Kevin Grubb was forced to park the No. 15 Alpharetta Self Storage/Krud Kutter Chevrolet early from the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event at O'Reilly Raceway Park this past Friday night due to transmission troubles. Grubb lost fourth gear in his Silverado and had to settle for a 33rd place finish in the Power Stroke Diesel 200.

Grubb was able to qualify his No. 15 Alpharetta Self Storage/Krud Kutter Chevy in 15th position despite the fact he was in a back-up truck. His only laps on the machine prior to the start of the 200-lap event were his two laps of qualifying. "I had a little trouble during practice and scraped the wall," Grubb explains. "The damage was enough for us to have to pull out the back-up truck. To be honest though, the back-up truck handled so much better during those two laps of qualifying than the primary truck did all during practice, so it might not have been a bad thing."

The first caution waved on lap 27 and Grubb had only dropped two positions to 17th place. He complained he couldn't turn the wheel as much as he'd like or else the front tires would chatter. Crew chief Richie Wauters called for the changes he would like should they decide to come down pit road. The No. 15 didn't hit road under the first caution, nor the second, but did on the third caution on lap 61. Grubb noted that it felt as if the left front was dragging across the track and he was still unable to turn the steering wheel as much as he'd like or it would chatter. Wauters called for four tires, fuel and both trackbar and wedge adjustments.

When the fourth caution flew on lap 80, Grubb said he could feel no change and he was feeling the same effects from before the pit stop. Grubb brought the Billy Ballew Motorsports-entry to pit road where the crew opened up the hood and adjusted the left front shock and sent him on his way. Shortly after the green flag restart, Grubb radioed in saying the truck "might be worse." The No. 15 Alpharetta Self Storage/Krud Kutter Chevrolet had restarted in 23rd position and dropped to one lap down on lap 117. A caution came out on lap 126 and Grubb, once again, brought his machine to pit road where the crew reversed the changes on the shock, made a wedge adjustment and changed four tires.

Grubb restarted in 30th position, one lap down, on lap 134. The sixth caution came out for a spinning truck and Grubb narrowly avoided incident but made slight contact with another competitor. "The front end should be fine," said Grubb. "It definitely felt like the changes were a step in the right direction." Grubb came back down two more times, for another wedge adjustment then a trackbar adjustment. They restarted on lap 143 and the No. 15 was in 29th place. The seventh caution came out shortly thereafter and Grubb complained about the transmission wanting to get stuck in fourth gear. The team was hoping it would hold out for 50 more laps but when the field went back to green, the No. 15 couldn't hang due to the loss of fourth gear.

Grubb was forced to park the No. 15 Alpharetta Self Storage/Krud Kutter Chevrolet early and take a 33rd place finish. Billy Ballew Motorsports remains in 23rd position in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Owners standings. Grubb will return to the cockpit of the No. 15 for the series' next event at Nashville Superspeedway this coming Saturday afternoon.