Musgrave knows the importance of S. Boston

SOUTH BOSTON, Va. -- Saturday afternoon's John Boy & Billy's Hardee's 250 presented by Textilease at Big Daddy's South Boston Speedway has more plot lines than an episode of The Sopranos.

	Ted Musgrave won last year's race at South Boston, and knows what a boost a win there can be

But the biggest issue heading into the last short-track race on the 2002 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule (ESPN2, MRN Radio 3:30 p.m. ET) is the tightest championship race in series history.

The circumstances are not exactly the same as a year ago, but Mopar Dodge driver Ted Musgrave hopes a similar run to the season's conclusion means his first NASCAR championship.

In 2001, on his way to seven victories in his first Craftsman Truck Series season, Musgrave won four of the final five events on this year's schedule: Races at South Boston, Las Vegas, California and Homestead. Still, he finished second to Jack Sprague by 73 points.

The Hardee's 250 is a unique, one-day event on the .4-mile oval. After two hours of practice on Saturday morning, 43 entries will battle for 36 starting positions in Bud Pole Qualifying at noon ET.

Three-time Truck Series champion Sprague set the track qualifying record of 92.243 mph, 15.611 seconds, last fall; but he's moved on to the NASCAR Busch Series. Musgrave's Ultra Motorsports teammate, Jason Leffler, is the favorite for the Bud Pole -- which would be his ninth of the season -- in the No. 2 Team ASE Dodge.

The starting field of trucks is impounded after qualifying for the start of the race, the 18th of 22 this season.

"South Boston is exactly the kind of place where I feel right at home," Musgrave said. "I grew up racing short tracks all over the Midwest, so I'm pretty comfortable at South Boston and places like it.

"It's a real fast, tight little racetrack where just about anything can happen. Last year Jack Sprague was leading the race and a lapped truck spun out and ran into him. That pretty much cost him the race, but he came back and finished fourth, so it just goes to show that anything can happen and you have to stay on your toes all 250 laps."

With only 63 points separating Musgrave from leader Mike Bliss, Musgrave needs to back up his race record average speed from last year, but its skimpy 53.796 mph average tells just how hectic the action at SoBo can be.

Musgrave started on the outside of the front row in 2001 and took the lead after just 15 laps. He recaptured the top spot at lap 165 and led the rest of the way.

"The strategy we employed last year is exactly the way we need to play our cards this time around," Musgrave said. "We started second and stayed out front pretty much the whole race. That's what it's going to take this year. We're racing our hearts out to win this championship, so we need to stay focused, lead some laps and win some races.

"There's always a lot of beating and banging and you'll probably leave South Boston with a lot of paint on your truck that wasn't there when you started the race. There are about five guys in the thick of the championship chase. The one who leaves South Boston with a good finish is going to be the guy who's in good shape with four races to go."

Rick Crawford, another short-track ace, is second in the standings by just 40 points and has a 113-race winless streak stretching back to April 1998 at Homestead, Fla.; he'd like to end on Saturday in the No. 14 Circle Bar Ford.

Cook and Robert Pressley round out the top five, but David Starr is only one point behind fifth-place Pressley, 140 points behind the leader.