Musgrave Optimistic After Disappointing Phoenix Finish; Remains 4th in Championship Standings

Ted Musgrave drove the No. 9 Team ASE Toyota to a 19th-place finish in the Casino Arizona 150 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race Friday night at Phoenix International Raceway. Musgrave drew an early number for qualifying and faced a slick racetrack, saddling him with 28th-place position on the starting grid. From there, Musgrave clawed his way into the top 20, but couldn't make any headway on a top-10 finish.

"This is the first time I can remember in a long time that I just misread the racetrack," Musgrave said. "We had a great truck; the same truck we ran so well at Loudon with a couple months ago. We are usually right there, a top five truck with a chance to win. We've seem to have some little bad luck things jump up and get us from time to time, but we always have a top five or a top ten truck. I guess I just missed it this time.

"We probably made some over-adjustments in the tech line before qualifying," Musgrave said. "When we went through the height sticks and all that, we over compensated.  We tried to correct it during the race, and the guys worked their tails off to try to get it right."

The day started with an early draw in qualifying, which more often than not is an advantage. But with incompatible rubber from a preliminary event the night before, Musgrave found himself slipping and sliding.

"They ran a Southwest Tour race the night before and the early guys were really slipping around out there," Musgrave said. "There was a bunch of Hoosier rubber on the racetrack and those of us that went out early were all over the place until that rubber got worn off. I like to think we could have maybe fought for a top-ten or a top-15 if we started a little closer to the front, but I don't really think it would have helped. Johnny Benson started first and spun on the first lap and came back to win. David Reutimann started from the back after blowing an engine in qualifying and he came towards the front. We just missed it this time."

Musgrave will head next to Homestead-Miami Speedway to close out the 2006 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season.

"We need to go down to Homestead and have a good run down there," he said. "We'd like to get a win to keep that streak alive, and we'd like to wrap up the season and stay in the top-four in the points."