Crews take extra precautions for NASCAR truck race at Eldora Speedway

0

ROSSBURG – Matt Crafton, the No. 88 Menard’s driver, took a little bit longer to get his truck ready for the switch from asphalt to dirt for Wednesday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Eldora Speedway.

“You have to take a normal truck ready to hit an asphalt track and switch it over to a dirt truck,” Crafton’s crew chief, Jeriod Prince, said. “It takes two weeks to get a truck ready for this switch.”

Crafton’s team added extra bars for big wrecks along with a few other odd and ends.

“The truck runs way slower on dirt then it does asphalt,” Prince said. “The dirt holds everything up, and it slows things down. We are just out here for the fun of it. We are not used to it so we are going to go out have some fun and see where it ends up.”

Brady Boswell took over driving for John Wes Townley as Townley is getting treated for a possible concussion. Boswell drove the 05 Zaxby’s/Jive Communications Chevy. Their truck took a lot of preparation to get ready for the kind of racing at Eldora.

“There was lots of effort put in by the whole team, and we ended up with a whole new package,” Boswell said.

The team added crush zones to the car as they knew the right ride would be messed up from the wrecks. They built the truck to be able to wreck and keep Boswell safe.

“It only took us three days to get our truck put together, and there was not much changes we could make to it,” Greg Ely of Matt Tifts’ team said. “We have a different mindset then most people out here tonight. We are the 25th in points and need to be in the top 20 by the end of the night. We have to stay alive out there on the track or else we are done.”

The crew chief of Tift’s team has only been with them for three days and is just an interim until they find a full time crew chief.

http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2016/07/web1_Eldora-logo-WEB-1.jpg

By Jamie Wilson

For The Daily Advocate

No posts to display