NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series GM Goodwrench/Delco Battery 300: Notes
5 November 1997
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series GM Goodwrench/Delco Battery 300 Notes Phoenix International Raceway November 1, 1997 PHOENIX, AZ - Joe Ruttman's victory in the Nov. 1 GM Goodwrench/Delco Battery 300 at Phoenix International Raceway makes Ruttman just the fourth NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competitor to win four or more times in a season. The others? Ron Hornaday (1995-96-97), Mike Skinner (1995-96) and Jack Sprague (1996). - Ruttman's fuel-mileage boosted win in The Valley of the Sun, coupled with the runner-up finish by teammate Chuck Bown, gave Roush Performance its first one-two posting on the tour. "Our team makes a great motor; it just sips gas," said Ruttman, whose tank contained less than a gallon of Unocal fuel after covering the final 96 miles without a stop. - Ruttman remains the oldest series driver to win a race at 53 years, 0 months, 5 days. - The margin of victory in the GM Goodwrench/Delco Battery 300 - 0.419-second - was the season's 16th MOV of less than one second. What a difference six months makes. Ruttman was a record 13-plus seconds behind Jack Sprague when he finished second at PIR on April 20. Ruttman's winning speed, 103.942 mph, set a Phoenix record. - Ruttman's victory ended an eight-race streak of consecutive different winners which began Aug. 9 at Flemington, NJ. His most recent win came on Oct. 5, at Sonoma, CA. - Ford never won a series race in Phoenix (or in eight Arizona-hosted events) prior to Ruttman's LCI International Ford going to victory circle. The seventh win of 1997 was a Ford-best, improving on last year's six. The manufacturer claimed two more top-five spots, with Bown and fourth-finishing Cintas Rookie leader Kenny Irwin. - Nineteen of the race's 28 finishers completed the 186-lap/300-kilometer distance. That's a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series superspeedway record. The old standard was 18, set in 1996 at Las Vegas. - Bown's drive in the Exide Batteries Ford was the 43-year-old former NASCAR Busch Series champion's best since joining Roush Performance, bettering a pair of third-place efforts. This was the 16th race since Bown's last top-five performance -- on June 6 at the Texas Motor Speedway. "I wish I could've found a way around Joe," he said. "I think the way we were running, we could have stayed there." - Sprague's third-place effort ended a PIR streak of three consecutive victories. His Quaker State Chevrolet led a record fifth straight race at the track, topping all leaders with 69 trips around the one-mile superspeedway. - Sprague bested Irwin for third-place in a photo-finish dash off Turn 4 to boost his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship lead to 177 points, over 18th-finishing Rich Bickle. The Spring Lake, Mich. veteran needed one more position to eliminate Bickle, whose Sears DieHard Chevrolet dropped a cylinder late in the race after running as high as sixth. Still, Sprague only must start the Nov. 9 Carquest Auto Parts 420K at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway to clinch the title. "I can breathe now," Sprague told reporters. "It's been tough." - Bickle's early title hopes were bolstered by five top-five finishes, including two victories, when the tour visited the West Coast in the spring. Since returning west in early October -- off a victory at Martinsville, Va. -- Bickle counts a single top-five and three finishes of 12th or worse. That's a western spring finishing average of 2.6 vs a fall log of 17.75. - Irwin is a prohibitive favorite to lock up the freshman title following his second consecutive top-five finish. He leads Rick Crawford by 27 points in the Cintas Rookie-of-the-Year Award standings (231 to 204). - Mike Bliss won his third consecutive Busch Pole Award at Phoenix, raising the one-lap speed mark to 127.741 mph. He clinched 1997 Busch Pole (six) and MCI Fast Pace (eight) awards with his GM Goodwrench/Delco Battery 300 performances. By NASCAR Public Relations
