Leffler takes consecutive second-place finish in Pikes Peak truck race

Sunday, May 19, 2002                          			

JASON LEFFLER (No. 2 Team ASE/CARQUEST Dodge Ram) 
NOTE:  Leffler finished second for the second time this year.  He started first, earning his second Bud Pole award of the year.  Team owner Jim Smith celebrated his 175th start as a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Owner -- earning the most starts ever made by an owner.  Smith has had an entry in every NCTS race in history.

"We had a great Dodge all day.  When we took that last set of tires it started to tighten up a little bit.  But, that's the way it goes.  It was a good points day for us again, and we're running for a championship.  That should get us back into third.  I'd like to thank everyone at Ultra Motorsports for putting together a good Team ASE/CARQUEST Dodge.  I'm happy.  I'd like to win, but that's the way it goes.

"We were just making do with what we had there at the end.  We just got loose on that last run right after that last pit stop, and that was compounded by the fact that we didn't have a very good pit stop.  We got behind some other trucks and some dirty air.  All in all it was a good day for us.  We led the most laps, and had a good points day.  If you keep finishing second then eventually you're going to win one, so I can't complain about it all.

"I was loose right after that last pit stop.  We just had a lug nut hang-up on the right front, I think.  So it was loose, and plus being around the other trucks it really affects your truck.  Starting at the front row is a big advantage because you can get out and set your own pace.  When you get bottled up behind other guys if you have a problem then your car starts to magnify that.  I was a little loose by myself, and I was really loose around other cars.

"It was three wide there for a little bit at the end - it was a little hairy.  But that's what makes this series so great.  The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series puts on a great race.  There's a lot of short-track style racing on the big tracks.

"We were talking about the rain.  I was a little worried there after awhile because Ted got in front of me.  If it would've rained, I knew that I had a better truck than him and I wanted to get in front.  But at the end, I was doing all I could.  We were getting so loose up there in the corner I was having to be really careful with the throttle and spinning the tires a little bit.  But, like I said it was a good day for us.

"I was doing all I could just to stay with Mike Bliss.  One time I caught him by a couple tenths, and I thought I had something there for him.  But we just kind of petered out there.  We got behind his air, and I really couldn't do too much.

"Preferably, I like the low-groove.  That seems like what suited my truck the best. But getting through the lapped traffic, you know all the lapped cars go to the bottom, so that kind of bottled us up a bit.  But it's just a part of racing.  You've got to deal with it.  The middle groove wasn't bad.  All in all we had a good Dodge everywhere on the track.  But it was at its best at the bottom."

BILL LESTER (No. 8 Dodge Motorsports Dodge Ram)
NOTE:  Lester earned a career-high finish of 15th.  He was the top-qualifying rookie for the fourth time in five races this year.

"The truck was tight all day.  The guys said they were going to adjust it to tighten it up - we were thinking it was going to be a little warmer than it turned out to be.  We thought as a result from our experience last year, that as the track heats up it tends to turn these tires loose.  I think we just overcompensated.  So, we ended up with too tight a truck and wound up getting a little bit more of a stripe on the front that I wanted to.  But it wasn't bad, it didn't really upset the truck much.  But it sure got my respect.  It got my attention.

"We're just learning.  The team, they're learning what I like, and I'm learning how to better communicate with them.  We're pleased.  We finished, and we didn't get in any kind of real mess.  This is a career-best finish for me at 15th.  So, I just want to extend my thanks to Bobby Hamilton Racing and Dodge Motorsports.

"The first race of the season, the confidence was there, but I didn't really know.  Sure I was going in confident, but I just didn't know.  Now I'm at the point where I know.  So, every successive run I think we'll be better."

BRIAN ROSE (No. 4 Perry Connection Dodge Ram)
NOTE:  Rose finished 10th, earning his fourth top-10 of the year -- the most by any Dodge driver.

"To win a championship you've just got to run consistently and finish races.  We didn't win, and we didn't get anything that we came here for.  All in all, it was a pretty rough day fighting this weather.  We started pretty tight and were able to free it up and come back.  It was good in the middle-run and then the cloud cover came over and it went back to tight.

"We just really were struggling with the handling all day.  We were either really tight or really loose.  But we had some good stops today.  We're just building a little bit more momentum each week and learning some stuff about these trucks that we like.  This is a new snout that we're running from last year that Joe ran.  This series is just so competitive, it's hard to be successful.  You're really just got to have all your ducks in the row to be in victory lane."

TED MUSGRAVE (No. 1 Mopar Performance Parts Dodge Ram)
"Starting the race there, we were just fair.  I think Jason had a little faster Dodge, so I made sure I led some laps.  Once he got the lead, he took off on us.  We were getting a little tight, so we told 'em to raise the track bar and we did a few things to free it up not knowing the right rear was going flat on us.  With that change we took off and got the lead from Mike Bliss and it was really feeling good pulling away from the field.  But sure enough, we had a flat tire in the right rear tire again.  Something happened, we must have run over some debris and cut it.  We had to change the tire, and all we had left were 75-lap tires.  So, we had to run the rest of the race with tires from yesterday with 75 laps on them.  Well, you're not going to go anywhere that way.   The circumstances were unreal.  We had a decent truck, but we just can't seem to put it all together right now.  It's nothing the guys can do.  Flat tires are just out of our control."

CARLOS CONTRERAS (No. 43 Hot Wheels Dodge Ram)
"I was watching the clouds over turns three and four.  I cold feel the wind was blowing and it looked like it was going to rain at any minute.  I am glad we got the race in today.  I didn't want to race here tomorrow.  The set-up was too loose at the beginning of the race, but then we pitted and the guys fixed the truck.  It was tight or loose all day.  But the guys did a great job on pit road.  We had good stops all day long and they made the truck better every time I pitted.  13th is my best finish here at Pikes Peak.  The last tow years we have wrecked.  It feels really good to finish all 200 laps here and bring the truck home in one piece.  We got to Dover in two weeks and that is one of my favorite tracks.  I can't wait to get to Dover.  I love that track and I know we will have a great run there." 

BRENDAN GAUGHAN (No. 62 NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Ram)
"This is the first Dodge Ram that Orleans racing has built that could've won.  We could've won this damn thing.  At the start of this race we were fast.  The guys at the first pit stop were just phenomenal.  We came in 13th and left like seventh.  The guys just ripped-off that pit stop.  We came back out and were faster than Crawford, and then we passed Travis.  I mean we were fast!  But it's a team sport and the driver made an error.  In traffic, Crawford got back by me.  It was no big deal, I made a smart move and let him go.  But I was faster than him on the outside.  This thing was a high-groove Dodge.  But I tried to get in that high groove and went just a little too high.  But the guys got us back out there and we were doing 29.4s and 29.3s with a totally damaged Dodge truck.  So, whether it's a good day or bad day, these guys are the best."

ANGIE WILSON (No. 81 TotalRaceBabe.com Dodge Ram)
"It was right before the race when I had something fly into my eye.  Well, I scrubbed it and it scratched my eye really bad.  They've numbed it now, but during the race it just started getting real blurry.  But I played it safe, and when cars came up I got down.  I was just trying to stay out there and finish the race, and that's what we did.  We had a pretty decent run for everything that went wrong.

"That's just bad luck.  I guess not all bad luck happens with the truck and the motor, sometimes I guess it can  happen with the driver as well."

RODNEY SAWYERS (No. 68 R&J Racing Dodge Ram)
"We had a pretty good Dodge out there today. But we had a sway bar adjuster come loose.  From then on out it was just hang on to the rest of the day.  With no sway bar you can't run these things.  We made the most of what we had.  We had a little fire inside the truck.  It was just one of those days that we had to get through."

LANCE HOOPER (No.  Diamond Cut Jeans/Blair5.com Dodge Ram)
"We had a real good Dodge Ram today.  We changed everything before the race, and it was really strong in the beginning.  But we got a bad set of tires and had a long green flag run.  So, we got a lap down there.  We battled, came in and got a pit stop, but the damage was already done.  But we finished.  It was good day and we've learned a little bit going into the next race."