Musgrave Takes Sixth At California Speedway
Fontana, Calif. (February 25, 2008) – Ted Musgrave added another strong performance to his already impressive history at California Speedway in Saturday’s San Bernardino County 200 with a sixth place finish for the HT Motorsports No. 59 Team ASE Toyota Tundra.
A three-time winner at the two-mile southern California track, Musgrave turned competitive lap times during practice sessions on Thursday before rain showers moved in on Friday, forcing the field to be set by 2007 owner points. Musgrave took the green flag to start the race 17th, and had already blasted his way to ninth place before completing the first lap.
Opting to stay out during the first caution on lap four, Musgrave gained four more spots to restart lap eight in the fifth position. When a caution for debris waved on lap 14, crew chief Danny Rollins began working his pit strategy, bringing the No. 59 Team ASE Tundra down pit road for fuel only. The move put Musgrave in second place for the lap 17 restart.
Musgrave continued to run in the top-five through the opening 33 laps. During lap 33, Musgrave radioed that he was “losing grip off the corners” before slipping back to sixth place. Caution three came out on lap 44 just in time for four fresh tires and fuel with the No. 59 Team ASE over-the-wall crew sending Musgrave back out for the restart in seventh.
Battling for seventh during lap 60, Musgrave radioed that he was “losing steering” and that they need to “get it steering to get to the front.” Running faster lap times than the leaders, Musgrave was hard at work trying to make up positions while looking for a caution. With no caution, the No. 59 Team ASE Toyota Tundra came down pit road under green during lap 82 adding fuel, four tires and making a quick spring rubber adjustment. When pit stops cycled around, Musgrave was scored eighth on lap 90.
Rollins radioed on lap 92 that the No. 59 Team ASE Tundra was “the fastest truck on the track just no track position” as Musgrave ran in seventh place. Picking off one more spot in the final three laps, Musgrave brought the No. 59 Team ASE Toyota Tundra through turn four and crossed the finish line in the sixth position.
Rebounding from a tough finish of 28th in Daytona, Musgrave was still a little disappointed with his California finish, a track where he had hoped to score his first win with HT Motorsports.
“This was not a winning truck,” Musgrave said after the race. “We worked hard and had it running good; we just needed a caution there to make a shock adjustment. The truck was a little tight and the green flag pit stop did not give us enough time to make the adjustments we needed. The two-mile race tracks have touchy set-ups, but we’ll take what we learned today and apply it to Atlanta where we will be running this truck again with a similar set-up. Overall, we just want to come out running better and better each week, keep getting top-tens and top-fives to get up in the points for the start of the season.”
After the season’s first two events, the 2005 Craftsman Truck Series Champion is 14th in the overall driver point’s standings.
After an early season off-weekend, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series racing will return with the American Commercial Lines 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Friday, March 7.
