S.M.'s Camping World Update: Issue No. 51

Rumors

MRD Motorsports will miss the next couple of races at Iowa and Gateway due to lack of sponsorship and should be back possibly at New Hampshire.

The teams driver Dennis Setzer sits eighth in the points, hasn't lined anything up for either race to drive in, and a shame since he's a hard working veteran driver.

Tim Bainey Jr. will be driving the No. 00 Aaron's Lucky Dog Chevrolet for his family owned team at Iowa.

Ryan Sieg will be driving the No. 39 S&W Services Chevrolet at Iowa, for Susan Bates.

Jamie Dick will be making his series debut at Iowa, driving the No. 08 Viva Auto Group/Johnnie Walker Performance Center Chevrolet for SS Greenlight Racing.

He's also looking to run later in the season at Phoenix. Then hopes to run five to seven truck races in 2010 for the team, along with the NASCAR Series West schedule.

Pierre Bourque is scheduled to drive the No. 48 Fast Track Racing Chevrolet for Andy Hillenburg at Iowa.

It's his second start in the Truck Series and he runs in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series.

Billy Ballew Motorsports Update

First, BBM announced that Graceway Pharmaceuticals has signed on for the remainder of 2009 as a major primary associate sponsor on the No. 51 entry driven by Rowdy Busch and Brian Ickler.

Second, Aric Almirola will be driving the No. 15 Graceway Pharmaceuticals Toyota at Iowa.

Third, Brian Ickler will be driving the No. 51 Miccosukee Resorts/Graceway Pharmacuticals Toyota at Iowa.

Kevin Harvick Inc. Update

First, Ricky Carmichael will be driving the No. 4 Monster Energy Drink Chevrolet at Iowa.

Second, Ron Hornaday will have the Longhorn brand back on his No. 33 Chevrolet at Iowa.

2010 Team News

Mario Gosselin has signed MyTireMonkey.com as primary sponsor for his No. 12 Chevrolet for the 2010 season for a minimum of 10 races but with the intent of sponsoring all 25 races and they sponsor two races in 2009.

The announcement will be officially announced at the Talladega race weekend on Oct. 31, were the team colors will be unveiled, then they'll be on board as sponsor and at Texas.

News & Notes

Entries

At Iowa Speedway for the inaugural Lucas Oil 200 there are 37 trucks on the preliminary entry list, and means one team will be going home.

The breakdown is 23 full-time teams and 13 part-time teams.

New To The Series, But Not Some Drivers

This week it's the second inaugural event in the Truck Series in a row at Iowa Speedway and a bunch of the young drivers have logged laps at the track.

Aric Almirola has ran the Nationwide earlier in the season at Iowa.

Then these rookies, Austin Dillon, Tayler Malsam, Brian Ickler, and James Buescher have logged valuable laps at Iowa and it may just be to their advantage.

Dillon ran the Nationwide race earlier in the season, then ran a few Camping World Series East races.

Malsam has ran a ARCA Re/Max race at the track and recorded a 10th place finish.

Ickler has made it to victory lane at the track winning a Camping World Series East in 2008. He ran the Nationwide race earlier in the season, then in the ARCA Re/Max and Camping World Series West.

Buescher has run a couple of ARCA Re/Max races, ran a Camping World Series East, and a couple of USAR Pro Cup races at the track.

The Points Battle—Nine to go

With nine races to go, coming off of Chicago last week, points leader Ron Hornaday finished 11th but was able to pad his points lead and only Todd Bodine made up points.

It's now a 220 points over Matt Crafton in second; Mike Skinner is 316 points back in third, Todd Bodine is 424 points back in fourth, and Brian Scott is 439 points back in fifth.

While I don't think it's over yet, neither Bodine or Scott can afford any mistakes right now and need to start making up points to catch up.

Heading into Iowa a short track it seems to favor Hornaday but you can add both Skinner's and Scott's names as drivers having a shot also at the win.

We all know Bodine's licking his chops to get his first win on a short track and should have a good truck.

Crafton should have another great finish but needs to start collecting bonus points if he wants to sweeten his chances of catching Horn.

Which Horn holds a 95 to 30 count margin with bonus points over Crafton.

The big obstacle for everyone will be Horn. In the four short track races run this season, he has two wins, and never finished out of the top five.

Bottomline for Crafton to win, he needs to lead laps, get some wins, and pickup points on Horn, and finishing fifth or sixth isn't going to do it.

Skinner by no means is out of the picture yet, he's still in striking distance, and knows what it takes to catch Horn.

Hornaday's Corner

It's the second of back-to-back inaugural events in the Trucks; this Saturday it's Iowa Speedway, a 0.875 mile oval and Horn's got to be one of the favorites with 20 short-track wins on his resume.

Back in 2007, he did run four laps in Kevin Harvick's Camping World Series East car at Iowa Speedway and will know what to expect handling wise from the track.

"To me it has the characteristics of Richmond. The Trucks used to put on a great show there and I always enjoyed racing there."

"It looks like Richmond but every track has it's own style."

"From what I understand talking with Kevin Harvick and Cale Gale who drove the Nationwide car there earlier this year is developing some bumps that you really have to get over in order to have your Truck handling well."  

Horn will unload with a stout truck, sure with the extra practice sessions on Friday. His Rick Ren led crew will figure it out regarding set-up and they'll have his No. 33 Longhorn Chevy race ready for Saturday.

He'll be racing chassis No. 29 at Iowa, it's two previous starts were wins at Kentucky and Nashville.

The Rookie Chase

Johnny Sauter was the Raybestos Rookie of the Race with a fifth place finish and it was the sixth time he won the honors.

He used pit strategy on Lap 24 getting tires, fuel, and adjustments, the long green run was to his favor, then fought a three wide battle to get the finish and it was his second top-five of the season.

Ricky Carmichael started the race 13th, would run most of the race on the high-side, would make a fuel only stop after the second caution, was effected by a long green run, and after a late spin finished 18th.

James Buescher had a decent run going when his right rear tire came apart putting him a lap down, got a Aaron's Lucky Dog but a long green hurt him needing to make two stops for tires and fuel and ultimately finished 20th.

Tayler Malsam was running a great race, had a career best top five going when with 15 laps to go got caught up in a late wreck while racing hard to stay in the top five and resulted in him finishing 23rd.

2009 Raybestos Rookie of the Year Standings

1.) Johnny Sauter                166

2.) Tayler Malsam                159

3.) James Buescher              149

4.) Ricky Carmichael             103

5.) J.R. Fitzpatrick                 79

6.) Brian Ickler                      67

7.) Brent Raymer                   59

8.) Chris Jones                      53

9.) Chase Austin                    16

10.) Ryan Hackett                   5

Upcoming Races

Sept. 5: Lucas Oil 200 at Iowa Speedway on Speed at 9:30PM the Set-Up Show and 10:00PM Race Time (Saturday).

Sept. 12: Copart 200 at Gateway International Raceway on Speed at 2:00PM the Set-Up Show and 2:30PM Race Time (Saturday).

Sept. 19: Helva Good! 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Speed at 2:30PM the Set-Up Show and 3:00PM Race Time (Saturday).

Track Facts

This week it's Iowa Speedway, which is a inaugural event and it replaces the truck race formally held at Mansfield Speedway.

Track Info

Track Lengths: .875 Mile

Race Lengths: 200 Laps/175 Miles

Banking: 12-14 Degrees (Turns); 10 Degrees (Frontstretch); Four Degrees (Backstretch)

Lengths: 1,075 Feet (Frontstretch); 869 Feet (Backstretch)

Seating: 25,000

Race Winners: Inaugural Event

Weekend Schedule

Friday, Sept. 4

10:10AM - 11:20AM [11:10AM - 12:20PM Eastern] First Practice

12:30PM - 2:30PM [1:30PM - 3:30M Eastern] Second Practice

3:30PM - 4:20PM [4:30PM - 5:20PM Eastern] Third Practice

6:10PM - 7:30PM [7:10PM - 8:30PM Eastern] Fourth Practice

Saturday, Sept. 5

1:00PM - 2:30PM [2:00PM - 3:30PM Eastern] Final Practice

5:45PM [6:45PM Eastern] Qualifying (Two Laps/ All Positions)

9:00PM [10:00PM Eastern] Race Time (200 Laps/ 175 Miles)

2009 Manufactures Championship Standings

Toyota                          120

Chevrolet                       113

Ford                               70

Dodge                             49

2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Owners Points Standings

1.) Delana Harvick                No. 33                       2,593

2.) Billy Ballew                     No. 51                        -152

3.) Rhonda Thorson              No. 88                        -220

4.) David Dollar                    No. 5                          -316

5.) Steve Germain                No. 30                        -424

6.) Tom Deloach                  No. 17                        -435

7.) Joe Scott                      No. 16                        -439

8.) Jim Harris Jr.                   No. 24                        -483

9.) Jack Roush                     No. 6                          -497

10.) Tom Mitchell                 No. 14                         -542

2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Drivers Points Standings

1.) Ron Hornaday Jr.                             2593

2.) Matt Crafton                                   -220

3.) Mike Skinner                                   -316

4.) Todd Bodine                                   -424

5.) Brian Scott                                     -439

6.) David Starr                                     -483

7.) Colin Braun                                     -497

8.) Dennis Setzer                                  -528

9.) Rick Crawford                                  -542

10.) Terry Cook                                    -578

Sources: Hornaday quote from kevinharvickinc.com, jayski.com, racingone.com, speedtv.com, catchfence.com, nascar.com and scenedaily.com

Photocredit: sports.yahoo.com