S.M.'s Camping World Update, Issue No. 33

Rumors

Ken Schrader will be driving for himself in the No. 52 Federated Auto Parts Chevy at Martinsville and it's great to see him back racing in trucks again.

Mike Skinner and Randy Moss Motorsports announced that Bad Boy Mowers has come on board as sponsor on his No. 5 Toyota at Martinsville.

Tayler Malsam will have One Eighty on his No. 81 at Martinsville. He's making his first start at the track, on Tuesday he tested for the race at Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, VA.

Max Papis will be driving the No. 9 Geico Germain Racing Toyota at Martinsville.

Mikey Kile will be driving the No. 29 Greased Lightning Cleaning Products Chevy, for Brad Keselowski Racing at Martinsville.

Brett Butler will be making his truck debut, driving the No. 47 Rockingham Speedway/Palm Beach Grading Chevy for Fast Track Racing at Martinsville.

Ryan Sieg will be making his truck debut driving the No. 21 Gunbroker.com Dodge at Martinsville and he's the younger brother of Shane Sieg.

Norm Benning will be back driving his No. 57 Chevy at Martinsville and no sponsor details have been announced yet.

Trail Motorsports and Chase Austin look to be back racing at Kansas, the team lacks equipment, financial constraints and reevaluating their racing schedule as to what races they will run.

KHI Update

First, Ricky Carmichael will have Oakley Sunglasses on board as sponsor on the No. 4 at Martinsville.

Second, Kevin Harvick will be back racing the No. 2, with sponsorship from Bounty, his 33 Nationwide pit crew led by Ernie Cope will service the 2 at Martinsville.

Three, Ron Hornaday Jr. will have Longhorn back on board the No. 33 at Martinsville.

News

The Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway has 36 entries which is a full field, and it's great news. The breakdown is 22 full-time teams and 14 part-time teams for the race.

Truck Testing

A total of 16 truck teams held a two day test session at historic Rockingham Speedway and tested on what's called "Little Rock," a short track built next to the "Rock."

Circle Bar Racing's, Rick Crawford and James Buescher were the top two teams both days and stayed an extra day to test.

Notes

The short track season starts in trucks, it's seven total races that are both crucial and critical to winning the series championship.

Since the series champion winner has won at least one short track win in all but three of the last 14 seasons.

Practice and Qualifying Times for Martinsville

Practice Times: Friday Mar. 27, the first practice is 11:00 AM to 11:50 AM, and the final practice is 1:45 PM to 3:30 PM.

Qualifying: Saturday Mar. 28, qualifying starts at 9:10 AM, it's two laps for all positions.

Hornaday's Corner

I found some interesting stuff about Hornaday and Martinsville statistical and it's pretty interesting stuff.

In 10 starts prior to the 2008 season, Horn only led four laps. Last year in the spring, he led three laps, and in the fall led 154 laps before running out of fuel.

But when it comes to the loop data statistics for Martinsville in trucks, it's dominated by Horn and his boss Kevin Harvick, and they have the highest drivers ratings.

Happy leads with a 106.8 out of 150 possible points and is followed closely by Horn with 103.7 points.

Happy leads categories for average running position, drivers fastest early in a run, fastest on restarts, green flag speed, and speed in traffic.

Horn leads categories for drivers fastest late in a run and laps in the top 15 categories.

Interestingly enough, Martinsville  is one of the tracks that Horn hasn't recorded a win at and has recorded three third place finishes. He ran well last fall, led 154 laps before running out of fuel.

The only track were Horn, has made more starts than Martinsville is Phoenix with 14 starts.

The thing with Martinsville is Horn wants to win  a race, so he can add a grandfather clock to his trophy room.

The Rookie Chase

Four of the eight Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidates have been running like veterans and will make the rookie battle the best in NASCAR.

The top rookie in driver ratings is James Buescher with a rating of 78.1. He's 19th in points, but holds the 12th-best drivers rating, the 13th-best average running position, and an 11th-best in laps in the top 15 with 62.1 percent.

Ricky Carmichael is next with a driver rating of 77.5. He's 18 in points, has a average running position of 13.7, five fastest laps run, and a 65.5 percent of laps in the top 15.

J.R. Fitzpatrick has a driver rating of 77.4. He's sitting 11th in the points and 25 points out of the top 10. He has a average running position of 16.6, eight fastest laps run, recorded a top-five finish, and the only rookie to lead a lap.

Tayler Malsam has a driver rating of 75.7. He's 13th in the points, has a average running position of 15.7, and a 52.1 percentage of laps in the top 15.

After three races, the Raybestos Rookie Standings are as follows:

J.R. Fitzpatrick                 33

Ricky Carmichael               30

Tayler Malsam                  28

James Buescher                27

Johnny Sauter                  24

Chase Austin                    16

Brent Raymer                     6

Chris Jones                        5

Upcoming Races

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

Apr. 25—O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas Speedway on Speed at 5:30 PM the Set-Up Show and 6:00 PM Race Time. (Saturday)

May 15—North Carolina Educational Lottery 200 at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Speed at 7:30 PM the Set-Up Show and 8:00 PM Race Time. (Friday)

Top Five Picks for The Kroger 250

1.) Dennis Setzer: in 18 races at the track, he's compiled three wins, eight top fives, 11 top-10 finishes, and led 458 laps.

He always runs well, should be up front and it doesn't matter manufacture or team wise at this track.

I won't be surprised by seeing him win in the No. 8 MRD Motorports Chevy, he'll either be leading or vying for the win.

2.) Mike Skinner: in 12 races at the track, he's compiled three wins, one pole, five top-fives, eight top-10 finishes, and led 593 laps.

He always runs well, qualifies well, hungry for his first win for Randy Moss Motorsports, and will be vying for the win if he's not already leading.

3.) Rick Crawford: in 18 races at the track, he's compiled one win, one pole, seven top-fives, 10 top-10 finishes, and led 199 laps.

He's always good on the short tracks, should qualify well, run up front most of the day, and be one of the drivers vying for the win.

Also he tested at "Little Rock" at Rockingham, should benefit tremendously from it.

4.) Ron Hornaday Jr.: in 13 races at the track, he's compiled one pole, four top-fives, seven top-10 finishes, and led 161 laps.

He's hungry for a win, almost won in the fall, but the fuel mileage bug bit them and sure they have worked on it over the offseason.

He should qualify well, run top-10 most of the race, either be leading or be trying get his first win in 2009.

5.) Rowdy Busch: in five races at the track, he's compiled one pole, two top-fives, three top-10 finishes, and led 61 laps.

He should qualify well just seems to dominate the truck races. Sure he'll use pit strategy late in the race to get another win, but being that there's enough really good short track races in trucks and he'll have to earn the win this weekend.

My sleeper pick, this week is Timothy Peters. He's the hometown racer, running on a small budget team, has led 46 laps, with three top-10 finishes in six races and he's put together some really good races at Martinsville.

He's the Underbird of the Truck Series, it will be awesome to see him end up with a top-10 finish or maybe even winning. Remember with the new two pit stop rule, it's eliminated the fastest truck, it all comes down to fuel mileage and tire wear.

Track facts

This week it's the Martinsville Speedway, were the trucks have raced their since 1995, in 2003 a second race was added and now the series runs in the spring and in the fall.

Track Info

Track Length: .526 Miles

Race Length: 250 Laps/131.5 Miles

Banking: 12* (Corners)

Lengths: 800 FT (Front & Back Stretches)

Seating: 65,000

Most Wins: Dennis Setzer and Mike Skinner tied with three.

2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Point Standings

1.) Kyle Busch                         560

2.) Todd Bodine                       -25

3.) Mike Skinner                     -119

4.) Ron Hornaday Jr.               -124

5.) Chad McCumbee               -134

6.) Matt Crafton                    -137

7.) Terry Cook                       -147

8.) T.J. Bell                           -148

9.) Timothy Peters                 -154

10.) David Starr                     -176

Sources for the all the stats, kevinharvickinc, jayski.com

Photo Credit: Jessica Stroupe