Crocker craves change of luck at Memphis

Erin Crocker's first two appearances in the Busch Series did not go quite as she had planned.

Crocker, the only female to win a World of Outlaws event, finished 39th in her debut at Richmond. Two weeks later at Dover, she qualified ninth, but finished 35th after an accident that left her with a broken rib.

In those two races, Crocker completed 133 of 453 laps.

	Erin Crocker exits her car after her wreck at Dover. Credit: Autostock
	Rough introductionCrocker's Busch Series debut comes to an abrupt end Tough lessonAn upset Erin Crocker discusses her wreck at Dover Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

"I take the blame for Richmond," said Crocker. "I got in over my head a little bit and I messed up my qualifying, something that is pretty simple. I just got down too low and made a driver mental error. And from there we were behind the eight ball.

"Then Dover, I felt really comfortable, we qualified really well, and I felt if we could just get some laps it would be so much experience, and to have that happen on Lap 12 is really frustrating."

Hence, her goals are a little modest this time around as she heads to Memphis Motorsports Park for Saturday's Sam's Town 250.

"I have never seen the track -- this will be my first time there," Crocker said. "So my goal is to finish the race, period."

Crocker's first two starts in the Busch Series were for Evernham Motorsports. This time around she'll pilot a No. 40 Dodge that is a joint project between the Evernham organization and Fitz-Bradshaw Racing.

Crew chief Eddie Buffington from FitzBradshaw Racing will make the calls this weekend, with the No. 79 crew from the Evernham stable pitting the car.

With the new business arrangement comes a new attitude for Crocker.

"We just need to regroup from the past two races and prove that we belong out there," she said. "I feel I need to go out with a different attitude and run laps.

"It's all about gaining experience at seat time, and this is a great opportunity to do that."

Most of Crocker's seat time next season will come in the Craftsman Truck Series. Evernham Motorsports announced last week that Crocker will run the full NCTS in 2006, as well as some Busch and ARCA series races.

"I feel like when Ray said I was ready and that he has a lot of confidence in me, I looked at it in a positive way," she said. "We started looking at how many Cup drivers are going to run Busch next year and with the testing changes, he asked me if would feel comfortable going to Daytona and California without ever seeing these places and going out there with twenty Cup drivers, the Truck Series wasn't sounding so bad."

Truex Jr. looks to widen growing gap

Defending NASCAR Busch Series champion Martin Truex Jr. is also the defending race champion at Memphis. And much like last year, he can move even closer to his second consecutive title with a good run there Saturday.

BUSCH SERIES •   Results •   Standings •   Schedule •   Best 25 Over Last Six Races •   Best Starts •   Best Finishes

Truex gained 71 points on second-place Clint Bowyer with his ninth-place finish at Charlotte last Friday night. Down by 49 points coming into the race, Bowyer fell to 120 points behind Truex after an accident on Lap 50 forced him to the garage for repairs. He finished 33rd.

Last year, Truex, who sat on the Busch Pole at Memphis, was 144 points ahead of second-place Kyle Busch in the championship standings, but pulled away to a 205-point advantage after his thrilling win. He beat Greg Biffle by just .305-second, the closest series finish at the track.

Truex has gained 94 very key points on Bowyer since Dover, where he was just 26 points ahead of his season rival.

"As far as the points go, man, I don't even know if I want to talk about that right now," Truex said. "It is just so close and every week it can go one way or the other. All we can do is race our race and let the points take care of themselves. If we start looking too far down the road, we're going to lose sight of what's right in front of us."

Bowyer said his plan of attack hasn't changed, nor will it.

"We just need to keep doing what we have been doing and let the rest fall into place," he said. "With four races remaining, anything can happen. By no means am I going to count us out of this championship. This championship hunt isn't over until the last race in Homestead."

Tough schedule for Edwards

Carl Edwards, who is running a full season in the Busch Series and is also one of the 10 drivers in the Chase for the Nextel Cup, has a daunting task ahead of him at Memphis.

He will miss practice and qualifying at Memphis as the Nextel Cup Series races at Martinsville this weekend, and will be pressed to make it to Memphis in time for the start of the race at 3:30 (ET).

Nextel Cup final practice ends at 11:55 a.m. on Saturday.

Edwards, who led the Busch Series standings for 10 consecutive weeks before missing the second Nashville race due to inclement weather and his Cup responsibilities at Pocono (where he won), has been battling to move from fourth place in the standings since then.