Commercial Airlines 200 News and Notes

BUSCH: Knows His Way to Victory Lane at Atlanta
TruckSeries.com

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team owner Billy Ballew heads home this week to the Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS) for the first time in the team’s 13-year history as the point’s leader after Kyle Busch scored the team its first win of 2008 at the Auto Club Speedway (formerly known as the California Speedway).

Busch’s points lead over former Craftsman Series Champion Todd Bodine by 20 points marks the second time a current NASCAR Sprint Cup competitor has headed the points coming to Atlanta (Mark Martin 2006). Both Busch and Martin have won seven races a piece; a record for a current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver.

Busch found victory lane at the Atlanta Motor Speedway in both his starts in the Craftsman Truck Series (2005, 2007) for Billy Ballew Motorsports. He also holds the widest margin of victory in the seven races the series has run at .971 seconds over Ron Hornaday Jr., (Oct. 27, 2007). The track’s total margin of victory is 3.165 seconds. Busch holds the best driver rating at AMS in the trucks at a rating of 141.2; just less than eight points shy of perfection. Ballew is the only owner to win more than one race at the 1.54-mile quad-oval.

Busch holds the current consecutive races led streak in the NCTS with six races beginning in Atlanta on Oct. 27, 2007. Busch failed to finish outside the top two only once, at Texas where engine failure left him 29th.

"My worst finish in the last seven truck races was second and we almost had three in a row there at the end of last year," Busch said. "(Johnny) Benson beat us there at Homestead and we finished second there. Our worst finish before that was at Texas where we blew up and I think we finished fourth in the race before that. We've had some great success in the truck series and the Nationwide series has been the same way."

The team will bring the No. 51 Miccosukee Resorts Toyota Tundra, chassis number 11, which has six prior visits to victory lane including at the Auto Club Speedway in February. The first win in this truck chassis was in 2004 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway with Shane Hmiel behind the wheel. The five other victories were scored by Kyle Busch. Ballew has eight total wins in the series, seven belonging to Kyle Busch.

“I picked two of the trucks for myself and Billy is ok with that,” Busch said. “Truck No. 11 is one of the trucks I picked in our stable. We ran that truck when we won in the fall Atlanta race and in California a few weeks ago as a Toyota. We will return to Atlanta this week with the same truck and hopefully pull off another win. I know I have a chance to win a championship in all three series but I know I won’t be able to, but hopefully we’ll be able to set it up for Billy Ballew to take home the owners championship.”

Atlanta will be Busch’s 32nd start in the Craftsman Truck Series for Billy Ballew Motorsports. He has posted seven wins, 16 top-five and 24 top-10 finishes and 1 pole position for the independent team. Billy Ballew Motorsports will make its 132nd consecutive start in Atlanta in the NCTS with a total of 209 starts in the series.

“All the guys on this team work so hard,” Busch said. “It is unbelievable the dedication they put in. It is great racing and it is fun to be able to go out there and run with these guys in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Anytime I can race with Billy Ballew, it is a lot of fun. We race to try to win of course every time we come out. It’s great to be able to go out there and have fun, race for points and for wins. The track time is good, any time you can get out there and see what the trucks do on the long run and see what I might be able to learn for the Cup race.”

Busch is the only driver expected to compete in the NASCAR Craftsman truck, Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series races this weekend.

Miccosukee Resorts will serve as the primary sponsor for the No. 51 Toyota Tundra with Cartersville, Georgia based RedTop Auto Auction as the major associate sponsor in the American Commercial Lines 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race Friday at the Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Tearing Apart the Trucks : Joey Clanton Replaced

Just a few days after finishing 32nd in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway, it was announced that Joey Clanton and Roush Fenway Racing had parted ways. Clanton just made the move with his truck number and sponsor, Zaxby’s, from Wood Brothers / JTG Racing to Roush Fenway during the offseason after sharing the truck with Stacy Compton for the 2007 season.

At Daytona, Joey Clanton took his No. 09 three wide with Mike Bliss and Terry Cook. Bliss and Clanton got together and managed to take Terry Cook and Clanton’s teammate, Colin Braun, with them. The wreck took all four drivers out of contention for the win and left four trucks mangled. As a result, Joey Clanton was pulled out of the No. 09 and replaced by Travis Kvapil for the following week’s race at California in an attempt to “re-evaluate [their] plans for the rest of the season.”

“I want to thank Jack and everyone in the Roush Fenway organization for this chance, but I have made the decision that it is time for me to pursue other opportunities,” Clanton said. “I have several business and family obligations and it is time to focus on them right now.”

Despite bringing sponsor Zaxby’s to Roush Fenway Racing, Joey Clanton became the first high profile casualty of the CTS Silly Season after triggering a four-truck pile up at Daytona.

This week, Roush Fenway Racing announced their plans for the remainder of the 2008 season. Travis Kvapil is set to run ten more races this season starting with tonight’s race in Atlanta. Kvapil finished seventh at California two weeks ago and ran for Roush Fenway in the No. 6 truck in 2007. He made the move up to the Sprint Cup Series for the 2008 season. Bobby East and John Wes Townley will share the duties for the remaining 13 races of the season.

“Travis has had so much success in the Truck Series over the years, and he will be a great asset in helping our two younger drivers learn the program,” team owner Jack Roush said. “Bobby and John Wes both have a tremendous amount of potential and I look for them to run well in their respective events.”

It’s a shame to see another young driver replaced, but you can’t sacrifice on track performance just to be nice. Joey Clanton still holds out hope for a return to the series. “I didn’t bring the truck home in one piece and I’m paying the ramifications for it,” Clanton said. “I’m still under contract with them, they just made a change right now.”

Did You Know…

* The closest finish on a superspeedway came at Atlanta Motor Speedway? In March, 2005, Ron Hornaday, Jr. took the checkered flag a mere 0.008 seconds ahead of Bobby Labonte.

* The widest margin of victory in the Truck Series at Atlanta is less than one second? Kyle Busch beat Ron Hornaday, Jr. to the checkers by 0.917 seconds.

* Kyle Busch is the only driver with multiple wins at Atlanta in the Truck Series? The younger Busch started in the Top 5 for his only two starts at the track and won in 2005 and 2007. The driver of the No. 51 Toyota looks to extend his perfect record tonight.

* Rick Crawford will make his record 275th Craftsman Truck Series start tonight? Crawford started racing in the series January 19, 1997 and has run every race in the series since then, racking up five wins and 138 Top 10 finishes.

* Terry Cook will be making his 250th consecutive series start tonight? Tonight’s race will be his 268th career start; Cook’s consecutive race streak started in 1998 in Orlando.

Scott Speed Makes CTS Debut

Former F1 driver Scott Speed will, weather permitting, make his Craftsman Truck Series debut tonight for Morgan-Dollar Motorsports in the No. 46 Toyota. The California native is currently running the No. 2 Toyota in the ARCA RE/MAX Series and plans to continue racing full time in the series through 2008. Speed will also participate in the Truck Series test at Martinsville March 12-13th and plans to run the race at the half mile track on March 28th.

“Every time I’m in the car, I’m learning something,” Speed said. “It’s been easier than I thought, to be honest. What’s difficult and what I’m learning a lot about is how the other cars around you affect your car. The reason we went this route is because the truck is the most similar to the COT and it is very sensitive to the other cars around you, where they are and what they’re doing to your car. This is kind of the method behind our madness here.”

frontstretch.com

It's Time to Get Rowdy in Atlanta

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series just might be looking at another Rowdy weekend when it marches into Atlanta Motor Speedway for Friday night’s American Commercial Lines 200, which will be broadcast live on SPEED starting at 8:30 p.m.

Atlanta is the fastest track in NASCAR, with worn, abrasive pavement and multiple grooves from top to bottom, all the better to let drivers hang it all out. And no one loves to run fast and wild more than NCTS points leader Kyle “Rowdy” Busch, who this week will again be piloting Billy Ballew’s No. 51 Toyota Tundra.

“It is great racing and it is fun to be able to go out there and run with these guys in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series,” said Busch, who won the fall NCTS races at the 1.54-mile track in 2005 and ‘07. “Anytime I can race with Billy Ballew, it is a lot of fun. We race to try to win, of course, every time we come out so to be able to go out there and have fun and race for points and for wins, it’s great.”

Busch can expect some stiff competition Friday night from the No. 30 Lumber Liquidators Tundra driven by “The Onion,” Todd Bodine, who opened the season with his first Daytona victory in 34 attempts and followed it up by coming in second to Rowdy in Southern California. “First place one week, second the next – that’s how you win championships,” said Bodine, who won both an NCTS race at Atlanta and the series championship in 2006.

Two other past Atlanta race winners and series champions worth keeping an eye on are reigning series champion Ron Hornaday Jr. (No. 30 Camping World/VFW Chevrolet) and former series champion Mike Skinner (No. 5 Toyota Tundra Toyota).

Hornaday’s new teammate, three-time series champion Jack Sprague (No. 2 American Commercial Lines/RVs.com Chevrolet), will be looking for his first victory at the lightning-fast quad oval track. “I think we are going back to Atlanta even better than we tested,” Sprague said. “We need to begin to get the ball rolling in the right direction this season and I think this weekend is the perfect place for us to do that.”

Also not to be counted out are the three Roush Fenway Racing Ford F-150s driven by Travis Kvapil (No. 09 Zaxby’s Ford), Colin Braun, (No. 06 Con-way Freight Ford) and Erik Darnell No. 99 National Tool + Equipment Ford).

The Roush Fenway gang got off to a horrible start at Daytona, where all three trucks were wrecked in the race. But the squad rebounded admirably at Southern California, with Kvapil seventh, Braun ninth and Darnell 11th. If they keep trending in the right direction, sooner or later, one of them will win a race.

One other thing to remember about Atlanta: It produces great racing. All seven NCTS races at AMS have been decided by less than one second at the checkered flag, with the winning pass always coming with 12 or fewer laps to go.

“The American Commercial Lines 200 should be another exciting race, as AMS always seems to have,” said NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Director Wayne Auton. “With a test earlier this year at AMS, teams are really geared up for this event. With the new rules packages in place for 2008 and a California race under their belts, teams are working on figuring out the aero along with the horsepower these engines are producing and how it will impact the racing. I expect, and people will agree, it will be a very competitive race.”

truckseries.com

Sprague Hopes Tests Payoff

Three-time former Craftsman Truck Series champion Jack Sprague is having a little trouble getting out of the gate this season.

In what's his worst season start since 2004, Sprague sits 23rd in the point standings heading into this Friday's American Commercial Lines 200. And although he's ranked second on the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series all-time winner's list, Sprague has yet to win at Atlanta. In fact, Atlanta Motor Speedway is one of only eight tracks currently on the schedule where Sprague has yet to visit victory lane.

Sprague has raced in every Truck race at AMS, seven since its debut in 2004, and has an average finish of 15.9 with three top-10 finishes. He came close to winning there once, in 2005.

"In the fall of 2005 I had led most of the race. I was within a corner of winning; I was battling Kyle Busch who had fresh tires. As we came out of three we all got together and I ended up finishing fourth, wrecked in the grass. That was a tough one to lose," Sprague said.

His best year at Atlanta was in 2005 when he finished eighth in this race and then fourth in the fall. However, his worst year at the track came last year, with 23rd and 25th-place finishes, respectively.

This year, he'll try to tackle AMS with a new team, Kevin Harvick Inc. Sprague joined KHI in the off season and will appear at AMS in a Chevrolet for the first time since this race in 2005.

"We need to begin to get the ball rolling in the right direction this season and I think this weekend is the perfect place for us to do that," Sprague said.

The No. 2 Chevrolet team had a very successful test at Atlanta in January with chassis No. 014. This truck saw action last season at some of the 1.5-mile tracks including California, Texas, Atlanta and Charlotte.

Sprague's KHI teammate Ron Hornaday drove this truck to the lead in each of the events it competed in last season, as well as to victory lane at the Lowe's Motor Speedway in May 2007.

During pre-season testing at AMS with this truck, the team was fifth fastest on the first day and third fastest on the second.

"I think we are going back to Atlanta even better than we tested," Sprague added.

Action for Friday night's American Commercial Lines 200 begins with two practice sessions Thursday evening. The first is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. (ET) with the second following immediately after at 6:00 p.m.

Qualifying is Friday at 4:40 p.m. (ET) with the green flag waving at 9 p.m.

racingone.com

Busch bests Hornaday Jr. in Atlanta

Hampton, GA (Sports Network) - Kyle Busch was just too strong all night long capturing Friday night's American Commercial Lines 200 Craftsman Truck Series race at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. The No.51 Billy Ballew Toyota crossed the finish line 1.116 seconds ahead of Hornaday Jr.

Busch overcame an early race pit-stop penalty and beat Hornaday Jr., known as the "King of Restarts" at his own game over the final four laps. The victory was Busch's second in a row, third straight at Atlanta and eighth of his truck career.

Mike Skinner, Matt Crafton and Chad McCumbee completed the top-five.

The race started with Hornaday Jr. bringing the field to the green flag for 130 laps of high speed racing. But he didn't stay there for long as Busch and Hornaday Jr. played leap frog with the lead over the first few laps.

The first contender to have problems was Johnny Benson, who blew a tire on lap 19. Then on the pit stop, a tire got loose from points and race leader Busch and the penalty was the end of the longest line - last truck on the lead lap.

That just made it more fun for the fans at the track because it's always fun to watch the young Las Vegas native slice through a field. Tonight was a perfect example.

He restarted 29th and at the end of the first green flag lap he was 21st. By lap 36 he was knocking on the door of the top-10, passing trucked on the apron and up near the wall.

Up front Hornaday Jr. was leading Todd Bodine by just under one second and Jack Sprague was third 1.2 seconds back.

After a Justin Marks spin on lap 42, Busch's crew gave him a great stop and he came out fourth behind Sprague, Hornaday Jr. and Bodine. On the restart, Hornaday Jr. and Busch immediately put the pressure on Sprague and he couldn't hold them off.

Using the high line, Busch got even with Hornaday Jr. as the crossed the start/finish line to start lap 51. By lap 65 the two were almost three seconds ahead of third place Sprague with Busch leading the way.

Suddenly, Busch lost the lead to Hornaday on lap 61 and couldn't keep up with the defending series champion. Busch fell almost three-quarters of a second back to Hornaday Jr. as the field hit the mid-point of the race. Sprague caught Busch a couple of laps later and passed him for second place.

Fifty-one laps to go and Busch was still dropping, McCumbee passed him for third place. McCumbee was the fastest truck on the track and was suddenly closing on the two leaders.

There would be one more stop to make adjustments for the final run to the checkered flag. Hornaday Jr.'s fuel light began to flash on lap 89 and he turned down pit lane to start the green flag pit stops. Within the next two laps all the leaders pitted.

After everyone had cycled through, Hornaday Jr. was holding a three-second lead on Busch. There were just nine trucks on the lead lap and Hornaday Jr. was flying, passing trucks high or low on the track - it didn't matter to the No.33 Chevrolet.

There were 20 laps to go when rain drops began to fall. Officials brought out the caution flag, erasing Hornaday Jr.'s big lead. Would any of the remaining lead lap trucks pit for tires? Would Hornaday Jr. stop?

Pit lane opened and Busch's No.51 Toyota immediately pulled down pit lane. But everyone else followed Hornaday Jr. who remained out. Then a lap later, Hornaday Jr. realized he needed new rubber if he was going to compete with Busch. He pitted and the rest of the leaders followed except for McCumbee and Crafton. McCumbee and Crafton inherited the lead, but with old tires. Behind them were Busch, Ted Musgrave and Hornaday Jr.

"I was kind of surprised when Hornaday didn't come and then nobody followed me," said Busch. "Richie made a great call, coming down to get those four tires."

Busch with new tires is tough to beat in the Cup Series, but against a less experienced driver like McCumbee it was no contest. Hornaday Jr. followed Busch through and they were one-two when the field hit lap 120. The rains hit and NASCAR brought out another caution flag. It just got too wet and officials were finally forced to exchange the red flag for the yellow.

But it wasn't long and the engines re-fired. The green flag dropped with four laps remaining.

Hornaday Jr., known for his restarts, couldn't get past Busch on this one. In fact, Busch pulled out to a sixth-length lead as they saw the white flag, signifying one lap to go. Hornaday Jr. couldn't make a move and Busch won for the third time at AMS.

Busch leads Bodine, who finished ninth, by 72 points after the first three events. Hornaday Jr. is third, 122 points behind the Busch.

The next race in the series is scheduled for Friday, March 29th at the Martinsville Speedway.