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Craftsman Truck Series Notes -- Colorado 250

22 July 1997


 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
 Colorado 250 By Snap-On Tools
 Notes of Interest
 July 21, 1997
 


 
DAYTONA BEACH, FL - Ron Hornaday continues his all-out assault on Mike
Skinner's series win records with his July 19 victory in the Colorado 250 by
Snap-On Tools. The Palmdale, Calif. competitor's third consecutive victory
matched Skinner's record, established in 1996. Hornaday's four-out-of-five win
streak broke a standard he also shared with the 1995 NASCAR Craftsman Truck
Series champion.
 
 - Hornaday's 15th career victory leaves him one win shy of Skinner's all-time
record.
 
 - And what of Skinner's eight-win season mark? It could be in jeopardy.
Skinner got win No. 5 in the 10th event (of 20) in 1995 and the 14th race (of
24) a year ago. Last weekend's race was the 14th of 26 on the 1997 schedule.
As for personal bests, Hornaday won six times during his first season on the
tour.
 
 - The Colorado 250 by Snap-On Tools was the fifth consecutive race that
Hornaday has led. He's far behind Skinner's NCTS record of 10 straight, which
began and ended with 1996 wins at Indianapolis Raceway Park and Mesa Marin
Raceway, respectively.
 
 - Joe Ruttman finished 12th at Colorado National Speedway to maintain
third-place in NCTS point standings -- behind Rich Bickle and Jack Sprague and
one spot ahead of Hornaday. The finish ended the season's longest top-10
string at eight.
 
 - Bickle, meanwhile, hasn't led a race since May 24 at Odessa, Mo. Still, his
short track performance has been formidable. His fifth-place finish at CNS
continues a perfect run of seven top-five efforts on tracks of less than a
mile in length. His average short track finish is 3.86. Hornaday also counts
seven top-fives on short tracks and a 2.29 average.
 
 - Mike Bliss finally broke his Colorado jinx -- and then some. His Team ASE
Racing Ford led twice for 76 laps, before finishing runnerup to Hornaday.
Bliss' best previous effort at CNS? A lowly 23rd. "We were fast all day (but)
we could not get the breaks in traffic," said Bliss."
 
 - Another big day for Virginia's Stacy Compton, who became the season's
seventh different Cintas Rookie-of-the-Race. Compton's third-place finish was
a personal best for the second straight week, as David Hodson's Valvoline
Instant Oil Change Ford improved upon a sixth at Louisville. "We felt like we
had a better truck than we qualified (13th) but I guess they say it makes it
better if you come from the back," said Compton, who gained three positions
over the final eight laps.
 
 - Mike Wallace and Cintas Rookie Rick Crawford became the season's 19th and
20th different race leaders. That compares with 23 in all of 1996. Crawford,
No. 2 in Cintas standings (to Kenny Irwin), recorded his fifth top-10 finish
-- sixth in Tom Mitchell's Circle Bar Motel & RV Park Ford. "We should have
run better than this last week," said Crawford, referring to his Louisville
accident while running third. "If we had, we'd be ahead in the rookie points
now," Irwin, 14th at CNS, tops Cintas standings with 156 points to Crawford's
142. Both now begin discarding worst finishes.
 
 - The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series standings have stabilized to a degree.
Bliss replaced Chuck Bown in fifth-place; Jay Sauter is up a spot to sixth,
also bypassing Bown; while Rick Carelli is up a slot in ninth, dropping Irwin
to 10th. Bickle's 102-point standings lead is the largest of 1997 and the
greatest margin since Sept. 21, 1996 when Hornaday enjoyed a 132-marker
cushion following the Hanes 250 at Martinsville, Va.

By NASCAR Public Relations