Dennis Setzer won four races in 2005, but Ted Musgrave had more top-fives and top-10s. Credit: Autostock

Setzer comes up short again in Truck Series

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- If Saturday's Ford 200 was a microcosm of the last third of Dennis Setzer's season, there is no shame in falling short of a title for the third consecutive year.

There's plenty of frustration, but nowhere near as much as if they'd never contended.

Craftsman Truck Series Official Standings Pos. Driver Pts. Behind 1. T. Musgrave 3,535 -- 2. D. Setzer 3,480 -55 3. T. Bodine 3,462 -73 4. R. Hornaday 3,369 -166 5. M. Skinner 3,273 -262 • Complete standings, click here Not enoughDennis Setzer on coming up short in his quest for a title Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

"It's tough," Setzer said of his 55-point title loss to Ted Musgrave. "We just didn't run as well as we needed to on the speedways at the end of the season to complete our deal the way we needed to."

Setzer last led the championship after the Sept. 24 Las Vegas 350, when he finished 14th and left Las Vegas only five points ahead of Musgrave. After suffering a crushing 19th-place disappointment at Martinsville the next week, Setzer was 54 points behind Musgrave.

Just as he could never get much more than within 50 points of Musgrave all race Saturday, Setzer could never bridge the gap in the stretch.

"It was just unfortunate for us, right there," Setzer said. "The center part of the season we ran like gangbusters and we couldn't do anything wrong, but man, [at the end] it just kind of slid around on us.

"We just couldn't hit it on the speedways. We run second at New Hampshire and fifth in Phoenix, but still we just didn't bring our program back around like we needed to."

While Todd Bodine on Saturday won his third consecutive race to close out the season third in the championship, Setzer finished 18th -- but with Musgrave just a spot behind him after the finish was revised.

Inside the Numbers Dennis Setzer since winning at IRP and leading by 227 points Race Start Finish Points Nashville 16 14 +178 Bristol 10 16 +143 Richmond 20 34 +49 Loudon 6 2 +59 Las Vegas 22 14 +5 Martinsville 5 19 -54 Atlanta 6 13 -51 Texas 19 18 -63 Phoenix 18 5 -58 Homestead 23 18 -55

Setzer made up only three of the 58 points he came into the race behind, and thus lost the title by 55 points -- making it the third time in a row he's lost the championship in the last race, by a total of only 110 points.

"This is what it's all about, to win a championship," Setzer said. "We all go to win the battles each week but it's the wars that seals the deal and unfortunately we were second-best in the war.

"But I just applaud all these guys [on my team] because they put a lot of effort into this all year. Nobody ever gave up, and they fought it down to the last lap. It wasn't our day [Saturday]."

The day got a little worse when NASCAR revised the finishing order due to a backstretch melee on the last lap, moving Musgrave and Johnny Sauter up a spot, to right behind Setzer.

It marked the seventh consecutive season that Setzer has finished in the top nine in the standings -- the last five with Morgan-Dollar Motorsports.

FORD 200 Ted Musgrave won his first NCTS title as Todd Bodine raced to his third consecutive victory.  •   Complete story, click here

"Man, we're coming back strong next year," Setzer said. "I'm back in the same truck, Chevrolet Silverado is behind us 100 percent and we're going to fight to win this deal.

"That's our goal, to win one of these championships."

"It's exactly like that, a balance of pride and frustration," team co-owner David Dollar said. "It definitely is a razor blade double-edged sword.

"I'm real excited about our program, because we try to perform on the track as well as off the track, and to have the consistency we've had with the different things that have been thrown at us is pleasing.

"A year or so ago we moved from Oklahoma to North Carolina, we've had some crew chief changes and things like that, and we've still maintained the consistency.

"All in all, this has been an excellent year for us, as well, because Dennis has had four wins and the 47 program at Morgan-Dollar has got a win [Bobby Labonte] as well, so we're real excited about a lot of things like that because it's something we can build on."