Havin' At It Happens At ORP
07-22-2010 12:52 am

With the notable exception of when Jimmy Spencer famously dumped Kurt Busch in 2003, most of the beating and banging you'll see this weekend won't happen at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

But about eight miles away at O'Reilly Raceway Park, expect the boys — and girls — to do a fair amount of having at it on Friday and Saturday nights.

ORP is a multipurpose facility that opened in 1960 and hosted its first oval is home to the annual Labor Day weekend Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, the biggest event on the National Hot Rod Association calendar.

This week, ORP hosts the USAC Midget and Silver Crown Series on Thursday evening, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Friday night and the NASCAR Nationwide Series on Saturday night. All the shows are one-day only, meaning Friday is the Truck Series only, while Saturday is just the NNS cars.

Expect a lot of intense, close-quarters racing on the ORP short track.

"You go into ORP knowing that you're going to have a few donuts on the side of your truck by the end of the night," said Aric Almirola, who enters Friday night's NCWTS race second in points, 101 behind Todd Bodine. "You'll probably have a few fender benders, too. I expect our Graceway Zyclara Tundra to have a few scuffs by the time the checkered flag waves. There's so much side-by-side action that it's nearly impossible to not make contact with someone before the night's over."

Almirola will also race Saturday night at ORP, driving the JR Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet, with sponsorship from GT Vodka. "Pulling double duty between the Nationwide Series and Trucks will give me a lot of seat time," said Almirola. "The JR Motorsports equipment is definitely top-notch stuff, so we just want to go in and get everything we can out of the car. Like any short track, it's all about track position. (Crew chief) Tony Eury Sr. is a definite old-school racer, and I'm sure he'll have a solid setup and good pit strategy for this race. He's the guy you want on the pit box for you at a place like this."

Almirola is one of six drivers scheduled to compete in both ORP races, along with Kyle Busch, Ron Hornaday Jr., Todd Bodine, Davis Starr and Dennis Setzer.

Even the guys racing in just one event know they'll have their hands full, though.

"A lot of beating and banging happens at ORP but if you have a good truck you can get to the front," said James Buescher, who will drive the No. 31 Wold Pack Rentals Chevy Friday night. "Spotters are very important since the track is so small and you can get caught up in someone else's mess. The Turner Motorsports guys have been working extremely hard these past couple of weeks and I'm looking forward to taking a brand new Chevrolet to the track this Friday."

"As a crew chief, I have to take a different approach to ORP," said Chad Walter, who turns the wrenches for Justin Allgaier and the No. 12 Penske Racing Dodge. "The track is different than any other place we go. The top groove is the preferred line, but if you can get the car to work on the bottom you might be on to something. Patience is a huge part of ORP. We have to wait for our competitors to make a mistake and then capitalize on it. Justin has shown that he can race on any track, so I am looking forward to this weekend."

One of the folks most looking forward to Friday's Truck Series race is Kyle Busch Motorsports Director Competition Rick Ren, who grew up in nearby Tilton, Ill. "I remember watching Evil Knievel jump there in 1976 during the country-wide bicentennial celebration," said Ren. So, (ORP) is a special place for me. I've been fortunate to win a couple of Truck Series races there. So, it's special for me to go there and to win there. I have a lot of family and friends. It's a momentum race. The shape of the racetrack - it's easy to overdrive that race. It is a challenge for setting the truck up, but it is also a challenging one to drive. You really have to finesse it at that track. We're really looking forward to having Kyle in the truck there."