High Sierra Photo

After being the hottest team in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for the last 10 weeks the Circle Bar Truck Corral Team rolled into Bristol still smarting from the loss of the "Flying Monkey", CB-19, from a cut tire in Nashville.

While the vultures circled the carcass of the Flying Monkey, Kevin "Cowboy" Starland and his crew went to work. Back in the shop the Flying Monkey was stripped bare and sent to the chassis builder for a new front clip. Even though the teams favorite down force chassis was out, they were still slated to test the new surface at Las Vegas Motorspeedway during the off week. There was no better time to bring out the Flying Monkey's twin, CB-20. With the success of CB-19 (Flying Monkey), the team had been working to improve on the improved and the new pavement at Las Vegas would be the team's first opportunity to see if the clone, for now "Monkette", would work. The test in Las Vegas was a success and the teams chief organ grinder Rick Crawford has declared Monkette to be as good as its twin. The team will have a tough decision to make on September 23rd when they return to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Smith's Las Vegas 350.

A solid test in Las Vegas help buoy the spirits of the Circle Bar gang as they prepared for the O'Reilly 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Cowboy tapped CB-16, the team's concrete chassis for the 200-lap heavyweight bout on the 36-degree banking in the Tennessee foothills. Off the trailer the Circle Bar Ford F-150 was solid but missing just a little to put the team up front. All day Cowboy and his road crew worked on the chassis to give Crawford the right feel for the concrete surface. With both practice sessions in the book and a fresh set of changes the team sent the Circle Bar machine to the qualifying line.  Qualifying at Bristol is simple, you take a deep breath enough for about 35 seconds, you mash the gas, hold on and hope you have something left when you get through. While he can't hold his breath for 35 seconds anymore, nobody mashes the gas like Crawford and the team went from midfield to starting 5th.

If the past races at Bristol are any indication of what to expect in the O'Reilly 200 there are a couple of things you can count on. There will be a lot of cautions and the winner will be on the verge of joining the AARP both facts pointed to a good day for the Circle Bar team.  This years Bristol race would carry forward with that tradition.  From the drop of the green flag Crawford settle into the 4th spot making laps and working with Cowboy on how to make their Ford better during their 1 and only pit stop of the night. With most teams thinking there would only be one stop numerous strategies were being played out as to when that would be. With the caution flag in the air on lap 30 half of the leaders came down pit road for their stop. The other half stayed out, the Circle Bar team elected to stay out and pit later, taking up the second spot behind last years winner, Mike Skinner. Back under green the pair put some distance between themselves and the rest of the field while they waited to make their stop. With the caution flag flying on lap 70 the Circle Bar team and the rest of the leaders that did not stop on lap 30 came to pit road. After 4 fresh Goodyears and a full load of Sunoco racing fuel the team returned back to the track in the 22nd position.  Back under green, the Circle Bar Ford was buried in traffic looking for a way back to the front.  The Built Ford Tough F-150 beat, banged nudged and clawed it's way forward for each spot managing to pick up 9 spots before the checkered flag dropped. A 13th place finish would keep the team in the 5th spot in the standings and in the hunt for their first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Title.  The Circle Bar Team will return as the defending champions of the Sylvania 200 in Louden New Hampshire on September 16th.

Crew chief Kevin "Cowboy" Starland:  "Last year Mike Skinner won here pitting on lap 70 and that's the same strategy we used this year and it just didn't work out. This race has been a 1 stop but with the tire Goodyear is giving us that could be changing."

Driver Rick Crawford: "Cowboy and the guys gave me a nice piece to race with. It got just a little tight on us after we stopped and it made it hard to get underneath people to pass. Our pit strategy just didn't go our way tonight and we didn't get the finish we were looking for. Congratulations to Mark Martin and his group, if we can't win it's good to see another ford in victory lane."