothy Peters brought out another caution, and crew chief Barry Dodson elected to again pit to close up the shock absorber on the right front of the truck in another attempt to improve the truck's handling. It pushed Moore back to the 30th spot, but Dodson believed that the shock adjustment might well have been the one that would have given Moore the ability to finally race and make some headway. It never happened.

On the lap 81 restart following Peters' accident, and with the Ford of rookie Bobby East running in mid-pack, another truck hit East's machine and turned it around in traffic by the start-finish line. Several trucks got a piece of East's spinning machine, but Moore, starting behind the spin, alertly drove his truck through the infield grass to avoid the wreck. Unfortunately, the wayward trip tore apart the truck's front valence, and with still 18 laps still to run when the event re-started on lap 82, Moore was unable to hold off the cars on the lead lap that were running behind him because the aerodynamics on the truck were now totally destroyed.

"We're a little puzzled about how loose the truck was today", Dodson said. "We might have made the right change to the truck on that stop just before that front-stretch wreck, but once Ryan had to drive through the grass and killed the valence, we were done. We'll just have to regroup and get ready for Milwaukee next week", he added.

As the newest member to the large Craftsman Truck Series rookie class, Moore did top four rookie drivers in the final running order. He expected to end up a lot better considering his Chevy was the fastest of all the rookies through most of Friday's practices.

"We felt we had something for them today, but sometimes it doesn't pan out", Moore explained. You might think you have everything going right when all of a sudden it all changes. That happened to us today, so we'll learn from it and just move on". Sounds more like a veteran driver than someone who was racing in only his third NASCAR race ever on a race track longer than a mile and only his third Craftsman Truck Series event.