Houston with plenty to prove at Fontana

Since Jason Leffler decided that driving for the Haas CNC Racing team in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series was more important than Ultra Motorsports' Craftsman Truck Series ride, the seat in the No. 2 Dodge has become desirable.

	Andy Houston

First, Jimmy Spencer got in the truck, and he won last weekend at New Hampshire International Speedway. But Spencer, a Winston Cup veteran, didn't really have anything to prove. He's a winner, and so is the No. 2 truck.

This weekend, though, Ultra's ride will be driven by a guy who has something to prove: Andy Houston.

Houston has become a journeyman of sorts the last couple of years since he left the NCTS to drive for Cal Wells' second Winston Cup team. That didn't work out, and Houston has bounced from ride to ride, often driving mediocre equipment.

Last year, he started off on Herzog-Jackson Motorsports No. 92 car, but that lasted three races. Houston then drove in five truck races, with a best finish of 12th.

He started off the 2003 NCTS season in Billy Ballew Motorsports' Fords, finishing a strong fifth in the season-opener at Daytona. But Ballew didn't have enough money to keep two trucks running, so Houston was sidelined after five races.

Now, though, comes a shot with one of the top teams in the series.

"This is what I have waited for, the opportunity to get back to a team like this Ultra Motorsports team that I know is a front-running team, a top-caliber team," Houston said. "This is a team that I competed against for years, and they were always one of the teams to beat."

Jim Smith's team stands ninth in the owners' points standings, with Leffler and Spencer each winning a race this season. The Ultra No. 2 truck has won at least once every year since the NCTS was founded.

The team has 17 victories and 29 poles with drivers Mike Bliss, Mike Wallace, Scott Riggs, Leffler and Spencer. And Houston would love to add to that total.

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"I am really excited," Houston said. "This is the best opportunity I have had in several years. We are going to go to California and I am going to run with the confidence and ability that I know I have. Even if the Team ASE/CARQUEST Dodge had not won last week you know what this team is capable of.

"Jim Smith has done a great job of keeping these teams highly competitive, and crew chief Dennis Connor is one of the best in the business. This team had a big win last week and we want to build on that success."

History is on Houston's side. In four NCTS starts at California Speedway, site of Saturday's American Racing Wheels 200, Houston has two top-five finishes and two poles in four races on the 2-mile oval.

"In 1998 we went out there, and I had never seen the place," Houston said. "We won the pole and finished fourth in the race, and I fell in love with the place. Every time we go out there we seem to run really well. It is a big 2-mile racetrack with a lot of grip. It is really smooth, and you can run two- and three-wide so it is a lot of fun. The fast way around is right on the bottom of the racetrack."

His record means Houston should have a good idea about how to get around California Speedway.

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"You have to roll out of the throttle in the corners," Houston said. "You need to have your truck free enough that you don't get tight coming up off the corners. It needs to be so that you can really use the accelerator from the center of the corner off and make the straight-aways as long as possible. That is where you make up the most ground.

"You don't want to be so loose that can't get down into the corners hard either, so there is a happy medium that you have to find to be successful at California."

Houston would like nothing more than to find that happy medium this weekend. He's penciled in the No. 2 truck for California and the following week at Las Vegas. The team will decide after Vegas whether Houston gets any more chances.

A victory would go a long way to proving he belongs.