Fuge Jr. named truck chief for ppc Racing

MOORESVILLE, N.C -- Ppc Racing assembled its final piece of the puzzle Thursday with the hiring of Dave Fuge Jr. as its truck chief for the No. 10 Power Stroke Diesel Ford. Fuge Jr., who was crew chief for the 2002 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship team, will work alongside veterans Terry Cook (driver) and Fred Wanke (crew chief) in their chase for the championship title.

"Ppc Racing is one of the top organizations in all of NASCAR," said Fuge Jr. "This is a championship organization, something you cannot take away from any team. I got a call from the owners at ppc Racing and asked if I'd be interested in the truck chief position with Terry Cook and Fred Wanke. I thought about the position and began talking to Greg (Pollex, Co-Owner) and then to Fred. The next day I was working with the rest of the guys at the shop."

Ppc Racing began its quest for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series title with a pole position and top-five finish at Daytona International Speedway earlier this year. Cook, who sits seventh in the driver points standings, is entering his ninth season as a driver and fourth with sponsor Power Stroke Diesel. Cook and the rest of the ppc Racing truck team head to Martinsville Speedway this weekend, where Cook has three top-10 consecutive finishes at the .526-mile facility. The Sylvania, Ohio native feels the addition of Fuge Jr. will elevate the team.

"Dave Fuge is a great addition to our program," said Cook. "The addition of Dave will take a lot of the pressure off Fred Wanke and allow him to make the race trucks go fast as oppose to dealing with a lot of the day-to-day operations at the race shop. We've seen a difference already as far as helping around the shop and getting the race trucks prepared. With the great leadership and experience Fred Wanke has, I think Fuge Jr. will compliment this program well."

"It takes a lot of preparation and dedication to become a championship team," said Fuge Jr. "The key players in this organization have done that; they've made the sacrifice. That's experience you can't buy or gain unless you've done it. I know how that feels building a team and then one day making a championship-caliber team and winning the championship. It's an elite club; it's something that doesn't fall out of a tree. It's something that takes hard work and dedication. The players in this organization know all about that. ppc Racing isn't going anywhere; they treat their people right."

"After a couple of races, we needed to get someone with truck racing experience," said Keith Barnwell, Co-Owner and General Manager at ppc Racing. "We wanted to give Fred more time to work directly with Terry Cook on setups and the performance of the truck. We needed a truck chief that take the ball and run and Dave Fuge has a lot of that experience. ppc Racing has won a NASCAR Busch Series championship but never a truck series race to date. Anytime you can bring people on board that have been to Victory Lane is good. We're glad to have him at ppc Racing."