NASCAR Trucks: Riggs wins again, Setzer second place at Chicago

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

August 19, 2001

Dennis Setzer had a strong Silverado today in an exciting race that saw 13 lead changes among eight drivers in the 175-lap event, including fellow Silverado drivers Jack Sprague (who led eight laps) and Travis Kvapil (seven).

Starting from seventh position, Setzer ran steadily in the top seven until he found himself in third after an incident on lap 86 involving Kyle Busch, Rick Crawford and Jack Sprague.

Crawford survived to take over the lead, and, following pit stops, Setzer emerged back in third. Six laps later he passed Travis Kvapil for second in hot pursuit of leader Crawford, which resulted in a successful pass for the lead on lap 134. Setzer led the next 13 laps until a caution on lap 146. While the leaders pitted, Kyle Busch opted to stay out and took over the top spot, followed by Scott Riggs and Setzer. On lap 163 it was clear that Busch's team made a pit strategy mistake as Busch ran out of gas, handing first place over to Scott Riggs. Setzer was on Riggs' rear bumper for the remainder of the race, but was unable to make the pass, finishing in the runner-up spot just .281 of a second behind.

Sprague suffered left-side body damage, a right rear flat tire, three flat-spotted tires and out-of-whack toe-in when he was hit by Busch after spinning on lap 86, but, after two pit stops under the caution flag, managed to stay on the lead lap to finish ninth.

Lance Norick earned his career-best finish, with a third, matching his qualifying position.

Benefiting from Addington Racing's expert pit stops once again, Travis Kvapil, who ran second early in the race, came out of the pits in first after pit stops on lap 70 under the second of five caution periods. He couldn't deflect the Crawford/Sprague train behind him, however, and fell back to third. As the race progressed, he fell as far as back as seventh, but fought his way back to fourth for the finish. Kvapil extended his lead over Ricky Hendrick in Rookie of the Year points and now leads Hendrick by 12 points.

DENNIS SETZER, NO. 46 ACXIOM/COMPUTER ASSOCIATES SILVERADO (second): "We had a good race truck. It's unfortunate, right there at the end we came in and put some tires on it and we needed a few laps to get them worked in and get caught up and get past them. It wound up being a caution and we ran a lap short than we hoped to get." DID YOU HAVE ANYTHING FOR THE DODGES? "With the situation we were in he (Ted Musgrave) had a lot of laps on his right side tires. He couldn't stand to run many before the heat got to them and get them bad. I think the Dodge that won the race (Scott Riggs) we probably had something for him. We had been ahead of him all day. It's just unfortunate. The No. 1 truck was very good, it seemed when he got in traffic he'd have a little problem. We were leading the race before the caution come out. I think we really had a truck to race with them today." ANY CONCERN WITH TRACK CHANGING AFTER THE RAINS TODAY?: "Not really. The jet blowers blew around there and maybe it had a little bit of dust on it. Other than that it was going to be the same in about 15, 20 laps. It took a little bit to get rubber back down on it where it was yesterday, but basically it was the same track. With the rain on a track that isn't banked so much it doesn't wash so much rubber off. It was no problem."

LANCE NORICK, NO. 90 AVENTIS BEHRING CHOICE SILVERADO (third): "That's my best finish of all time. My best finish before this was Daytona in fourth. We've been getting better and better and better. The guys have been getting better. We come here and qualify good and have a little problem in the race. But the guys on the last pit stop, man, they just did an awesome pit stop. They got me out I think in third and that's all we needed, some track position. The truck was running good. All we needed was a little track position." YOU FELL BACK MID-RACE: "We got into (Joe) Ruttman the first of the race, battling for third. It knocked my right front fender in pretty bad. And the thing got really tight. Throughout the pit stops we kept pulling on the fender trying to get it back out and loosening the truck back up. At the end of the race it was pretty fast."

TRAVIS KVAPIL, NO. 60 CAT RENTAL STORES SILVERADO (fourth): "The truck was real good in the beginning of the race. It was turning really good and had good forward bite. After we put the right side tires on it we just lost a little grip, got too loose going down into the corner. I couldn't keep it on the bottom like we could earlier in the race. But the Cat Rental Stores team -- we came in for left-side tires -- made a chassis adjustment for me and we managed to keep the Silverado in the top five for I think four or five weeks in a row now. We're really happy, it was a good points day. We wanted to win pretty bad but anytime you can get a top five it's a good day." YOU HAD THE LEAD BUT COULDN'T HOLD ON TO IT?: "In the beginning of the race the truck was real strong. If we could have gotten up front early in the first 20-30 laps I think we could've set our own pace and led some laps there. The Cat Rental Store guys did a great job on my pit stop, got me out first. That's five bonus points for leading a couple of laps. That's all that really matters if you can't lead them all."

JACK SPRAGUE, NO. 24 NETZERO PLATINUM SILVERADO (ninth): "The 14 (truck) just crowded me a little bit going into (turn) 1. I got down on the apron. I didn't have any room, we got together, and we got together again and I spun and I got hit a bunch and so that was pretty much the end of it." WHAT HAPPENED LATER ON? "Everything happened later on. We got beat, ping-pong balled around. Typical deal when you're back where you shouldn't be. Fenders were knocked off, the toe was knocked way out. After the deal with me and the 14 I was done. That's all there is to it." YOU STAYED ON THE LEAD LAP: "Yeah, but it wasn't like it was before. It was capable of winning before. That ended it."

RICKY HENDRICK, NO. 17 GMAC SILVERADO (11th): "We struggled. This Team GMAC Chevrolet was qualified decent. We had our good times and our bad times. We're a new team, I'm a new driver, this is a tough track, and I got a new crew chief. We're the only team up here in the top 10 that's got a new driver and a new crew chief. Maybe you see a new driver with an old crew chief, or an old driver with a new crew chief. We have our off days and we have our good days. I'm real proud of these guys; we'll go to Nazareth and see what we can't do there." IS IT FRUSTRATING RUNNING BEHIND? "Yeah, it's always frustrating when you kind of start the race and you're not in the hunt for the win. It comes. If you don't have bad days you never have good days. We had a bad day. We're slacking a little bit in points, and we're slacking a little bit in rookie standings. It's part of the deal. We're trying to get experience for the future. That's where it all goes. If we can learn all we can now and not make the same mistakes when we get older then we'll be happy."

RICK HENDRICK, Ricky's dad and team owner: "We just had some problems with the truck being real tight in the center and never did get it worked out with the brakes and the shift. Right at the end they got it adjusted for him, but it was too late. First time here, they'll be all right next week, hopefully."

COY GIBBS, N0. 20 MBNA SILVERADO (23rd): "It was the hub for some reason. What started it was they probably didn't torque the right front tire, so it started backing all the studs out of the hub. It came to the point where I had to stop before I broke the hub." ON RUNNING UP FRONT WITH THE LEADERS BUT 23 LAPS DOWN; YOUR SILVERADO WAS RUNNING GOOD: "I really didn't care at that point. We were up there, but whenever they got close I just let them by. It wasn't that exciting. I knew we had a good truck at the start of the race. It's frustrating. Then Sprague knocked my door off for no apparent reason."

POINT STANDINGS:

1. Scott Riggs, Dodge 2608
2. Joe Ruttman, Dodge 2607
3. Jack Sprague, Chevy 2560
4. Travis Kvapil, Chevy 2550
5. Ricky Hendrick, Chevy 2460
6. Ted Musgrave, Dodge 2451
7. Terry Cook, Ford 2409
8. Dennis Setzer, Chevy 2328
9. Rick Crawford, Ford 2234
10. Coy Gibbs, Chevy 2072

MANUFACTURER STANDINGS:

1. Dodge 136
2. Chevy 113
3. Ford 74

Text provided by Judy Stropus

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