NASCAR NCTS (DAYTONA) - SERIES NOTES

Competitors, officials and fans will remember one of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ most popular champions at Memphis Motorsports Park on Saturday – an occasion Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen has proclaimed “Bobby Hamilton Day.”

Pre-race ceremonies will be carried live on SPEED.

Hamilton, who succumbed earlier this year to cancer, won the 2004 O’Reilly 200. The Nashville area native was the Bud Pole winner in 2000.

“We are very honored that people want to pay their respects to Bobby in such a way,” said Lori Hamilton, the late driver’s widow. “Going to the tracks for the first time without him is hard but paying tribute to Bobby helps us remember the good times we had as a team.”

Longtime friend and fellow competitor Ken Schrader is driving Hamilton’s No. 18 Fastenal Dodge. He’ll be making his first appearance at Memphis Motorsports Park. Schrader has one goal in mind – win.

“It would be a great tribute to him to win this year,” he said. “I’m going to do my best to make sure that happens.”

Sprague ’Jacked Up’ As He Defends At Memphis

Only two O’Reilly 200 winners – Dennis Setzer (No. 75 Spears Manufacturing Chevrolet) and Brandon Whitt – aren’t NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champions.

And, according to defending winner Jack Sprague (No. 60 Con-way Freight Toyota), there are ample reasons why the .75-mile track favors the best the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series has to offer.

“I don’t know that Memphis is any tougher than anywhere else,” he said. “It’s just Memphis is just a little different track.

“One and two is certainly a different corner than three and four. You have to compromise so you can get around both corners well and that’s hard to do.”

Then there’s the track surface itself.

“It’s just a hard track to get ahold of,” the three-time series champion said. “It eats tires. And it gets slippery and you’ve just got to be handling well.”

Sprague adds, “I think it favors drivers that have been there a few times and know what to expect.”

Sprague, the track’s only two-time winner – he visited Victory Lane in 2000 as well – hopes the return to MMP will give Wyler Racing the opportunity to regain some momentum.

The team won the season-opening race at Daytona but has four finishes of 26th or worse in its last six starts. In the process, Sprague has fallen from fifth to eighth in the championship chase.

“We’ve been fast every week except for Texas,” said Sprague, who has been beset by a litany of woes including inopportune flat tires. “I don’t know about turning the season around. I just need the bad luck to quit.

“I don’t necessarily want good luck; I just don’t want the bad.”

Skinner Closing On Bud Pole Record – His Own

Mike Skinner (No. 5 Toyota Tundra Toyota) is on a record-breaking pace to erase a mark the 1995 champion established in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ first season.

Skinner broke his own qualifying mark at The Milwaukee Mile on June 22 to post his seventh Bud Pole in 11 races this season.

Skinner is the single-season record holder with 10 poles over a 20-race schedule.

The California native has 14 races to better that mark. The most recent pole was his 39th.

Skinner had a pole winning bonanza in 2006, taking the No. 1 qualifying spot eight times. But the feat didn’t translate into championship contention.

This year he’s been both fast and consistent as evidenced by his three wins, nine top-five and 11 top-10 finishes – and a 108-point championship lead.

Skinner has finished higher in eight of 11 comparable races, 2007 vs. 2006. He matched his other three finishes at Daytona, Kansas and Texas.

And, by leading all 11 starts, Skinner has amassed 70 bonus points – 30 more than his cloest rival.

Benson Is Season’s Eighth Different Winner

No NASCAR Craftsman Truck competitor had been able to assemble back-to-back victories at The Milwaukee Mile – until Johnny Benson (No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Toyota) sped to the checkered flag in last weekend’s 13th Toyota Tundra Milwaukee 200.

Benson is the eighth different winner in the season’s first 11 races, a testament to the argument that 2007 may be the most competitive season in series history.

Proving that the cream indeed rises to the top, the first four competitors in the point standings are former series champions – Skinner, Ron Hornaday Jr. (No. 2 Camping World Chevrolet), Todd Bodine (No. 30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota) and Travis Kvapil (No. 6 K&N Engineering Ford.

Most Bud Poles In A Season Driver Poles Year 1. Mike Skinner 10 1995 2. Jason Leffler 8 2002 Joe Ruttman 8 2000 Mike Skinner 8 2006 5. Mike Skinner 7 2007 Jack Sprague 7 2001

NCTS Etc.

* Five former winners – Hornaday, Sprague, Setzer, Kvapil and Ted Musgrave (No. 9 Team ASE Toyota) – are among entered drivers for this week’s O’Reilly 200. * No winning competitor at Memphis Motorsports Park has started worse than fifth in the nine previous runnings of the O’Reilly 200. The Bud Pole qualifier has won three times including the last two races. “There’s a premium placed on two qualifying laps because they directly affect the 200 laps of racing,” said Bodine, who started 19th and finished 15th in last year’s race. * More on strategy: “This is a follow-the-leader race track,” said Rick Ren, Hornaday’s crew chief. “It can be very difficult to pass and pit stops are crucial. Even pit selection plays an important role at Memphis.” * Kraig Kinser (No. 47 Ginn Resorts Chevrolet) finished 36th in last year’s O’Reilly 200, liked what he saw of the track and is anxious to improve upon his rookie performance. “It is so unique, and there is really no other place like it,” said the former sprint car star. “There are little bumps all over the track, and it makes for some fun, exciting racing for the drivers and the fans.” * Skinner celebrates his 50th birthday on June 28 and obviously hopes to become the second 50-year-old to win a NASCAR Craftsman Truck race. He would join Joe Ruttman in that “senior” category. Also a year older this week is Benson, whose 44th birthday was observed on June 27. * There has not been a repeat owner winner at Memphis Motorsports Park, however, two – Teresa Earnhardt and Bill Davis – also have won NASCAR Busch Series races at the track. Earnhardt’s two drivers – Hornaday and Martin Truex Jr. – went on to win championships in the same seasons, 1998 and 2005, respectively. * Driver updates: Aric Almirola, whose first NASCAR Craftsman Truck start came at MMP in 2005, will be at the wheel of Billy Ballew’s No. 51 Chevrolet this week. Making his return to the series is Chad Chaffin, a two-time winner who will take the controls of the No. 40 Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet. Chaffin finished fourth in his first Memphis appearance in 2001. * Final word on Memphis’ degree of difficulty: 17 first-time drivers averaged a finish of 24.2 in 2006 – even with rookie Erik Darnell’s (No. 99 Northern Tool + Equipment Ford) ranking of second. * Toyota Regains Winning Ways In Milwaukee

Johnny Benson’s victory in the Toyota Tundra Milwaukee 200 was Toyota’s sixth of the season – the same number the truck maker had won through the first 11 races of 2006.

Bill Davis Racing counts four of the six victories, three by Mike Skinner and Benson’s latest score. Germain Racing’s Todd Bodine and Wyler Racing’s Jack Sprague account for the other two.

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Manufacturers' Championship

Toyota 80 Chevrolet 67 Ford 61 Dodge 34

In The Loop: Sprague, Darnell And Setzer Strong In Memphis

After his first career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win at Kansas Speedway in April, Erik Darnell failed to achieve the momentum he hoped for – until last week.

Darnell finished sixth at Milwaukee, his best finish since the Kansas win. In between, his best finish was 15th at Mansfield.

Now, Darnell returns to a track at which he had great success last season – Memphis Motorsports Park.

Darnell finished second at Memphis last season and racked up impressive stats in his first race at the .75-mile track.

Darnell had a Driver Rating of 118.0, an Average Running Position of 3.881, 13 Fastest Laps Run and ran all 202 laps in the top 15.

Jack Sprague won the Memphis race last year and earned an impressive 144.2 Driver Rating in the process. Sprague has two wins at Memphis, and over the past two years has amassed solid statistics at the Tennessee track.

Sprague has an average Driver Rating of 116.4, an Average Running Position of 7.465, 32 Fastest Laps Run and 329 Laps in the Top 15.

Another driver to watch this weekend could be Dennis Setzer. Setzer won at Memphis in 2001 and has two top-10 finishes in the past two years. He has a Memphis Driver Rating of 117.6, which is best of any driver who has run each of the past two Memphis races. He also has an Average Running Position of 4.918, 36 Fastest Laps Run and, of the 404 laps run at Memphis over the past two years, Setzer has run 402 of them in the top 15.

This Week’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Leaders (Through 11 races of the 25-race season)

* Points leader – Mike Skinner (1,878) * Driver Rating – Mike Skinner (123.5) * Winnings – Mike Skinner ($370,775) * Laps led – Mike Skinner (638) * Victories – Mike Skinner (3) * Bud Poles – Mike Skinner (7) * Top-five finishes – Mike Skinner (9) * Top-10 finishes – Mike Skinner (11) * Raybestos Rookie Leader – Aaron Fike (32 over Tim Sauter) * Races led – Mike Skinner (11) * Weeks in Top 10 – 9 drivers tied with 11

Raybestos Rookie of the Year Standings

The Milwaukee Mile again proved a difficult track for rookies to excel, however, an untimely green flag stop may have cost Tim Sauter (No. 07 Lester Buildings Chevrolet) his first top-10 finish of the campaign. Sauter claimed highest-finishing freshman honors with a 16th-place performance.

Driver Points 1. Aaron Fike 112 2. Tim Sauter 79 3. Willie Allen 79 4. Blake Bjorklund 75 5. Joey Clanton 59 6. Tyler Walker 51 7. Kelly Bires 44 8. Jason White 40 9. Kevin Hamlin 18 10. Casey Kingsland 5 11. Brian Sockwell 1

Up Next: Kentucky Speedway

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series reaches the mid-point of the 2007 season on Saturday, July 14 with the eighth edition of the Built Ford Tough 225 presented by the Greater Cincinnati Ford Dealers.

Two-time series champion Ron Hornaday Jr. won last year’s race – the first winner to qualify outside the top 20. Hornaday’s Kevin Harvick Inc.-owned Chevrolet came from a start of 22nd. That was 15 positions deeper in the field than the next-worst qualifying winner, Dennis Setzer in 2005.

This year’s race carries a Kentucky Speedway record purse of $767,050 with a winner’s share of approximately $83,000 – second highest of the 2007 season.

FAST FACTS

Next Race: O’Reilly 200 The Place: Memphis Motorsports Park The Date: June 30 The Time: 99 p.m. (ET) TV: SPEED, 8:30 p.m. (ET) Track Layout: .75-mile oval Race Purse: $568,734 2006 Winner: Jack Sprague 2006 Pole: Jack Sprague

No. Driver Pts 1 Skinner 1,878 2 Hornaday Jr. 1,770 3 Bodine 1,673 4 Kvapil 1,585 5 Crawford 1,579 6 Musgrave 1,481 7 Benson 1,454 8 Sprague 1,335 9 Fike 1,332 10 Crafton 1,322

Schedule: Friday – Practice 5 p.m. – 6 p.m.; 6 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. (rookies) and 7:45 p.m. – 8:45 p.m. Saturday - Qualifying 5 p.m.