CRAWFORD SCORES TOP-10 FINISH IN ATLANTA

Mar 7, 2010

CRAWFORD SCORES TOP-10 FINISH IN ATLANTA

Hampton, Ga. (March 6 2010) – Looking to rebound from a 28th-place finish at Daytona after getting caught up in the “Big One,” Rick Crawford and the Circle Bar Racing crew lifted the cover on CB-21 – the team’s workhouse on the mile-and-a-half tracks. Crew chief Blake Bainbridge and the team worked overtime in the shop to set up the No. 14 Circle Bar Truck Corral Ford for the long, green-flag runs that characterize the 200-mile truck series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and their perseverance paid dividends by the end of the race on Saturday. With cooler than normal temperatures in the Atlanta area on Saturday morning during qualifying, the team opted the put the truck in full race trim, knowing a consistent truck during the long runs would be the path to success. At the drop of the green flag Crawford was on the move, advancing from the 24th starting position, and by the time the first caution flew at lap 24 the No. 14 was up to 12th place following a lightening fast pit stop. To remedy the loose-in, loose-off condition that Crawford battled in the early stages of the 130-lap race, Bainbridge called for a track bar and air pressure adjustment during the first of three pit stops on the afternoon.

When the race went back to green on lap 29, Crawford began a methodical charge through the field, racing his way into the top 10 by the midpoint of the 130-lap race. With a good-handling truck throughout the middle stages of the races, Crawford picked up a few spots on the track and worked his way into the top seven by lap 70.

A final pit stop on lap 113 – during the event’s sixth and final caution – saw Crawford’s Circle Bar crew make a slight air pressure adjustment and sent the No. 14 Ford F-150 back onto the track in the ninth position. Battling down the stretch with Johnny Sauter and Austin Dillon for a spot in the top 10, Crawford maintained his ninth-place position, earning his 158th career top-10 finish. What marked the 325th truck series start for Circle Bar Racing, Crawford’s top-10 finish advanced him 12 spots to 16th in the driver point standings, just 12 points outside of the top 10.

The Circle Bar Racing team will next be in action when the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series to Martinsville Speedway for the third race of the 2010 season. The Kroger 250 is scheduled for Saturday, March 27th at 3:00 PM EDT. Live coverage of the race is provided by SPEED, MRN and Sirius Radio.

Rick Crawford on Atlanta: “This is the kind of weekend that our Circle Bar Racing team needed. We had a solid top-10 finish with a good-handling truck. We usually fight front grip here, but this weekend we had the best-handling truck that I’ve had in Atlanta in quite some time. That’s a good sign for our intermediate program and the upcoming mile-and-a-half tracks on the schedule. Blake did a great job making adjustments on truck during throughout the race, and the over-the-wall guys gained us spots on pit road every time. This was a great team effort by everyone on the Circle Bar Racing Ford; a no runs, no drips, no errors kind of weekend that you can use to build momentum. With a solid finish and some good exposure on TV, I think we showcased what we can do for a potential sponsor.”