More NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Notes (Week of July 14)
18 July 1997
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Notes of Interest Week of July 14, 1997 DAYTONA BEACH, FL - WINDING UP THE LINK-BELT CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT 225: - Ron Hornaday's July 12 victory in the Link-Belt Construction Equipment 225 at the Louisville Motor Speedway makes him on the second series competitor to post three wins in four starts. Mike Skinner accomplished the feat in 1995, between May 7 (Portland) and June 3 (Louisville). - Skinner remains the only NCTS driver to win three straight. Hornaday can match that record by winning the July 19 Colorado 250 by Snap-On Tools at Colorado National Speedway in Erie. - Hornaday's summer heat wave is paying dividends in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series standings. The Palmdale, Calif. competitor ranked 11th as recently as June 29. The NAPA Brakes Chevrolet driver left Louisville in fourth-place, trailing only Rich Bickle, Jack Sprague and Joe Ruttman. - Credit crew chief Fred Graves (who joied the team prior to the May 31 event in New Hampshire) for the recent success, says Hornaday. "Fred just keeps finding the winning secret. He's the piece of the puzzle (that was missing)," contends Hornaday. "We've thrown out that high-tech stuff and gone back to Saturday night (technology): beat on it and go racing." Graves, a New Englander, held similar posts with Ranier-Walsh Racing and Grier Lackey's GranDaddy Motorsports prior to joining Dale Earnhardt, Inc. - Hornaday's fourth victory (and second straight at Louisville) matched his 1996 championship season win total. He's now the series money-won leader, at $254,030. He's also led 41% of the laps (507 of 1,228) of six series short track events, which comprise seven of the next 10 races on the schedule. The other three are road races, each of which Hornaday previously has won. - Bickle didn't contend for the win in Louisville, but, by finishing fifth, the driver of the Sears DieHard Chevrolet extended his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship advantage to 62 points. As the mid-season point leader, the Edgerton, Wis. veteran captured the $10,000 Gatorade Front Runner Award. Consistency remains the key for Bickle: he's finished a series-best 10 of 13 races in the top-five and four straight, the latter matching the year's longest streak. - The standings leader is no slouch on small tracks either: two wins and four races and 32% of laps led. - Still, don't count out Ruttman, whose runnerup finish in the Link-Belt Construction Equipment 225 gives the 52-year-old competitor the season's longest top-10 finishing run of eight straight. Ruttman's LCI International Ford trailed Hornaday by just 0.192-second, giving the Roush Performance entry its second No. 2 effort in three races. "We're getting closer," noted the Upland, Calif. competitior. Ruttman climbed into the cab of Hornaday's winning truck at Louisville for a join, CBS Television post-race interview -- certainly a series (if not NASCAR) first. - Jimmy Hensley was the fastest qualifier at Louisville, posting a record, 103.160 mph lap in Richard Petty's Cummins Engine Company Dodge. Cintas Rookie Tony Raines made it an all-Ram front row for the second time in series history (it also happened March 1 at Tucson Raceway Park). Hensley finished third, trailed by Raines' Pennzoil Dodge in fourth. - A month ago, Kenny Irwin -- with two victories -- was threatening a runaway in the Cintas Rookie-of-the-Year competition, Irwin and his Raybestos Ford team, however, have cooled considerably since their Ft. Worth, Tex. victory and haven't finished better than 15th in the subsequent four races. Irwin's still 22 points ahead of Rick Crawford (149 to 127), but Boris Said, Taines and Stacy Compton have closed considerable ground. Candidates with 14 starts following this week's Colorado event will begin discarding "worst" finishes, which also figures to tighten the race from top-to-bottom. Compton finished sixth at Louisville to give the Valvoline Instant Oil Change Ford team its best finish of the campaign, improving on an eighth-place at Evergreen (Wash.) Speedway. "Earlier in the year, I said the first half of the season we're learning. We're still learning," said the Virginia native. "I'm getting more used to the truck and the guys are jelling so good. I'm really excited about the rest of the year." - Here's a quick look at the current top-10 with the 1997 season's first half completed (points, wins, record in most recent five starts): 1. Bickle, 1,993, two and four top-five; 2. Sprague, 1,931, two and three top-five/four top-10; 3. Ruttman, 1,857, one and three top-five/five top-10; 4. Hornaday, 1,757, four and three top-five; 5. Chuck Bown, 1,749, none and four top-10; 6. Mike Bliss, 1.739, none and two top-five; 7. Jay Sauter, 1,691, one and three top-10; 8. Hensley, 1,683, none and three top-10; 9. Irwin, 1,682, two and one top-10; 10. Rick Carelli, 1,668, none and three top-10. By NASCAR Public Relations
