News
Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Craftsman Truck Series Notes
By Aaron Fiedler

Travis Kvapil walked away with his second win of the season this week at the O’Reilly 200 at Memphis Motorsports Park; but not without a little bit of controversy. Late in the race, first place truck and pole sitter Brad Keselowski was taken out by Kvapil in what can best be described as “one of those racing deals;” plus Kvapil’s engine was impounded in post race inspection.

Musgrave Sits It Out

I have to applaud NASCAR this past week for fining Ted Musgrave and suspending him for one race. What he did was unnecessary and not what a veteran driver should be doing to a rookie for a rookie mistake. With that said, NASCAR has a real problem on their hands. Their problem is credibility and the inability to properly give out fines based on the severity of an offense. For instance, tell me how having a jet fuel additive in the fuel system of your car is the same as working the body of a car into a gray area, it wasn’t against the rules, it was a gray area. I know I’m not the first and certainly won’t be the last to talk (or rather complain) about this, but it irritates and saddens me for the sport that this is the way that NASCAR has decided to do business.

Obviously Kurt Busch coming close to hitting one of Tony Stewart’s crew members was a much more serious offense, but yet he was punished less. Now the easy thing to do would be to create a fine schedule. You do this, you’re fined that. It’s pretty simple. The problem with this though, is that if NASCAR does this they have to stick to their guns and will be unable to fine people for “actions detrimental to the sport,” because really, what’s that mean? This isn’t enough for me to stop enjoying the sport, but I wish for NASCAR’s sake that they realize the error of their ways soon and repair the situation that they are in.

Keselowski Shines

Great job to Brad Keselowski who had just a few days to prepare to fill in for Ted Musgrave; his performance went well beyond what anyone could have hoped for. He was able to put the truck on the pole, run upfront and almost win the race. Currently Keselowski doesn’t have a full time ride in any of the series, but if this week was any indication of his potential, any team in the market for a new driver (heck maybe even Germain) would be stupid not to take a serious look at him.

Concord Bound

I wonder what was wrong with Travis Kvapil’s engine that NASCAR felt it necessary to bring it back to the R&D facility in Concord, NC. They say that it may be something, it may be nothing, but they want to test it in a controlled environment. We’ll see what the results yield later on this week, but Jack Sprague just might get his second win of the season.

Ron Hornaday Jr. stays just behind Mike Skinner in points, closing the gap slightly to 108 points. All of Skinner’s 12 finishes this season have come in the top ten and Hornaday’s worst finish is 11th. With 13 races left in the season, it will be interesting to see how things shape up.

The trucks are off next week, but the ARCA RE/MAX Series returns to Berlin Speedway for what is sure to be some good racing, it’s not on TV, but you can check the updates online.

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