June 28,2005
Crafton Heads to Heartland Looking to Restart Top-10 Streak
Sandusky , Oh. – Matt Crafton and the ThorSport Racing No. 88 Menards Chevrolet team head to the Kansas Speedway looking to restart their streak of top-10 performances and stay in the fight for the 2005 NASCAR Truck Series championship. Crafton had consecutive top-10 finishes at Charlotte ,Dover , and Texas before tire woes slowed him at Michigan and a skip in the engine hampered his efforts in Milwaukee .
“We were on a real roll there for a few races, but we’ve just had a little bad luck the past two weeks,” Crafton said. “The trucks have been fast and the guys have done everything they could to get us up front, but the finishes weren’t there because of some bad luck. Our mile and a half program is really strong this year, so we’ve been looking forward to the next two weeks at Kansas and Kentucky .”
The Kansas Speedway has always been a favorite for Crafton, and he returns in 2005 coming off a top-5 finish there in 2004.
“Kansas has always been one of the tracks I look forward to all year long,” Crafton said. “It’s fast, but the banking is not as steep as some of the other mile and a half tracks so the driver really has to be up on the wheel. It’s a place that takes the total package, you need a good slick truck, a strong engine, and the driver needs to be up on his game too.”
In four previous races at Kansas Speedway, Crafton has never qualified lower than 13 th , with an average start of 10.2. His best finish is fifth in 2004, he has two top-10 finishes, and an average finish of 14.0. He also led 6 laps en route to his fifth-place finish last season.
Crafton enters the 12 th round of the 2005 season ninth in the championship standings with one top-5 finish, four top-10 finishes and 14 laps led. He has an average start of 19.8 and an average finish of 13.2. He has completed 99.8% of the laps run in 2004 (1798 of 1802), and before Dennis Setzer’s dominating performance last week in Milwaukee and finished on the lead lap in nine consecutive races following the season opener at Daytona.
The O’Reilly 250 is scheduled for a 3 P.M. Eastern start and will be shown live on Speed Channel while Motor Racing Network will carry the broadcast live on selected radio affiliates nationwide. TruckSeries.com will have continuing real-time updates throughout practice, qualifying, and the race at www.truckseries.com .
Hines Looks to Start Second Half of Season off Right in Kansas
Sandusky , Oh. – After two disastrous weeks that saw the No.13 ThorSport Racing/David Zoriki Chevrolet finish 36 th at Michigan and 32 nd in Milwaukee , Tracy Hines and his teammates come to Kansas Speedway looking to start the second half of the season off on the right foot. Hines, who drove to a 19 th -place finish in the NASCAR Busch Series race in Ray Evernham’s No. 6 car, returns to Kansas coming off a 14 th -place effort in his rookie season, and believes he and his team can improve this time around.
“The last two weeks have been rough, no doubt about it,” Hines said. “But I think we learned a lot about each other because of it. I know these guys are all working as hard as they possibly can to get this team up front, and they know how badly I want to win. We are all learning together. Most of my guys are true rookies at this level, and I am still learning the trucks too. We’re going to take it one step at a time and turn this team into a contender. We had some really bad luck at Milwaukee , but the guys did a lot of stuff right last weekend too. If we can keep that bad luck away from us, we should have a pretty good finish in Kansas .”
Hines looks forward to the return to Kansas following a strong run last year, and a finish that might have been better if not for some contact in an early race crash that left the track blocked and Hines no where to go.
“They started crashing in front of us on lap two,” Hines said. “It started with the leaders and we were all just trying to get slowed down and not run into anything. I had it slowed down but someone else lost it and nailed the left side pretty good. The guys did a great job getting it fixed but we were still a little off. I think it goes to show how strong this entire ThorSport team is on the mile and a half tracks right now.”
The O’Reilly 250 from the Kansas Speedway is scheduled for a 3 P.M. Eastern start and will be shown live flag-to-flag on Speed Channel. Motor Racing Network will have live coverage and can be heard on select radio affiliates nationwide. TruckSeries.com will have real-time updates throughout practice, qualifying, and the race at www.truckseries.com .
Hines, Crafton Look to Rebound in Milwaukee
Sandusky , Oh. – ThorSport Racing drivers Tracy Hines and Matt Crafton look to rebound from disappointing finishes at Michigan International Speedway when the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series fires up for the 11 th race of the 2005 season this Friday night at The Milwaukee Mile. Hines was sidelined just 17 laps into the 100-lap event in Michigan due to mechanical failure, while Crafton spent a considerable amount of time among the top-10, and even the top-5, before his tires gave way late in the race. Hines finished last in the 36 truck field while Crafton crossed the line 22 nd at the checkered.
Hines has one previous NCTS start and The Milwaukee Mile; he started 15 th and finished 14 th in 2004. He recovered from a spin in the middle stages of the race to stay on the lead lap and challenge for a top-10 finish before settling for 14 th at the end.
“Milwaukee was a real adventure last year,” Hines said. “We got spun around in the middle of the race and lost all of our track position. We were able to get it turned around and stay on the lead lap, and it all started to come back to us towards the end. You’re never happy with 14 th , but considering where we were at one point it wasn’t that bad.”
Hines returns this year to The Milwaukee Mile wanting to get Lady Luck on his side and get some positive momentum for the No. 13 ThorSport Racing/David Zoriki Chevrolet as the season heads into its second half.
“I’ve said it all year long, all we need is the bad luck to stop and we’ll be just fine,” said Hines. “The guys are working hard and learning every week. We have a very young crew, and Truck Series racing is new to a lot of them. They have a ton of experience; they are just learning how to apply that to these Trucks. It can be a challenge sometimes, but I am feeling good that we’ll start putting together some finishes in the next few weeks.”
Hines will be doing double duty this weekend. The versatile former USAC Silver Crown and National Sprint Car Series champion will also take the reins of Ray Evernham’s NASCAR Busch Series ride in Milwaukee .
Crafton, currently eighth in NASCAR Truck Series point standings, comes to Milwaukee riding a wave of consistency. Three top-10 finishes in the past four races have Crafton solidly among the top-10 in the standings and has the four-year series veteran thinking the No. 88 Menards Chevrolet is knocking on the door to victory lane.
In four previous starts at The Milwaukee Mile, Crafton has three top-10 finishes (all on the lead lap), and average start of 13.8 and an average finish of 14.2. Two 9 th -place efforts are Crafton’s best, coming in 2001 and 2003. Last year, driving for another team, Crafton racked up a 10 th -place finish. Only a 29 th -place finish in 2002 kept Crafton from going 4-for-4 with top-10s in Milwaukee .
“We’ve always had really good results at Milwaukee ,” Crafton said. “I really like going fast at places like Charlotte and Texas , but I like the flat tracks too. Phoenix, New Hampshire, and Milwaukee are all places I look forward to because it seems like the driver is a little more of a factor at the flatter tracks, and that’s when I want to be on top of my game. Handling is important at Milwaukee because you are in the corner so long. You have to get it to roll through the corners and you need to be able to get on the gas as early as you can and carry that speed off the corners. A lot of times you will be tight through the center and then it snaps loose on you off the corner. You need a lot of steam under the hood, and we definitely haven’t been down on power this year.”
The 200-lap, 200-mile race at The Milwaukee Mile is scheduled to start shortly after 9 P.M. Eastern on Friday June 24 th . Speed Channel will have the live television broadcast, with Motor Racing Network broadcasting live on selected radio affiliates nationwide. TruckSeries.com will have real-time updates throughout practice, qualifying, and the race at www.truckseries.com .
Tire Troubles Slow Crafton; Michanical Woes Sidelines Hines Early at MIS
Brooklyn ,Mich. – ThorSport Racing came to Michigan International Speedway with the highest of hopes for the team’s 200 th NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race, but early mechanical problems sidelined Tracy Hines in the No. 13 ThorSport Racing/David Zoriki Motorsports Chevrolet, and an ill-timed late-race caution saddled Matt Crafton in the No. 88 Menards Chevrolet with a 22 nd -place finish.
Hines started the event in 25 th and had held steady in the early laps. However, a trail of smoke on lap 17 signified something had gone wrong, sending Hines to the garage early.
“We didn’t need that to happen,” Hines said. “Our goals for today were just to run all day long and get a decent top-15 finish. I thought we had a truck that could run with those guys in the draft, it’s just unfortunate we didn’t get a chance to show that. Yesterday in practice, I could run with the 47 (Bobby Labonte) and the 23 (Johnny Benson), so I think we could have had a pretty decent finish.”
Crafton was forced to start from the rear of the field on the start after his crew found a broken rear end in the No. 88 Menards Chevrolet after his qualifying run. Repairs were made, and once the green flag waved, Crafton charged through the pack, joining a huge battle for the 10 th -position by lap 10. With varying pit strategies coming in to play in the latter stages of the race, Crafton stayed out when others came to pit road and gained considerable track position. He advanced as far as fifth, and was running solidly among the top-10 before a string of late race cautions closed the field and forced the team to adapt their strategy.
“We had a pretty good truck off the start,” Crafton said. “We came through the pack in a pretty bug hurry. But it seems like after about 10 laps or so, we just couldn’t make up any more ground. We tried a little different pit strategy to get track position, and it worked. We were up in the top-5 and it looked like we were going to get another top-10 finish under our belts, but those cautions at the end just killed us. By then our tires were so worn out it was all we could do to hang on.
“When the last caution came out (lap 91), we thought we were going to have a few more laps than we did,” Crafton said. “We came and got four tires thinking we were going to have five or six laps to race to the end. It ended up being a two-lap race to the finish, and we didn’t even get that. We took a gamble trying to pick up a few positions, and it didn’t pay off.”
Crafton remains in the top-10 in NCTS point standings, just 154 points out of the lead.
The ThorSport Racing team returns to action this Friday evening in Milwaukee . Speed Channel and MRN Radio will have the live broadcast of the 200-miler starting at 9 P.M. Eastern. TruckSeries.com will have real-time updates throughout practice, qualifying, and the race at www.truckseries.com .
Crafton Scores Season's First Top-5 in Texas
Roanoke , Tx. – Matt Crafton drove the ThorSport Racing No. 88 Menards Chevrolet to its first top-5 finish of the season with a fifth-place run in Friday’s Chex 400 NASCAR Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. Crafton started 20 th and methodically worked his way to the front before picking up the lead late in the race during a round of green flag pit stops. A gamble on taking two tires on their last stop gave Crafton added track position, but when the tires took longer than expected to come in, he was forced to settle for fifth at the end.
“We decided to gamble and take two tires on the last stop once we saw some of the leaders come down and take all four,” Crafton said. “If I had to do it over, I might go even further and not have taken any tires at all. It took our truck about 10 laps to come in with the two right sides. The last ten laps we were faster than everyone on the track and catching those guys in front of us, we just didn’t have enough laps to get by them. I am really proud of these guys tonight. We had an awesome truck, a truck that could have won here tonight. I can’t begin to tell you how excited we are to go to Michigan next week.”
Crafton’s strong finish, his fourth top-10 finish of the season and third in a row, leaves him seventh in NCTS championship standings headed in to his team’s second “home race” of the season.
“Our shop is about 90 minutes away from Michigan ,” he said. “We always look forward to this race, and even more so this year. We have hit on something with our speedway program this year. We were really strong at California earlier in the season, and Michigan is almost identical. We can’t wait to get there and pick up where we left off here.
“We need to keep doing what we’re doing,” he continued. “We’ve been really consistent and that’s what you need to do to finish in the top-10 in points. We’ve shown we can run in the top-10 and lead laps. We’ve finished in the top-5. The next thing on the list is getting that first win, and it feels so close. There are a lot of really strong teams behind us and we’re working our tails off to try to keep them behind us.”
The Paramount Health Care 200 at Michigan International Speedway is scheduled for 3 P.M. Eastern on Saturday, June 18. The race will be broadcast live on Speed Channel and on select radio affiliates of the Motor Racing Network. TruckSeries.com will have real-time updates throughout practice, qualifying, and the race at www.truckseries.com .
Hines Fights to 26th Finish in Texas
Roanoke ,Tex. – An early stop to make needed chassis adjustments left Tracy Hines off the lead lap and forced the driver of the No. 13 ThorSport Racing/David Zoriki Motorsports Chevrolet to settle for a 26 th -place finish in the Chex 400 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
Hines had qualified 18 th , but when his team was forced to make an unapproved adjustment to the truck following qualifying, Hines dropped to the back of the field for the initial start.
“It just seemed like nothing we did this weekend worked the way we wanted it to,” Hines said. “We had an alternator belt come off after qualifying and since the trucks were impounded we had to go to the back of the pack for the start. We only got about 12 laps of practice, and since we never had a chance to make a long run we had too much tape on the nose and it got a little warm. I had to bring it in to cool it off. Once we got back on the track it was just so loose I couldn’t drive it. I think we ended up putting in eight rounds of wedge. Just one of those weekends we all wish we could forget.”
Next on the schedule for Hines is one of several “home races” for him and the ThorSport team.
“We have about three home races,” Hines said. “ Mansfield is really close to our shops, just down the road. Indianapolis is really close to where I live and I’ve run a thousand races there and had a lot of success. And Michigan is just about an hour and a half away. We’re still a new team and the guys are learning more and more every week out. It’s been a steep learning curve, but eventually we’re going to hit on it. The guys all work really hard and get along as well as any bunch of guys I’ve worked with. We just need experience as a team, and we’re getting each time we make laps on the track.”
The Paramount Health Care 200 from Michigan is scheduled for a 3 P.M. Eastern start on Saturday June 18. The race is scheduled for live broadcast on Speed Channel as well as selected radio affiliates of the Motor Racing Network. TruckSeries.com will have continuing real-time updates throughout practice, qualifying, and the race at www.truckseries.com .
June 7,2005
Crafton Ready to Tackle Texas after Top-10's in Charlotte and Dover
Sandusky , Oh. – Matt Crafton is champing at the bit to return to Texas Motor Speedway for Friday night’s Chex 400k NASCAR Truck Series race. The driver of the No. 88 Menards Chevrolet was a favorite to win the series’ last appearance at the 1.5-mile quad-oval last fall, and ran up front much of the afternoon before a mid-race tussle with another competitor left Crafton with a damaged truck that left him out of the battle for the win.
“We had a great truck last fall,” Crafton said. “We started 20 th and worked our way to the front. But we got into it with another guy and pushed up into the wall. It knocked the suspension out from under it and killed the aerodynamics, and it pretty much ended our day.”
Crafton returns to Texas back in the seat of the familiar No. 88 Menards Chevy, a ride he says can take him to the front.
“Anyone who watched the California and Atlanta races knows we can run with anyone on the speedways,” he said. “We were strong all night long in Fontana . We ran in the top-5 the whole way. Then we went to Atlanta and had a little problem before the race and went to the back of the pack for the start. We were up to fifteenth within five laps before we had some carburetor problems. We followed Bobby Hamilton from the back. I think everyone was watching what Hamilton was doing, but whatever he did we did.
“We have an awesome truck for Texas . We have all the notes we had from last year, and the same driver in the seat. I think we have a good enough truck to run for our first top-5 of the year and maybe even take a shot and getting our first win.”
Crafton currently sits seventh in NASCAR Truck Series championship point standings, 186 points behind leader Ted Musgrave.
The Chex 400k is scheduled for a 9 P.M. Eastern start and will be broadcast live on Speed Channel and on select radio affiliates of the Motor Racing Network. TruckSeries.com will have real-time practice, qualifying, and race updates at www.truckseries.com .
Hines Looks to Return to Form in Texas
Sandusky , Oh, – Tracy Hines looks to return to the form he displayed in his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway when he and his No. 13 ThorSport Racing/David Zoriki Motorsports Chevrolet take to the 1.5-mile quad-oval for Friday night’s Chex 400k. Hines made his NCTS superspeedway debut at TMS; he qualified fourth ran with the leaders all evening and finished an impressive eleventh in October 2003.
“If you asked me after the first race we ran there in 2003 I would tell you I really enjoyed racing at Texas ,” Hines said. “We had an awesome qualifying run and ran a really consistent race and just missed out on a top-10 finish. Coming out of the box and finishing eleventh in my first superspeedway race really built a lot of confidence in my ability to become a successful NASCAR driver.”
Hines’ second attempt at TMS was memorable for another reason.
“We came back last year looking to pick up where we left off,” Hines said. “But we had a pretty big crash in qualifying and destroyed a truck. The guys unloaded the backup and we never gave up and ended up 16 th . It wasn’t a great finish, but it was a great effort by the team.”
In the two races on 1.5-mile ovals so far this season, Hines has collected two top-20 finishes. He was 16 th in Atlanta after a pre-green pit stop forced him to start from the tail of the field. He brought home an 18 th -place finish last month in Charlotte .
“We’ve been decent on the one and a half milers so far this season,” Hines said. “We have some room for improvement, but it’s not been terrible. Shane (Tesch) and I have been working really well together since he came on board with us and we’re getting better every week. If we just stay out of other people’s bad luck, I think we’ll start getting the finishes we deserve.”
The Chex 400k is scheduled for a 9 P.M. Eastern start and will be televised live on Speed Channel and broadcast on selected radio affiliates of Motor Racing Network. TruckSeries.com will provide real-time practice, qualifying, and race updates at www.truckseries.com .
Crafton Rallies to Ninth in Dover
Dover, DE – Matt Crafton rallied from a lap down late in the race to pick up his second consecutive top-10 with a ninth-place finish in his No. 88 Menards Chevrolet during the MBNA Race Points 200 NASCAR Truck Series race at the Dover International Speedway. Crafton, running 14 th at the time, received the free pass on a caution within 30 laps to go, and picked up five positions on the run to the finish. With his third top-10 of the season, Crafton remains in seventh position in the NCTS championship standings.
“There was a lot of stuff going on out there today,’ Crafton said. “It sure seemed like most of it was right in front of me. We were really lucky a couple of times. The big crash on the start happened right in front of me. It was just a huge cloud of smoke. We got through that one, but it seemed like every time there was a wreck, we were having to dodge it.”
Later in the race, Crafton had to make a save of his own when the truck jumped sideways on him through the center of turns three and four.
“Our truck was really loose on the first 10 or so laps after a restart,’ Crafton said. “It would just want to snap loose. I went into three one time and it started to get away from me. It was all I could do to hang on to it. It must have been about 45 degree sideways. That right there had to have been the save of the day!”
Once back on the lead lap, Crafton had to dodge three accidents directly in front of him involving some of the race leaders.
“I didn’t see what happened to get Jack (Sprague) turned sideways, but there was a big cloud of smoke right on front of me and when I got through it his truck was right there and I barely missed him. When (Dennis) Setzer and Brendan (Gaughan) got together, Setzer came back up the track and I had committed to go high to miss him. We barely squeezed through. Then I saw Todd Bodine and David (Starr) get together and I knew Todd had a left front going down. It blew out and when he bounced off the wall we must have missed it by a foot.”
Crafton’s sits seventh in series points and is entering a stretch of races where he feels he and the ThorSport Racing No. 88 Menards team can threaten to move into the top-5.
“I learned a lot last year and we brought all those notes back here with us,” he said. “I think I’m a better driver than I was, I know these guys are giving me better trucks than I had last year and we’re going to go to Texas looking for a top-5. We have a lot of tracks coming up that have been really good for us in the past, so I am really excited.”
Crafton picks up this week at Texas Motor Speedway for the running of the Chex 400k. The race will be broadcast live on Speed Channel and Motor Racing Network radio starting at 9 P.M. Eastern on Friday.
Damage from Lap One Crash Forces Hines to Settle for 25 th in Dover
Dover, Del. – Damage from an unavoidable lap one incident left Tracy Hines and the No. 13 ThorSport Racing/David Zoriki Motorsports Chevrolet with a 25 th -place finish in Saturday’s rain-delayed MBNA Race Points 200 NASCARCraftsman Truck Series race at Dover International Speedway. Hines started the event from the back of the pack following a transmission change, and when an accident in the middle of the pack coming out of two broke out on the first lap, Hines couldn’t avoid contact with another truck and was forced to just log laps and attempt to pick up the best finish he could.
“We came out of turn two on the first lap and I saw the smoke and I was off the gas,” Hines said. “But the guy in front of me just totally locked the brakes down and stopped right in front of us. We just about knocked the entire nose off the truck. The guys did a great job getting the truck fixed, and we eventually started running some lap times that were competitive with the guys running in the top-10. But at that point we were on a lap all by ourselves, we weren’t racing anyone for position so we just did our best to stay out of the way.”
With fast trucks every week, Hines says the only thing missing in the No. 13 team’s approach is a little good luck.
“We are an upstart team with a lot of guys that are really new to this,” Hines said. “They have really come together quickly and are all working really hard to give us fast race trucks every week. The only thing we need is luck. Maybe not so much a lot of good luck, just no bad luck. It seems every week something out of our control jumps up and bites us.”
Hines and the No. 13 ThorSport Racing/David Zoriki Motorsports Chevrolet return to action this Friday night in the Chex 400k at Texas Motor Speedway.
