A memorial service for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series starter Dennis James was held Monday, July 16 in Granite Falls, N.C. James, 57, passed away unexpectedly last week. Trucks competing at Kentucky Speedway carried a "DJ" decal on their B posts in honor of James.

A long dry spell - 27 races to be exact - ended when Bill Lester (No. 15 Bowen Family Homes Chevrolet) finished eighth in the Built Ford Tough 225. Lester hadn't cracked the top 10 since November 2005 in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Earlier, Lester missed his second Kentucky Speedway Bud Pole - he holds the track record - by .001 second.   An amazing .007 second covered the top four qualifiers.

"You know, we felt confident from the time we unloaded and hardly had to change a spring," said Lester, whose crew was directed by  Doug George. "The guys did their homework at the shop to give me a great truck and everyone with Billy Ballew Motorsports just did an outstanding job."

Nobody knew how many races Ryan Mathews would spend in the seat of the No. 22 Bill Davis Racing Toyota when Davis tapped the 27-year-old Wisconsinite to drive at Mansfield in mid-May. Davis, however, liked what he saw and signed Mathews for the remainder of the season. Mathews repaid the support by winning the Bud Pole at Kentucky Speedway, from which he finished fourth with a final lap pass of David Green.

"I just can't thank Bill and Gail Davis enough for giving me this opportunity," said Mathews. "This is a great truck and a great team and I'm just happy to be part of it."
 
Toyota Conquers Kentucky In Fourth Attempt - All four of the series' manufacturers now count a Kentucky Speedway victory. Toyota's win came in its fourth trip to the 1.5-mile track.  Mike Skinner's win was the truckmaker's seventh of the season and fifth by Tundras prepared by Bill Davis Racing.  Ford moved to the No. 2 spot this week - 19 points behind Toyota and one up on Chevrolet. 

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Manufacturers' Championship
Toyota    95
Ford      76
Chevrolet 75
Dodge     40

In The Loop:  Skinner, No Surprise, Is Runaway First Half Loop Leader

Mike Skinner capped off a dominant first half of the season with another convincing win at Kentucky Speedway on July 14.

Through the first 13 races of the 25-race season, Skinner has four wins, 11 top fives and 13 top 10s. His average finish is 3.5 and his worst finish all year was eighth at Lowe's Motor Speedway. With the Kentucky win, Skinner increased his cushion over second place Ron Hornaday Jr. to 164 points.

Skinner's stats easily put him atop each key Loop Data category. Below are the stats Skinner leads, along with the second-place figure:

- Driver Rating (125.0 to Hornaday's 110.5)
- Average Running Position (3.9 to Todd Bodine's 8.0)
- Fastest Laps Run (323 to Hornaday's 182)
- Laps in the Top 15 (2,104 to Bodine's 1,875)
- Laps Led (789 to Hornaday's 364)

There is hope for those drivers chasing Skinner. One driver in particular has been coming on strong of late: Travis Kvapil. Kvapil has scored seven consecutive top-10 finishes and has two wins in the past four races.

Kvapil has a Driver Rating of 104.4 (third-best), an Average Running Position of 8.2 (third-best), 126 Fastest Laps Run (fourth-most) and 1,841 Laps in the Top 15 (fourth-most). After a two-year layoff from the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Kvapil seems to have re-adapted this season.

This Week's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Leaders
(Through 13 races of the 25-race season)

Points leader - Mike Skinner  (2,238)
Driver Rating - Mike Skinner (125.0)
Winnings - Mike Skinner ($479,300)
Laps led -  Mike Skinner (789)
Victories - Mike Skinner (4)
Bud Poles -  Mike Skinner (7)
Top-five finishes - Mike Skinner (11)
Top-10 finishes - Mike Skinner (13)
Raybestos Rookie Leader - Tim Sauter (5 points over Willie Allen) 
Races led - Mike Skinner (13)
Weeks in Top 10 -  10 drivers tied with 13
Raybestos Rookie of the Year Standings
 
Joey Clanton is running only a partial schedule in the No. 09 Wood Brothers/JTG Ford but nobody would have known based on the Georgian's performance at Kentucky speedway. Clanton finished seventh to log his third top-10 finish of the year - only one spot off his best of sixth at Daytona International Speedway.

Tim Sauter (No. 07 Lester Buildings Chevrolet) holds a five-point lead over Willie Allen (No. 13 ThorSport Chevrolet) entering the second half of 2007.

     Driver                Points
1.  Tim Sauter            108
2.  Willie Allen            103
3.  Blake Bjorklund       95
4.  Joey Clanton           79
5.  Jason White            62
6.  Kelly Bires              44
7.  Kevin Hamlin           26
8.  Peter Shepherd       22
9.  Casey Kingsland       5
10. Brian Sockwell         1

Up Next: O'Reilly Raceway Park

It's back home in Indiana for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series on July 27 with the tour's 13th consecutive visit to the .686-mile O'Reilly Raceway Park.

The Power Stroke Diesel 200 presented by Ford and International kicks off NASCAR's annual Indianapolis speed fest that concludes with the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 29.

As many as seven former ORP winners will be in the starting field as Mike Skinner and Jack Sprague attempt to become the track's first three-time winner.

FAST FACTS
Next Race: Power Stroke Diesel 200
The Place: O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis
The Date: July 27
The Time: 98 p.m. (ET)
TV: SPEED, 7:30 p.m. (ET)
Track Layout: .686 mile oval
Race Purse: $539,930
2006 Winner: Rick Crawford
2006 Pole: David Ragan

Point Standings
No. Driver          Points
1    Skinner         2,238
2    Hornaday Jr.  2,074
3    Kvapil            1,950
4    Bodine           1,950
5    Crawford         1,731
6    Benson          1,721
7    Sprague         1,629
8    Musgrave       1,601
9    Crafton           1,571
10  Setzer            1,487

Schedule: Friday - Practice 10 a.m. - 11 a.m.; 11:30 a.m. - 12 noon (rookies) and 12 noon - 1 p.m. Qualifying 4:30 p.m.