Truck Series battle brewing in Milwaukee

WEST ALLIS, Wisc. -- While Milwaukee, Wisc. may be known for its breweries, this weekend a few of the native "Cheeseheads" will be doing some drafting of their own.

	Ted Musgrave won last year at Milwaukee. Credit: HSP

Ted Musgrave is hoping to repeat last year's performance at the Milwaukee Mile in Saturday's GNC Live Well 200 (2:30 p.m. ET, ESPN, MRN). Musgrave, driver of the No. 1 MOPAR Dodge, hails from nearby Franklin and won the 2001 event in front of his home state fans.

With nine career NCTS victories to his credit, Musgrave will have some company from Edgerton, Wisc. driver Rich Bickle. Fresh off his return to the series after a three-year layoff, Bickle took the No. 15 Dickie's Ford to a season's high sixth-place finish last week at Memphis.

But Bickle and Musgrave aren't the only Wisconsin natives experiencing success in the Craftsman Truck Series -- Travis Kvapil from Janesville, Wisc., was victorious last week in the O'Reilly Auto Parts 200.

This trio of Wisconsin natives will all be looking to put on a show for friends and family that will be sitting in the stands. Musgrave has a vivid memory of what it was like to win here last year.

"Last year, I passed Jack Sprague for the win with less then 30 laps to go and I thought the grandstand was going to come down," Musgrave said. "I had never won in all the times I previously raced at Milwaukee, so that was obviously a big win for me.

	Rich Bickle Credit: ASP

"My mom and my family were there, plus I had a lot of friends and fans cheering me on. That was just a really cool win for me.

"What would be even cooler is to become the first Truck Series driver to win twice at Milwaukee."

Since the NCTS started racing on the one-mile oval located on the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds seven years ago, no driver has been a repeat victor. Greg Biffle set the qualifying record in 1999 with a lap of 121.102 mph (29.727 sec). That same year, he also set the race record with an average speed of 106.714 mph.

Making the famed mile track even more interesting is the layout. All four turns have 9.25 degrees of banking while the front and backstretch has 2.5 degrees of banking.

Bickle, a short-track phenom in Wisconsin with more than 250 victories, said a win at Milwaukee in a NASCAR race would rank up there with the best of them.

"We had a great showing with my first time out with the Dickie's team last week," Bickle said. "We're bringing the same truck we used at Memphis last week and it's a good little racer.

Travis Kvapil Credit: HSP

"But, to win at the Milwaukee Mile after my nine-month layoff would be about as big as winning the Daytona 500. The history of this track in racing is something else. I really don't want to think what would happen in town if we were to pull a victory out of here."

Kvapil has only one race under his belt at Milwaukee. That was during his NCTS Rookie of the Year campaign last season, but he's bringing the proper equipment this time around.

"We came out of there with a third-place finish (last year) and I'm really looking forward to going back," Kvapil said. "I consider it my home racetrack for the Truck Series anyway. It's only an hour from where I grew up.

"I'll have a lot of family and friends there cheering me on and we're taking the same truck we won with in Memphis. I feel really good about that.

"The truck ran really well for us all weekend there and it makes me really optimistic going back to Milwaukee. We have an optional test (Thursday) there so we should have plenty of time to get it set up and get it handling really well."