Musgrave scores NBS career-best third

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Ted Musgrave didn't watch last Sunday's Winston Cup race at Michigan International Speedway, so he had no idea what he was walking into Monday morning when he showed up at the Ultra Motorsports shop.

Gene Nead, Musgrave's Craftsman Truck Series crew chief, was talking to Tommy Baldwin, crew chief for Ultra's No. 7 Cup team and owner of the No. 6 Busch Series team.

	Musgrave will also be driving the No. 7 Dodge Saturday night. Credit: Autostock

"You're going to be a busy boy next week," Musgrave was told.

"Well, yeah, I've got some testing to do," he replied.

"No, you're going to be busy."

"What do you mean?"

"You haven't heard?"

"No."

"You're going to have to fill in for Jimmy (Spencer) over the weekend at Bristol."

"Oh, gosh."

Spencer was going to be suspended for punching Kurt Busch at Michigan and Ultra and Baldwin needed a substitute. They didn't have to look very far, finding Musgrave in the same shop.

And Musgrave did Baldwin proud Friday night, driving the No. 6 Dodge to a career-best third-place finish in the Food City 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

"The Busch cars and the Cup cars being right next door, it was easy for a transition back and forth," Musgrave said. "The nice part about it is, I know each and every one of them guys on the Cup car and the Busch car because they're all in the same area with me. That makes the transition a lot easier."

Food City 250 Michael Waltrip celebrates his first win of 2003 Play video Here from the top five finishers at Friday at Bristol Play video  •  Results  •  Standings

Musgrave, whose best previous finish in 15 Busch races was an eighth at Lowe's Motor Speedway in 2000, was strong throughout Friday's 250-lap race. He started ninth and ran up front before making a pit stop to change tires.

The trouble was, that set of tires was mismatched, so Baldwin decided to bring Musgrave back in again to change them. The extra stop cost Musgrave track position, but he still managed to charge back to the front.

"It was hard coming from the back to the front," Musgrave said. "But we put on a pretty good show for everybody, and that's what it's all about."

Late in the race, Musgrave was the fastest car on the track. Running in fourth, he hounded Tony Raines for several laps, putting his nose under the back of Raines' bumperless car.

"I was underneath Tony a few times, but he'd pull me down the straightaway," Musgrave said. "I just needed a little more gear to get up off the corner. Finally, he got loosened up and wiggled where I got underneath him.

	Musgrave started from the pole and finished 15th in the truck race Wednesday. Credit: Nate Mecha/HSP

"If I could have got by sooner, I might have been able to work over Ron (Hornaday) a little more. Our car was actually putting up the best lap times in free air, but track position meant a lot."

The laps were winding down, but Musgrave took off after second-place Ron Hornaday. Headed to the white flag, Musgrave caught him and made a move, but Hornaday held him off.

"Thank God it wasn't another lap, Ted," Hornaday told Musgrave after the race.

Of course, had there been 10 more laps, Musgrave might have been a substitute winner.

Then again, finishing second wasn't all that bad.

"It was a last-minute deal, subbing for Jimmy," Musgrave said. "Jimmy had this car here in the spring, and it was a fast car. It showed it's still the same way."

"It was a winning car, but we just needed track position."