Catchfence

DOVER, Del. – The number 10 was prevalent during the “AAA Insurance 200” NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Dover International Speedway. Not only did it mark the 10th anniversary of truck racing at the Monster Mile, but Brian Scott became the 10th driver to win a truck series race at Dover – there have been no repeats, a remarkable record that several drivers today could have eclipsed.

In a race that saw the Monster Mile spend more than two hours chewing up and spitting mangled sheet metal, Scott managed to outlast the rest of the field to take his first career NASCAR victory. He held on after a restart with 12 laps remaining to finish ahead of Dennis Setzer, David Starr, Jason White and Johnny Sauter in the top-five.

The end of the race – especially the last two laps – was a white-knuckle experience for Scott, who won his first race in his 39th NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start.

“All I was thinking is that’s great, I’ll get the white, then I’ll crash the thing,” Scott said. “Then I made it through (turns) 1 and 2, and thought it’s just going to take a little longer for me to ruin this thing, and then I came around 3 and 4 and hit the checkered, and I was beside myself.

“I don’t think I breathed the last 10 laps. It’s just an awesome feeling. You’re exuberant, you’re ecstatic, and you have every emotion because your whole life goes into this day in and day out. Once you feel like that monkey’s off your back and the burdens washed away, it’s a great feeling to let yourself release.”

For the second time in one day, Kyle Busch led the most laps in a race but fell victim to tire problems at the end. Earlier Saturday afternoon in the “Heluva Good! 200” NASCAR Nationwide Series race, Busch led 108 laps and was in front with two laps to go when he had a tire go down off a restart, and wound up 12th.

In the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race though, Busch had company. With 15 laps remaining, Busch, Colin Braun and Starr were all running down the frontstretch when all three had their right front tires go flat within seconds of each other. Busch – who had led 133 laps – felt a vibration and backed off before his tire exploded; Braun wasn’t so lucky, as he ended up in the wall. Starr, slowing down behind them, was able to maintain control of his Toyota Tundra.

“Right there at the end I was trying to catch Colin Braun and kept getting underneath him, but I’d get loose and get into the corner,” Starr said. “Then next thing we know, [Busch] slows down and gets a flat, and then a few seconds later [Braun] took off. Then suddenly my truck wouldn’t turn. So we all got flats right there. When I got my flat, I was able to keep control and get over the line, and come in and get new tires on the caution. But it was ironic to have three trucks have three right front flats on the same straightaway. That’s just crazy.”

They were among a laundry list of drivers who suffered from tire issues, including points leader Ron Hornaday Jr., who sat on the pole and led the first 12 laps but fell out of contention when he lost a tire on lap 34. He finished 26th. Todd Bodine had two tires go flat in Turn 3, forcing him to dip down into pit road behind the yellow commitment line. In addition to the lengthy stop, he had to serve a pass-through penalty. Bodine finished 18th.

The tire issues didn’t effect everyone, however. Setzer’s second-place finish came without any tire issues whatsoever.

“We had to play our truck pretty safe because we went with a different chassis setup for the race, so we were pretty conservative with camber of the right front,” Setzer said. “We had no issues at all.”

Scott, while nervous about the situation, also made it through the event unscathed in the tire department.

“It was pretty obvious that we were going to have tire problems early on, with [Hornaday] blowing a tire,” Scott said. “But we had a really balanced truck and weren’t abusing any one tire very much.”

Hornaday maintained his points lead but saw it drop from 84 points to 27 over Mike Skinner, who finished eighth. Sauter was the highest-finishing rookie.

The race ended just after 8 p.m. with the setting sun headed behind the grandstands. The race had been scheduled to run at 5 p.m. on Friday, but was rained out and postponed until 6 p.m. on Saturday.

NASCAR weekend at the Monster Mile continues on Sunday afternoon with the “Autism Speaks 400, presented by Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips & Cheese” NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. Great seats still remain. For tickets, visit a Dover International Speedway ticket window at the track.

# # #

Dover International Speedway is owned by Dover Motorsports, Inc. (NYSE: DVD), a leading promoter of motorsports events in the United States. DVD subsidiaries operate four tracks in three states, and present more than 400 motorsports events each year. This includes 14 major, national events which include races sanctioned by NASCAR and NHRA. Dover Motorsports, Inc. also owns and operates Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis, Mo., Memphis Motorsports Park in Memphis, Tenn., and Nashville Superspeedway near Nashville, Tenn. For further information log on to www.DoverMotorsports.com.

- Dover International Speedway, Press Release