Dillon To Attempt First ’Dega Start
Austin Dillon (No. 3 Chevrolet), grandson of Richard Childress, will make his first career start at Talladega. He will also be the first Richard Childress Racing driver to start at Daytona or Talladega in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
“I’m really excited to be heading to Talladega,” Dillon said. “It’ll definitely be one of the biggest thrills of my career to say I raced there. It’s really cool because I’ll be in the No. 3 truck and that number means a lot to the great fans that show up at ‘Dega. I’m also excited to get the chance to run where my grandfather started his entire racing career 40 years ago.”
Director’s Take: Wayne’s Words
“What a difference a week makes. One week, we’re running at one of the smallest tracks on the schedule—at Martinsville Speedway. Now, we’re heading to the largest track—Talladega Superspeedway. Obviously, we’ll be looking at two different kinds of races, with two different attitudes.
“First, the track lengths are at different ends of the spectrum. Martinsville is .526 miles, and Talladega is 2.66 miles. It’s also wider, which changes how you will maneuver and pass.
“Whereas passing comes at a premium at Martinsville, it is much easier to do so at Talladega. We’ll have more slingshot passes because of the draft, and we’ll have three- and four-wide racing, while we could only have two cars run side-by-side at Martinsville.
“Then, there’s the layout. We leave one of the tightest and lowest-banked tracks in Martinsville, which has different surfaces on the straightaways and in the turns, to one of the smoothest and highest-banked tracks in Talladega.
“Speaking of track layout, the positioning of pit road and the start/finish line produces some additional challenges for our competitors this weekend. While pit road begins coming off of Turn 4, competitors will have to leave pit road before passing the start/finish line. That could make strategies interesting, especially at the end of the race.
“Quite a list of contrasts, but some things expected to stay the same—the closeness of the competition, and the excitement. At Martinsville, we had a last lap pass for the lead. In three races at Talladega, not once has the margin of victory exceeded eight hundredths of-a-second. Last year, Todd Bodine (No. 30 Copart Toyota) beat Ron Hornaday Jr. (No. 33 Copart Chevrolet) by only 0.074 seconds, the largest margin of victory of any of the races so far!”
“Talladega has also been a staple within the NASCAR family, and it’s a pleasure for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series to return to Talladega again this weekend It’s an awesome place.”
- Wayne Auton, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Director
Rookie Standings:
Raybestos Rookie Of The Year Standings
Rk Driver Points 1. Johnny Sauter 212 2. Tayler Malsam 176 3. James Buescher 160 4. Ricky Carmichael 127 5. Brian Ickler 95 6. J.R. Fitzpatrick 88 7. Chris Jones 66 8. Brent Raymer 65
Manufacturers’ Standings:
Toyota holds the lead as the series heads to Talladega this weekend, and a finish ahead of Chevrolet earns the manufacturer the title. Todd Bodine has delivered Toyota their two wins at the track, with Mark Martin triumphing for Ford in 2006.
Up Next: Texas Motor Speedway
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series heads back to Texas Motor Speedway for the second time this season on Nov. 6. The 1.5-mile track has hosted the series a record 23 times (Martinsville has 22), and twice a season for the last 11 years.
In June, Todd Bodine moved into sole possession of the most TMS victories with five when he beat Matt Crafton (No. 88 Menards Chevrolet) by 1.321 seconds in the 167-lap race. Crafton left the race with the points lead.
Bodine’s Germain Racing team also leads all teams with five victories.
Chevrolet, still in the hunt for the series manufacturer championship, leads all manufacturers in victories with eight.
Fast Facts
The Race: Mountain Dew 250 fueled by Fred’s
The Place: Talladega Superspeedway
The Date: Sat., October 31, 2009
The Time: 3 p.m. CT
Race Distance: 94 laps / 250.4 miles
Track Layout: 2.66-mile oval
2008 Winner: Todd Bodine
2008 Polesitter: Erik Darnell
Schedule: Friday: Practice, 9-11 a.m.; Qualifying, 4:10 p.m.
2009 Standings
Rk Driver Points 1 Ron Hornaday Jr. 3,375 2 Matt Crafton 3,151 3 Mike Skinner 3,049 4 Todd Bodine 2,815 5 Brian Scott 2,805 6 Colin Braun 2,797 7 Timothy Peters 2,768 8 Johnny Sauter 2,762 9 David Starr 2,694 10 Rick Crawford 2,694
| 
|