Rick Crawford's turbulent 2005 season got off to an ominous start at Daytona. Credit: Autostock

Crawford off to good start in Truck testing

Veteran driver looking forward to season after rough '05

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Rick Crawford's two lasting Daytona International Speedway images are nearly bigger than life: his 2003 victory in a three-wide finish and a 2005 flip from which he drove away.

At the opening session Friday of the three-day Craftsman Truck Series Preseason Thunder at Daytona, Crawford proved his No. 14 Ford F-150 was going to be up to the challenge this season coming out of the box.

	Rick Crawford turned in the third-best speeds in Friday's first two sessions. Credit: Don Bok/Motorsports Images and Archives
	Rick Crawford Testing Morning session Pos. Truck Speed 3 14 175.706 Afternoon session Pos. Truck Speed 3 14x 176.205 6 14 175.524 • Complete Truck speeds, click here

Each of Crawford's two trucks, tuned by veteran crew chief Kevin "Cowboy" Starland, was in third place on the respective morning and afternoon single-truck time sheets, and it had Crawford more upbeat than usual at a test session.

"We came out of the box pretty good," Crawford said. "On the bright side, that's a little bit different than normal for us, and I actually told one of the guys in the shop this week that I was looking forward to go testing at Daytona.

"He said, 'Do what?' because I'm one of the drivers that really doesn't like to test. I like to go fast and I like the competition, but it's not like that here when we test.

"But I was actually looking forward to this test because I want to turn this team around and I know Cowboy does as well. It's been a lot of hard work in the off-season and it looks like it's paying off."

Even putting the season-opening flip aside, Crawford's more than a little anxious to put 2005 -- despite a couple of career-high notes -- in his rear-view.

"The season didn't really get started on the right note, and we tried to rebound with the pole and a new track record at Atlanta," Crawford said. "We led the most laps, but we just couldn't close the door on that one and tore that truck up.

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"Then we got to Kentucky midway through the season and tore that one up, and we spent the rest of the season trying to bounce back from that."

The worst aspect of the wreck in qualifying at Kentucky Speedway was that Crawford went to the hospital and his consecutive starts streak came to an end.

"We messed up three really nice trucks last year and sorta played hurt," Crawford said. "Nobody really knew it, but we played hurt all year and morale wasn't there throughout the team, and I was just glad to put a period on 2005."

The bright notes were enough to bring Crawford and his longtime team owner, Texan Tom Mitchell, back for another shot at a title.

"A lot of things didn't work [last year], but if you go back and look at the accomplishments in 2005, you'll see the makings of what should have been a successful year," Crawford said. "We had two poles and two new track records, the most in one season that I've ever had.

"We got a win at New Hampshire in one of the most exciting truck races of the year. We led some laps and ran up front some, and we tried to understand the Ford F-150.

"This year over the winter, us along with Roush-Yates and Ford Motor Co., we made some changes to the aero package and made some changes under the hood and we're looking for the bright side -- to come to Daytona and run good."