Rick Crawford, driver of the No. 14 Circle Bar Truck Corral Ford F-150, makes
his 10th career appearance at Bristol Motor Speedway during this week's NASCAR
Camping World Truck Series race. Crawford has four top-10 finishes at the
Tennessee short track and looking for his first win of the season.
RICK CRAWFORD - driver, No 14 Circle Bar Truck Corral Ford F-150 -BRISTOL
IS THE ULTIMATE CONCRETE TRACK. "That's just an ultimate short-track there.
It's amazing that vehicles even race at a track like Bristol and you get to put
on a good show for the fans. It's very nice to be in our Ford F-150, and drive
there for Ford. To finish top five in the last two outings there, I believe,
it's a good track for me. I'm a previous winner there in the old Ford
Thunderbird days. I know where victory lane is in Bristol and I'm looking
forward to getting there in the truck."
CAN YOU COMPARE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PREPARING FOR A WEDNESDAY NIGHT RACE
AS A TEAM? "You almost have to prepare for Bristol ahead of time. You've got
to be mentally prepared for Bristol and have more equipment prepared. I call it
a five Tylenol night. When you go to Bristol, you're on the edge and the fans
are on the edge of their seat. I'm up on the wheel and you can just about
manhandle the vehicle around Bristol at the speeds that you're going. If you
start thinking about what you're doing wrong, then you're already in the next
corner and you don't have time for that. A Wednesday night race there, you've
got to be prepared. I think it's great for the fans, and great for the viewing
audience on TV. It's great that everyone comes down and supports Ford Racing and
what goes on at the race track, but also views it on TV. But you have to always
remember, television does not do Bristol justice. It's almost like going to an
NHRA drag racing event to see the Top Fuel and Funny Cars get off line. There's
no way for TV to do it justice. If it did, your flat screen would be off the
wall. All of the vibration, the horsepower and all of that kind of stuff and how
fast John Force can talk, your television would slap right off the wall, and
you'd be watching TV from your rug. Fans need to come out here and enjoy these
races in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series."
WHERE DO YOU LOOK WHEN YOU'RE DRIVING AT BRISTOL? "You're always a half a
track ahead. In the early days, we used to get caught up in things. I thought I
had plenty of time to slow down, and it just won't happen. Now, since they have
more bank in there, with a better surface at Bristol, it's got a lot more grip
and it's easier to get stopped. But now it's also easier to get collected up
into something now that it's two-wide racing. Now, when you want to race at
Bristol, you've got plenty of race track to race on. It doesn't look like it,
but you got to be there, folks."
