The story coming into the rare Wednesday night NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race continues to be Ron Hornaday Jr. ’s pursuit of elusive points leader Mike Skinner. The chase continues, but looking at recent history, the gap may widen after the mid-week action.
Bristol looks like the perfect place for Skinner to rebound from a sub-par performance in his last visit to a short track – he finished 20th at O’Reilly Raceway Park. Skinner has had tremendous success there over the last two years (he won this race in 2005). He has a Driver Rating of 134.3, an Average Running Position of 3.7 and a series-high 59 Fastest Laps Run.
Hornaday must return to his 1997-98 Bristol form if he wants to make up ground. He won back-to-back Bristol races in 1997 and 1998, but has struggled at Bristol since returning to the series fulltime in 2005. With finishes of 14th in 2005 and 27th in 2006, Hornaday earned a Driver Rating of 79.6, an Average Running Position of 14.6 and 236 Laps in the Top 15 (59%).
Two new, yet familiar faces will race Wednesday – NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series regulars Mark Martin and Kyle Busch (No. 51 Chevrolet).
Martin, who started and ended last year’s Bristol race in first, earned tremendous stats. He had a near-perfect Driver Rating of 148.9 (maximum is 150.0), an Average Running Position of 2.7, 28 Fastest Laps Run and ran all 200 laps in the top 15.
Busch finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in 2005 and 2006 at Bristol. He has an average Bristol Driver Rating of 103.0 and an Average Running Position of 10.5. He also has 22 Fastest Laps Run (third-most) and 343 Laps in the Top 15 (third-most).
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