By Tommy Praytor, Circle Bar Racing
Photo(s): Circle Bar pit crew servicing their Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford F-150, photo by Circle Bar PR.
With top-three finishes in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ first three visits to Nashville Superspeedway, Rick Crawford was poised to regain that form and build on the momentum from his fourth-place finish in the Power Stroke Diesel 200 at ORP.
Weather in the Nashville area neared the 100-degree mark all weekend, forcing drivers to battle the elements as well as the concrete race track. To contest the track, Crawford and his Circle Bar/Power Stroke Diesel by International team unloaded CB-20, a truck that had only one other race under its belt, coming in last season’s finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. With the Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford F-150 solidly in the top 15 during both practice sessions on Friday, the team left the track with high expectations for race-day activities.
With qualifying scheduled for Saturday afternoon, the Power Stroke Diesel by International team dialed in a few chassis adjustments, but a loose-handling F-150 in qualifying resulted in a disappointing 28th-place qualifying effort. Determined to return the Power Stroke Diesel by International team to its competitive form, crew chief Kevin “Cowboy” Starland was hoping for an early caution flag to back out some of the changes and tighten up their F-150. Unfortunately, the race started with a long green-flag run. Crawford radioed to the pits that he had his hands full with a loose-handling truck, and was about to go a lap down to then-leader Skinner when the race’s first caution emerged at lap 43. Adding wedge to the truck, the Power Stroke Diesel by International crew put Crawford back onto the track in 23rd position, but more importantly, still on the lead lap.
When the race went back to green on lap 47, Crawford began a methodical charge through the field, racing his way into the top 10 by the midpoint of the 150-lap race. A final pit stop on lap 112 — during the event’s fourth of five cautions — saw Crawford’s Power Stroke Diesel by International crew make a trackbar and air pressure adjustment and sent their Ford F-150 back onto the track in the ninth position.
With fresh tires and one of the fastest trucks on the track Crawford advanced his position in the closing laps to bring home a sixth-place effort, and advanced one spot in to fifth in the overall point standings.
RICK CRAWFORD: “Look at that, six Fords in the top-10. These F-Series pickups are built Ford tough. I think all of the guys in the top 10 driving a Ford made some bold moves. Congratulations to Travis (Kvapil) and the Roush-Yates combination under the hood. We’ve got one, too, and it brought us from 28th to sixth. So, it was a good job by the Circle Bar Racing guys and Power Stroke Diesel by International. The truck was fun to drive, always exciting, and I really had a good time tonight in my F-Series pickup. The caution flags fell our way tonight, especially that first one because we were going to get a lap down. We really needed an adjustment on the truck at the start of the race. We made that first adjustment and we were real close. We made that next adjustment and it was right on the money. I think over the last 20 laps — we just didn’t have track position — but we were as good as anybody.”
KEVIN “COWBOY” STARLAND: “We had some to work to do at the start of the race because the truck wasn’t very good after qualifying. It’s a fine line, the balance is, and it didn’t take a whole lot to fix it, but it sure was pretty far off to start with. Our attitude all year long is that we never give up and we don’t quit and we don’t stop fighting, and that’s what we do each and every race.
“It was a total team effort this week between the 14 and 10 trucks, and we ran similar trucks this weekend. There’s no way you can compare notes if you’re not running the same stuff, and we’re to the point where we have basically the same types of trucks going to the track now. It’s taken us time to get there, but it’s the only way we’re going to move forward with the two-truck team is if we’re running the same stuff. You’ll see a lot more of it now.”
The Circle Bar/Power Stroke Diesel by International Team will next be in action when the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series travels to Bristol Motor Speedway for the 16th race of the 2007 season. The O’Reilly 200 is scheduled for Wednesday, August 22 at 8:00 PM EST. For live trackside reports of practice and qualifying go to truckseries.com. Live coverage of the race provided by Speed, MRN and Sirius Radio.