Track Position Hampers Crafton in Thunder Valley
Bristol ,Tenn. – A poor qualifying draw which forced an early qualifying run on a slippery racetrack left Matt Crafton and the ThorSport Racing No. 88 Menards Chevrolet fighting for track position all night long during the O’Reilly 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway. A quick race truck, strong pit strategy and a lot of luck enabled Crafton to race from 33 rd at the start to 12 th at the finish.
“We had a good truck but that qualifying draw killed us,” Crafton said. “We went out first, right after the Hooter’s Cup cars qualified. They run on totally different rubber than we do, and the track was hot and slippery. It was the best lap we could get under the conditions we were in, but we were stuck back in the pack. We had to use our heads to make it through all the stuff that was going on back there without trashing the truck.”
Crafton came close to falling off the lead lap during some early green flag runs, but was fortunate enough to catch a couple of timely caution flags that allowed him to close in on the pack and allowed the ThorSport Racing crew to make adjustments to his truck.
“Some of those guys out there tonight hadn’t ever seen Bristol before and it was pretty hairy back in the pack,” Crafton said. “I had to really be careful around a couple of them. The track seemed to be more one groove than usual, and it was hard to get past some of the slower trucks without using up your truck. Thankfully we had a good stop on pit road and were able to get past most of those guys without having to pass them on the racetrack.”
Crafton now sits eighth in NNASCAR Truck Series point standings after 17 races. He is 91 points out of fifth position, and 42 points behind seventh-place driver and Bristol race winner Mike Skinner.
Next up for Crafton and the ThorSport Racing No. 88 Menards Chevrolet is a 200-lap race at Richmond International Raceway. The event is scheduled to start at 8 P.M. Eastern on Thursday September 8 and is scheduled for a live broadcast on Speed Channel. The race will also be broadcast on select radio affiliates of the Motor Racing Network, while TruckSeries.com will have complete event coverage, including real-time practice, qualifying, and race updates at www.truckseries.com .
Long Green Flag Run Pins Hines Laps Down at Bristol
Bristol ,Tenn. – Tracy Hines had to fall to the back of the pack prior to the start of the O’Reilly 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Wednesday night, and spent much of the early stages of the race trying to gain track position in the No. 13 ThorSport Racing/David Zoriki Inc. Chevrolet. After receiving the “free pass” to rejoin the lead lap on an early-race caution, Hines was able to come to the pits to make needed adjustments on his truck, but a prolonged run of green flag racing that lasted 100 laps around the tough half-mile track left Hines pinned off the lead lap.
“We had to go to the back on the start for making some adjustments during the impound period,” Hines said. “We knew we’d need some early cautions to help us stay on the lead lap and give us a chance to get the truck where we needed it. We had the leaders on us pretty quick early on and got a couple of breaks when the yellow came out. One time we even got passed, but we had another yellow a couple laps later and got the free pass to get back on the lead lap.”
Once back on the lead lap, Hines was looking forward to a couple more quick cautions to make some adjustments that would allow him to race with the leaders. Unfortunately, the next caution didn’t come for nearly 100 laps.
“We needed a couple of more cautions to get down to the pits and make some adjustments. I never would have guessed we would have run that long under green at Bristol . It was a tough night. We were able to try some things with the truck that I think will help us as a team down the road, so even though it wasn’t really a great finish we have some positives out of the night.”
Next up for Hines and the No. 13 ThorSport Racing/David Zoriki Inc. Chevrolet is a 200-lap race at Richmond International Raceway is scheduled for a 9 P.M. Eastern start on Thursday September 8 and is scheduled for live telecast on Speed Channel. The race will also be broadcast live on select radio affiliates of the Motor Racing Network, and TruckSeries.com will provide complete event coverage, including practice, qualifying, and race updates at www.truckseries.com .
Crafton Ready for Thunder Valley Challenges
Sandusky , Oh. – Bristol Motor Speedway is always one of the most challenging venues on the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule, but with a potential top-5 position in the series’ championship standings on the line, it presents even more difficulty for ThorSport Racing’s Matt Crafton. Crafton will pilot the team’s No. 88 Menards Chevy in Wednesday night’s 200-lap clash on the highbanks with two goals in mind: one is to pick up his first career NCTS win, the other is to stay out of the inevitable trouble throughout the night and come out of Bristol with a good finish and maximum points.
“We have had a great short track program all season long, so I am really excited to go to Bristol and Richmond ,” Crafton said. “We had a great race at Indianapolis a few weeks ago, but it just makes us want even more. Fourth is great, but when you run that good you want to go and finish third, and then you want second, and then you want to win. This team is ready to start winning races, and Bristol would be a great place to pick up that first win.”
While the driver is ready to pick up that elusive first win, it is difficult at a place like Bristol where much of your destiny is out of your control.
“Bristol is one tough place,” Crafton said. “It is so short and so fast that things can happen on the opposite end of the racetrack and you can get caught up in it if you aren’t careful. We’d like to come out of there with our first win, but we need to think the points too. We’re not in it for the championship, but we are really working hard to get into the top-5. If we keep our nose clean we should be able to gain some points on those guys and get even closer.”
Crafton enters the Bristol race seventh in the point standings, right in the center of one of the most heated battles for position in the championship. He is 97 points behind fifth place and 72 points out of sixth. He is 21 points ahead of eighth and 41 points ahead of tenth. He has racked up two top-5 finishes and seven top-10 finishes in 16 starts so far in 2005.
The 200-lap race is scheduled to start at 9 P.M. Eastern from Bristol Motor Speedway and is scheduled for a live broadcast on Speed Channel. The race will also be broadcast on select radio affiliates of the Motor Racing Network, while TruckSeries.com will have complete event coverage, including real-time practice, qualifying, and race updates at www.truckseries.com .
Highbanks Veteran Hines Enthused at Bristol Chances
Sandusky , Oh. – As a veteran of the United States Auto Club open wheel series, Tracy Hines has run thousands of laps on high banked racetracks such as Salem Speedway and Winchester Speedway in Indiana . It should then come as no surprise that Hines, the 2000 USAC Silver Crown Series and 2002 USAC Sprint Car Series champion, is looking forward to racing the No. 13 ThorSport Racing/David Zoriki Inc. Chevrolet on the 36-degree banks of Bristol Motor Speedway.
“The tracks are not a whole lot alike,” Hines said. “ Bristol is concrete and the groove is right down on the bottom, and Winchester and Salem are asphalt with the groove up near the wall. The open wheel cars and the trucks are so different there is not a lot you can take from one to the other. What they do have in common is the extremely high banking and the fast speeds. If you can race well at a place like Winchester , going to a place like Bristol is a lot less intimidating. I wouldn’t have wanted to have gone there without that experience going in.”
Even with the lack of transferable information from one type of racing to the other, Hines is looking forward to racing on the banks.
“The one thing racing the open wheel cars at Salem and Winchester teaches you is how to race,” Hines said. “As fast as it happens in a Truck at Bristol , it happens even faster in a sprint car or a midget at Salem . It teaches you to look ahead and how to react in certain situations. We hope we don’t have to deal with anything happening right in front of us, but it’s pretty much guaranteed that something will. With all of the laps we’ve had on the high banked tracks, if we do have to deal with a situation like that hopefully we’ll handle it the right way.”
The 200-lap race is scheduled for a 9 P.M. Eastern start on Wednesday and is scheduled for live telecast on Speed Channel. The race will also be broadcast live on select radio affiliates of the Motor Racing Network, and TruckSeries.com will provide complete event coverage, including practice, qualifying, and race updates at www.truckseries.com .
Crafton Fights to 13th in Nashville
Gladeville ,Tenn. – Matt Crafton survived a lap two incident and scrape with the wall to fight back to a 13 th -place finish in the Toyota Tundra 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Nashville Superspeedway. Crafton qualified tenth and was on the charge towards the front in the early laps when another driver spun on the inside, forcing him up the track and squeezing him into the wall.
“We thought we had a really good truck after qualifying,” Crafton said. “We were on a roll there early on and were making some passes up on the outside. We went into three up on the top and someone below me got sideways and spun. As she went sideways, it pushed me up into the marbles and I grazed the wall. It wasn’t a lot of damage, but it messed up the right front fender.”
Crafton was able to make several early pit stops to repair the damage, but the truck never responded the way it did prior to the contact.
“Once we got into the fence we just fought the truck and track position all day long,” he said. “We got it to where it was decent but we never had track position to see if we could run with the leaders.”
Late in the race, Crafton and the ThorSport Racing No. 88 Menards team took a gamble and stayed on the track during a caution period when the rest of the field pitted. He restarted second with about 25 laps remaining, but was on tires with nearly 30 laps on them.
“It was a gamble we had to take,” Crafton said. “It was the only chance we had to get near the front. You never know what can happen in that kind of situation. We might have been able to hold some of them off and pick up a lot better finish than we would have had otherwise. As it was, I think we probably ended up a couple of spots better than we would have been. It’s not great, but after all that went on here today, it’s not a bad day.”
Crafton now sits seventh in NASCAR Truck Series point standings, 72 points behind sixth place Jimmy Spencer and 98 points behind race winner David Reutimann for fifth.
The next NASCAR Truck Series race is scheduled for August 24 th at Bristol Motor Speedway. Speed Channel will have live coverage starting at 9 P.M. Eastern, with select radio affiliates of the Motor Racing Network carrying the radio broadcast.
Hines Okay After Accident; Trouble Leaves No.13 Truck 29th
Gladeville ,Tenn. – Tracy Hines was uninjured in a hard crash with 16 laps remaining in the Toyota Tundra 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Nashville Superspeedway. Hines made contact with the turn three wall with the rear end of his machine, doing significant damage to the ThorSport Racing No. 13 David Zoriki Inc. Chevrolet.
“I’m okay, but that was a pretty hard hit,” Hines said. “I went down into three and it just snapped around on me. At first, I thought we might have hit some fluid or something, but the safety crew found an axle cap and the left side axle laying on the track. I don’t know if we had a failure or what, but it definitely came out of the truck. Once that happened, I was just along for the ride. I feel bad because our sponsor David Zoriki was here this weekend, and we wanted to give him a good finish. He’s been a strong supporter of ours all season long, and we want to start giving him some better finishes. We just need some luck right now.”
Once he came to a stop, Hines’ problems weren’t over. The two leaders slid in the grease left on the concrete by Hines’ machine and starting sliding up the banking towards his crashed truck.
“That’s one of the worst feelings you can possibly have,” Hines said. “I was sitting there helpless and here are these two guys heading right at me doing 140 miles per hour and they are into that fluid. It wasn’t a lot of fun, I’ll tell you that.”
While the Truck Series has a weekend off next week, Hines will stay busy. He has four races on top in the open wheel cars.
“I am going to run Lawrenceburg and Gas City with the Midget car,” Hines said. “Then we go to Springfield with the Silver Crown car and end the weekend at Terre Haute with the Midget. We need to go and run well next week, we need something to finally go our way.”
The next NASCAR Truck Series race is scheduled for August 24 th at Bristol Motor Speedway. Speed Channel will have live coverage starting at 9 P.M. Eastern, with select radio affiliates of the Motor Racing Network carrying the radio broadcast.
Crafton Ready to Get Back on Track in Music City
Sandusky , Oh. – Matt Crafton is coming off his second top-5 finish of the season last Friday night, but after a NASCAR-imposed penalty for an infraction found in post-race technical inspection, he is ready to get back on the track and continue their recent streak of strong finishes. He heads for Nashville Superspeedway ready to put the ThorSport Racing No. 88 Menards Chevrolet back at the front of the pack to recover the 25 driver and owner points he and his team were assessed.
“That was a just out of our hands,” Crafton said. “We bought the part from an approved supplier and found out after the fact it didn’t meet the NASCAR rule as indicated and stamped on the part. We went through our inventory and found a few more that were like that. I hate that it comes at a time in the season when points are so critical. We had a great run last week at IRP, so we’ll take that momentum and hope it carries over to Nashville .”
While Crafton enjoys coming to the Music City for the NASCAR Truck Series’ annual visit, the track itself is not one of his favorites.
“I don’t like the concrete in Nashville ,” Crafton said. “You just can’t race on it. There is no outside groove at all. This place would be one of my favorites if they would come in and put some asphalt down so we could go out there and race.”
Although not one of his favorites, Crafton’s results have progressively improved since his first start in 2001. After finishes of 25 th in 2001 and 18 th in 2002, Crafton has scored top-10 finishes in his last two starts at Nashville Superspeedway. In his last start at the track with the ThorSport team in 2003 he finished 10 th , and ran seventh there last season in the Kevin Harvick Inc. machine.
In addition to his two top-10 finishes, Crafton has a best start of fourth (2004) and an average start of 13.0. His average finish is 15.0, and his only “did not finish” came in 2001 when he was sidelined after just 59 laps after engine failure. Crafton has finished on the lead lap in the last two events at NSS.
The 150-lap, 200-mile race is scheduled to start at 5 P.M. Eastern from Nashville Superspeedway and is scheduled for a live broadcast on Speed Channel. The race will also be broadcast on select radio affiliates of the Motor Racing Network, while TruckSeries.com will have complete event coverage, including real-time practice, qualifying, and race updates at www.truckseries.com .
Hines Heads Back to Nashville Looking to Better 2004
Sandusky , Oh. – Tracy Hines returns to the Nashville Superspeedway wanting to pick up a better finish than he did in 2004. In last season’s race, Hines qualified 12 th , but handling problems ended up forcing him to a disappointing 22 nd at the finish.
“What I remember about last year is that we were just way too tight,” Hines said. “We qualified really good, but with the impound rules being what they were I guess we didn’t know what to expect once the race started. We threw everything we had at it and nothing seemed to make it better. We changed everything but the driver and the steering wheel, but nothing made it any better. We spent all day on Friday with the same setup, and we never had any hint of a problem with it. It was a real mystery.”
Hines hopes this year brings better fortune for the No. 13 ThorSport Racing/David Zoriki Chevrolet.
“I think we can go down to Nashville and have a good solid run,” Hines said. “We’ve made some real progress and I think it’s time for us to start picking up some top-10 finishes. For some reason Nashville seemed to fit my driving style last year, well, up until the race started it did anyhow. I know my guys will give me a pretty good truck off the trailer and we should be able to tune on it from there. I’d like to go have a good qualifying run and stay up front and out of the trouble that always seems to break out in the back of the pack. It’s time for us to get the kind of finish we deserve.”
The 200-mile race is scheduled for a 5 P.M. Eastern start on Saturday and is scheduled for live telecast on Speed Channel. The race will also be broadcast live on select radio affiliates of the Motor Racing Network, and TruckSeries.com will provide complete event coverage, including practice, qualifying, and race updates at www.truckseries.com .
Crafton Scores Second Top-5 of 2005 at Indianapolis
Clermont ,Ind. – Matt Crafton raced the ThorSport Racing No. 88 Menards Chevrolet to fourth place in the Power Stroke Diesel 200 NASCAR Truck Series race at Indianapolis Raceway Park on Friday night. Crafton, who lined up tenth for the race after qualifying was washed out and the field was set by the series’ rulebook, stayed in the top-10 all night long and used a lightning fast green flag pit stop to jump into the top-5. When a late-race caution fell with less than 30 laps to go, Crafton picked up the free pass to rejoin the lead lap and locked himself into his second top-5 finish of 2005.
Crafton was able to pick up a position late in the going when Ron Hornaday and Jimmy Spencer got together racing for third position, damaging Spencer’s truck and sending him to the pits for repairs under caution.
“The ThorSport guys gave me a great pit stop under green,” Crafton said. “We had an awesome truck here tonight but that pit stop was even better. It’s nice to have a truck that great, but it makes it easy on me when they pick up positions on pit road. Dennis Setzer was really fast tonight, and had all but a few guys a lap down, but we caught that caution late in the race and got the free pass to come around and get back on the lead lap. It’s been a long time since I’ve been up in the top five and not been on the lead lap! It was a great night for us, and it really helps out in the points race.”
Crafton pulled his truck to pit road following the race and it didn’t have a scratch on it, which is very unusual for a short track war in the Truck Series.
“It was a great night for us, and the truck was so strong,” Crafton said. “I loved that long green flag run because it took about 50 laps for our truck to come in. The longer that run went the better off we were going to be. But when the caution came out with 30 laps to go I was a little disappointed. If we needed a caution I would have liked to have seen it a little earlier so our truck had a chance to come back in. But there’s not a scratch on it and that’s nice. You have to be so patient here, and tonight we were.”
With the fourth-place finish, Crafton picks up two positions in the NASCAR Truck Series championship standings to sit seventh. He is 361 points behind leader and race winner Dennis Setzer, and sits just 11 points behind sixth-place David Reutimann.
“We’re running for this championship and nights like tonight are exactly what we need,” Crafton said. “I know this team can run to win races. They deserve it. We need more nights like tonight to get us into the top-5 in points, and I really think we can do it.”
Crafton gets back to action this weekend in at Nashville Superspeedway. The 200-mile race is scheduled for live broadcast on Speed Channel at 5 P.M. Eastern, and will be broadcast on selected radio affiliates of the Motor Racing Network. TruckSeries.com will have continuous real-time practice, qualifying, and race updates at www.truckseries.com .
Hines Sidelined Early After Strong Run IRP
Clermont ,Ind. – Tracy Hines narrowly avoided an early race pile up and charged from the rear before mechanical problems sidelined the No. 13 ThorSport Racing/David Zoriki Motorsports Chevrolet early, leaving Hines with a 32 nd -place finish.
“I knew as soon as we started practice that we had one of the best trucks here,” said Hines. “We had a truck that was really fast, but we didn’t get a chance to qualify because of the rain and had to start near the back. The plan was to be patient and let the guys in front of me get spread out a little before tried to start moving through the field. I don’t think we got two laps in before they started wrecking in front of me. Halfway down the backstretch everyone started stopping in front of me and spinning all over the place. I did everything I could to get it slowed down, but we slid into the guy in front of me and knocked a hole in the right front fender. Thankfully aerodynamics aren’t a big issue here and it didn’t slow us down.”
Hines came to the attention of his crew on the second caution of the day for routine service and some quick repairs. After restarting from the tail of the field, he quickly marched through the pack.
“We pitted and started at the tail and we knew we had to go,” Hines said. “The truck went anywhere I needed it to go and we just started picking them off. With about 80 laps to go they told me we were starting to push some smoke out of the pipes and it started to lay down a little. We came in and looked at it and there was some sort of oil leak. It was a shame because we had a truck that could have raced into the top-10.”
Hines was disappointed with the finish, but not the performance his team and truck gave throughout the day.
“Yeah, it’s disappointing for sure,” Hines said. “I am disappointed because I love IRP and I wanted to have a good run here. But I am really disappointed for the guys. They worked so hard getting this truck ready, working on it to make it faster, testing, and all day here today. They deserved to come out of here with a good finish, but they have nothing to hold their heads down about. We just had a little back luck end our day early.”
Hines now heads to Nashville Superspeedway for next Saturday’s 200-miler, which will be seen live on Speed Channel at 5 P.M. Eastern. Motor Racing Network will have live coverage on selected affiliates nationwide, and TruckSeries.com will provide continuous real-time practice, qualifying, and race updates at www.truckseries.com .
Crafton Rides Wave of Momentum into Indianapolis
Sandusky , Oh. – After two consecutive seventh-place finishes, Matt Crafton heads to Indianapolis Raceway Park riding a wave of momentum which he hopes carries over to yet another top-10 finish for the ThorSport Racing No. 88 Menards Chevrolet.
“We went through a few weeks there that we just couldn’t close the deal,” Crafton said. “We’ve had great trucks each week, but for whatever reason it ended up we were outside the top-10 at the end. When you’re in the points battle, days like that are extra frustrating. But the past couple of races we’ve started to get back on track and we’ve gotten the kinds of finishes we’ve deserved. We’re building some momentum and I like our chances to keep it going this weekend at IRP.”
With two consecutive seventh-place finishes in the books, Crafton returns to IRP where he finished – you guessed it – seventh in 2004. Crafton has two seventh-place finishes at IRP, 2001 and 2004, and two other tenth-place finishes in 2002 and 2003.
“I’ve always enjoyed racing at IRP,” Crafton said. “People have always said that I am a good flat track racer, but IRP is not your typical flat track. At a place like Milwaukee , you want to ride the yellow line around the bottom all race long. At IRP, you need to be comfortable right up next to the fence and you need to be able to cut the truck low off the corner to pass. It’s a real challenge, but it’s one that has always been one we look forward to all year long.”
Crafton has completed all 800 possible laps in his previous four starts at Indianapolis Raceway Park . He led 22 laps in his first attempt at IRP in 2001, and has picked up four top-10 finishes. His average start is 16.5 and his average finish is 8.5. In 2005, Crafton has completed all but ten of the 2325 possible laps in NCTS competition. His average start is 18.6 and his average finish is 13.3. He has picked up six top-10 finishes, with a best finish of fifth at Texas in June.
The Power Stroke Diesel 200 at Indianapolis Raceway Park is scheduled for an 8:30 P.M. Eastern start on Friday evening, and will be televised live on Speed Channel. Motor Racing Network will carry the broadcast live on selected radio affiliates nationwide, while TruckSeries.com will have continuous real-time updates throughout practice, qualifying, and the race at www.truckseries.com .
Triple Duty on Tap for Hines at IRP
Sandusky , Oh. – For many of the competitors in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, it takes them three weeks in the middle of the busiest stretch of the season to run in three races. For Tracy Hines, he’ll take the green flag three times in three successive nights during the Kroger Speedfest at Indianapolis Raceway Park . In addition to his full-time duties behind the wheel of the No. 13 ThorSport Racing/David Zoriki Chevrolet in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Hines will also pilot the No. 37 Indiana Underground Beast/Mopar in Thursday’s USAC Silver Crown action, and then stick around an extra night to drive Ray Evernham’s No. 6 Hungry Drivers Dodge in the NASCAR Busch Series race.
“This is one of my favorite weekends of the whole year,” Hines said. “It’s so close to home, and it’s one of my favorite racetracks. It just seems like everything in the world of racing is going on in Indianapolis this weekend, and it’s pretty cool to be a part of everything we’re doing.”
Hines and the ThorSport Racing Team have started to find the consistency they’ve been looking for, and it couldn’t come at any better time than heading into the IRP race.
“We’ve started to get this program headed in the right direction,” said Hines, who finished ninth in the NCTS race at IRP in 2004. “We’ve had three straight top-20 finishes, and the communication is starting to get to where it needs to be. It couldn’t come at a better time either. IRP is one of my favorite tracks, and I think we’ll have a good shot to run near the front. We had a pretty good truck there last year, and I have a year’s worth of experience since then to back it up. If we can get the truck a little better than it was last year and we can keep the bad luck away, I’d like to think we could run up into the top-5. The racer in all of us wants to go out and win, but we’re taking this step by step. A top-10 finish with the truck would go a long way this week.”
Hines is optimistic going into the other IRP events as well.
“The Silver Crown car is my responsibility and I’ve spent a lot of time the past few days getting it ready,” Hines said. “There’s going to be a lot of heavy hitters there on Thursday, so we’ll have our hands full. But they only come and run one or two races a year and I run just about all of them still. I feel like they are coming to my house and they’ll have to deal with me. We led the points earlier in the year, and even though we missed a couple of races because of some scheduling conflicts, we’re still in the hunt for the owner’s championship. We’d like to pick up a win to get as many points as we can there for the owner championship.”
On Saturday night, Hines is scheduled to make his second start with Ray Evernham’s No. 6 Busch Series team. After a second-place finish with another driver at the wheel last weekend in St. Louis , Hines couldn’t be any more excited to get the chance this weekend at IRP.
“The team has improved all season long and they are now building cars that can win races,” Hines said. “I can’t tell you how excited I am to get to drive that car this weekend. They are coming off a second-place run and I get to drive it at the one racetrack on the schedule that I feel like I know better than anyone else in the series. I am just really looking forward to it. It’s going to be a great way to finish up the weekend.”
The Power Stroke Diesel 200 from Indianapolis Raceway Park is scheduled for an 8:30 P.M. Eastern start and will be televised live on Speed Channel. The race will also be broadcast live on selected radio affiliates of the Motor Racing Network, and TruckSeries.com will provide continuous real-time practice, qualifying, and race updates at www.truckseries.com .
