Dover: Lance Hooper race notes

Bad Luck bites HOOPER in DOVER NCTS Race

Dover, Del - Lance Hooper made his debut in the ThorSport No. 13 Vassarette/Microtel Chevrolet in Friday's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series MBNA America 200 at Dover International Speedway hoping for top-20 finish. Unfortunately, a clutch failure left Hooper on the sidelines after the team completed just 39 of the race's 200 laps.

"We developed a pretty serious vibration around lap 30," Hooper said. "We came down pit road and changed all four tires thinking that would solve the problem. We went back out, and the truck still was shaking pretty bad, so we pitted again and had a look under the hood. The engine seemed to be running on all eight cylinders so we went back out. It was pretty obvious it was a mechanical problem causing the vibration, and all of a sudden the clutch just exploded. It was pretty big, it wiped out the transmission and the driveshaft."

Hooper is not sure what his driving plans are for the remainder of the season, however, the ThorSport team will return to action next Friday night at the Texas Motor Speedway. The O'Reilly 400 is scheduled to go green at 9 P.M. Eastern on June 11. The race is scheduled for live broadcast on Speed Channel and it can also be heard live on select MRN Radio affiliates nationwide as well as on NASCAR Radio 144 on XM Satellite Radio.