NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Notes: No Fear Challenge
14 October 1997
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series The No Fear Challenge California Speedway By NASCAR Public Relations FONTANA, CA - The No Fear Challenge will be the first series race on an oval track of more than 1.5 miles in length. California Speedway, in Fontana, is a two-mile layout. - Several NCTS speed records, all set June 5 at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, could be in jeopardy this week: fastest official lap (Bliss, 175.667 mph); fastest field (33 trucks, 171.209 mph) and fasts race (131.823 mph). - Ford's been the dominant truck on the 1.5-mile tracks ta Texas and Homestead, Fla. The manufacturer has won three of four previous events and captured 14 of 20 possible top-five positions. Ford scored a one-through-five sweep in Fort Worth. - Three different drivers have won races on the 1.5-mile tracks: Irwin, Sprague and Dave Rezendes. Cintas Rookie-of-the-Year leader Irwin is in line for the "hat trick" having won '97 races at Homestead and Texas. - Sprague has finished among the top-five in three of the four series races held on 1.5-mile tracks. His Quaker State Chevrolet DNF'd at Texas with engine failure. Bliss two-for-four in top-fives, including a runnerup finish to Irwin at Homestead. No other driver has more than one top-five posting. - "It's pretty fast, but there's a lot of room and a lot of grip," Bliss says of California Speedway. "I didn't have the confidence to try two-abreast stuff (in last week's Ford test) but when we get in the race, we'll do it. The track will take it." - Five drivers entered in The No Fear Challenge have won on NCTS superspeedways. Sprague is the leader, by far, with seven victories, followed by Irwin and Hornaday (two) and Ruttman and Sauter. Skinner won the other three "big track" races. - "New Hampshire, Milwaukee and the other miles are just big short tracks," proposed Sauter, the New Hampshire International Speedway winner. "California is a whole new ball game. Not a lot of us have speedway experience. I like speed and we tested real well, but only time will tell. I don't have enough time on this kind of track to evaluate my superspeedway skills. I'll say this: you've got to have a game plan, respect the speeds and go in there with the idea that you have to finish. That's really the key, though, to any race." - Here's another record which could be broken at Fontana. There were eight different race leaders at Homestead, where the draft likely was less of a factor than at the California Speedway. - Hensley, a NASCAR Winston Cup Series and Busch Series veteran, could be on the threshold of his first NCTS victory -- if experience counts for anything. "It's close to Michigan. We didn't get too high and run in the bottom groove all day (during the Dodge test)," relates Hensley. "You can race up there, without getting torn to pieces. I hope we can get things stable for the draft. There's going to be a significant draft and if the truck's not doing what it needs to, you've going to have a long day. It's not any fun when you're running like that on a track with this much speed." - Several NASCAR Winston Cup Series drivers have entered The No Fear Challenge. They include Ernie Irvan, who finished second last month at Martinsville, Va.; Michael Waltrip; and Kyle Petty. Robby Gordon also is slated to drive. He finished sixth at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 1996.
