Winless Ford should be strong at Michigan
By Tim Tuttle - Special to Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
Friday, June 13, 2008
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Nine races into the Craftsman Truck Series season, Ford has been shut out from victory lane. The next stop, Saturday’s Cool City Customs 200 at Michigan International Speedway, provides its teams with a prime opportunity to score big-time makeup points.
The two-mile track in the Irish Hills is in the back yard of Chevrolet, Dodge and Ford, and they covet beating their competitors on home ground. And Toyota likes nothing better than to invade and conquer, as it did in the CTS races in 2004 and 2006.
Ford’s ace in the hole is Roush Fenway Racing, which has had remarkable success at Michigan in every series it has run. In the truck races at MIS, Roush Fenway has won three of eight, including last season with Travis Kvapil who is not entered this season. He's been replaced in the No. 6 by rookie Colin Braun.
Mike Beam was crew chief for Kvapil last year and is now with Braun.
“Winning at Michigan is a big deal for everyone on our team,” Beam said. “It’s kind of like Roush’s home track since Roush Industries is up the road in Livonia. It’s also home to Ford (Dearborn) and (No. 6 sponsor) Con-way Freight (Ann Arbor), so I think everyone feels some added pressure to do well. We do our best every weekend, but getting a win up there would really man a lot to all of us.”
Braun (Kansas), Rick Crawford (Martinsville) and Brendan Gaughan (Lowe’s) have Ford’s top finishes this season with thirds.
Braun acknowledged there’s extra pressure on him at Michigan, on top of the usual quest to win and racing on a home track.
“The No. 6 group won this race last year,” Braun said. “So, I guess that adds a little bit more pressure to it, not to mention the fact that Roush Fenway won the ARCA race, the truck race and the Sprint Cup race last year as well. I know (Beam) has a lot of good ideas and things up his sleeve here for this weekend.
“So, we’re certainly pretty excited. It’s going to be great to race in front of all the people from Roush Fenway and Ford.”
Erik Darnell and Bobby East are also racing for Roush Fenway. Darnell was fourth in May at Lowe’s. East is coming off a CTS-best eighth last weekend at Texas.
“The Roush Fenway cars and trucks always seem to run pretty well (at MIS),” Darnell said. “I don’t exactly know why that is, but Michigan is a big, fast track. It’s a racer’s track. It’s kind of cool because if your truck is not running good on the bottom, you can move to the top.”
The Roush Fenway trio, Circle Bar Racing’s Crawford and Gaughan and the Wood Brothers’ Jon Wood are the six Ford drivers entered at MIS. Jon Wood has two 10th-place finishes this season, including last week at Texas.
Fast facts
Race: Craftsman Truck Series Cool City Customs 200.
Where: Michigan International Speedway; Brooklyn.
When: 3 p.m. EDT Saturday.
TV: Speed, 2:30 p.m. EDT.
Radio: MRN/Sirius Satellite
Track layout: 2-mile oval.
Race distance: 100 laps/200 miles.
2007 winner: Travis Kvapil.
2007 polesitter: Travis Kvapil.
Points leaders: 1. Ron Hornaday Jr., 1,302; 2. Matt Crafton, 1,257; 3. Johnny Benson, 1,247; 4. Todd Bodine, 1,237; 5. Jack Sprague, 1,231; 6. Rick Crawford, 1,231; 7. Mike Skinner, 1,202; 8. Chad McCumbee, 1,176; 9. Terry Cook, 1,164; 10. David Starr, 1,145.
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Colin Braun
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