Ford ORP Truck Race -- Crawford Takes the Checkered Flag
FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES Power Stroke 200 Qualifying (Truck), Page 1 August 4, 2006 O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis David Ragan, driver of the No. 6 Ford F-150, won his first career Craftsman Truck Series pole in qualifying for tonight's Power Stroke Diesel 200 at O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis. Ragan, who shares driving duties with Mark Martin behind the wheel of the No. 6 Ford, captured the pole in his 21st career truck series start with a time of 22.484 seconds and an average speed of 109.838 mph. DAVID RAGAN-6-Scotts Ford F-150 (Qualified 1st) - DID YOU KNOW YOU HAD A POLE-WINNING TRUCK GOING INTO QUALIFYING? "Going in, I thought we could run a (22).60, which would have put us there in the top 10. We made some adjustments and had real good grip coming up off, and I was just able to get in the throttle and it drove pretty good. It was just a good, solid lap. I knew we could be up in the top five, but, hey, that's the fastest now, and I want to grab a good top-five finish and maybe even a win for these guys." IS THIS THE PROGRESSION YOU EXPECTED, TO GRAB YOUR FIRST POLE BEFORE YOU GET YOUR FIRST WIN? "I guess that's the way things are supposed to go. It's cool just to have a good race truck. We've had some good trucks the last few weeks, and that really does make it a lot easier on myself. Everyone works hard from the fab shop to the guys at the engine shop, so it's really fun to drive a Roush Racing Ford F-150. To be here in Indy, a big, important weekend, our cars and trucks, we could sweep the whole weekend, so that would be pretty exciting." YOU BATTLED BACK FROM SOME ADVERSITY AT THE START OF THE SEASON TO WIN YOUR FIRST POLE. IS YOUR CONFIDENCE LEVEL AT AN ALL-TIME HIGH RIGHT NOW? "I think so, other than maybe a couple of ARCA wins last year. This is one of the top three series of NASCAR, and it's cool to be a part of, but I'm with the best team. That's what is expected, and to be with the best team in NASCAR, we should be up front, so I feel like I'm just doing my job and hopefully everything else will take care of itself." FIVE POLE-WINNERS HAVE GONE ON TO CAPTURE THE CHECKERED FLAG AT THE END OF THE NIGHT. DO YOU FEEL THAT YOU A TRUCK CAPABLE OF WINNING TONIGHT? "Our main goal is to win this owner's championship for Jack Roush, Scotts and Ford, and I just want to do my part to make it close, so Mark (Martin) can wrap up the deal at the end of the year. I just want to come out of here with another good finish. A good top-five would be great, and if we're in contention at the end, I'm going to go for the win. That's what everybody likes to do and that's what everybody wants to do, and we're just going to have a good, safe race and run all of the laps and have a flawless race." FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES Power Stroke Diesel 200 (Truck), Page 1 August 4, 2006 O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis CRAWFORD WINS FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 2006 * Rick Crawford took the checkered flag for the fifth time in his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career with tonight's victory. His previous best at ORP was a pair of sixth-place finishes in 2001 and '05. * Ford has now won 75 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races all time, and five in 2006. * Ford's win tonight is its fourth truck series victory at ORP (Cook, Biffle Edwards). * The last Ford truck series triumph at ORP occurred when Carl Edwards won this event in 2003. RICK CRAWFORD-14-Circle Bar Truck Corral Ford F-150 (Finished 1st) - "I'll tell you what, I've been listening to Carl Edwards after he wins some races - and I'm not going to do a back flip - but when Carl Edwards says, 'Hey, this was a blast,' I know exactly what he means right now. Congratulations to Dennis and Ron or running a good race behind me. This Circle Bar Truck Corral race did a great job, and I couldn't ask for more. Ford Motor Co. and the Ford F-150, super. Do you know what this race is for? This race is for everybody that's turned a wrench or given Rick Crawford a dollar. I appreciate it." THAT WAS ONE TOUGH FORD THE WHOLE RACE. "It sure was. Built Ford tough, this race team is. We came on strong. Our short-track program has been lacking a little bit. Kevin Starland (crew chief) and the whole Circle Bar Truck Corral race team, Ford F-Series pickup, we've done some testing. We've got an engineer on board, a shock specialized, and Roush-Yates under the hood made it complete tonight. We did our homework. Work smart and not hard." YOUR TRUCK WAS STRONG ON THE RESTARTS. DID YOU HAVE ANY WORRIES AT THE END? "Well, it was on the short restarts and we got them, and that played in our favor. My buddy Ron was working on my other buddy Dennis on that last restart, and I said if I can keep them side-by-side then I've got it licked; we're in good shape." TERRY COOK-10-Ford Power Stroke Diesel by Int'l F-150 (Finished 6th) - YOU ALWAYS COME TO ORP LOOKING TO RETURN TO VICTORY LANE. DID YOU HAVE A TRUCK CAPABLE OF THAT TONIGHT? "We did at the end. The Ford Power Stroke Diesel by Int'l truck had been great all day long and it was way too loose in the race. Dennis Connor (crew chief) made a great call there late in the race to disconnect the rear sway bar and brought this truck to life. I've got to credit him for making another great call and ultimately getting us a good day. It didn't look too good there for a while, and we were all the way back outside the top 20 on the outside looking in, and that last adjustment was what we needed. From then on, it was just track position. We had a truck that was as fast as the race leader, but we just didn't have track position. To come out of here sixth, with about 75 to go we were looking for about a 20th-place finish, so to come out of here with a sixth, we're pretty pleased with that." FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES Power Stroke Diesel 200 (Truck), Page 2 August 4, 2006 O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis DAVID RAGAN-6-Scotts Ford F-150 (Finished 9th) - "I think we had the truck beat there for a little while. We just got an adjustment off that first adjustment. That set of tires was a little off and we freed it up a little bit, and that's just not what the truck wanted. It's still good to come out of here with a top-10. It was a good points night, we got to lead some laps and we're going to Nashville, which is a good track for us. It's just a bummer. I really think we should have finished up there in the top two or three. Crawford had a good truck, but we could have raced him hard, but everyone on the Scotts Miracle-Gro Ford F-150 did an awesome job, and I'm pleased to be racing with them." THERE WAS A LOT OF GREEN-FLAG RACING THROUGHOUT THE EVENT TONIGHT. "The green-flag racing halfway through hurt me because that was when we were worse. I wish we would have run the first 100 laps green; we were the best. We made an adjustment and a different set of tires wasn't what we needed. It was still a good day, but it's a good feeling when you can be disappointed with eighth." ERIK DARNELL-6-FinishMaster Ford F-150 (Finished 10th, Top Rookie) - "Especially with the way we ran at Memphis, I figured we'd have a real good truck here. It was the same one we had at Memphis, but our FinishMaster F-50 wasn't that great tonight. We were decent on a long run, but we couldn't run with the guys up front; they were fast. We made a gamble there to pit early and stay out and keep the track position because we knew we wouldn't be able to keep up with those guys on fresh tires. It was going be harder to pass all of them than to hold them off. That's what we did and we ended up with a top-10. It wasn't great, but we'll take it and go to Nashville." BOBBY EAST-21-State Fair Corn Dogs/Edy's Dibs Ford F-150 (Finished 11th) - "I think we're pretty happy with that. I'm happy with it, especially since we've had a rough two months. Everybody has needed this because everybody is doing the right things, but we just haven't had stuff go our way. We're happy with this. I would have liked to have run better, and this is my hometown. I've got some friends in the stands, but we'll take it." WAS THERE A DIFFERENT ATMOSPHERE HERE FOR A TRUCK RACE COMPARED TO A USAC RACE? "Yeah, there is a different atmosphere. A couple of USAC races they would fill it up quite a bit, but nothing like this. Everybody is more into it and NASCAR fans are the greatest fans in the world; they're just so loyal to the drivers. It's real cool and anytime you come to these short tracks and you pack the house like this and have a real good trace, it's just cool." MICHEL JOURDAIN, JR.-50-Roush Racing Ford F-150 (Finished 19th) - "I think we got the truck a little better and I just learned a lot during the race. This is really my first short track racing one of these trucks. Bristol to me is a superspeedway, and this is my other half-mile in these things. I feel like I learned a lot and that's good. The guys did a great job with good pit stops and we're getting better." WAS THERE MORE CONTACT BETWEEN TRUCKS ON A SHORT TRACK? "A little bit, but less than what I expected. You've go to be really aggressive, but it was good experience." MARCOS AMBROSE-20-Team Australia/Aussie Vineyards Ford F-150 (Finished 22nd) - "We had a 200-lap race and I think we did about 199 pit stops. I guess it's a bit of me learning what I need out there. I just didn't treat it well enough in practices. I didn't know what I needed for the race. When the night comes, the track is very different and we tuned on it and tuned on it and got it pretty good at the end. I think we were 15th or 16th and catching them, but the 4 was pretty wild out there. He got into it with the 1, and I got a bit of a tank slap going down the frontstretch and then 1 lost it and I had nowhere to go." -30-