GM Racing Chevrolet Team Silverado California Pre-Race Notes and Quotes

Chevrolet Team Silverado Ready for California Speedway
Four Team Drivers Prepared to  Build on Previous Success at the Fontana CA 
Track 

FONTANA, CA February 22, 2005- Chevrolet Team Silverado  drivers Dennis Setzer, Jack Sprague, 
David Starr and Ron Hornaday have  experienced great success in previous 
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) races  at California Speedway.  Sprague,  
driver of the No. 16 Chevy Trucks Silverado, has two wins (1998 and 1999), a  
fourth place finish in 2000 and third place in 2004 for a total of four top-five  
finishes in six starts at the two-mile oval located in Fontana CA.  

Setzer, No. 46  Chevrolet Silverado driver, has two top-five and four top-10 
runs in his seven  starts.  Starr captured the 2002  pole in his No. 75 Spears 
Manufacturing Silverado and has three top-five  finishes in his seven starts. 
Hornaday, tapped in  2005 to drive the No. 6 GM Goodwrench Silverado, has 
three starts, which have  resulted in one top-five, and three top-10 finishes. 
While Chevrolet has  had a strong presence in each of the eight previous NCTS 
Fontana events, a trip  to victory lane has been elusive for the Bowtie 
pickup truck brigade in recent  years.  With the level of NCTS  competition at an 
all-time high, Team Silverado knows there is room for  improvement and has done 
its homework.   
“We tested  extensively earlier this year at Fontana,�?? said Dayne 
Pierantoni, program  manager for Chevrolet Team Silverado in the NCTS.  “We focused 
specifically on our aero  package and engine program during the two-day test in 
late January.  I think we proved at Daytona that we  were strong and had made 
significant improvements to our Silverado trucks both  in the ability to move 
through the air with a minimum of drag as well as greater  horsepower to take us 
to the front of the field.  As sometimes happens in a race at  Daytona, 
several multi-truck incidents prohibited us from showing our strength  at the end 
of the race. 
“While the draft  isn’t nearly as critical at California compared to 
Daytona, it is important to  have the aero on the trucks as efficient as possible 
because of the long  backstretch and fast cornering speeds at Fontana.  We were 
very satisfied with what we  learned at the test and are looking for positive 
results this  weekend.�?? 
The American Racing  Wheels 200 is race the second event on the 25-race 2005 
NCTS schedule.  Racing for under the lights at  California Speedway for the 
first time, the 100-lap, 200-mile event will take  the green flag at 6:15 p.m. 
on Friday, February 25 with live flag-to-flag  television coverage provided by 
SPEED.  The race can also be heard on MRN Radio as well as XM Satellite  
Radio. 
General  Motors Corp. , the world's largest vehicle manufacturer, 
employs about  325,000 people globally. Founded in 1908, GM has been the global 
automotive  sales leader since 1931. GM today has manufacturing operations in 
32 countries  and its vehicles are sold in 192 countries. In 2003, GM sold 
nearly 8.6 million  cars and trucks, about 15 percent of the global vehicle 
market. GM's global  headquarters is at the GM Renaissance Center in Detroit. More 
 information on GM and its products can be found on the company’s consumer  
website at _www.gm.com_ (http://www.gm.com/) . 

DRIVER:  DENNIS  SETZER 
TEAM: No. 46 Morgan-Dollar  Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado 

Date  of Birth: February 27, 1960                                    
Hometown:  Newton, NC  
ON  RACING AT CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY: ““We  came out here in late January and 
tested our #46 Silverado and felt pretty good  when we packed up and headed 
back to North Carolina.  This place has been good to us over the  past few years, 
but we know that the competition has gotten better and better,  especially at 
a tough two-mile facility like this.  You have to have a strong motor program 
 to run good here and we feel like the RCR motors we have under the hood of 
our  Chevrolet will give us the advantage we need to get to victory lane here 
at this  type of speedway.�??   
ON  DAYTONA FINISH: Due  to an engine change following qualifying, Setzer 
dropped to the back of the  field following the parade laps prior to the start of 
Friday night’s race after  qualifying second.  He was involved  in a 
multi-truck incident on lap 96 and again on lap 99 after running in the  front of the 
field the majority of the race. 
"I  am really disappointed, but this is what happens sometimes at Daytona.  
We  really had a great truck.  I don't  know how many times we drove from the 
back to the front, but our little  Silverado was pretty strong.  On the  first 
deal there with the No. 30 truck, someone got into the back of me and I  got 
into him.  I think he backed off when I got into him and we both  spun.   Our 
Silverado was still good enough to finish well in this  race after going 
through the grass there.  (Crew Chief) Eric Phillips and I  decided not to gamble 
and we came in and changed tires in case we picked up some  debris. Then there 
was the deal there at the end, I felt that I had cleared most  of the wrecked 
trucks, but there was a lot of smoke.  I saw a truck in the  middle of the 
track at the last minute and tried to get slowed up, but I got hit  again in the 
back and we hit the four cars a ton.  I am glad Casey (Atwood)  is all right, 
because it was a hard hit.  My truck is torn up pretty bad  and I know his was 
too.  It’s a shame because this has been a really good  truck at this place 
over the past two years.  We just haven't gotten  the finishes that the truck or 
the team is capable of at this  track." 
DRIVER: JACK SPRAGUE 
TEAM:  No. 16 Xpress Motorsports Chevy Trucks  Silverado 
Date  of Birth: August 8, 1964  Hometown: Spring Lake,  MI 
ON  DAYTONA FINISH: Sprague  was involved in an eight-truck incident as the 
white flag flew on the 100-lap  race - “Man,  I tell ya, that was the smartest 
race we have ever run.  We just rode around in our Chevy Trucks  Silverado all 
night in the back with a group of trucks I knew we could draft  well with 
when it was time to go to the front.  We were all set to get the best finish  we’
ve ever had at Daytona.  Chris  (Showalter, crew chief) and this entire Chevy 
Trucks crew worked so hard and we  had the best truck a driver could ask for 
here.  Man I hate it for everyone on our team  and all the people at Chevrolet 
that give us such great support for this  program.  We were headed to the  
front and had something for them there at the end.�?? 
ON RACING AT CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY: "Since the first NCTS race at California 
Speedway, I  have loved that track.  I have had pretty good luck there.  It is a 
 fun track to race.  It is one of those places that we could come race more  
than once a season and I would be happy!  It is a great track and the  races 
are always good for the fans. 
"Having back to back races this year rather than such a gap as last year  is 
better for everyone.  It is much easier to get a momentum going and  keep it 
going when the races are closer together." 
DRIVER: DAVID STARR 
TEAM:  No. 75 Spears Manufacturing  Silverado 
Date  of Birth:  October 11, 1967                                     
Hometown:  Houston, TX 
ON  RACING AT CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY: “I’m really  looking forward to getting 
to Fontana and California Speedway.  It will be  fun racing back to back 
weekends in the Silverado. In the NASCAR Craftsman Truck  Series over the past two 
or three years we had to wait after Daytona a month to  five weeks to race 
again.  Now we go right from Daytona out west where the  racing is different.  
When we go out to California we can race the truck  hard from the time they throw 
the green until they drop the checkered.  We  tested there not to long ago 
and we had the right truck in the Spears  Manufacturing Chevrolet Silverado.�?? 
“We’ve had a  lot of success over the past few years in Fontana.  This year I
’d like to  win the race for Spears Manufacturing.  Wayne & Connie Spears 
home is  there in California and we’ve come close but I think it would be great 
to win  the race for them this year.�??   
ON DAYTONA  FINISH: “Dave  McCarty and the guys did a great job getting our 
race truck up front.  We  were working real hard there at the end with my 
teammate Dennis Setzer when it  started getting crazy up front with less then ten 
laps to go.  We wanted to  hold on to the fifth place spot when the caution 
came out for another  accident.  I knew I was a sitting duck because 
green/white/checkers breed  further cautions.  With a few laps to go there was a crash 
right up front  and I had no place to go.�??  
DRIVER:  RON  HORNADAY                            
TEAM:  No. 6 Kevin Harvick, Inc. GM Goodwrench  Silverado 
Date  of Birth: June 20, 1958                                         
Hometown: Palmdale, CA 
ON DAYTONA FINISH: Hornaday was  involved in a multi-truck incident on lap 
64.  The crew made repairs and Hornaday  returned to competition. “I can’t wait 
 to get back on the race track.  Last  week we ran so well and we were having 
so much fun, I hate that we were not  competitive at the end. We learned a 
lot. We have a good truck, and a team that  wants to win a championship. We are 
looking to build on our early race success  from last week.�?? 
ON CALIFORNIA  RACE: ““We are  ready to get to California to prove what we 
can do.  We have put that (Daytona) in the past  and are looking at the big 
picture. The team has been working hard to have us  prepared for this race. We 
are looking to gain positions in the points and  taking the Chevrolet Silverado 
to victory lane. 
“I really  enjoy going to California Speedway because it is one of my home 
tracks. I would  love to win in front of my home crowd. That would be very 
special to me. I have  a big fan base in the Los Angeles area and I can’t think of 
a more rewarding  victory than to get it in front of them. 
“When you are  racing at Fontana there is a certain strategy that I like to 
use which I will  not completely explain. The corners are long so if you have a 
big down-force you  can keep speeds up and use that RCR horsepower to pull 
away down the straights.  That is about all the info that I would like to share.�??
 
WALLY ROGERS  CREW CHIEF ON CALIFORNIA RACE: “I think that  we all saw how 
proficient this team is when they were in a crunch. I was proud  of the guys, 
but now we have to figure out how to stay out of trouble on the  track. Last 
Friday night showed that we are a team that you are going to have to  pay 
attention to, and we plan on having an effective race and move up some spots  in the 
points.�?? 
DRIVER:  REGAN SMITH                               
TEAM:  No. 19 Xpress Motorsports  Silverado 
Date of  Birth:  September 23, 1983                              Hometown: 
Cato, NY 
ON DAYTONA  FINISH: Smith  was involved in a multi-truck incident on lap 48 
with damage too severe to  return to competition. “We had an  awesome truck.  
My No. 19 Silverado was so stout.  We were able to run  up front with the 
leaders without any problems.  We draft really  well.  We lost a lap on that yellow 
but weren't pushing too hard to get our  lap back because you are pretty sure 
there are going to be more cautions and we  should have been able to get back 
on the lead lap without any problems. There  was a group of us that were in 
that lap down bunch but I am not sure exactly  what happened but the track just 
got blocked with wrecking trucks and I had no  where to go.  So here we are 
in the garage. 
ON CALIFORNIA  RACE: “I am  looking forward to shaking off Daytona and going 
to California this  weekend.  I haven’t run the track  before so I am going to 
have to depend on my teammate (Jack Sprague) to give me  pointers on how to 
race a NASCAR Craftsman truck at this place.  I ran a Busch car here once but 
those  cars drive so differently than a truck, there isn’t much to  compare. 
“We really want to have a good run in our Silverado.  We need a sponsor for 
our Xpress  Motorsports No. 19 team and are hoping that although the race didn’
t end as we  wanted, we showed at Daytona we are a solid team capable of 
running up  front.  We want to do the same at  Fontana with a really solid finish.�?? 
DRIVER: KERRY  EARNHARDT 
TEAM:  No. 15 Billy Ballew Motorsports Kraft  Foods/Stater Bros. Silverado 
Date  of Birth:  December 8, 1969                                 Hometown: 
Kannapolis, NC 
ON  DAYTONA FINISH:  After winning his first career NASCAR  pole, Earnhardt 
was involved in a multi-truck incident on lap 47 and was unable  to continue.  “
Obviously, the way things  ended at Daytona would have been nicer if we could 
have finished the race. I  had a good run going there. I was just trying to 
stay out of trouble up there  and just stay in the lead pack, but for some 
reason ended up running out of gas.  That put us two laps down and we got one lap 
back before that caution and came  in and got fuel and everything. We were 
just trying to get our lap back and  having to race harder than we wanted to at 
the beginning of the race. We just  got the air taken off of our rear spoiler 
and around I went.�??  
ON CALIFORINA  RACE: “I know one thing, we have  a great team here at Billy 
Ballew Motorsports and Ritchie (Wauters, crew chief)  and the team are all 
working together just great. This weekend at California  Speedway, I’m hoping we 
can show just what we’re made of with a great  finish. The truck we  have this 
weekend led a bunch of laps at California last year before a cut tire  put 
them in the wall. It was brand new then and now it’s been fixed up to run  even 
better. We don’t have a sponsor after this race, but we’re hoping a good  
finish will show someone out there we’re worth the investment. This team is  going 
places and it’d be a shame not to have anyone else along for the  ride. We’
re going to  try and duplicate our pole from last week in Daytona and then 
finish the race  with a great showing. California is a big, fast track and that’s 
the way I like  to race.�?? 
RITCHIE WAUTERS, CREW CHIEF  ON CALIFORNIA RACE:  “We’re heading back to  
California with the same truck we had out there last year. We qualified fourth  
and took the lead on lap three. From there, we led 45 of the first 55 laps  
before we cut a right front tire and went scraping along the wall. So, with that 
 in mind and knowing what we had last year, we’re looking forward to heading 
back  out west. This truck (chassis 15) was brand new last year and we just 
fixed the  right rail, put on a new front clip and new tail. I talked to some of 
the  Chevrolet Silverado truck teams that tested in California and we have 
pretty  much the same things on ours, too. Last year’s winner was one of the few 
trucks  that could keep up with ours once we got going and out in front. 
California is a big, fast  track and having a Dale Earnhardt, Inc. engine helps us 
out, a lot. The thing I  like about California is that you’re not dependant 
on the draft to be able and  pass other trucks. You can pass by yourself and 
make things happen and that’s  what we’re going to do, too. We’ll get Kerry 
comfortable  in the truck out there and what we have to do now is start finishing 
races. We  didn’t finish the way we wanted in Daytona (35th), but we 
qualified  on the pole and that says something right there about this team and driver. 
This  Billy Ballew Motorsports team works hard to be the best and I know we 
can do  that with everyone we have who is part of this team.�?? 
DRIVER:  KELLY  SUTTON 
TEAM:  No. 02 Team  Copaxone Silverado 
Date  of Birth:  September 24, 1971                              Hometown: 
Crownsville, MD 
ON CALIFORNIA RACE: "After an awesome run at Daytona, we are  looking forward 
to racing at California. I really like this track. We were  running great 
last year until the truck lost the air on the back end coming out  of four right 
at the end of the race. That was a heartbreaker, but I know we can  run well 
there again. I think we are going to unload strong, and get better as  the day 
goes on. The team has worked so hard for so long, and now we are  starting to 
see the results on the track. I hope this will attract the attention  of some 
associate sponsors, so we can continue to improve and get the 02 Chevy  
Silverado racing up front." 
DRIVER:  MATT CRAFTON 
TEAM:  No. 88 ThorSport Racing Menards  Silverado 
Date of Birth:  June 11, 1976                                        
Hometown: Tulare, CA
ON FINISH AT  DAYTONA: After  running near the front of the field most of the 
race, Crafton was involved in  the multi-truck incident on lap 99."I  was 
disappointed to run Daytona again and not finish, that makes five tries and  no 
finish there. Maybe next time will be better. The truck was awesome all  night; 
it was good enough to be running third on the white flag lap. I am still  not 
sure what happened to us, I think it just snapped on me. I have watched the  
tape a few times and am still confused. Oh well, that’s Daytona for you.�??   
ON  BEING BACK WITH THORSPORT RACING:  “I have  known most of my guys since I 
started in the truck series, I worked with most of  them before. Its just 
like old times.�??    
ON  RACING AT HOME IN CALIFORNIA:  “I am excited to Fontana. Its not really 
my home track, Mesa Marin is, but this  close enough. All of my friends and 
family will be there to cheer me on.   Can't wait to get out there and see how 
things go.�?? 
DRIVER:  TRACY  HINES 
TEAM:  No. 13 ThorSport Racing  Silverado 
Date  of Birth:  May 1, 1972                                           
Hometown:  New Castle,  IN 
ON  CALIFORNIA RACE:  “We are sure  hoping for a better run this year.  We 
didn't get any laps on the track last year because we blew up before  practice 
and then the rear end broke before we took a lap in the race.  My ThorSport 
team got it fixed and we  went and got only 10 laps under out belt and then a 
spinning truck hit us and  ended our day.  What little I was on  the track, I 
really liked it!  We  will have a temporary crew chief this weekend, Kevin Cram, 
but he is a good  one.  He has a ton of NASCAR  Craftsman Truck Series 
experience. We were sorry to see Lance (Hooper) move on  because we were just getting 
our feet on the ground as a team but I understand  in racing you have to take 
an opportunity that feels right when  presented. 
ON  FINISH AT DAYTONA: After  running near the front of the field most of the 
race, Hines had a tire blow with  ten laps to go damaging the front end 
beyond repair. “Our ThorSport Silverado was awesome Friday  night.  We have been 
good all  week.  We were running smart,  staying in sight of the leaders and 
really felt like we were a strong contender  for the win.  I am so disappointed  
for my guys, they worked so hard.  But we made a statement that this team is 
going to be a solid runner all  season.  There was just nothing I  could do 
when the tire let go. But I feel like it was a morale booster for us  and a 
momentum builder for California.  We just need to get some good solid runs under 
our  belt.�?? 
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