Spencer to run truck at Bristol in August

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Jimmy Spencer will make his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut in an Ultra Motorsports Dodge in August at Bristol Motor Speedway.

	Jimmy Spencer

"Bristol is Jimmy's favorite race track and that's where he wanted to run one at," Ultra owner Jimmy Smith said Friday at Darlington Raceway. "So we're going to get one ready for him."

Smith owns two Craftsman Truck Series Dodge teams that finished second with Ted Musgrave and sixth with Jason Leffler in the Craftsman 200. The teams are housed in Mooresville, N.C., with the Sirius Dodge that Spencer drives in the Winston Cup Series.

Smith said the idea was hatched over the last few weeks, not coincidentally as Spencer began posting some of the best runs ever turned in by Ultra's Winston Cup team.

"The truck guys will set it up," Smith said of his truck crew chiefs, Tim Kohuth and Gene Nead. "Then they'll just turn it over to Jimmy and (Winston Cup crew chief) Tommy Baldwin."

"It's a ways off -- not 'til August -- but I'm excited about it," Spencer said. He said he had talked to teams about running trucks in the past but never felt he had a potential race-winning piece.

Craftsman Truck Series  Tools of the Trade

He has two victories in Bristol's August NASCAR Busch Series race and finished second in last spring's Food City 500 Winston Cup event at the high-banked half-mile oval.

"Jimmy's trucks are just awesome and those boys do a great job over there. Bristol is one of my favorite race tracks so I'm really looking forward to it."

Spencer said he has been talking trucks with Musgrave and Leffler and at a Las Vegas test session with their Winston Cup cars he found out how much Musgrave and Nead knew about setups.

"I trust my teammates and what Teddy Musgrave tells me," Spencer said. "We're helping Jason right now. Jason's doing a great job and he's fast -- we just need to get him to learn how to finish races and he's going to win some."