Notes: ORP action-packed in heart of Indy

There have been many big moments since 1995 when the Truck Series became part of NASCAR's mid-summer celebration of speed at O'Reilly Raceway Park and Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Mike Skinner won the former track's first two races leading all 350 laps -- proof enough to then owner Richard Childress that the California native deserved promotion to the Cup Series, his destination the following year.

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The 1998 race was a slugfest between champions Jack Sprague and Ron Hornaday. Sprague's victory, after his rival wound up in the wall, remains among the series' most controversial.

A 16-year-old high school student from Las Vegas made his NASCAR national-series debut at ORP in 2001. Kyle Busch finished ninth.

Check the record books for the rest of the story.

In 2004, the improbable appeared ready to happen. Johnny Sauter led nearly 150 laps in a backyard-built truck. The lap that counted -- No. 200 -- however, belonged to Chad Chaffin. It was the only lap Chaffin led.

Last year's race found two from ORP's inaugural race battling for the victory once again. Hornaday and Skinner went nose-to-tailgate and occasionally side-by-side in a tense, final-laps duel that culminated in Hornaday's record-breaking fourth consecutive victory.

This year's 16th edition of the Truck race at O'Reilly Raceway Park figures to be equally distinguished. Hornaday and Skinner, the series' top two short-track winners, will match up yet again. Sauter, a winner earlier this spring at Kansas -- and at Hornaday's expense -- has unfinished business. Busch is after his third victory of the season locked in a tight, three-way owners' championship struggle with Germain Racing and Kevin Harvick Inc.

In the Loop: Position key to victory

Nowhere is qualifying as vital as it is at ORP in the Truck Series. The proof is in the numbers. In 15 series races there, five race winners started on the pole. Three more came from the outside pole. Another three started third, one from fourth and two from fifth. Add that all up, and 14 of the 15 race winners started in the top five.

Only one winner has started outside the top five -- Johnny Benson in 2008. That race made the above stat even more telling. Quite possibly, Benson knew the secret was early track position. On the first lap, he drove like it was the last lap. Starting eighth that event, Benson passed three trucks on the very first lap. So though he started Lap No. 1 in eighth, he started Lap No. 2 in fifth.

Since the inception of Loop Data in 2005, the eventual winner vaulted to -- or near -- the lead early. Two of the past five winners (Dennis Setzer in '05 and Rick Crawford in '06) were first at the race's midpoint. All others were in the top four.

With 20 laps to go in the past five ORP races, four eventual race winners were in the lead. Only Setzer in 2005 came from behind to win with 20 laps to go. He was second beginning the race's final 20 laps.

Chad Chaffin's last-lap pass of Johnny Sauter took place in 2004, the year before the inception of the Loop Scoring Data system. From a competitive standpoint, however, it remains the gold standard of Truck racing at ORP.

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Cobb chases Truck Series history

Three female drivers hope to take the green flag in Friday night's AAA Insurance 200 -- two of them veterans of the series and a third making her first start. Jennifer Jo Cobb is bidding to become the highest-ranked female in the point standings in the series' 16-year history.

Michelle Theriault has competed in four previous races. She most recently finished 36th at Iowa in 2009. Friday's race is the first of six the Connecticut native plans to run for Andy Hillenburg's Fast Track Racing.

Johanna Long will be making her series debut and at age 18 become the youngest of her sex to compete in a Truck event. Caitlin Shaw, then 19, finished 24th in last year's ORP race to set the mark.

Cobb, who posted her first top-15 finish earlier this season at Texas, ranks 17th following her 20th-place finish at Gateway. That matches the ranking achieved by Tammy Jo Kirk during the 1997 season.

Long, from Pensacola, Fla., enters the series with multiple late-model victories, championships in Blizzard and Gulf Coast series and a pole position for the Snow Ball Derby, one of late-model racing's preeminent post-season special events. She follows Kelly Sutton into the cockpit of the Billy Ballew Motorsports truck. Sutton, the series' female leader with 54 starts, campaigned a Ballew truck three times in 2007 with a best finish of 20th at Milwaukee.

"She's extremely talented and has been very successful to this point," owner Billy Ballew said of Long. "The series is a great venue for her to grow as a driver."

Long recently tested at Georgia's Gresham Motorsports Park and logged some of the fastest laps turned by a number of Camping World Truck teams.

"This is a great opportunity," Long said. "Billy Ballew Motorsports has great people and great equipment. Billy's guys have been very successful helping other up-and-coming drivers transition into NASCAR."

Back-to-back races at ORP

At least six drivers, beginning with Kyle Busch, figure to do double-duty this week as the Camping World Truck Series and Nationwide Series join forces at ORP. Busch will be back in the No. 18 Toyota for the first time since Michigan at June when he finished third behind Aric Almirola and Todd Bodine. Busch will be looking for Truck victory No. 3 and Nationwide win No. 8.

Almirola also will be in Saturday's Nationwide race in JR Motorsports' No. 88 Chevrolet. Ron Hornaday will make twin starts for Kevin Harvick Inc. Hornaday won the 2000 Nationwide race. Nationwide regular Shelby Howard will be Hornaday's Truck teammate. David Starr and Dennis Setzer also have entered both weekend races at ORP. Setzer won the 2005 Truck race.

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Most Popular campaigns in high gear

Voting for the Camping World Truck Series' Most Popular Driver doesn't end until Nov. 13, but a pair of drivers who finished 1-2 in an earlier K&N Pro Series East balloting already are on the campaign trail.

Ricky Carmichael and Austin Dillon are serious about winning the prestigious award. Carmichael won last year's award in his first season.

"It was pretty cool to get invited to the [Champion's] banquet because I was not going to be attending because of performance reasons," he said. "It's going to be hard going up against Austin. His results [a victory at Iowa] are definitely helping him and it helps he is such a great person."

Dillon, runner-up to Carmichael in the East series in 2008, wants to return the favor.

"All drivers want to see how many fans they have and to become the Most Popular Driver," he said.

Truck Series Bulletin Board

• Kevin Harvick doesn't run many Truck races. But when he does ... Saturday's Gateway victory was his third of the season, seventh since 2008 and 12th consecutive top-five finish. And do those owners' points add up. Harvick's truck trails leader Todd Bodine's No. 30 Germain entry by just 10 points.

The economy may be tough but Harvick and his wife, DeLana, have managed to sell all of the remaining races for Hornaday's flagship No. 33 and the No. 2, as well.

"You just had to lower your overhead costs to make your company run more efficiently with the new [sponsorship] price point that everyone is willing to spend," Harvick said.

• With hiring of a permanent crew chief to replace Doug George a week away, Kevin Harvick Inc. will put Ernie Cope on the box this week at ORP. The two will pair for Saturday night's Nationwide race, as well.

Hornaday is winless in his past 22 starts matching his second-longest victory drought (1999). He has won 45 times with an unprecedented nine different crew chiefs. Cope picked up his seventh victory backing Harvick at Gateway.

• Florida late-model and Bandolero veteran Ryan Rust will drive Rick Ware Racing's No. 6 Chevrolet in his Truck debut at ORP. Narain Karthikeyan returns to the series after a month's absence.

Karthikeyan, splitting the No. 60 with Stacy Compton, finished a career-high 11th in his most recent start at Texas in June. Compton recently expressed hope of fielding a second, full-time truck for Karthikeyan in 2011.

Wayne's Words: ORP

"We've always opened the garage early at O'Reilly Raceway Park because it's a challenge to inspect, practice, qualify and run a 200-lap race in a single day.

"But even though the sun is just coming up, fans already are putting out their blankets on the hill overlooking Turn 1. It's a prime viewing place and you've got to get there early for the best spots.

"There's always plenty of action in Turn 1 and especially so since the track's resurfacing some years ago. It's a multi-groove track now with great, side-by-side competition that goes on from the first lap until the last.

"We've been fortunate over the years to see many last-lap passes for wins. None were more dramatic than Chad Chaffin's pass of Johnny Sauter in 2004.

"Getting on pit road without making a mistake is one of a driver's biggest challenges at O'Reilly Raceway Park -- especially if it's a green-flag pit stop. A great stop means great track position. The opposite is true and maybe more so.

"O'Reilly Raceway Park has been home to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series since 1995. It is one of just three tracks to host a race in each of 16 seasons. We've visited Martinsville and will go back in October. Phoenix, which staged the first and final races of the 1995 inaugural season, is on deck for November.

"This is the final race of a three-week Midwest swing. The racing has been great and the fans' enthusiasm just fantastic. We couldn't ask for anything better."
-- Wayne Auton, Camping World Truck Series director