The No. 14 Circle Bar Ford 5-150 nicknamed "Black Jack" at Califonria Speedway with Rick Crawford behind the wheel. (VPS Motorimages Photo)

Coming off another top 10 finish to start the season in Daytona, the Circle Bar/Power Stroke Diesel loaded its newest chassis into the hauler for the San Bernardino 200 at California Speedway.  The off-season was busy for crew chief Kevin "Cowboy" Starland and the Circle Bar team. All of the Circle Bar fleet had to have the new 2007 Ford F-150 noses installed, plus the team added a second team with only 5 weeks to prepare for the season opener. In the middle of all that the team birthed a new Circle Bar filly to the Circle Bar herd, CB-21, nicknamed "Black Jack".

"Black Jack" was made in the image of Circle Bar's favorite down-force chassis CB-17 or the "Flying Monkey". The "Flying Monkey would turn heads in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, scoring top 10s and top 5s at will. Unfortunately, for driver Rick Crawford, the "Flying Monkey" was taken out in 2006 and would have to be replaced. Taking the good from the "Monkey" Cowboy and the crew spent the off-season preparing "Black Jack". A solid test in Miami had the team anticipating a solid start in California.

Off the hauler "Black Jack" showed the promise of the "Monkey" but it also proved to be just as finicky. It took the team a couple of races to get the "Flying Monkey" flying and "Black Jack" was living up to its name. Too much of good thing and they were busted, not enough and they were a loser. And so it went for the first practice session at California Speedway. During the break the Circle Bar teams, Crawford, Cowboy, David Starr and his crew chief Dennis Connor formulated a plan based on what both teams had learned in the first session.

The second session would put the team back in the game, not on easy street, but back in the game. Unfortunately, rain would cut short the final session and leave the Power Stroke Diesel F-150 with more questions than solid answers. With the success the Power Stroke team had with the California setup, Starr and his MaxxForce team adopted the same style setup. The unanswered questions would bite both teams in qualifying with Crawford starting 19th and Starr 22nd.

The San Bernardino 200 would start late in the day and Cowboy was hoping the cooler night air would help tighten up what was a wickedly loose pick up truck. With the drop of the green flag the team realized the night air was not enough and the Power Stroke Ford was power sliding all over the racetrack. As the fuel load burned off and the tires lost grip the rest of the field started to come to Crawford and by lap 29 he was as fast as the leaders.

A caution for debris would come out on lap 30 and Crawford would bring his machine down pit road for service. The over the wall crew hit 5 on and 5 off with 4 fresh Goodyears, a load of Sunoco, an air pressure adjustment and a trac bar adjustment, picking up 5 spots on pit road. Back on track Crawford was able to hold his own in the top 15. Another caution would bring out the riverboat gambler in Cowboy. At the halfway point the scoring computer proved that Crawford was as good as everyone else on old tires and really got better the lower the fuel load in his F-150. This time when Crawford came to pit road there would be no tires just fuel and a wedge adjustment. Cowboy was saving a fresh set of Goodyears for the finish. The fuel only stop would power the Power Stroke team up to 3rd. The track position was awesome but now Crawford would have to fend off an onslaught of trucks with fresh tires. Under green Crawford would slide back in the field until the trucks with new tires started to knock some of the new off their tires.

On lap 60 Crawford would turn his fastest lap of the night on tires with 20 laps. The caution flag would fly on lap 70 and Crawford was hanging on to 6th. With another caution on lap 80 Cowboy left Crawford out and made the decision to stay out for the duration. The scoring computer showed the other trucks coming to him that was black and white. Cowboy was making a leap of faith that truck chief, Steve "Night Train" McCain's; front-end geometry would keep the tires on their F-150 for 60 laps. Night Train's front end kept the tires together and Crawford was slip sliding back in the field.

When the green flag flew for the final 5 laps, Crawford was 11th. Knowing he had to be on the bottom he let the 88 have the top seemingly losing 3 positions. With 2 to go experience would beat youth and fresh tires every time, as they crossed the line Crawford had picked back up the 3 spots and 2 more for a 9th place finish.

Kevin "Cowboy" Starland: "We really snuck one in this evening. I didn't think we had a very good truck but we got a decent finish out of it. Our guys never gave up and our driver had to manhandle the truck all night long. I think I held my breath the final 5 laps. That truck was sliding all over the racetrack."

Rick Crawford: "It was a quiet run for our Ford, but on the last few laps we made some bold moves for our F-Series pickup. The Ford Power Stroke Diesel by Int'l had a top-10 finish. It wasn't a top-10 truck, but we fought hard all night long. The Power Stroke Diesels are fun to drive and the Circle Bar Truck Corral keeps servicing them out in Ozona, Texas. We're built Ford tough. I told Cowboy, to me, it felt like I was running Bristol. I was half on the steering wheel, from one half of the steering wheel to the other. We finished right behind the winner of the Daytona 500 so that's a good night."

The Circle Bar/Power Stroke Diesel Team will be in action when the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series holds round 3 of the 2007 season in the American Commercial Lines 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Friday, March 16th.