NASCAR Craftsman Truck Federated Auto Parts 250: Notes
13 August 1997
By NASCAR Public Relations
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
Federated Auto Parts
Pre-Race Notes of Interest
August 11, 1997
NASHVILLE, TN - Dave Rezendes' 1996 victory in the Federated Auto Parts 250
was leg two of his eventual mastery of the three types of track comprising
the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series: short track, road course and superspeedway.
- Rezendes won last year's Nashville Speedway USA stop in a Geoff Bodine
Racing-prepared Ford after starting 14th -- second furthest back of any 1996
winner. He returns in Charles Hardy's Ortho Lawn & Garden Care Products
Chevrolet, hoping to improve on '97-best, seventh-place efforts for the
Georgia-based team. "I wasn't really happy with (the truck) going in, but
we'd gotten it the best we could get. Sometimes you have to forget the
stopwatch and go by feel," said Rezendes. "It's a tough, tough place on tires
and I don't see that changing. Like Colorado, you've got to be aware of your
tires. Speed isn't everything."
- Sprague's only series Busch Pole, on a short track, came at Nashville
Speedway USA. His 109.952 mph run was fashioned on a hot, slick race track
which boasts the third-tallest banked turns -- 18 degrees -- among NCTS short
track venues.
- Hornaday eyes two geographical sweeps in Nashville. He can complete a
Tennessee double, having won at Bristol. Then there's the Interstate 65
Derby, among tracks several hundred miles apart, in three states. Hornaday
already counts victories at Indianapolis Raceway Park and Louisville Motor
Speedway.
- The Federated Auto Parts 250 completes the second leg of the Cintas
Rookie-of-the-Year competition, with bonus points being awarded based upon
candidate performances between June 21 and Aug. 16. Race 18 also signals
"cut-down" as drivers with fewer than eight starts are dropped from the list
of eligible Cintas candidates. Only one of this season's Cintas freshman
crop, Flemington Busch Pole winner Cook, competed at Nashville Speedway USA
in 1996. He finished 25th.
- Speaking of Nashville Speedway USA rookies, Kurt Roehrig, who fields
Dodges for Tony Raines and Tom Hubert, didn't enter the 1996 Federated Auto
Parts 250.
- More than 50 pre-entries have been received for the Federated Auto Parts
250, among them NASCAR Slim Jim All Pro Series stars Wayne Anderson and Scot
Walters; NASCAR Busch Series veteran Brad Teague and Nashville Speedway USA
NASCAR Winston Racing Series whiz Joe Buford. A second Geoff Bodine Racing
entry has been filed for Barry Bodine, whose only '97 start came in March at
Homestead, Fla. Anderson's sponsor, Power-Cable kicks off its
motorsports-themed support of LeBonheur Children's Medical Center in Memphis,
Tenn. A $5,000 check will be presented to the hospital which treats many
underprivileged children.
- Nashville Speedway USA's NASCAR Late Model Stock Cars will compete in the
Friday night's Winston 200 companion event. Buford also is entered, as is
19-year-old Jamie Skinner, son of 1995 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion
Mike Skinner.
- In other series news...The Lovable Company has discontinued sponsorship of
Tammy Jo Kirk's racing efforts, due to a restructuring of the Buford,
Ga.-based firm. "The NASCAR sponsorship program met Lovable's expectations by
heightening brand awareness through this unique and viable medium," said a
Lovable spokesperson...Kirk hopes to obtain race-to-race backing to continue
her quest for the Cintas Rookie-of-the-Year title...Bliss and Team ASE racing
crew chief Barry Dodson will join Valvoline officials in announcing results
of the Fifth Annual Valvoline/ASE Poll of the American Mechanic. The event
will be held Saturday at the start/finish stripe at Nashville Speedway
USA...Liberty Racing hopes to announce its 1998 driver replacing NASCAR
Winston Cup Series-bound Kenny Irwin, in early September...Ted Christopher,
winner of the Aug. 9 NASCAR Busch North Series event at Watkins Glen (N.Y.)
International, has been tapped by Roehrig Motorsports to drive its DANA
Corporation Dodge in the Glen's Aug. 24 Parts America 150 road race.
STAT OF THE WEEK
Until this season, only one driver -- Skinner -- had been able to win
back-to-back events on NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series short track races. He
did it first in 1995 (I-70/Louisville) and three times last year
(Tucson/Colorado, IRP/Flemington and Richmond/Martinsville). Well, that's
another history. Hornaday's now at five straight wins and counting, heading
for Nashville Speedway USA. The streak began June 21 at the Bristol (Tenn.)
Motor Speedway. During the stretch, he's led 714 of 1,077 laps.
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