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| Dramatic Weekend for Chaffin at Loudon
09-19-2006 | TruckSeries.com Report
Pulling off a double-duty race weekend is tough when every thing goes smoothly much less when there are bumps in the road that arise. Chad Chaffin had many bumps in his road throughout the weekend at Loudon. All in all, Chad and his teams overcame the trials and tribulations making for an exciting weekend. Chad's No. 59 Toyota Tundra from the Harris Trucking stable was very competitive in practice posting 12th fastest. Chad qualified for the New Hampshire 200 in the 21st position with a time of 29.959 seconds and a speed of 127.134 mph. The race started out very promising with Chad quickly moving up several positions, until a kill switch malfunction sent the No. 59 Toyota Tundra behind the pit wall. Chad would spend seven laps behind the wall while the crew installed a new kill switch system. Chad returned to the racetrack and had a competitive race truck. "We decided to stay at the rear of the pack on restarts because we had nothing to gain. We needed to complete the race and gain as many points as possible," explained Chad. The No. 59 Toyota Tundra finished in the 27th position. "This was our first race with Toyota. The truck was beautiful and well prepared, but things just didn't go our way this weekend. The team worked together in order to get me back on the track quickly and I am proud of them," Chad stated. The circumstances surrounding the truck race were just a prelude for what the weekend would hold for Chad on the Nextel Cup side. While practicing the No. 61 Front Row Motorsports Dodge, an underlying mechanical oversight led to Chad crashing the team's primary racecar. The Front Row team had to pull the back-up car off the hauler and get to work on preparing it for qualifying. The team worked diligently right up to the last second, literally. Chad was expected to go out for qualifying 27th, but due to the car not being ready yet NASCAR allowed them to have extra time and qualify last. The time came and the team was still not quite finished. Chad was put on the dreaded 5-minute clock and if he failed to leave pit road on his way to qualify in that time frame NASCAR would cut him off from attempting to make the race. This situation made for a dramatic story and when Chad screamed off pit road with 15-seconds left on the clock the race fans went wild. The fans knew Chad had to make it in on his time in a car that had no laps on it, so when the announcement was made that he had qualified 38th for the Sylvania 300 the excitement spread throughout the entire race track. "The enthusiasm surrounding the situation in the garage with my team and I was exemplified by the fans in the grandstands. The entire crowd was cheering for us. It was a very memorable moment for me in my racing career. I am very proud of the Front Row team for the perseverance they showed," explained Chad. The actual race would not be as dramatic. After fighting with the car the entire race, Chad finished in 34th place. Next up for the Craftsman Truck series and Chad Chaffin will be the Smith's Las Vegas 350 at the newly reconfigured Las Vegas Motor Speedway, September 23rd. Chad will attempt to make his third straight Nextel Cup race at Kansas, in two weeks, October 1st. For more information on Chad Chaffin, visit his newly remodeled web site at www.chadchaffin.com.
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