NASCAR Trucks: Chevy wins two in a row; Dennis Setzer wins first of the season
Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
June 24, 2001For the second straight race of 10 in the 24-event series, Chevy Silverado comes out on top in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Following Jack Sprague's victory at Texas Motor Speedway two weeks ago, the first for the Silverado in 2001, Dennis Setzer, driving the No. 46 Acxiom/Computer Associates Silverado, made it two in a row for Team Silverado by winning his first race of the season, his first for Chevrolet and the first for the Morgan-Dollar Motorsports team. This is Setzer's sixth career series' win and the first since Nazareth in August of 2000. Setzer switched from Dodge to Chevrolet for 2001.
Chevrolets have now won 82 races since 1995 (53 percent), more than any other manufacturer.
Polesitter Jack Sprague, in the No. 24 NetZero Platinum Silverado, controlled the first 102 laps with Setzer in hot pursuit after he passed Greg Biffle on lap 65. Sprague enjoyed a one-and-a-half-second lead over Setzer for 38 laps until the first caution came out on lap 102.
Following pit stops Sprague dropped to third behind Biffle and Joe Ruttman, and Setzer fell to fourth. On lap 111 Setzer charged past Sprague into third, then moved into second on lap 121. In two laps Setzer clearly had a handle on the race as he rocketed by Biffle into first spot, which he held until another caution on lap 139, as a result of Sprague's broken oil line. Scott Riggs, who did not pit with the frontrunners, inherited the lead, with Setzer holding on to fifth spot. By lap 166, Setzer and his strong Silverado were back in front, with the Dodges of Riggs and Ruttman in tow. Setzer held his pace to the checkered flag, taking the victory over Riggs by 1.608 seconds.
Sprague led the most laps, 90. Setzer was second with 53. Lance Norick and Jimmy Hensley led five laps each, giving Silverado a total of 153 of 200 laps led.
SETZER: "It just speaks highly of this team. We've come a long way since changing manufacturers this year. This was our first win since Nazareth of last year in a Dodge. I think it was a Chevrolet race (at Nazareth). I think it was a sign of things to come. I'm in a Silverado and happy now. I thought we would have had a victory five races into the season; that's how confident I was in choosing this team. We are not where we want to be, but it shows the potential of this team." ON RACING WITH SPRAGUE: "It's unfortunate what happened to Jack. I would have liked to have raced him at the end. We knew all day we had a really good truck. We knew it would be between us and Jack. Fifty laps into the race these were the two trucks to beat. Other trucks would run good for 10 laps after the restart, but it seems our truck continuously stayed the same." ON RACING LAPPED TRUCKS: "The lapped trucks are tough here. They race hard. Every position in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a tough position to get. Everyone races, they will jump out three-wide on you." WHAT WERE THE KEY THINGS THAT HELPED YOU WIN TODAY? "I think preparation. We did a little testing in Oklahoma this past week; that worked out good for us. They're running some different type chassis with the team that I ran in the past. It gave us a chance to dial in some things into the chassis that Danny Gill and I are looking for. This track has been good for me. I think we have had three top-fives here. It can't be bad for me. I have been with excellent teams each time here, with good crew chiefs. Without that part it doesn't matter how much the driver likes it if it doesn't happen at the end."
COY GIBBS, NO. 20 MBNA SILVERADO (fifth): "We had our work cut out for us. We were not really good at the start. We worked on it all day and got it pretty good at the end of the day. Gary (Showalter, crew chief) did a great job of tuning the thing in." ANY DAMAGE? "We messed up the right side door and a fender, that was about it. Everybody ran pretty good, pretty clean. It was frustrating a couple of times running behind traffic." DOES THIS UP YOUR CONFIDENCE? "Yes. I don't want to get on a roll, because rolls always end. I just want to be good. I think we are getting better. We have stuff to refer to, now that we have past history. Mark Cronquist and the guys (at Joe Gibbs Racing) are making killer power with their motors. That's fun. A lot of these guys don't realize how good these motors are. I do."
JOE GIBBS, DAD AND TEAM OWNER (as well as Winston Cup team owner): "We're really happy. I'd say gut-wrenching is definitely the word for it. My heart goes out to anyone with kids doing it. He got such a late start in racing because of football. We're trying to do the best we can to catch up. A day like today is a big encouragement. We had one close call where he scraped the right front. It wasn't bad enough that he had to pit. I know I had my heart in my throat on the restarts about five times. They were getting three abreast. It scares you to death. It takes a lot of emotion to go through this. I told my wife when the year started that this was not going to be an easy year for me."
RICKY HENDRICK, NO. 17 GMAC SILVERADO (seventh, first rookie): "It's one of those deals. When we unloaded we were not really strong -- as a team, myself and everything. We really struggled a lot getting the right setup. We had a teammate (Sprague) that was fast. He and his team have a lot of chemistry. I drive totally different from Jack. To get my Silverado to work, it took a different setup. For some reason we got strong in the last 50 laps in the race. We did that again today. We picked up and gained positions. We came out top rookie and seventh. That's the hardest I have ever raced for seventh in my life. Everything is beat up on the Silverado except for the back bumper. That's the good sign."
LANCE NORICK, NO. 90 AVENTIS BEHRING CHOICE SILVERADO (eighth, led five laps): "I was leading and a lapped truck spun me out in (turns) three and four, which was a bad thing because our truck was way faster than the guys right behind us. I think we could have led 30 or 40 laps. Carlos (Contreras) and somebody got tangled up and he cleared my left side off. The rest of the day I had hot brake air blowing straight in my face. I think if we would have had fenders left on it at the end of the race we could have won. Even without the fenders I was able to pass (Greg) Biffle on the last lap. We're definitely running better. John (Monsam, racing consultant) and the whole team just did and outstanding job this weekend. We're ready for Milwaukee. We finished seventh there (last year)."
BILLY BIGLEY, NO. 75 SPEARS MANUFACTURING SILVERADO (won the ARCA race here last night, finished 11th today): "It was good. The Silverado went away a little bit towards the end, burned our tires up. We're really not too tore up, or beat up. We will take it." DID YOU HAVE AN EDGE BY RUNNING THE ARCA RACE? "To a degree I think we did. The biggest thing is being on a different tire compound, which made it different. The Goodyear (used in the truck series) has a bigger characteristic than the Hoosiers do." ANY SCRAPES? "Just a couple. I got into one lapped guy, and another one got back into me. We played a little bumper tag out there."
TRAVIS KVAPIL, NO. 60 CAT RENTAL STORES SILVERADO (12th, ran as high as fourth): "The Silverado would run real well on scuffed tires. The last two stops we put on right side sticker tires. It was real loose on sticker rights. Once that happened we didn't have anymore scuffed tires to put back on it. We were pretty much stuck with what we had. I'm disappointed with 12th, but we rolled it up on the trailer in one piece. I have another 120 laps under my belt; that's the main thing. We got the truck working real good. We changed some things after happy hour. We kind of guessed on the setup for the race. It was pretty close. The Cat Rental team had some awesome pit stops for us today. They gained us some track positions. That was one of the main things that gained us our track positions, our pit stops. We didn't really go well on right-side sticker tires. We will put that in our notebook for the next time."
JACK SPRAGUE, NO. 24 NETZERO PLATINUM SILVERADO (23rd, led the most laps, 90): "I'm really disappointed. The NetZero Platinum Silverado was awesome today. We had a real good shot at winning. I think we led the most laps. Dennis (Setzer) was pretty strong, but we were about a 10th quicker than he was. We were just riding around and drug an oil line off. Oil got on the rear tires and around she went. I tried to catch it but couldn't and ended up in the fence. Pretty much ruined our day. It's just miserable."
POINT STANDINGS
1. Scott Riggs, Dodge 1635
2. Joe Ruttman, Dodge 1582
3. Jack Sprague, Chevy 1493
4. Ricky Hendrick, Chevy 1452
5. Travis Kvapil, Chevy 1420
6. Ted Musgrave, Dodge 1420
7. Terry Cook, Ford 1388
8. Rick Crawford, Ford 1355
9. Randy Tolsma, Chevy 1282
10. Dennis Setzer, Chevy 1244
MANUFACTURER STANDINGS
1. Dodge 84
2. Chevrolet 64
3. Ford 42
Text provided by Judy Stropus
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