DAYTONA ENDS TOO EARLY FOR CRAWFORD

Feb 14, 2010

DAYTONA ENDS TOO EARLY FOR CRAWFORD

As one of NASCAR Camping World Truck Series acclaimed drafters Rick Crawford and his Circle Bar Team rolled in to Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway with high hopes of returning to victory lane at the World Center of Speed. Adorned with the Lilly blue paint of Lilly Trucking of Virginia the 14 was in the top 5 of both practice sessions for the Nextera Energy Resources 250. Trimmed out for drafting Crawford timed in his Ford F-150 in the 13th starting position. From the drop of the green flag Crawford’s Lilly Trucking F-150 moved into the top 10. As the 190 miles per hour chess match played out over the first 30 laps Crawford was moving in and out of the top 10 sizing up the competition and looking for drafting partners to take the Lilly Trucking machine to the front in the closing laps. On lap 33 contact between other trucks sent the nose of the Circle Bar F-150 slamming into the rear of another truck. The contact crushed the nose and some of the valuable oil cooling lines to the motor. The team tried to make repairs on pit road but the Lilly Trucking machine needed more than what could be done on pit road. Behind the wall the team led by fabricator Scott Weaver made the repairs to the mangled F-150. 22 laps later Crawford returned to the track to have the oil temp spike relegating the Lilly Trucking machine to the garage and a 28th place finish.

Rick Crawford comments: “Everyone’s benn working really hard for months to get our Ford F-150 to Daytona. Scott Weaver and the guys built a heck of a truck and Blake Bainbridge has been making all the right calls this week. I appreciate Dennis and Sharon Lilly being on board this weekend I wish we could have put on a better show for them. It’s never good to tear up a truck but when you know you have a truck that can win, it just makes it tougher to swallow.”

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is in action again at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday March 6th. The Atlanta 200 is slated to roll off at 2:00 PM EST with coverage by Speed and MRN. The pre-race Setup Show on Speed is set for 1:30 EST.