The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams will tangle at O'Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis Friday night, site of the Power Stroke Diesel 200, race No. 14 of 25 on the NCTS calendar this season.

ORP is a place where the truck drivers definitely don't play nice together, a claustrophobic 0.686-mile oval where the trucks will be bumping and grinding all race long. If nothing else, Friday night's battle ought to shuffle the points standings again, given that the top three drivers are separated by all of five points.

If recent history is any indication, the driver to watch for on Friday night will be Ron Hornaday Jr., the defending series champion and defending race winner. Hornaday, who trails Johnny Benson by just five points in the NCTS standings, led 90 laps last year and his No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet Silverado ought to be tough this time, too. Hornaday hasn't finished worse than third in the last three ORP Truck races.

"ORP is one those tracks that fits Ron Hornaday's driving style perfectly," said Hornaday's crew chief, Rick Ren. "It's almost all about the driver at this track, but the truck has to be set up so your driver can be aggressive. The drivers that are aggressive are able to make their way up to the front at ORP."

Hornaday's teammate at Kevin Harvick Inc., Jack Sprague, is also a two-time ORP Truck winner, and his American Commercial Lines No. 2 Chevy ought to run well on Friday night. "ORP is your traditional short track," said Sprague. "It has narrow corners and it is really hard to pass.  Qualifying will be very crucial come Friday."

The other two-time ORP NCTS winner in the field Friday will be the Toyota Tundra-sponsored No. 5 of Mike Skinner, who is fifth in points and has a streak of nine consecutive top-10 finishes. And his Bill Davis Racing teammates, Johnny Benson and Michael Annett are coming off a 1-2 finish last week at Kentucky Speedway. Benson was runner-up in this race last year in his Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Tundra and as Annett showed last week, he's already got his Pilot Travel Centers Toyota up to speed.

Anytime the NCTS Series races at ORP, Rick Crawford and the Power Stroke by Diesel International Ford F-150 are threats to win. Crawford was victorious here in 2006, finished fourth last year and hasn't finished worse than eighth in the last four ORP Truck races. Like Skinner, Crawford is winless this season but has used consistency to move up to fourth in points.

Don't count out short-track ace Dennis Setzer, either. Setzer, driver of the Tahoe Dodge truck from Bobby Hamilton Racing, won here in 2005 and was runner-up in '06. Earlier this year, Setzer won at Martinsville Speedway and he is always a fierce competitor at tight tracks.

Wyler.com Toyota driver Terry Cook, who has quietly moved to seventh in points, has one victory and one runner-up finish each at ORP, though his last top-five came here in 2002.

Looking to improve their previous best results at ORP will be Todd Bodine, driver of the No. 30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota, who has never finished better than sixth here, and Erik Darnell, who was seventh last year in the No. 99 Northern Tool + Equipment Ford.

And while Matt Crafton is having a career year in the No. 88 Menards Chevrolet — he's second in points, just a single marker behind Benson — his best here is fourth.
  
Among the part-time drivers Kyle Busch will again wheel the No. 51 Miccosukee Resorts Toyota for Billy Ballew, while Landon Cassill will drive the No. 81 Chevrolet for Randy Moss Motorsports.

Add it all up, and it should be a wide-open — and very physical — battle on Friday night. Qualifying is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. EDT Friday, with the race set for 8 p.m. that evening. Both will be televised live on SPEED.

Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com.  He is the author of "Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED," and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the President of the National Motorsports Press Association.  Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing.