The O’Reilly 200 produced exactly what race fans have come to expect at Bristol Motor Speedway, 100 miles of furious racing action.  The carnage quickly turned the infield garage into a junkyard of scrapped NASCAR trucks.  David Stremme and the No. 15 Ergon Racing team tactfully avoided the melee, though, and took home a ninth place finish. The effort marked the team’s second top-10 of the season.

Stremme qualified the Billy Ballew Motorsports entry in 30th place.  The Ergon Tundra was fighting a tight condition in the early goings of the race, so crew chief Doug George used the preliminary cautions to work on the No. 15 machine.  The team made three pit stops during the first 101 laps, making wedge adjustments, track bar adjustments, air pressure adjustments and adding spring rubbers to help get the Ergon Toyota turning better through the corners.  Following their final pit stop, Stremme rejoined the field in 20th place.

(more…)

Kyle Busch driving the No. 51 Miccosukee Resort and Gaming Toyota Tundra brought Billy Ballew Motorsports back to victory lane Wednesday night during the running of the O’Reilly 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at the Bristol Motor Speedway.

Busch who was fast off the truck in practice, continued into qualifying where he posted a time of 15.539 seconds at a speed of 123.483mph placing him in the third place position for the 200 lap event.

Busch took the lead early and clearly showed he had the dominant truck in the event. Busch led 145 laps of the race and posted 60 of the fastest laps on the track during the record caution filled event. (12 cautions for 69 laps, including a red flag period.)

(more…)

David Stremme Bristol Motor Speedway Fast Facts

• The O’Reilly 200 will mark Stremme’s first Craftsman Truck Series start at Bristol Motor Speedway
• Stremme has six Nationwide Series starts at Bristol with a best finish of sixth (Aug. 2004)
• Stremme has four Sprint Cup Series starts at Bristol with a best finish of 13^th (March 2007)
• Billy Ballew Motorsports has two top-fives and three top-10 finishes at Bristol in NCTS competition
• In his 20 Nationwide Series starts at short tracks, Stremme has one top-five and seven top-10 finishes
• In Sprint Cup competition, Stremme has 13 starts at short tracks with an average finish of 29.3

(more…)

NASCAR phenom Kyle Busch will make his return to the No. 51 Miccosukee Resort Toyota Tundra at the Bristol Motor Speedway Wednesday, August 20, 2008 for the running of the O’Reilly 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race. Busch was last in the Billy Ballew Motorsports Craftsman Truck at the O’Reilly Motorsports Park in July where he finished eighth.

“We’re really fortunate to have Kyle (Busch) in the truck this week in Bristol,” Ballew said. “With all his successes in the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series we hope to give him the tools he’ll need to win this week in the Craftsman Trucks.”

(more…)