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echo: nascar
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from: Mike Powell
date: 2006-07-13 18:40:00
subject: NCTS GM Driver Quotes 1/2

Team Chevy Silverado
Driver Quotes

DRIVER: DENNIS SETZER
TEAM: No. 85 E85 FlexFuel Silverado - Morgan Dollar Motorsports

"We won in Memphis in 2001, and it was my first win with Morgan-Dollar
Motorsports as well as their first win as a team. We've always ran there
really well, it is a fun short track and is really fast for a short track.
There are some humps and bumps that you have to work around, that are unique
to just that track. There are some bumps into Turn One, some bumps down the
backstretch, and some bumps into Turn Three, so it is a fun place to go race.
You have to run there a few times to find some things that you need to work
all the way around."

Is there something different that you do at Memphis to cope with the normally
hot temperatures we deal with there?
"You know, it is a hot place. But when you sit around and have the water
breaks, and such like we did last year with 50 laps to go that is the worst
thing that you can do to a driver, is make them sit in the heat. As long as
you are moving, you are good to go; I have never run the air conditioner
there, so I have been very fortunate. But whenever you stop, the heat just
soaks right through you, and the whole truck is 150-200 degrees and the bars
are hot, the seat is hot, the steering wheel is hot, and everything is hot.
The water you have in your jug is hot also, so we just need to keep moving.
We are supposed to be tough racers, let's make it tough."

DRIVER: KRAIG KINSER
TEAM: No. 46 CENTRIX Auto Finance Silverado - Morgan Dollar Motorsports

"Memphis is another track that I have never been to, not even the dirt track.
So it will be another learning experience, and I will be picking Randy (Goss,
Crew Chief) and Dennis Setzer's brain to get some ideas and pointers to get
around that place. I have heard quite a bit about the track, and am hopeful
that we can have a good run. I like the short-track racing, and really enjoy
going to all these new places, and learning my way around each place."

DRIVER: RON HORNADAY
TEAM: No. 33 Kevin Harvick, Inc. Silverado

We are going back to a place that owes you something.
"Racing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series has taught me that no race track
owes you anything, you have to deserve it. Every time we go there, these guys
give me a great Chevy Silverado, so I am just looking forward to it. The guys
built me a brand new truck, looking forward to going to Memphis. We ran good
there, I guess my own mistake last year. When you see smoke, you can slow
down enough in these trucks, so I am looking forward to it."

What is it about Memphis?
"I don't know what it is about Memphis. Maybe it is the guitar, or maybe
Elvis is there, you just never know. These guys seem to work really hard on
their short track program, and I the track is a fun track to drive, and you
go out and there and it is a different frame of mind. I just enjoy it."

DRIVER: MATT CRAFTON
TEAM: No. 88 Menards Silverado - ThorSport Racing

"I like Memphis. It is going to be really hot, and it is definitely a
driver's track. I look forward to running the short tracks, and I look
forward to running the mile and a half tracks also. I like the short tracks
because you can hit somebody, and you don't really have to explain yourself,
they will hit you and you will hit them, it is part of the deal at a short
track."

Is Memphis is a rough track, with lots of bumps and hills and valleys.
"I thought it was fairly smooth. The surface is pretty old, I think, and the
tires fall off, which is what I really like about it. There is something
about the place that when you get the truck good on the long runs, it is
really hard to get it to go for qualifying. That is what we have really
worked on the last few times we have been there, and in 2004 I was really,
really good there, and didn't qualify that well, and it was the same way last
year. I think we qualified 10th or 12th, and finished 7th, but we just needed
long green flag runs. We would go on a long green flag, but we just weren't
real good on the short runs. So, hopefully we can put the whole package
together and have a good qualifying effort and stay up front the whole night,
wear them out and hopefully take the checkered flag."

DRIVER: ARIC ALMIROLA
TEAM: No. 75 Spears Manufacturing Silverado - Spears Motorsports

"It is going to be pretty cool going back to Memphis, with that being the
place where I got my first truck start. I am really looking forward to that
and it will be cool. I love the town of Memphis also, it is a lot of fun;
Beale Street is a lot of fun, we have the schedule worked out pretty good, so
we can have a late night on Friday night, and won't have to get up too early.
It is a cool place."

What did you learn there last year, because you had a pretty good run going
there?
"Before last year's race, we were able to test, so I feel like I am a little
bit ahead of the game when we go there. We tested with there with Randy (Goss
and the Morgan-Dollar Motorsports team) for a day, When came back for the
race, and we ran really well, we ran in the top-20 and top-ten, which I
thought was respectable for my first truck race. Then towards the end of the
race, there was a late race incident, but it was a lot of fun, and I am
looking forward to going back there."

What do you like about the track?
"It is just the short track racing. I have always liked the short track
racing. It is just fun, you can get in there and beat and bang, and I don't
know, there is just something about short track racing it is just cool, under
the lights, and it takes you back to the Saturday night short track racing.
We all grew up doing that, so I think a little extra comes out of everyone
when we go back to the smaller tracks.

How does returning to tracks that you have been to before, so how does that
help you?
"It helps me a lot. I know what I am looking for right when I get there. I am
not spending the first practice figuring out what I want, and then the second
practice working on the truck, I am able to go there and know what I want to
feel, and it just speeds up our practices a lot more so we can get a better
handle on the truck. Definitely looking forward to going back to the tracks
where I have raced at before."

Your Spears Manufacturing team had a great run in Memphis last year,
finishing 5th, so that has to be encouraging to you.
"Yeah, I am looking forward to having a good run. We are bringing back the
same truck that we ran in Gateway, and the same truck we had at Milwaukee. In
Gateway, we ran tenth, and at Milwaukee, we ran in the top-10 all night, so
we had pit strategy that cost us the top-10 in Milwaukee. It is truck #23,
and it is an awesome truck, and an awesome short track truck, and I imagine
that we will run really well."

DRIVER: KERRY EARNHARDT
TEAM: No. 13 National Pork Board Silverado - ThorSport Racing

"I ran at Memphis in the FitzBradshaw #12 Supercuts Chevrolet in the Busch
Series, and had a pretty decent run going there. I think that something
happened with the engine, and then went there with Michael Waltrip Racing and
ended up missing the show. I have only been there two or three times, but it
is a tough but fun track. I think we can run two-wide there, and my problem
there has been other drivers. That is going to be my main goal; just watch
out for other drivers and hopefully come away from Memphis with a good run.

"We are actually going down there early, we are going to stay down there the
whole week. My wife, and the two girls, and the in-laws and we are going to
go fishing and visit Graceland, and just be tourists and relax. I can play
"racer" later on in the week."

Have you ever visited Graceland before?
"Yeah, I went and did about a thirty minute tour about a month ago; I went up
there and did a fishing show for a local sports channel and just got to get a
little bit behind the scenes. My mother-in-law wants to see it, so we are
going to take her up there, and do about an hour-and-a-half tour."
>>> Continued to next message
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