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Tuesday, August 21
Setzer takes second at Chicago
By Dennis Setzer
Special to ESPN.com
| |  | | | Setzer |
The old saying goes something like, "second place is the first loser." However, I do not feel like the Morgan/Dollar Motorsports team lost anything Saturday by finishing second at the Sears Craftsman 175, if anything we won a battle we have been fighting all season long.
The Chicago Motor Speedway is one of the flattest tracks the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series visits. You could parallel the track in comparison to Martinsville, Va., the way it is setup like a paperclip, with very long straightaways and tight corners.
This year our team has struggled a bit on the flat tracks, not getting the results we hoped for. In Miami, we could not find the setup on the truck and finished 17th. In Martinsville, we broke a gear and came home 19th. Then, at Milwaukee, we did improve, but still did not crack the top-10 coming home 11th.
Chicago provided the best finish of the year for the team on a flat surface. We decided to bring our new truck to Chicago, the truck crew chief Danny Gill had input on building. When Danny joined the team all the trucks we had were completed, Danny and I wanted to try some different things and he had control of the new one. The other two trucks we have raced this season have been excellent on the banked ovals, but the new one seems to be our missing link on the flat surface.
"Timmy," named after the South Park cartoon character, was the best handling truck we have had all season. It is rare to get a truck you do not have to make a single adjustment to the entire event. That is how well this truck was performing; it was blistering fast in the corners.
Chicago is a tight track that does not offer much opportunity for passing, the corners are tight and you have to make a run coming off the straightaway to get beside someone to race them in the turn. Track position is very important and we slowly picked our way through the field.
Our truck was strong in the corners, I could get on the back bumper of other trucks and push them high coming off the turn. That presented one way to get a run on someone, if you didn't have a nose under them going into the turn you were not getting by. We had moved our way into the top-three one truck at a time, and on lap 134 were able to make the move on Rick Crawford for the lead.
On lap 146, we pitted for the final time and the Acxiom/Computer Associates team made one of the best stops of the year. We came in with the lead and left pit road in third, but Kyle Busch did not pit and Scott Riggs only took fuel. Danny made the call for right side tires and we beat the rest of the field off pit road.
On lap 163, as we came down for the green flag after a lengthy yellow, Busch ran out of gas prolonging the start. Riggs inherited the lead and we felt we could make a move on him as we had fresher right side rubber. I could not make the move and Scott held us off the final seven laps of the race and took his fifth win of the season.
When you look back on it we won, well almost. I feel like we accomplished a great deal in Chicago. We found a flat track setup we feel confident about, we had success with a brand new truck and the guys in the pits proved they are one of the best pit crews on pit road. All of those factors combined make for a winning afternoon. We have won the battle against the flat tracks I think, however, we have yet to win the war. One more spot on Sunday and the war for this week might be won.
Dennis Setzer, driver of the No. 46 Acxiom/Computer Associates Chevrolet for Morgan/Dollar Motorsports in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, will provide a diary to ESPN.com throughout the 2001 season. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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