Dennis Setzer: "To be in the Craftsman Truck Series (with a team) that can win races, that's really a good deal." Credit: Autostock

Conversation: Dennis Setzer

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Dennis Setzer has been in this position before, last year, in fact.

In 2003, Setzer was in fourth place heading into the final race of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and after points leader Brendan Gaughan crashed, Setzer ended up second in the Craftsman Truck Series, a scant nine points behind Travis Kvapil.

2004 CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES •   Results •   Standings •   Schedule •   Best 25 Over Last Six Races •   Best Starts •   Best Finishes

This year, Setzer is in second heading to Homestead, but he's 70 points behind leader Bobby Hamilton as the series prepares for the Ford 200 season-finale.

Setzer has had a solid season, winning two races and posting 15 top-10 finishes in 24 races. Still, after being spun by a lapped truck at Darlington last week, Setzer has a lot of work ahead to win the 2004 title.

But win or lose, Setzer will wear a smile on his face. He knows where he comes from and knows how lucky he is to be in his position.

Setzer talked with NASCAR.COM staff writer Lee Montgomery about his racing roots, about how he celebrates, about his future in NASCAR and about his current team, Morgan-Dollar Motorsports.

Q: I have to share something about the first time I remember hearing about you. It was back when you were racing Barry Beggarly for the national championship. Barry was from near our local paper, so I was kind of pulling for him and against you, by default. Of course, Barry won and you finished second in the region. What do you remember about that? Was that a sting? Was that a tough thing to bounce back from?

Dennis Setzer: I don't know if it was a tough thing to bounce back from or not. It was a really good race for Barry and I. He came down and raced me at Hickory Speedway, the last big race. It was a huge, big deal. There was so much hoopla.

I'm very happy Barry won the thing. If I couldn't win it, I wanted Barry Beggarly to win it. He was that good a competitor. We both had a lot of admiration for each other. Fortunately, I knew at that time I had a full-time Busch ride for the next year. How big a sting could it be when you're going full-time Busch racing?

It would've been a nice feather in your hat to have that deal, but if I had to lose, I wanted it to be to Barry Beggarly, because I knew he was as good a competitor as there was available.

Credit: Nate Mecha/High Sierra Photo

Q: And I also remember that I was there the night you won (a Busch Series race) at South Boston. I remember where you had your celebratory dinner that night. Do you remember where that was?

Setzer: Was that Ernie's?

Q: Burger King.

Setzer: Burger King! Exactly! There you go. I had the whole crowd at Burger King. Exactly. Absolutely. Had some good times there. My little boy was a year or so old at that time. It was a big deal for us to win that deal. South Boston is a special place for us.

Fortunately, we came back a couple weeks later and won at Hickory. I bet Barry probably came by and congratulated me at South Boston after that win. He probably ran the Late Models there and probably came by and congratulated me. That's how good a friends Barry and I were.

Q: Have times changed for you? Are you still a Burger King kind of guy after a race?

Setzer: Well, I don't know I moved up or not. I went to Arby's last night, the drive-thru at Arby's, and then went on back to the motel and had my Arby's in the room.

I'm very fortunate to be where I'm at now, with Silverado and Morgan-Dollar Motorsports. I can't tell you how good it is. Barry and I were the same: we put our heart and soul into our Late Model racing, but there was no option for us to spend the money or have anybody available to move up to this level.

We were both relying on hitting the lottery and getting that next big break. I fortunately did. Barry won the national championship, and fortunately, I got the big break. I don't know how the scheme of things work out in life, but I know how lucky I am to hit the lottery in this sport.

Q: If you happen to win the championship this year, have you thought about how you're going to celebrate? I'm guessing it's going to be something a little bigger than Burger King.

Setzer: I don't know. You know, we have the banquet down in Homestead there the night after, so that's a pretty big hoopla deal right there. That's a really nice deal in the Craftsman Truck Series. We race on Friday, have the banquet on Saturday.

I have made plans to bring my wife and my little boy down. That'll be a late night after that, but then we get on the airplane and fly home. He's got to be back at school Monday morning. I don't see much extra happening.

We'll be back at the shop at Morgan-Dollar Motorsports probably Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday and start sorting things out for the 2005 season. It's a big season for us. We've got a lot of new changes coming up in the Craftsman Truck Series, with new teams and stuff becoming involved. We're working on our Daytona stuff right now.

Q: Have you allowed yourself late at night or sitting by yourself to dream of winning the championship? Have you pictured yourself in that scenario? Or is that something that you just don't focus on?

Setzer: I don't know if you sit back and dream. I guess you've done that every since you've done anything, you know what I'm saying? I went to my first Street Stock race, and, man, I dreamed of winning a Street Stock race.

Credit: Nate Mecha/High Sierra Photo

You went to a Late Model race, and you dreamed of winning a Late Model race. Then you win a Late Model championship. You go, "Man, if I could just somehow make a living in racing somehow instead of spending everything I make working a regular job." That's your dream.

Man, I've been so lucky to do that, make a good living at it and be with a very good, competitive team. I guess you do dream of it, but to know your accomplishments, how far this team's come ... this is our fourth year together. We've been top 10 in points, fortunately, every year.

We went from a ninth the first year with a building process, me and Morgan-Dollar, to sixth the next year. We were second this past year, and now we have a viable chance to win the points. It's been a great ride for us all the way through. We look for a lot more years together, and I don't see any end to it any time soon.

Q: I guess if you think about the championship too much, it can consume you and take your focus away. Would you agree with that?

Setzer: I would say so. That's the good part about this team. This team has been based on consistency and no failures. Timmy Rice, Damien Dickson, Marty Houston, all these guys back at the shop do such a good program with no failures on this truck. That's got us in the position we're in.

We're not changing that part. We didn't put any new people in, didn't do anything new on the truck. (Crew chief) Danny Gill makes good calls every week at the racetrack, and consistency has paid the dividends to get us to this place. We wouldn't try to change anything to try to fix that.

Q: Now, nine points last year. I mean, nine points. How did you keep from pulling your hair out in the off-season?

Setzer: We went in to the last race at Homestead in fourth position. We were about 40-some points out. We knew we had a chance at winning, but we had to beat three really good guys. Fortunately, we came out of that thing in second place and almost won the whole show, so we felt really good. Man, we had our chests sticking out and our heads standing tall over the winter. It was good for us.

We'll feel the same way this winter, whether we win or finish second because it's been a good year for us. The team has gone through a lot, moving from Oklahoma to Statesville, N.C. It's been a big transition for us and went better than we ever thought it could have possible went.

We came out of the box so strong this year, won some races early, started our second, part-time team, went really well for us. The building period has been really good for us. I don't think anybody will have their heads down, whatever happens. There's a lot available for us. It's been great.

Q: We've heard in racing a long time that you've got to lose a championship before you win one. Do you agree with that at all? Does that hold any water?

Setzer: No, I don't think so. I don't think so. You've got to get yourself in position and do everything you can every week. There's nobody in racing who doesn't do that every week, as far as getting yourself in position.

Nobody goes out and says, "I need to lose a championship because I'm going to win it next year." That wasn't our deal, for sure. We're going to be here for a lot of years, trying to win more championships. Hopefully, we'll get this one here, and we'll add some more to it, hopefully, through the years.

Q: Talking about the coming years, a lot of people would see a truck championship as a good boost to a career to looking elsewhere, but I've heard people talk. Would you be satisfied to finish your career with this team in this series, or is Nextel Cup the ultimate goal?

Setzer: Yeah, I'm very happy to be in the truck series. I wouldn't rule out a Nextel Cup deal sometime. Preferably, I would rather for it to be a part time deal if I did something like that down the road. To be in the Craftsman Truck Series (with a team) that can win races, that's really a good deal.

If I got a Nextel Cup ride, I'd probably be in a 30th place car where I was mad at the dog and mad at the family and everybody else when I got home after running so bad. It's pretty nice that they welcome me home after we come back running well in the truck series.

Q: You've had some interesting teammates this year, including a guy you used to run against at Caraway. What's that been like with all these Nextel Cup teammates?

Setzer: It's been very good for us, and the whole team likewise. It's a fun deal to go back and run with Bobby Labonte back at Martinsville. We went to Caraway, and I took his truck there and tested it and shook it down at Caraway about two weeks before Bobby got to go. Then we went back about two weeks later together. I had a truck and he had a truck, and he worked with it all day and finally came back with exactly the same springs, exactly the same swaybar that I had.

He said, "I couldn't make it any better." That makes out whole team feel good and on the right track. And fortunately, on the other hand of things, we've had Michael Waltrip and guys come in and brought some new avenues with Randy Goss and this all-star program, back to our table and said, "Man look at this deal different right here."

It's paid some dividends. Fortunately, we went on to win Charlotte with our team, we went on to win Texas and things like that directly because of that Randy Goss and the all-star program brought to the table.

Q: Is there going to be an all-star program next year, too?

Setzer: I don't know for sure on that yet. It's a good way for those guys to use their Nextel Cup drivers and get them back in the series, promote their Silverados, which is a good deal.