Challengers closing in on leader Setzer

CONCORD, N.C. -- Dennis Setzer is being hunted.

No, he doesn't have some crazed psycho fan coming after him. But Setzer's hunters are almost as zealous.

Setzer has led the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points standings for eight races now, but his lead is shrinking. And the number of drivers who are closing in is growing.

Bobby Hamilton has closed to within six points of Setzer after a victory at Kentucky last weekend -- his fifth consecutive top-seven finish.

	Bobby Hamilton

But Setzer has others chasing after him. Carl Edwards is 100 points back in third, with Rick Crawford fourth and Matt Crafton fifth. And don't forget about former NCTS champion Jack Sprague, who moved up three spots to seventh at Kentucky.

Setzer would be wise to listen to advice from Satchel Paige: Don't look back, Dennis, someone might be gaining on you.

"Well, you look at the whole crowd, you know?" Setzer said. "They're all coming at us. It seems like Carl Edwards had some bad luck this last weekend, we had some the weekend before that and didn't run as well this past weekend as we needed to and Bobby's been on a tear.

"You never know who to look at in this series. Mike Skinner is due to run very good here pretty soon. Jack Sprague has run consistent every week. You don't know who to look at."

Instead of looking at someone else, Setzer is looking at himself. Morgan-Dollar Motorsports has finished outside the top 10 the last two races, and that's after starting on the pole for both events (even if it was because rain canceled qualifying at both tracks).

Setzer got involved in a crash with two other trucks at Kansas and finished 25th, while his No. 46 Chevrolet simply didn't handle well at Kentucky last weekend.

Setzer and the team spent some time earlier this weekend at a short track in North Carolina trying to find some answers.

2004 Craftsman Truck Series  •  Results  •  Standings  •  Schedule  •  Drivers

"We're trying to get turns 1 and 2 down pat at Gateway," Setzer said, referring to the site of this weekend's race, the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers Ram Tough 200. "It's a very tight corner there, and we're at the Caraway Speedway in North Carolina trying to help our rotation in the center of the corner to try and help that out a little bit. We'll let you know how that works out when it comes to Saturday night."

Gateway is a tricky place for teams and drivers, with its long straightaways and flat corners. Getting a truck to turn at the 1.25-mile track is crucial for going fast there.

Setzer hasn't had much trouble going fast this season, as he's got two victories and six top-five finishes through the first 11 races of the year.

But he's hardly comfortable.

"We're searching for a little something," Setzer said. "It seems like a lot of trucks, whether it be Chevrolets or whatever, have been really loose at the last few races at Kansas. A lot of trucks got out of shape and spun there, and a lot of trucks spun and got out of shape at Kentucky also.

"Maybe NASCAR needs to look at increasing the spoiler size of these trucks. Get everyone back to a more comfortable situation."

	Carl Edwards

Until that happens, Setzer and his team are own their own, trying to figure out how to go faster. And while Hamilton seems to have the faster truck lately, Setzer said his team is ready.

Morgan-Dollar moved from Oklahoma to Statesville, N.C. in the off-season and picked up more support from Chevrolet. Chevy also helped the team add a second, part-time truck to the Morgan-Dollar stable, with veteran Randy Goss leading that effort.

"Bobby is really on the charge now, but I have the confidence in Morgan-Dollar Motorsports and in my Silverado team," Setzer said. "We started this team just about from scratch again this year. Moved it from Oklahoma and produced all new Silverados. We're learning new types of trucks right now as we speak. That's kind of what we've been going through.

"We found some really, really interesting things with our second team coming on board as far as the 47 truck, Randy Goss and his guys out of our shop. Found some interesting things as far as (crew chief) Danny Gill and myself, and we're learning that stuff a little and learning how to use it and make it better and putting it to use for us.

"It's all paying dividends, we're just getting all of our ducks in a row and hopefully we're going to come back and be really strong this week and throughout the rest of the season."

The Richard Childress Racing engines have helped, too, so Setzer and Morgan-Dollar have a pretty good package right now.

So bring it on, boys, Setzer is ready for the fight.