Texas Saturday Notes

Chevy Trucks NASCAR 150 Saturday notebook

Notes and quotes from the Chevy Trucks NASCAR 150 at Phoenix International Raceway.

Ron Hornaday's winning truck is named Laverne. It surely was the same truck he used to win last year at Phoenix, and the truck earned its name by winning the first race it ever ran, at Milwaukee.

Ron Barfield just couldn't catch a break this weekend at Phoenix. After crashing his primary No. 55 Icehouse Beer Ford in Bud Pole Qualifying, Barfield's team worked diligently to prepare his backup for Saturday's race. Starting 33rd, Barfield made his way all the way up to 7th, but lost his brakes and had to settle for a 21st-place finish.

"We made a great run up to seventh," he said. "But on our stop we got the new tires on and while I was sitting in the truck, the brake pedal went all the way to the floor. The Icehouse Beer Ford team did a hell of a job all day long. As long as we don't get down we'll be fine. I need to keep my guys up. There is no problem keeping me up because I want to win. And everybody on this team wants to win.

"The support that I've got on this team is the best support that I've ever had. When it comes down to Icehouse Beer and Miller Brewing and Ford and down to Bobby Rahal and Tom Gloy, we're all behind this thing 110 percent. We didn't have one lick of front brake from lap 65 on and the truck was a handful to drive. I literally was on my seat going into the corners. This is one heck of a race team and if we ever get the monkey off our back, we're going to wear some tail out."

Mike Stefanik was on his way to another top-10 finish, his third in as many tries in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, when late pit problems relegated him to 13th. Still, his career average finish is under eight. "We thought we had a top-10 finish but we had a problem on our last stop," he said. "It seemed like every lane I tried to go up through ended up looking good but then wouldn't work out. I ended up losing a few spots that way. It was just one of those days. It is so important in this series that once you gain a spot, you have to keep it. And then on the pit stops you have to keep your position. We didn't have a strong enough truck to drive from the back to the front. We tried to be strategic but it just didn't work out for us."

Count Randy Tolsma as one driver who would be willing to bring back the old pit rules for a couple of races. Tolsma found life to be the pits as his team got out of sequence and dropped several positions during the race, finishing 15th. "Good day. Bad day," Tolsma said. "I think that if we would have still had the halfway break, we would have had the dominant truck. The Supergard Dodge was just better on the long runs. Short runs didn't seem to favor us today. Gary Showalter continues to do a great job and gives me a great truck. We had a better truck than a 15th-place finish, we just got out of the pit stop sequence. All you can do is hold your head high and know that we have a good team and good sponsors. We will be strong throughout the season."

Mike Goins, tire carrier for the No. 18 DANA Corporation Dodge driven by Butch Miller, played hurt on Saturday, as he cracked a rib during action the previous week in Homestead. Also in news involving pit crew members, Andy Houston's brother Scott, who serves as rear tire changer on the No. 60 CAT Rental Stores Chevrolet, was home Saturday with wife Amy as they celebrated the birth of their son, Henry Coleman.

Source: NASCAR Online