NASCAR Truck

Memphis: Dennis Setzer race notes

Setzer Scores His Sixth Straight Top-Five Finish at Memphis Memphis, TN - Memphis Motorsports Park brings back fond memories of one of the team's earliest successes in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Memphis was the site of MDM's first win in ...

Published: Jun 21, 2004, 6:16 AM

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Setzer Scores His Sixth Straight Top-Five Finish at Memphis

Memphis, TN - Memphis Motorsports Park brings back fond memories of one of the team's earliest successes in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Memphis was the site of MDM's first win in the series in 2001. Since then, Dennis and his Silverado crew have been very consistent at the .75-mile track, but a repeat trip to victory lane has eluded them. Setzer had not finished outside the top-five in five straight races dating back to 1999.

Coming off two wins in the past three races this season and either a first or second place finish in the last four of five, Setzer and Morgan-Dollar Motorsports had big "mo" on their side. Even though the wins have come at superspeedways and not short tracks where the #46 team tends to dominate, Memphis still stuck out as a venue where they could be the team to beat.

Dennis qualified in the 10th position for Saturday's O'Reilly 200, but experienced some problems in the final practice that left the team searching for answers. The truck's handling completely went away during "happy hour" and as the team searched for the problem, the last practice slowly slipped away. A tire problem seemed to be the issue, but unfortunately the crew would not know until a few laps into the race for sure.

At the green flag, many of the crew watched nervously to see how the truck would perform. They held their breath until they watched Dennis dive under a truck in turn one on the second lap, they saw how well it turned and knew they had something to work with. "We had to go back to our notebook to set this truck up," stated Setzer after Saturday's race. "I am so proud of these guys. Everyone checked and rechecked every inch of this truck to make sure their weren't any equipment problems. They set the truck up right on the money without any final practice, which shows how well our team operates under pressure. The pit stop the crew made got us in great position and we really escaped with what could have been a disastrous day."

Dennis made his way into the top-five by lap 70 of 200. The truck was a little loose in the corners, but it was something that most of the trucks were experiencing on a slick, sweltering hot day. Setzer made his first and only pit stop just past the halfway mark during a caution. The #46 Chevrolet Silverado came in fifth and the crew got them back out in third after putting on four tires and fuel. The crew also made a track bar adjustment during the stop.

Setzer fell back to fourth 20 laps later and would maintain contact with the leaders till the final laps. With less than ten laps to go, a fight broke out for the win. Setzer and the top three trucks were all battling for position and it looked as if the finish could come down with the leaders in three or four wide formation. However, a caution fell with just seven laps to go and ended any hopes for making a move to the front. The race restarted with just four laps to go and Setzer never had a shot at the leaders again.

Dennis Setzer and the #46 Chevrolet Silverado team stretched their point lead over Carl Edwards slightly from 50 to 55 points. This will be the fifth race in a row that Setzer has led the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series standings heading into this Friday night's GNC 200 at The Milwaukee Mile. The race can be seen live on the Speed Channel at 7:00 pm CST.

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