SPEED TALENT BREAK DOWN NEW SEASON

With the opening of the 2008 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series just around the corner and Daytona testing complete, SPEED experts have begun their conversations about the points battle, the new batch of outstanding rookies, rules changes and teams to watch.  Adam Alexander, Ray Dunlap and Phil Parsons share the storylines they will be following and the drivers they will be keeping an eye on.  Their thoughts follow:

Who will be the championship contenders for the 2008 NCTS season?

Phil Parsons, SPEED analyst: "I don't think we need to go any further than Ron Hornaday for the champion because I don't see any letting up there.  If anything, they will be stronger with Jack Sprague as a fulltime teammate.  But you can't bet against Todd Bodine and Johnny Benson, either. 

"I don't know why I omitted Mike Skinner because he had an incredible season last year and I don't see any reason they should be less dominant or have a less spectacular season.  He ran extremely well and didn't have much bad luck until that last race.  To expect to have that good of a year with hardly any blemishes again will be difficult, as it will be for Hornaday.  Mike and Ron had very comparative years and it's a shame someone had to lose the championship.

"But Johnny Benson was working with crew chief Tripp Bruce for the first time last season and now they have a year under their belts together.  Benson may be the top truck in that Bill Davis Racing stable." 

Adam Alexander, SPEED reporter:  "I'd have to say Ron Hornaday is the favorite to win the championship because his competitiveness won the 2007 championship for him. In addition, Kevin Harvick Incorporated is just going up and the addition of a fulltime teammate will make them better.  Ron winning the championship gave him back some confidence and he feels like he's capable of doing it again.  As the defending champion, he has a good shot at it. 

"Mike Skinner did everything right and just didn't win.  What they did in 2007 was a nice improvement from 2006.  That organization is hungry and I expect them to be back in the hunt again.

"Johnny Benson also impressed me a lot at the end of last year and has a chance of getting on a run and winning races and putting points together.  I think they had some bad luck and dealt with a penalty at the early part of the season.  They are a great race team and just had some issues that kept them from winning."

Ray Dunlap, SPEED reporter: "I would say that Johnny Benson, Mike Skinner and Todd Bodine will be battling it out this year.  Everybody will ask, 'where is Ron Hornaday?'  I don't put him in there to repeat as a champion.  Actually, no one has ever won back-to-back championships.  Part of my explanation is they are taking on a second fulltime team at KHI.  Not that they won't work together great but I think that transition will affect their performance to a degree. Jack Sprague is going to be Ron's teammate and going from one fulltime truck to two, although that organization is very successful and will be again, puts them in a position where I would not favor them for the championship due to the growing pains of expanding from one to two teams."

What are the biggest storylines you'll be watching in the 2008 NCTS season?

Ray Dunlap, SPEED reporter: "I think one of the big stories will be the quality of the rookies we have coming in.  There are seven or eight young drivers we having moving into the series.  Donny Lia won the Whelen Modified championship and he will be running fulltime in the Truck Series.  Plus, there is Justin Marks (Germain Racing), Colin Braun (Roush Fenway) and Phillip McGilton (Bill Davis Racing).   It will be fun to see of those brand-new guys with no experience in trucks, who rises to the top early on."

Adam Alexander, SPEED reporter: "One of the big stories is watching what Hornaday and Skinner do in 2008 because of how good they were in 2007.  Can they repeat that success and put up those kinds of numbers, which were somewhat unheard of because they were so consistent and so good?  I think that's one storyline.  Not only can they compete for a championship again, but can they put up those unbelievable numbers again?

"Can a guy like Todd Bodine get back in championship form and challenge them? What about Johnny Benson? Can there be a young driver, maybe not a rookie, who can go out and compete? I think the veterans owned the sport in 2007.  Can you have a young gun who surfaces as a player? Maybe it's a Colin Braun that kind of takes over the role that Carl Edwards had in the Truck Series a few years ago.  That is something I will watch for … what young guy is going to be able to come in and make a name for himself and compete for a championship.  Last year was the year of the older drivers."

Phil Parsons, SPEED analyst: "The competitive nature of the Truck Series is a big story.  It is always so exciting and competitive in this series and I think we're going to see more of that.  Also, it's time for Dodge to step back in and I think we'll see a bit of resurgence for Dodge.  There are big changes at Bobby Hamilton Racing since they merged with Joey Arrington's group.  Stacy Compton and Dennis Setzer are going to drive those two trucks.  I think we'll see them a lot more competitive but I don't think we'll see them immediately step up and contend.  They don't have that many teams to share information with and I think that will hold them back a bit."

Can two drivers run away with the points again this year as in 2007?

Ray Dunlap, SPEED reporter: "There are a lot of new variables out there.  We lost the Spears team and Brendan Gaughan's team and a couple of others that will make a big impact on the series.  Last year was a very unique year in that we saw Hornaday and Skinner have such an incredible run of good fortune.  I don't think you'll see that happen again.  I think the points will be much closer at the end of the year with four or five drivers.  That was a year that you couldn't ever predict and it was crazy for them to both do it in the same year."

Who do you think will be up front more - the veterans or the young guns?

Ray Dunlap, SPEED reporter: "I think the veterans will still be the ones you see out front again this year.  You've got Mike Skinner, Ron Hornaday, Jack Sprague, Johnny Benson, Todd Bodine and Ted Musgrave.  The experience factor they have is something you can't put a price tag on.  It's probably going to be the same faces up front." 

What do you expect for a manufacturer battle this year?

Ray Dunlap, SPEED reporter: "It will be interesting to see how the Toyotas fare this year.  They have a new engine package and the package they've run four years in the Truck Series is now illegal and they will be reduced in horsepower, as well.  I think you'll see a great deal of parity among the manufacturers and they will be running much closer than in the past.  Toyota had seemed to have a pretty good advantage before."

Who do you think the top rookie candidates will be?

Ray Dunlap, SPEED reporter: "Phillip McGilton at Bill Davis Racing should be good. I would put him at the top of the list based on equipment but I think Donny Lia will do a really good job for Jim Harris and the No. 59 team.  I would think those two are going to be worth watching.   I don't know too much about Colin Braun but I have heard great things about him.  Obviously, in the other forms of racing he has competed in, mostly road racing, he has been incredibly successful.  It will be fun to see how he adapts.  Normally, when rookies come into the Truck Series, it takes them about eight or 10 races before they really grab onto this concept because the aerodynamics are so different than any other form of racing.  So, he definitely will be good based on the level of his equipment.

"I'm impressed with the list of young rookies that are going to be competing in this series next year.  We have guys moving to highly established teams like Bill Davis Racing and Roush Fenway Racing and Germain Racing.  I think we'll have a rookie win one or two races this year and that hasn't happened since Carl Edwards won in 2003."

Adam Alexander, SPEED reporter: "A kid that I thought was really impressive late in the season was Brian Scott in the No. 16 Truck.  He has good leadership and will be a guy to watch.  Colin Braun is in the driver's seat for Roush.  He has only raced in a couple of Truck races but he's got a great shot with that organization.  They've been very successful and very good at developing young truck talent.  I would include him because of his background and the people around him.  Justin Marks, who is going to drive for Germain Racing, is pretty solid and will probably do a good job.  Another guy is Phillip McGilton, who is coming from ARCA to drive for Bill Davis Racing.  When you look at BDR, they've had great luck in the Truck Series.  Obviously, Skinner was great last year and should be this year, as well as Benson.  I think with their leadership and the overall competitive nature of BDR in the Truck Series, Phillip will come in and inherit some good equipment and be competitive in 2008."

Phil Parsons, SPEED analyst: "Colin Braun and Justin Marks are the two rookies I will be watching.  Colin is stepping into a great truck with Roush Fenway with Mike Beam as his crew chief.  Beam has had so much success the past three years there.  Colin will be a strong racer.  Justin Marks will also and he will be Todd Bodine's teammate.  Germain Racing is a tremendous organization and it could be a good battle.  Both of those guys have road racing backgrounds.  If I have to predict the rookie-of-the-year, I'm going to have to pick Colin Brown with Roush because the nucleus of that team has been together for so long with Mike Beam."

KHI won the championship last year with RCR as an engine supplier.  Do you think their decision to switch engine suppliers this year will affect their performance?

Ray Dunlap, SPEED reporter: "No, I don't think KHI switching engine manufacturers will hurt them at all. Mark Smith and Pro Motor will be supplying horsepower to KHI and most of the Chevrolet teams.  That group has made significant gains and they bought some parts and pieces from Joe Gibbs Racing when Gibbs switched to Toyota.  I look for them to be just as good in the engine department as they were with RCR and I don't think that will be a problem at all."

Adam Alexander, SPEED reporter: "I think it's a gutsy move for KHI to switch motor companies.  If you win a championship and make a change, I think it's very obvious you are committed to success.  You don't want to be status quo - you want to grow.  There was a lot made of this new era-chassis KHI is going to in 2008.  They tinkered with it and ran it some in 2007.  Here's a championship-contending team that made a statement 'we're winning and contending for the title but we're not where we want to be and we want to continue to grow.'

"They were experimenting last year and Harvick ran the new chassis a few times.  They talked about Hornaday running it at some point but to my knowledge, they never did because of the delicateness of the points battle.  But they've got some things in the works for 2008 that they're excited about."
 
Phil Parsons, SPEED analyst: "I personally have a lot of confidence in Mark Smith and Pro Motor, who KHI will be getting engines from.  It's so hard to go with someone other than Richard Childress.  Not only did RCR's engines win the Truck Series championship with Hornaday, they won the Busch owners' championship in the 29 car with Jeff Burton and Scott Wimmer.  RCR engines are incredibly durable and strong, but it could still be a small adjustment for KHI.  Mark Smith is very good and inherited a lot of the Chevrolet equipment from Joe Gibbs Racing."

What is the situation with the new engine rules package for the Trucks this season?

Ray Dunlap, SPEED reporter: "We have what is called a tapered spacer the teams ran at Daytona and Talladega last year and it's a form of a restrictor plate.  It cuts the amount of air and fuel mixture that goes into the engine down a certain percentage. In 2008, the engine guys have been very busy because we're going to run a tapered spacer at every event.  At Talladega and Daytona, we run an inch-and-a-sixteenth size but we'll run an inch-and-an-eighth through the rest of the season.  This should reduce the horsepower by about 80 horsepower.  NASCAR also put in a different rear gear this year and we lost about 10 points on the rear gear.  So, between the tapered spacer and the rear gear, we'll lose horsepower.  We'll go from about 8700 rpm to about 8200 rpm.  The idea is that if the engines live longer, you can run them in two races instead of just one.  In the past, most teams rebuilt their engines after every single race.  This will be a cost-cutting measure if we're able to run an engine in two races instead of just one."

Phil Parsons, SPEED analyst: "We're going to have a different engine rules package for the trucks everywhere.  It's going to be more comparable to the engine rules for Daytona and Talladega but it will be in place everywhere.  The main change is to a tapered spacer that will actually cut the horsepower back about 75 to100 horsepower, so that may be an adjustment for the teams.  Maybe some will catch on faster quicker than others but it's still going to be hard to bet against someone like Hornaday."

Any other major rules changes expected for the Truck Series this year?

Phil Parsons, SPEED analyst: "Other than the engine rules, the only other major change these Trucks are going to have is a 17-gallon fuel cell just like the Cup teams did last year.  What that means is we'll have more pit stops and see the trucks on pit road more than we have in the past.  That will be more of a challenge for the pit crews but it also puts more of a premium on them."

Do you expect to see Jack Sprague make a comeback this year at KHI after a lackluster season in 2007?

Ray Dunlap, SPEED reporter: "I would certainly think Jack Sprague can make a comeback this year with KHI.  He just had such horrible year as far as luck went in 2007 that it would be pretty hard not to be better than he was last year."

Adam Alexander, SPEED reporter: "He should make a comeback but I don't know that it will take much time.  When you look at the second truck KHI ran in 2007, it didn't matter if it was Harvick, Clint Bowyer or Cale Gale driving it, they ran well so it's obvious it's very good equipment.  There is no doubt the groundwork is laid for them to have success but the question will be can Jack and KHI come together, gel and have that chemistry.  One thing that really helped Hornaday in 2007 was he had such a great working relationship with crew chief Rick Ren and that's important to have that team chemistry along with the driver to make it work.  There is little doubt they have great equipment and Jack has a great background as a driver. He showed in 2007 what he is capable of doing.  There were many times he was going to win a race and for one reason or another, it didn't work out.  I think certainly he will be able to resurrect his career.  I don't know if you can go from 10th to winning a championship but certainly he has the credentials to show he can do it - it's just a matter of putting it all together."

Was Bobby Hamilton Racing's move from the Nashville area necessary to stay competitive?

Phil Parsons, SPEED analyst: "There is a lot of optimism in the Bobby Hamilton Racing camp.  BHR decided to move out of the Nashville area and moved to Martinsville and joined up with Joey Arrington, who built the Dodge engines for a number of years … really since Dodge got back into NASCAR.  Mark Mellling and Clay Campbell are going to be involved and Stacy Compton is going to be a part owner.  He will drive one of the trucks fulltime, as well as Dennis Setzer.  This is going to be a potent combination.  I really look for this team to get back on track.  I talked to Lori Hamilton and she said it was time and they had to move out of Nashville for a fresh start."

SPEED, now in nearly 78 million homes in North America, is the exclusive home of the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, Gatorade Duel at Daytona, NASCAR Sprint Pit Crew Challenge and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. The only network delivering  live, at-track programming all season long, SPEED offers the definitive pre- and post-race NASCAR Sprint Cup Series programs - NASCAR RaceDay and NASCAR Victory Lane, as well as other popular NASCAR programs including Trackside Live, Tradin' Paint, NASCAR Performance, NASCAR Live!, Inside Nextel Cup, NCTS Setup,  Go or Go Home and The Chase is On.