Photo(s): Crawford, Bodine and Benson at the finish line of the Mountain Dew 250 at Talladega Superspeedway. Photo courtesy of Sam Greenwood/Getty Images for NASCAR.
Thirty-seven years in the making Rick Crawford realized a boyhood dream of racing at Talladega Superspeedway in 2006. Last year, Crawford’s lifelong dream came undone in just 52 laps as a cut right rear tire would keep the Alabama native from realizing the second part of the dream, running up front at NASCAR most competitive track. Fast forward to October of 2007 and Crawford’s team with new sponsor, Power Stroke Diesel by International, is at the top of their game, sitting just a few markers out of the top 5 in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series standings. With one Superspeedway win on his resume Crawford was looking to become the first driver to win at both Daytona and Talladega in this years Mountain Dew 250.
Long time crew chief Kevin “Cowboy” Starland knew how important Talladega was to his driver and the team worked overtime to bring the best truck in the Circle Bar stable. The first practice at the high-banked 2.66-mile facility left the team looking for answers. The Circle Bar Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford F-150 was not up to speed and the team found themselves near the bottom of the speed charts. For the second session, Cowboy and the team changed the attitude of the truck and the driver with changes that moved the Circle Bar Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford F-150 into the top 10 on the charts. Guaranteed a spot in the field for the Mountain Dew 250, Crawford would turn the required 2 circuits around Talladega Superspeedway for qualifying with an eye on the draft and not the single car run. The Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford F-150 posted the 22nd fastest time but qualifying did not show how good the team really was.
With the drop of the green flag Crawford was a man on the move, taking the field 3 wide on the first corner of the first lap. By the end of the first circuit Crawford had moved from 22nd to 13th, lap 4–10th, 5–9th, 6–8th. With the first caution Cowboy was already working a fuel strategy for the end of the race and called the Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford F-150 to pit road for a gas only stop. Back under green Crawford was on the march again working his way all the way up to 4th by lap 30. While Crawford had waited the longest for his shot at Talladega, he was not the only Mobile, Alabama native in the field. Cale Gale was making his first start at Talladega and in the first third of the race the Mobile natives drafted up and down the top 10 together, until the field sorted out into a single file line at the front, with Crawford in the 4th spot at the halfway point. Crawford was ready to make a green flag stop when a wreck behind him put the caution flag out. Crawford made the hard right turn to stay on the racetrack and pit under caution a lap or 2 later. With the field turning caution laps the Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford F-150 was dangerously low on fuel and by the time Crawford wheeled his F-150 to pit road he was out of gas. The team went to work with 4 fresh Goodyears and Gasman Gene “Gator” Morris packed the F-150 extra full of Sunoco fuel. The coast into the pit stall and restart would cost the team 3 spots on pit road and the Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford F-150 would restart 9th. The stop was the last planned stop of the day and the fuel strategy Cowboy started in the first 20 laps was now paying dividends. With less than 40 laps to go Crawford and his Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford F-150 were on a mission. Spotter Calvin Humphries was now working over time as Crawford was 2 and 3 wide on his way to the front, lap 62–6th, lap 63–5th and by lap 66 up to 3rd. A caution on lap 71 would bunch the field back together. On the restart, the Mobile native made a bold 3 wide move to the outside and took the lead coming off of turn 2. The partisan Alabama crowd was on it’s feet rooting for their Alabama driver in the top spot. Crawford held the lead for a short time before a gang of Toyota’s shuffled the Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford F-150 back to 5th. On lap 74 Jack Sprague cut a tire leading the field while Crawford was in 3rd. Crawford missed the wreck but lost a couple of spots back to 5th avoiding the carnage. Back under green Crawford was battling 3–4 and 5 wide to get back to the front and had moved up to 2nd. With less than 10 to go the final caution of the day would set up a 2-lap shootout to settle the Mountain Dew 250. Coming to the green Crawford looked in the rear view mirror and there were no friends in sight. In order to complete a pass and get in line in front of the leader, Todd Bodine, Crawford would need help and his F-150 was the only American made truck in a sea of Toyota’s. Drafting help or not, riding in line for 2nd was not an option. As the field rumbled to the green flag, 80,000 plus Alabama faithful came to their feet and would stay there for the rest of the race to cheer on one of their own. Crawford knew he would have to time a last minute move that would get his Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford F-150 pass the nose of Bodine’s at the checkered flag. Crawford held 2nd taking the white flag. Down into turn 3 Crawford started to back pedal a little to give himself some room to make a run on Bodine down the long front stretch. Off of turn 4, the Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford F-150 had a full head of steam and Crawford made his move to the outside in the tri-oval. While Crawford went high, the 3rd place truck of Johnny Benson dove low and the trio crossed the finish line 3 wide. At the stripe Bodine edged the 14 truck by 14 one thousands of a second, for the closest finish on a superspeedway in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series history.
Crew Chief Kevin “Cowboy” Starland: “We started out the weekend not very good but we kept digging like we always do. The guys worked their butts off, we all know how important this place is to Rick. I wish we had a little help there at the end, I thought he was going to pull it off by himself but we just couldn’t get any help. I’m really proud of our team.”
Rick Crawford: “Our Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford F-150 was home alone in the top five today with that foreign brand those other guys in the top five were driving. We made some bold moves today, a bold move there at the end to try to make it exciting for the fans here in my home state of Alabama. I watched Red Farmer last night still kick ass at the Talladega short track and I was very proud of Red Farmer last night. He won his heat race to get in the show and anytime you win over there it’s a win. Red has over 1,000 feature wins, but 75 years old and can still get the job done – part of the Alabama Gang – my hat’s off to him. Somebody asked me, ‘When you get to 75 are you gonna be racing like Red?’ I said, ‘Nope.’ There ain’t but one Red Farmer and I watched him last night. He’s a great gentleman. In the late seventies Red Farmer gave a kid from Mobile a chance and I’ll always remember that. All in all it was a fun day. We gave the fans an exciting race the last 600 feet. A Talladega win would have been great for Rick Crawford being from Alabama and this being my home state and the fans. They sell a ticket and they sell the whole seat, but I know at the end they were standing up and they weren’t using their ticket. The back straightaway grandstands were nearly full today and just being at this showplace in my home state, is awesome. Todd is a great racer. We met by accident the last month or so and he deserved to win today and I just came up a little short. I wish I was in Victory Lane and it would be one party in Sweet Home Alabama, but this is Talladega and there’s gonna be a party anyway.”
The Circle Bar/Power Stroke Diesel by International Team will be in action when the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series holds round 21 of the 2007 season in the Kroger 200 at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday October 20th at 3:00 PM EST. For live trackside reports of practice and qualifying go to truckseries.com. Live coverage of the race provided by MRN and Sirius Radio, tape delay race coverage on Speed at 8:00 PM.
www.circlebarracing.com or www.rickcrawford.com