Ford Racing Notes: Indianapolis

08-04-2006 | TruckSeries.com Report

Rick Crawford took the checkered flag for the fifth time in his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career with tonight's victory. His previous best at ORP was a pair of sixth-place finishes in 2001 and '05. Ford has now won 75 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races all time, and five in 2006. Ford's win tonight is its fourth truck series victory at ORP (Cook, Biffle Edwards). The last Ford truck series triumph at ORP occurred when Carl Edwards won this event in 2003.

Rick Crawford No. 14 Circle Bar Truck Corral Ford F-150 (Finished 1st): "I'll tell you what, I've been listening to Carl Edwards after he wins some races - and I'm not going to do a back flip - but when Carl Edwards says, 'Hey, this was a blast,' I know exactly what he means right now. Congratulations to Dennis and Ron or running a good race behind me. This Circle Bar Truck Corral race did a great job, and I couldn't ask for more. Ford Motor Co. and the Ford F-150, super. Do you know what this race is for? This race is for everybody that's turned a wrench or given Rick Crawford a dollar. I appreciate it."

That was one tough Ford the whole race. "It sure was. Built Ford tough, this race team is. We came on strong. Our short-track program has been lacking a little bit. Kevin Starland (crew chief) and the whole Circle Bar Truck Corral race team, Ford F-Series pickup, we've done some testing. We've got an engineer on board, a shock specialized, and Roush-Yates under the hood made it complete tonight. We did our homework. Work smart and not hard."

Your truck was strong on the restarts. did you have any worries at the end? "Well, it was on the short restarts and we got them, and that played in our favor. My buddy Ron was working on my other buddy Dennis on that last restart, and I said if I can keep them side-by-side then I've got it licked; we're in good shape."

Terry Cook No. 10 Ford Power Stroke Diesel by Int'l F-150 (Finished 6th): You always come to orp looking to return to victory lane. Did you have a truck capable of that tonight? "We did at the end. The Ford Power Stroke Diesel by Int'l truck had been great all day long and it was way too loose in the race. Dennis Connor (crew chief) made a great call there late in the race to disconnect the rear sway bar and brought this truck to life. I've got to credit him for making another great call and ultimately getting us a good day. It didn't look too good there for a while, and we were all the way back outside the top 20 on the outside looking in, and that last adjustment was what we needed. From then on, it was just track position. We had a truck that was as fast as the race leader, but we just didn't have track position. To come out of here sixth, with about 75 to go we were looking for about a 20th-place finish, so to come out of here with a sixth, we're pretty pleased with that."

David Ragan No. 6 Scotts Ford F-150 (Finished 9th): "I think we had the truck beat there for a little while. We just got an adjustment off that first adjustment. That set of tires was a little off and we freed it up a little bit, and that's just not what the truck wanted. It's still good to come out of here with a top-10. It was a good points night, we got to lead some laps and we're going to Nashville, which is a good track for us. It's just a bummer. I really think we should have finished up there in the top two or three. Crawford had a good truck, but we could have raced him hard, but everyone on the Scotts Miracle-Gro Ford F-150 did an awesome job, and I'm pleased to be racing with them."

There was a lot of green-flag racing throughout the event tonight. "The green-flag racing halfway through hurt me because that was when we were worse. I wish we would have run the first 100 laps green; we were the best. We made an adjustment and a different set of tires wasn't what we needed. It was still a good day, but it's a good feeling when you can be disappointed with eighth."

Erik Darnell No. 6 FinishMaster Ford F-150 (Finished 10th, Top Rookie): "Especially with the way we ran at Memphis, I figured we'd have a real good truck here. It was the same one we had at Memphis, but our FinishMaster F-50 wasn't that great tonight. We were decent on a long run, but we couldn't run with the guys up front; they were fast. We made a gamble there to pit early and stay out and keep the track position because we knew we wouldn't be able to keep up with those guys on fresh tires. It was going be harder to pass all of them than to hold them off. That's what we did and we ended up with a top-10. It wasn't great, but we'll take it and go to Nashville."

Bobby East No. 21 State Fair Corn Dogs/Edy's Dibs Ford F-150 (Finished 11th): "I think we're pretty happy with that. I'm happy with it, especially since we've had a rough two months. Everybody has needed this because everybody is doing the right things, but we just haven't had stuff go our way. We're happy with this. I would have liked to have run better, and this is my hometown. I've got some friends in the stands, but we'll take it."

Was there a different atmosphere here for a truck race compared to a USAC race? "Yeah, there is a different atmosphere. A couple of USAC races they would fill it up quite a bit, but nothing like this. Everybody is more into it and NASCAR fans are the greatest fans in the world; they're just so loyal to the drivers. It's real cool and anytime you come to these short tracks and you pack the house like this and have a real good trace, it's just cool."

Michel Jourdain, Jr. No. 50 Roush Racing Ford F-150 (Finished 19th): "I think we got the truck a little better and I just learned a lot during the race. This is really my first short track racing one of these trucks. Bristol to me is a superspeedway, and this is my other half-mile in these things. I feel like I learned a lot and that's good. The guys did a great job with good pit stops and we're getting better."

Was there more contact between trucks on a short track? "A little bit, but less than what I expected. You've go to be really aggressive, but it was good experience."

Marcos Ambrose No. 20 Team Australia/Aussie Vineyards Ford F-150 (Finished 22nd): "We had a 200-lap race and I think we did about 199 pit stops. I guess it's a bit of me learning what I need out there. I just didn't treat it well enough in practices. I didn't know what I needed for the race. When the night comes, the track is very different and we tuned on it and tuned on it and got it pretty good at the end. I think we were 15th or 16th and catching them, but the 4 was pretty wild out there. He got into it with the 1, and I got a bit of a tank slap going down the frontstretch and then 1 lost it and I had nowhere to go."