S.M.'s Camping World Update, Issue No. 29

Horn FanFeb 25, 2009

Rumors

Germain Racing and Todd Bodine, without sponsorship, will switch to a race to race decision whether or not they'll run after the Atlanta race on March 7.

More amazingly their win at Daytona. translated into no phone calls. The team was able to make it to Fontana after winning the race and to the Atlanta race due to Geico being on the No. 30 as sponsor at Fontana.

TOP NEWS

Bleacher Report1w

Bleacher Report1w

With Jayson Tatum sidelined, Celtics' fourth-quarter comeback falls short in Game 7 loss to 76ers

Bleacher Report1w

Ashamed to see, since they have a team that's fully capable of competing for the 2009 Championship.

Kevin Harvick Inc. Updates

The first is that it looks like Ricky Carmichael will be racing in the Atlanta race on March 7. He is scheduled to run in 14 races, but due to his contract he can only run with Monster Energy Drink as sponsor on the No. 4. It looks like Kevin & Delana Harvick will be running the Goat out of pocket at Atlanta and will have Monster Energy Drink on the truck.

The second update is that KHI and Georgia Boot have extended their partnership in 2009 continuing as the official boot sponsor for the team.

They'll be an associate sponsor on Ron Hornaday's No. 33 Silverado and be his primary sponsor for the August 19 race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Stringer Motorsports has released the rest of Gabi's DiCarlo's 2009 schedule and it's as follows: Atlanta Motor Speedway, March 7; Martinsville Speedway, March 28; Milwaukee Mile, June 9; Iowa Speedway, Sept. 5; New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Sept. 19; and Phoenix International Raceway, Sept. 19.

Hornaday's Corner

Horn headed home to race on his home track and he finished sixth at Fontana.

"I don't think the fans got their money out of that race," said a frustrated Hornaday after the race. "It was a pretty boring race for the fans. The No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet didn't handle very well, we struggled with not being in the race track all day, but we'll take a top 10 out of it and go on. We just have to figure out how to strategize better, and we are going to have to take a few more risks. It is just a tough call. It's the second race with these new rules and we'll just have to sit down with NASCAR and see what we can do to make this thing a little better".

Horn qualified well at Fontana, starting in fourth and did get as high as second. But the handle in his truck went away after suffering lack of grip in both the front and rear. The 33 would be slipping and sliding around the track.

On the first caution on Lap 25, Horn's crew would put on new tires with an air pressure adjustment on Lap 26.

Then the team came back for fuel, put tape on the nose and restarted in sixth.

Following the adjustments, Horn's truck worked best when he sailed through the middle of the corners and drifted to the high side.

On the second caution, on lap 44, KHI teammates Horn and the Goat, were running fourth and fifth respectively.

On the pit stop, the 33 crew would only make a fuel stop and make a track bar adjustment—hoping to conserve track position and save a set of tires for the end of the race.

At the halfway point, Horn was sitting in fourth, but the race took on a green flag look and with 11 laps to go the team made a finally pit stop.

Due to the long green flag run, the crew would forgo putting on tires and took six gallons of fuel.

Horn came out of the pits in 12th. He would start making his way to the front and with old tires was good enough to finish sixth.

Horn and the 33 team, sit fifth in the points, only 85 points behind series leader Rowdy Busch.

The Rookie Chase

Ricky Carmichael was the top finishing rookie at Fontana, finishing eighth and recorded his first complete race for KHI.

Carmichael's post-race quote: "I learned so much today. The boss [Kevin Harvick, team co-owner] had a goal for me today and that was to finish in the top 15, so we beat the bosses goal! I want to exceed his expectations. I'm pleased to have bettered his goal because we really wanted to learn, turn laps, and finish the race. I kept my nose clean all day and I feel like we could start this race over again right now. I could do much better with everything I learned".

Carmichael qualified in third, ran among the top eight for the first half of the race and as high as fifth.

He started to struggle with what felt like a soft tire. On Lap 47, the team pitted for tires, then came back in on Lap 48 for fuel and restarted 19th.

Four laps later, Carmichael would be running 14th. Over the final 40 laps, the Goat fought hard and battled it out for a eighth place finish.

In two career truck series starts, he recorded his first top-five start, his first top-10 finish and sits 14th in the point standings.

Notes: James Buescher was the highest finishing Ford driver in 13th, he qualified 16th and ran a decent race.

This was his first career start at Fontana, he raced a great race, stayed out of trouble, logged laps, and finished well.

Gabi DiCarlo ran a great first race in her debut in trucks. She logged laps, ran well, stayed out of trouble, kept her nose clean, and finished a strong 19th.

With the exception of Johnny Sauter—with the other rookies it was all their first times running on the track—they all struggled. Like all rookies, they have to pay dues and learn.

Several struggled all race long, but stayed with it and finished the race. I'm sure they all learned a lot from Fontana, it will show up down the road as they race further into the season.

Now, the deal with Taylor Malsam and Chase Austin, really is the result of the new pit rule in trucks. While it was avoidable, if Malsam's crew chief made him aware of Austin pitting.

But with this new rule it's a product of it, since pit road is busy with all 36 trucks on it.

While some teams may stop for fuel only, depending on how the race is running, others will stop a second time for tires and the rule just does work like it was intended to do.

It shows NASCAR needs to tweak it a little more, instead of just changing how the teams fuel the trucks under the new rule.

After the Fontana race, the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standing are:

J.R. Fitzpatrick -26

Ricky Carmichael -22

James Buescher -17

Tayler Malsam -17

Chase Austin -16

Johnny Sauter -15

(Editors note: I've tweaked this section, to feature the top rookie finisher and add notes at the end for how they run as a group.)

The Scott Minute

For the first 24 laps at Fontana, B/R's Brian Scott was having a dream race, the kind all drivers love to have. Scott had one of the fastest trucks on the track, started the race 13th, and was running third when he got spun by Mike Skinner and finished 29th.

Scott was driving the same truck chassis he drove at Homestead, so he had a great truck, and sure he probably could have reeled in Rowdy.

Just a shame it ended early due to Skinner hooking the No. 16 and sending it nose first into the front stretch wall.

The way he was racing, the kid was flying up to the front and was making it look easy—till he tangled with Skinner.

Sure, had the wreck not happened, Scott probably would have caught and challenged Rowdy for the win.

Upcoming Races

March 7: American Commercial Line 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway at 1:30PM the Set-Up show and 2:00PM Race Time. (Saturday)

March 28: Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway on Fox at N/A Pre-Race and 2:00PM Race Time. (Saturday)

April 25th: O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas Speedway on Speed at 5:30PM the Set-UP show and 6:00PM Race Time (Saturday)

2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Point Standings

1.) Kyle Busch -370

2.) Todd Bodine -5

3.) Matt Crafton -77