Toyota teams look to end winless streak at Dover

After dominating the first part of the 2007 season by winning the first four races courtesy of Jack Sprague and Mike Skinner, it's been a tough go for the Toyota teams of late, and it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise.

Blame the schedule for its recent winless streak.

By the Numbers

The Craftsman Truck Series is celebrating its 300th birthday this weekend at Dover. Jack Sprague sits second on the all-time wins list and his three championships are most in Truck Series history.

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There are six tracks Toyota has yet to win a race at, and Dover marks the third track in a row the Craftsman Truck Series will visit where that's the case. But it's not like the Toyota teams haven't been close.

It all started at Lowe's, where in the fifth Truck Series race at the track, Ron Hornaday gave Chevrolet its fourth consecutive win in Charlotte. Ted Musgrave, ironically now in a Toyota, won the first race at Lowe's in 2003 in a Dodge. The highest finishing Toyota at Lowe's was Cup rookie and part-time Truck Series driver A.J. Allmendinger, who finished second.

Then the series went to Mansfield, where again it's been all Chevy and Dodge in the three previous races at the smallest track on the circuit. That streak continued when Dennis Setzer won for the first time this season in his Chevrolet. Once again, Toyota was a runner-up with Sprague finishing second.

Now the series shifts to Dover for the AAA Insurance 200 (8 p.m. ET tape delayed, SPEED), where once again Toyota has yet to win. Its best chance to end the cold streak at the Monster Mile may be Musgrave, who won at Dover in a Chevrolet in 2002.

Musgrave considers Dover one of his favorite tracks and can't wait to get back.

"Dover ranks right up there," Musgrave said. "That's a pretty hairy racetrack, we'll call it. You are really on edge at all times there but it's a pretty good racetrack.

"At Dover you're so fast that you are on the very edge of losing control at every point of the racetrack. You can never rest or let your mind rest at all at Dover because it will come up and bite you."

Current points leader Skinner knows all about Dover coming up to bite. In his first Dover Truck start, he led 85 laps but fell a lap down and had to battle back for a fourth-place finish. Since then he has consistently gotten worse with a 10th in 2005 and a 22nd-place finish last year.

"We ran into some bad luck last year with our tire going flat and sometimes those are things you just can not prevent," Skinner said. "We have had some bad luck at Dover, but so far all the tracks we normally run badly at we have ran pretty decent at so far this year, so hopefully we can keep this trend going."

Skinner's not just running good at tracks he's struggled with recently -- he's running good everywhere. Skinner is the only driver to finish all seven races this season in the top 10 -- six of which were top-five finishes with three wins. Skinner would like to add Dover to his list of accomplishments.

"I am looking forward to racing at Dover," he said. "It is a very challenging track and your luck can go either way there. We have focused all year on top-10s, so we will just keep on trucking with that same goal."

With 28 wins in his career, second on the all-time list, there aren't too many tracks Sprague hasn't made a trip to Victory Lane. Dover happens to be one of them.

"I'd love to win at Dover, but we also need to run strong, avoid any problems, and have a good points day," Sprague said. "That's the things that wins championships."

After winning the season opener at Daytona, Sprague has had an up-and-down season. Following a third at California, he finished 23rd at Atlanta and 16th at Martinsville. He did post a solid third at Kansas, but couldn't build on it after crashing out at Lowe's 36 laps in and finishing 34th.

Last week at Mansfield, Sprague found himself back up top with a second, but the driver of the No. 60 Toyota is sixth in points, 262 points behind leader Skinner and Sprague is focused on closing that gap.

"You don't have to win these races," Sprague said. "Don't get me wrong, we all want to win. But you have to eliminate the bad days as much as possible. We're hoping for a good day in Dover."

It's a personal challenge, however, that might push Sprague over the top. The veteran has a friendly rivalry building with Hornaday, the all-time wins leader in the Truck Series, and he is looking to match Hornaday's recent win at Lowe's.

"For years, I've had a little personal competition with Hornaday," Sprague said. "We're good friends, and we always try to outdo the other. I have three championships, he has two. I have 28 all-time wins, and he has 30. I want to get my No. 60 Toyota into Victory Lane a few more times to even up the score."

And so would Toyota, who would love to get its first Truck win at Dover. The manufacturer came up short at Lowe's and Mansfield -- now the Monster Mile is up. And if the manufacturer comes up short again, there's always Kentucky Speedway, O'Reilly Raceway Park and Talladega Superspeedway -- the other three tracks Toyota has yet to win.