High Sierra Photo

Kyle Krisiloff piloted the No. 15 ditech.com/Krud Kutter Chevrolet around the Atlanta Motor Speedway this past Friday night to a 16th place finish in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race after dodging a last-lap accident while coming to the checkered flag. Entering turn three after taking the white flag, Krisiloff was running in the 20th position, but thanks to some heads-up driving, he was able to avoid incident and pick up four spots in the process.

“When the accident started, I was all the way back in turn three,” Krisiloff explains. “The spotter was trying to tell me where to go, but they were crashing everywhere. I just went low and maneuvered my way through. I guess we were lucky. Maybe it was the luck of the Irish on St. Patrick’s Day.”

Competing in front of team owner Billy Ballew’s friends and many sponsors at Ballew’s home track, Krisiloff had some added pressure to perform well at Atlanta. The No. 15 Chevrolet had also visited victory lane the last time the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series had competed at AMS.

Krisiloff started the John Deere 200 in the 28th position and steadily picked off spots. By lap 10, although he was complaining the truck was a bit tight, had already moved up five positions in his quest to head to the front. When the first caution waved on lap 31, Krisiloff was also noting the truck was really free off and tight in the center. Crew chief Richie Wauters called for a tire pressure adjustment prior to pitting for four tires and fuel. The NASCAR Nextel Cup team of Jeff Green’s whipped off a fast stop and a gain of five spots.

By Lap 40, Krisiloff had picked up another five spots and was running in 20th place. The No. 15 ditech.com/Krud Kutter Chevrolet quickly lost the handling and was falling back. “It goes from being so good to squirrelly within a few laps,” said Krisiloff. “It just wants to slide up, push a little and then gets loose.”

The second caution waved on lap 60 and Wauters called for more air pressure adjustments. The crew, once again, had a quickly-executed stop and with a gain of six spots on pit road, Krisiloff would line up 16th for the restart. Again, the No. 15 ditech.com/Krud Kutter Chevrolet was great right after the adjustments, as Krisiloff quickly made his way up to the 12th position. He dropped only two spots when the third caution came out on lap 93. Krisiloff radioed, “I’m aero-tight. I’m messing up something. It’s awesome to start then it gets worse and worse. I’m still tight in the center, but I’m pretty good by myself.”

Another call for a tire pressure adjustment was made by Wauters. The crew gained Krisiloff another two positions on pit road and the Billy Ballew Motorsports-entry would restart in 12th place. He lost a few spots but was having quite a battle with former Atlanta winner Ron Hornaday for position. When the checkered flag waved, along with the yellow flag, Krisiloff managed to maneuver his way through the last-lap incident to pick up 16th position, while Hornaday got sent into the outside wall and failed to finish.

In addition to the good pit work, Krisiloff credited the decision on tire pressures with helping him run well on the early laps of each stint. “We improved in this race,” Krisiloff pointed out. “After the stops, we gained, but then we fell off, and that was our biggest problem. It was a combination of springs and tire pressure. We went down on tire pressure on the last two stops and that helped.”

With the 16th place finish, Krisiloff worked his way up to 18th position in the points standings and remains second in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year race, 16 points behind leader Erik Darnell.

The next race for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is Saturday, April 1 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.