Nelson Piquet Jr. Darlington Raceway Post-Race Report
DARLINGTON, S.C. (March 13, 2011) – Nelson Piquet Jr. came into the weekend at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway with the goal of building and improving upon his top-15 finish at Phoenix International Raceway. Unfortunately, like many other trucks in the Too Tough to Tame 200, the No. 8 Chevrolet Silverado fell victim to the Lady in Black’s precarious personality, resulting in a 32nd-place finish for the young rookie driver.
Following a strong qualifying effort earlier in the day, Piquet Jr. took the green flag from the ninth starting spot. It didn’t take long for the Lady in Back to show her colors, collecting her first victims in the first turn of the race with a seven-truck wreck. With all three Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) drivers avoiding the carnage, Piquet Jr. restarted on lap five from the 10th position.
Piquet Jr. immediately felt that the No. 8 Chevrolet was turning too tightly and slipped back to the 12th position by the time the second yellow flag waved on lap 15 for a single-truck incident. Piquet Jr. relayed to crew chief Chris Carrier that the truck was too tight all the way around the egg-shaped oval, but it was too early in the race to bring the truck to pit road. Restarting on lap 19, Piquet Jr. continued to battle his truck’s handling until the next caution on lap 26. Running 16th, Carrier called the No. 8 to pit road for four tires, fuel, as well as an air-pressure adjustment and spring rubber removal.
Restarting in the 14th position on lap 31 after a solid pit stop, Piquet Jr. initially thought his handling problems were resolved, but 10 laps later he felt the truck tightening up again in the turns as he slid back to 16th. On lap 51, the No. 8 was so difficult to turn that Piquet Jr. scraped the outside wall, crinkling the right front fender. Piquet Jr. had the opportunity to repair the minor damage on lap 59 when the yellow flag waved for debris. Entering the pits in 17th, Carrier called for four tires, fuel, an air-pressure adjustment and a quick fender fix. The No. 8 returned to the track in 19th.
Green-flag racing resumed on lap 63, and Piquet Jr. was able to navigate up to 13th by lap 70. Now on a campaign to enter the top 10, Piquet Jr. was picking off another one of his competitors on lap 73 when the No. 29 truck of Parker Kligerman made contact with the right side of the No. 8 truck. The resulting damage caused the KHI machine to slide up the track, hitting the outside wall hard. At the same time, two trucks behind Piquet Jr. also wrecked, bringing out the yellow flag.
Piquet Jr. pitted three times under yellow with the crew working fervently to repair the heavy right-side damage. The team’s quick work kept Piquet Jr. on the lead lap under caution, and he took the green flag on lap 79 in 27th place. Unfortunately, the damage sustained from the contact with the wall caused the No. 8 truck to run slower than the leaders, and within only a few laps the race leader was in the truck’s mirrors. Carrier made the call to bring his driver back to pit road for further repairs and readied the pit crew for a green-flag stop.
As the team worked to make further repairs, a single-truck incident brought out the caution on lap 90. The team took advantage of the yellow flag, making four separate pit stops to fix the truck. When the field went green on lap 96, Piquet Jr. was scored in the 30th position, four laps down to the leaders. However, it appeared the truck was sufficiently repaired and that the team could make it to the end of the race and pick up multiple positions.
Unfortunately, the hope of making it to the checkered flag was lost on lap 98 when the right front tire failed and the No. 8 drove hard into the turn four wall. Bouncing off the wall, Piquet Jr. collected the No. 20 of Johanna Long, who lost steering abilities and subsequently ran into the No. 4 of Ricky Carmichael. Following a seven-minute red flag for cleanup, Piquet Jr. was directed into the garage where the team worked tirelessly for the remaining 49 laps to try to repair the truck and return to the track. However, the heavy damage was too extensive to repair and the No. 8 was ultimately scored in the 32nd position.
“Although this definitely wasn’t the kind of night we were hoping for, I’m still proud of what we accomplished here at Darlington,” said Piquet Jr. following the race. “We made great strides between practice and qualifying, we had a top-10 starting position, and we were improving the truck throughout the race. The crew worked very hard trying to get us back out on the track to pick up a few positions, and unfortunately we just couldn’t fix it. I feel like I learned a lot, and hopefully we’ll have a much better race in Martinsville.”
The Truck Series has two off weekends before returning to the track at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway on April 2nd.
RACE RECAP:
March 12, 2011
Darlington (S.C.) Raceway
Race: 3 of 25
Started: 9th
Finished: 32nd
Driver’s Point Standings: 23rd (-51)
Up Next On The Truck Series Schedule:
Date: April 2, 2011
Track: Martinsville (Va.) Speedway
Event Name: Kroger 250
Broadcast: SPEED at 2:00 p.m.
Former Champion Todd Bodine Makes Case That Truck Series Is ‘Really Strong’
Four weeks into the NASCAR season there is little to complain about.
It’s a rare occurrence and one that will be marked down. After all, this is a sport where hearing the thoughts of others is not hard to come by. Whether you want them or not, whether they are warranted or not, they will be heard.
[media-credit name=”Mary Ann Chastain/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”279″]
[/media-credit]A month into a new season though, so far so good.
There have been close if not three straight sellouts for the Sprint Cup Series events at Daytona, Phoenix and Las Vegas. For those keeping score, many say there have been three perfect National Anthems. Records have been broken and the winners have been favorites.
Oh, and the overall racing hasn’t been bad either.
Saturday night though all eyes were on the Camping World Truck Series. They were a stand alone event not only at the Darlington Raceway but of the weekend with Cup and Nationwide heading into their first break of the season.
Promotions ran wild and while it wasn’t a sell out by any means, the crowd for a Saturday night event was well above expectations. The starting field was impressive, past champions and Sprint Cup Series stars were ready to battle the Lady in Black.
Everything fell right into place. So much so that defending CWTS champion Todd Bodine took time in his media availability to address the state of the sport, something he had plenty to say about.
“The state of the series is pretty obvious,” Bodine started.
“We’ve got probably the best field of trucks that we’ve ever seen in the history of the series and we do have a lot of younger kids coming in so the experience level may be down a little bit but we’ve got a lot of kids that have a lot of talent and a lot of future and a lot of promise,” he said.
Young kids like Cole Whitt who set a new track and won his first career pole, It was just his fourth career CWTS start. There’s sophomore sensation and fan favorite Austin Dillon who had an incredible rookie season in 2010 with two wins and seven poles.
Saturday there were 11 rookies in the field. There was also an 18-year-old female competing.
As a past champion of the sport as well as a driver that has been around for many years, Bodine has the ability to speak about such topics. On Saturday when he wasn’t talking about the racing he was bubbling in talking about the CWTS.
The sixth annual Too Tough To Tame 200 was one that he was looking forward to for many reasons. The aforementioned attendance was on even the driver’s minds as Bodine mentioned the fans before and after the race, even if he did exaggerate his numbers.
“The state of the series is strong,” Bodine stated.
“Really strong. I think you’re going to see by the crowd that we’re going to get here [Saturday],” he continued.
“Everybody kind of didn’t understand why we’re here at a standalone race last year. Last year they [Darlington] struggled for attendance – there’s no doubt. It was kind of last minute thing, but they’re really been promoting it and they’ve been doing a great job in the area.”
Bodine continued to talk about the crowd but it was his statement about how strong the series is that was the most important part. When polling some fans they’ll tell you the trucks produce some of the best racing on any given weekend. However, they do struggle to put fans in the stands.
Yet, as a whole the CWTS does just fine. The 2011 season has started off on a great note for the sport in general and the complaints, at least those more than normal, have quieted down. It could be for a few different reasons, such as the euphoria of a new season starting or still trying to figure out all the rules changes.
“The series as a whole is really strong,” he said.
“The fan base is up. The ratings are up. The truck count is up and the quality of equipment is up. Everything about it is up and that speaks volumes for it.”
It means the CWTS will head into their own break before returning to action at Martinsville on April 2 on a high note. They currently are in the midst of a close point battle, have had three different winners to start the season and produced plenty to talk about.
Yes, things are going pretty well for NASCAR right now. The naysayers have gone on a hiatus and everyone in the sport is riding the wave while it lasts and pleased with the direction it is heading.
Said Bodine after this third place finish, “Look at the crowd we got. This tells you what the Truck Series is about. These fans are hardcore, they came out here on a Saturday night just to watch Trucks race. Everybody at home, we appreciate you watching. The Trucks are the greatest.”
Lady Tamer: Kasey Kahne Wins Too Tough To Tame 200 at Darlington
A race at Darlington is normally one of attrition and Saturday night’s Too Tough To Tame 200 was no different.
The Camping World Truck Series was the only show in town and on tap for the weekend. They didn’t disappoint. It started with ROY candidate Cole Whitt capturing from the pole, the first of his career, with a new track record.
[media-credit name=”Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”247″]
[/media-credit]The action started on lap one when the field charged down into turn one and never made it to turn two. Travis Kvapil, Miguel Paludo, Max Papis, Ryan Sieg, Norm Benning, Justin Lofton and David Starr all had trouble to bring the first caution out.
There were two more yellow flags within the first 30 laps.
Once things settled down, Kasey Kahne quickly asserted himself as the man to beat. While others found there way to the front through pit stops and strategy, Kahne was always lurking and once he took the lead he had no problem driving away from the field.
One of the scarier incidents of the night came after Ricky Carmichael spun on the front stretch and was t-boned by Johanna Long. The caution, eighth one of the night, also brought the action to a halt as the red flag.
Both drivers were evaluated and released from the infield care center.
With 29 laps to go Timothy Peters came down pit road to get his final set of tires, while the leaders stayed out. It didn’t help the battle was up front between Kahne and the defending winner of the event, Todd Bodine.
Even with a restart with less than five laps to go, no one could catch the 18 of Kahne and he would go on to capture the win. It was the third straight race that a driver not running for points in the CWTS has won.
The win was Kahne’s third in his last four starts and second at Darlington. He won back in 2004. It was also the second straight win for Kyle Busch Motorsports.
Ron Hornaday finished second and Bodine finished third. The polesitter, Whitt, who thought he had lost a cylinder and dropped to 26th, came home in the eighth position. He was the highest finishing rookie and moved to second in the CWTS points.
Matt Crafton hangs onto the point lead as the trucks will have a few weeks off before heading to Martinsville on April 2nd.
Unofficial Race Results
| Pos. | St. | No. | Driver | Make | Pts. | Bon. | Laps | Status |
| 1 | 2 | 18 | Kasey Kahne | Toyota | 0 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 2 | 6 | 33 | Ron Hornaday | Chevrolet | 42 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 3 | 12 | 30 | Todd Bodine | Toyota | 41 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 4 | 4 | 88 | Matt Crafton | Chevrolet | 40 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 5 | 7 | 31 | James Buescher | Chevrolet | 40 | 1 | 147 | Running |
| 6 | 11 | 17 | Timothy Peters | Toyota | 38 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 7 | 8 | 2 | Elliott Sadler | Chevrolet | 0 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 8 | 1 | 60 | Cole Whitt * | Chevrolet | 37 | 1 | 147 | Running |
| 9 | 3 | 13 | Johnny Sauter | Chevrolet | 35 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 10 | 13 | 81 | David Starr | Toyota | 34 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 11 | 26 | 92 | Clay Rogers | Chevrolet | 33 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 12 | 31 | 93 | Shane Sieg | Chevrolet | 32 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 13 | 17 | 77 | Justin Lofton | Toyota | 31 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 14 | 18 | 29 | Parker Kligerman * | Dodge | 30 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 15 | 5 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 29 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 16 | 19 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | Chevrolet | 28 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 17 | 24 | 5 | Travis Kvapil | Toyota | 27 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 18 | 16 | 9 | Max Papis | Toyota | 26 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 19 | 27 | 46 | Craig Goess * | Toyota | 25 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 20 | 35 | 1 | Jeffrey Earnhardt * | Chevrolet | 24 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 21 | 15 | 15 | Dusty Davis * | Toyota | 23 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 22 | 29 | 50 | T.J. Bell | Chevrolet | 22 | 0 | 146 | Running |
| 23 | 33 | 7 | Jamie Dick | Chevrolet | 21 | 0 | 146 | Running |
| 24 | 28 | 66 | Justin Marks | Chevrolet | 20 | 0 | 145 | Running |
| 25 | 23 | 62 | Brendan Gaughan | Toyota | 19 | 0 | 144 | Running |
| 26 | 34 | 57 | Norm Benning | Chevrolet | 18 | 0 | 143 | Running |
| 27 | 14 | 7 | Miguel Paludo * | Toyota | 17 | 0 | 135 | Running |
| 28 | 30 | 22 | Joey Coulter * | Chevrolet | 16 | 0 | 111 | Running |
| 29 | 36 | 25 | Tayler Malsam | Toyota | 15 | 0 | 103 | Engine |
| 30 | 22 | 4 | Ricky Carmichael | Chevrolet | 14 | 0 | 96 | Accident |
| 31 | 32 | 20 | Johanna Long * | Toyota | 13 | 0 | 96 | Accident |
| 32 | 9 | 8 | Nelson Piquet Jr. * | Chevrolet | 12 | 0 | 93 | Accident |
| 33 | 10 | 23 | Jason White | Chevrolet | 11 | 0 | 72 | Accident |
| 34 | 25 | 10 | Chase Mattioli * | Ford | 10 | 0 | 55 | Accident |
| 35 | 20 | 51 | Justin Johnson * | Toyota | 9 | 0 | 41 | Accident |
| 36 | 21 | 32 | Brad Sweet | Chevrolet | 8 | 0 | 13 | Accident |
One-On-One with NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Driver Jeffrey Earnhardt
With the last name Earnhardt, everybody automatically expects you to do well, once you hit the track. That’s no exception with Jeffrey Earnhardt as there are already the predictions hitting the floor.
[media-credit name=”Flickr” align=”alignright” width=”248″]
[/media-credit]He came out of the gate with a top 10 at Daytona and went to Phoenix and finished 19th. While everybody is looking for this success, he right now is set on learning lessons and moving forward with them.
While preparing for Darlington this weekend, he took some time to answer some questions for the readers.
Ashley McCubbin: What are some of your thoughts on the year so far?
Jeffrey Earnhardt: So far, I’ve had a pretty good season starting off. We finished seventh at Daytona and we finished 19th at Phoenix – didn’t have the best shot, but we ran it right to the end of the race and we didn’t have a single scratch on the truck. Anytime you can finish out a race like that it’s definitely progress. We’re just slowly working on making our entire program better. We’re just waiting for everything to fall into place to run upfront, but for now it’s just having everything work in order, giving the feedback and getting the seat time to learn these trucks.
AM: How’d you get involved with Rick Ware Racing?
JE: Well, I guess it was like two or three years ago, I got the opportunity to drive some Nationwide races for him. We went to Dover and tried to make the race and ended up not making the race, but that’s when I first met him. This opportunity came about to do five races and obviously the five races last year led to a full season this year.
AM: What are some of your expectations for this year?
JE: Just the seat time. We want to go out here and run the best we can, but also we want to go out and learn as much as we can with finishing races. I mean, if we do that then I don’t see why we can’t be competiting to win rookie of the year. There’s definitely a possibility as we’ll see how the year goes and where it takes us, but to start, it’s just to get as much seat time and just go from there.
AM: Speaking of lessons, what are some of the lessons you’ve learned so far this year?
JE: Just to get to the finish and figure out what the truck needed and if you do that, you’ll come out in one piece and if you’ll have a decent finish. Even though you’re getting the finishes, you got to understand that you’re still learning and probably the biggest thing I’ve learned is to be there at the finish.
AM: What are some of your thoughts going into Darlington?
JE: I actually just rode around with Todd Bodine in a pace truck and it is quite a strange track. It’s got totally different corners and seems to be a tough track as we talked about how he did, how tough it is and how easy it is to take yourself out of the race. It seems that’s the toughest part, just getting used to the track, but not stepping over that boundary.
AM: With the last name Earnhardt, there are a lot of expectations. Care to share any thoughts on that?
JE: There’s a lot of expectation and a lot of pressure that gets put on you. It’s just that you got to learn how to deal with it and if you can handle it the right way, you’ll be fine and I think I’ve done a pretty good job of not letting it get to me. Just doing my thing and I’m just here to learn and be a racecar driver and I try not to worry about all that.
AM: Which race track are you looking forward to?
JE: I look forward to all of them. I mean, I’m looking forward to go doing to Dover for simple fact I ran good there before and I think we can get out of there with a successful run. I mean, I look forward to each and every race and each race I am just as excited as the next one and there’s really no special one I’m really look forward to.
AM: Where do you see yourself in five years?
JE: I would like to be up in the Cup level. Obviously, my goal is too potentially to end up at that level and five years from now I should be there. And hopefully won a championship in one of the three NASCAR series, whether Nationwide or Truck, but I’d like to be at the Cup level in five years.
AM: What is your advice for other people getting into racing?
JE: Just don’t ever give up. It’s tough and it’s not as easy as some people may think. If you really want it bad enough, you can get it accomplished. You just gotta really stick to it and push hard to get what you want. It may seem tough and you may want to get down, but if you push hard enough, eventually you’ll get it and the reward is definitely worth the wait.
AM: Who do you admire outside of racing?
JE: Johnny Cash was definitely a good one for me just because he was his own man and he was just kind of a man’s kind of man and more of that kind of person, but I know, really, I’ve just always been in racing and never really worried about anything else. I’ve been around racing my entire life and haven’t really cared about watching anything else.
Lap by Lap: Too Tough To Tame 200 won by Kasey Kahne
Rookie Cole Whitt took the pole for the Too Tough To Tame 200 with a new track record, followed by Kasey Kahne, Johnny Sauter, Matt Crafton and Austin Dillon.
Chad McCumbee, Chris Fontaine and Chris Lafferty were the trucks that did not make the field.
“Turn 1 racing just brought this awesome truck, I want to keep this red bull truck at the front and keep it there. These guys built an awesome truck….We’ve come back a long ways since missing the race at Daytona. I’m proud of this team.” – Cole Whitt, pole sitter
[media-credit name=”NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”240″]
[/media-credit]Crafton leads Clay Rogers by 1 point in the points standings, followed by Witt and Sauter
“Charlotte was special, but Darlington would be bigger. So much history here, so hard to win, it’d be awesome to win here.” – Matt Crafton
Cole Whitt leads the field to the green
Caution lap 1 Paludo, Papis and Kravil all spin as people slow in front
Restart on lap 4
Lap 5 – Cole Whitt leads Kahne, Timothy Peters, Crafton and Ron Hornaday
Lap 7 – Chase Mattioli spins, no caution
Lap 14 Caution – Brad Sweet hits the wall. He had issues in qualifying as he spun on his second lap. Norm Benning gets the lucky dog.
Restart Lap 19
Lap 21 – Whitt Kahne Buescher Sauter Hornaday Crafton Sadler Peters Dillon Kligermann
Lap 25 – Whitt Kahne Buescher Hornaday Sauter Sadler Crafton Peters Dillon Bodine
Caution Lap 26 Brendan Guaghan goes for a spin
PIT STOPS
Lots of people are saying the visibility are terrible as some take two tires, some take four tires.�
Race off pit road: Sadler, Dillon, Busch, Buescher, Hornaday, Kligermann, Bodine and Peters. Leader Cole Whitt had a long pit stop as his team had lug nut issues.
Restart lap 30
Caution lap 35 Dustin Johnson plows the wall after getting loose underneath Jeffrey Earnhardt.
Restart Lap 40 – Sadler leads
Lap 41 Kahne to the lead, Sadler drops back to fourth with Buescher second and Dillon third. Sadler says he got a bad start, thanks to his teammate Ron Hornaday getting up under him
Lap 50 – Kahne Buescher Sadler Bodine Hornaday Dillon Sauter Peters Whitt Carmichael
Lap 53 – Chase Mattiolli into the wall again – no caution
Lap 54 – Sauter and Peters have both passed Dillon, putting Dillon back to eighth. Dillon says the truck is tight and then loose late in the corner. Dillon only took two tires while most of the leaders took four. Sadler was the other one with two tires.
Lap 58 – Caution for debris
Restart Lap 62 Cole Whitt leads the field to the green after taking two tires
Lap 63 – Kasey Kahne takes the lead from Cole Whitt in turn 1
Lap 64 – James Buescher to the lead
Lap 69 – Pole Sitter Cole Whitt drops through the field with his two tires – now back to seventh
Lap 70 – Kahne back to the lead.
Lap 72 – Kahne Buescher Bodine Hornaday Sauter Dillon Sadler Crafton Peters and Whitt
Lap 74 Caution – Nelson Piquet Jr into the wall, Joey Coulter and Jason White wreck behind them. Looks as though Piquet had a flat tire, which caused him to get into the wall. Coulter and White looked to try to slow behind them, both getting hit from behind and then hitting near the inside wall.
“Just somebody spun out in front of us and with the sun going over the wall, it got hard to see and I just got run into from behind. I’m sure it was nobody’s fault, just a blind spot on the track. It was just starting to get fun as I was just starting to learn this place.” – Joey Coulter
David Starr gets the Lucky Dog
Restart lap 79
Lap 82 – Kahne Hornaday Bodine Buescher Sauter Dillon Crafton Sadler Peters Gaughan
Lap 87 – Pole Sitter and Rookie Cole Whitt has dropped a cylinder
Lap 88 Caution – Chase Mattoilli into the wall for the third time
Sadler first off pit road with two tires while most take four tires. Crafton had to come back down pit road as he had a loose lugnut. Johanna Long gets the lucky dog.
Restart lap 96 with Sadler leading, though Kahne gets the lead from him before the end of the lap.
Caution Lap 97 – Ricky Carmichael wrecks as Nelson Piquet Jr. and Johanna Long wreck behind him. Carmichael wrecked first and then behind him, Piquet and Long made contact, which cut both their tires. Piquet went up into the outside wall while Long plowed into Carmichael as she couldn’t steer the truck around him. There was a sevne-minute red flag to clean up the wreck.
“Yeah, I’m alright. We were fast in race trim all day long. Coming from behind, we qualified horrible – you put yourself in a hole and we never got caught up from there. Finally I think I know what I am doing and having to come from behind makes it tough.” Carmichael, who said he either got loose or someone hit him.
Max Papis gets the lucky dog
“We had a really good truck and we finally got our lap back. Our team worked hard on the truck and hopefully we can get the truck fixed for Nashville as sponsorship is low…..I think another truck hit the wall and I think I hit him as he came down a little bit.” Johanna Long
Restart 45 to go
43 to go Tayler Malsam down pit road for unscheduled stop. He was slow down the backstretch. He said on twitter that they blew the motor.
41 to go Joey Coulter brings truck back on track to make laps after earlier incident.
39 to go Cole Whitt must have fixed motor issue on pit road as he has moved his way back up to 11th. The problem he was having was the throttle stop.
33 to go Kahne leads followed by Hornaday, Bodine, Sadler and Peters
29 to go Caution for Debris as some of the leaders pit while most stay out, including leader Kasey Kahne. The record for cautions is 10, which was set in 2004 when Kahne won then.
Restart with 25 to go
24 to go Todd Bodine passes Ron Hornaday for second
22 to go Kahne Bodine Hornaday Buescher Whitt Sadler Dillon Crafton Goess and Sauter make up the top 10.
21 to go Crafton passes Dillon for seventh
19 to go Sauter passes Goess for ninth
Kahne Bodine Hornaday Buescher Whitt Crafton Sadler Dillon Sauter and Goess
17 to go Peters passes Goess for 10th. Peters took four tires under the previous caution while most of the leaders stayed out.
11 to go Crafton has passed Sadler for sixth
9 to go Kahne Bodine Hornaday Buescher Whitt Crafton Sadler Dillon Sauter and Peters
8 to go Ron Hornaday reported a bad vibration a couple of laps ago.
CAUTION 8 to go as Jeffrey Earnhardt makes contact with the outside wall – This ties the record for the most cautions in a Camping World Truck Series race at Darlington at 10. The record was set in 2004 when Kahne won.
“That’s our last chance right here. He’s got a little vibration. We’ve overcome some adversity as we had to go to the back after that wreck at the beginning. I just want to thank the guys at the shop as we’ve had to overcome a lot of adversity. We’ll take a shot at the 18 truck this start.” – Todd Bodine’s crew chief Mike Hilman Jr.
Bodine says his right front tire feels like its bouncing up the track.
“We’ll see what we got for him. The main thing is we got to get to that checkered flag…..Espically on these old tires, it’s really easy to spin the tires and that’s where the difference comes in. If you don’t spin them and he does, then you got him down there. If I don’t make any mistakes, which I’ve been known to make, then we’ll be in good shape.” – Todd Bodine
“Yeah, it just seems that helps in one and two and down the backstretch.” – Kasey Kahne on choosing the outside lane.
“We just got to get through the gears and get out there…..We’ll see what we can do as these guys at Kyle Busch Motorsports build awesome trucks.” – Kasey Kahne
Kyle Busch is watching from Cancun, Mexico while on vacation, and is watching it in Spanish, despite not being able to understand a thing.
Restart with 4 to go
3 to go Dillon falls back through the field as he gets loose, Bodine gets loose and falls back, allowing Hornaday to pass him
2 to go Kahne starts to stretch out his lead
Checkered Flag: Kasey Kahne wins the Too Tough To Tame 200. In his four truck starts, he has three wins a second place finish.
Ron Hornaday finished second, followed by Todd Bodine, Matt Crafton, and James Buescher rounding out the top five. Peters was sixth, followed by Sadler, Whitt, Sauter and Starr.
“I mean, I came into this weekend wanting to win as that was the plan. This is a tough series to win in and on the restart with Todd, he drove me all the way up to the wall and I think he got himself loose there. I want to thank Kyle Busch for letting me drive this truck and all of Kyle Busch Motorsports for working so hard on this truck. Eric Phillips was great to work with…..I will buy them vacationing time to drive this truck, again.” – Kasey Kahne
“I owe everything to Jeff Hensley and this entire team working so hard on this truck. I got into the wall in practice causing them to work harder and then got into somebody on pit road. Your brother (Elliott Sadler) spun his tires and I got into the back of him. Kahne was pretty tough; we got to figure out what he does.”
“Kasey was going to be tough and we both spun the heck out of tires. I drove into one and about wrecked. These trucks are so aerodependent as I don’t know how I didn’t wreck with that truck on my tail. Ron did what any veteran would do and legged back there. I am loving the Truck Series. We didn’t want third, second would’ve been better but we’re back.” – Todd Bodine
“We had a problem on pit road and to come from shotgun where we were with 46 to go to here is pretty good.” – Matt Crafton
Crafton leads Whitt by 6 points in the standings, followed by Peters, Rogers and Sauter.
FINISHING ORDER
1 Kasey Kahne
2 Ron Hornaday Jr.
3 Todd Bodine
4 Matt Crafton
5 James Buescher
6 Timothy Peters
7 Elliott Sadler
8 Cole Whitt
9 Johnny Sauter
10 David Starr
11 Clay Rogers
12 Shane Sieg
13 Justin Lofton
14 Parker Kligerman
15 Austin Dillon
16 Ryan Sieg
17 Travis Kvapil
18 Max Papis
19 Craig Goess
20 Jeffrey Earnhardt
21 Dusty Davis
22 T.J. Bell
23 Jamie Dick
24 Justin Marks
25 Brendan Gaughan
26 Norm Benning
27 Miguel Paludo
28 Joey Coulter
29 Tayler Malsam
30 Ricky Carmichael
31 Johanna Long
32 Nelson Piquet
33 Jason White
34 Chase Mattioli
35 Justin Johnson
36 Brad Sweet
