DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The 2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season will officially kick off this week as teams head south to Daytona International Speedway. Friday night’s NextEra Energy Resources 250 marks 10 years of racing for the trucks on the high banks of the famed 2.5-mile superspeedway. If the previous nine races are any indicator, the 10th is sure to be quite a show.
“Its hard to believe this is our 10th year at Daytona,” said Rick Crawford, the 2003 winner and driver of the No. 14 International Truck and Engine Ford. “For every racer this is sacred ground and when you win at Daytona, you’ve accomplished a dream that many racers have chased and few have achieved.”
In addition to his 2003 win, Crawford has collected three top-five and six top-10 finishes. “Daytona has been good to our race team,” he added. “The only thing better than being a winner at Daytona is being at two-time winner at Daytona.”
The track, rich with history, is about more than just racing for some. “I love the build-up to Daytona,” said three-time series champion Ron Hornaday, Jr. (No. 33 Longhorn Chevrolet). “I think the anticipation of getting ready all off-season, putting the sponsors in place, building the trucks and rolling into a track with so much history is the best part,” he said. “Being at a place where my dad always wanted me to race, just the feeling is the best part about being at Daytona.”
New Look, Same Tough Trucks
Camping World prepares for its inaugural season as title sponsor for the series. While the new sponsor brings a new look for the trucks, the tough competition the trucks are known for will undoubtedly remain the same.
The NextEra Energy Resources 250 has nine different winners in as many races. The largest margin of victory, in 2001, is .318 seconds. In fact, Daytona’s total margin of victory (seven races) is .944 seconds. Two races have finished under caution.
Johnny Benson (No. 1 K&N Filters Toyota) came out on the short end of the two most recent “photo finishes” at Daytona: second to Jack Sprague in 2007 and third a year ago. Benson obviously would like to become the track’s 10th different winner.
He’d also like to become the series’ first back-to-back champion — a feat he denied Hornaday a season ago.
“As things get rolling, we’re excited to start the season. Its tough to win the championship, its tough to win races (and) tough to win a championship,” said Benson, who’ll suit up for Red Horse Racing in 2009 after three seasons with Bill Davis Racing. “History shows you can’t win back-to-back. It’ll be difficult to win another championship. “
Todd Bodine: Can He Make Four In A Row?
Todd Bodine (No. 30 Toyota) wouldn’t mind starting this season right where he left off last November: in Victory Lane. The odds are good for the 2006 series champion to do just that. He happens to be the defending winner at Daytona.
Bodine not only won at Daytona last year, he grabbed his second win at Talladega, becoming the first driver in the series to sweep the superspeedways in a season. Should he win this week’s season opener, it would mark four superspeedway wins in a row. The feat would seem daunting but Bodine and his team feel confident if everything goes just right.
“As a team, we do all the technical things right, but we still have to have luck,” said Bodine. “If we do it right like we’ve been doing, and we’re lucky enough, then we can continue to win at tracks like Daytona and Talladega,” he added. “In order to be in a position to win, we have to have a good truck and we are confident that we have a great No. 30 Toyota prepared for Daytona.”
Like the other competitors, Bodine realizes the significance of Daytona. “It’s the first race of the season, it’s the Super Bowl and all that goes with it,” he said. “It would mean just as much to win again, to get to win two in a row at Daytona or anywhere is quite a feat, but to get two in a row at Daytona, it’s like two Super Bowls in a row. It would be very special.”
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