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NASCAR Trucks: Joe Ruttman takes on the challenges of Evergreen Speedway

31 May 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

Good But Not Great: When the 2000 season began, Joe Ruttman and the Dana team discussed where they needed to improve this year and where they thought they would be ok. The team told Ruttman that the one place that they needed help from him was at Phoenix. Well, Ruttman drove to victory there.

Then Ruttman told the team that he had not been very successful at Bakersfield or Monroe. At Bakersfield, the team made a gutsy call that got Ruttman the lead with under 10 laps to go. Unfortunately though, another truck crashed Ruttman out of the race while he was leading, and the team finished 16th.

This weekend the Dana team enters Evergreen Speedway with the same promise to Ruttman. They said they would try and help him get a solid finish at the little half-mile track in Northern Washington. It should not be as difficult as one might think.

Ruttman says that he has struggled at the track but his finishes are fairly solid. He has one top five and three top 10's in four starts. In fact, the last time Ruttman raced at Evergreen (1998), he was on the pole. So the team's hopes are very high that Ruttman can get to the front.

Fred Wanke In For a Week: Fred Wanke, who resigned from Petty Enterprises last week, will be at Evergreen Speedway in an advisory role with the Dana team and the Bobby Hamilton Racing No. 4 team. This is only a one-race deal for Wanke and the Dana Team because after the Evergreen race, Danny Gill will return from his three-race suspension. Dana Ebersole will serve as crew chief for Evergreen.

Testing: On Thursday May 25th, Joe Ruttman and the Dana team tested at the Montgomery Speedway in Montgomery, Alabama. The team was trying to shake down the truck for Evergreen Speedway. They also had the No. 4 team there working on other set ups.

Ruttman's Quotes for Evergreen Speedway

"I know my record is pretty good at Monroe, but I have struggled there in the past. I just never do as good as I think I should for what ever reason."

"We had a good test last week and that should help us. We needed to take the truck somewhere and just shake it down and get a feel for it. We need a good run at Monroe and we think we have everything we need to do that."

"We had a good little break, but now it's time for the long haul as they say. This run of eight races in as many weeks is the hardest part of the year. It will separate the contenders from the pretenders as they say. I just hope we're up for it."

Text provided by David Pepper

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