Tires take a toll on trucks in Dover

Kyle Rowdy Busch piloting the No. 51 Miccosukee Resort Toyota Tundra dominated the AAA Insurance 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Dover International Speedway Saturday afternoon.  Despite leading 133 of 200 laps a win was not meant to be when he suffered a flat tire, clipping the wall bringing out the 10th caution flag of the race.  Busch had to pit several times to fix the damage restarting in the 17th-place position with 10 laps remaining.  Again, the young driving Phenom showed that he was the class of the show picking up eight spots bringing home a ninth place finish for the Billy Ballew Motorsports team.

The 200 lap, 200 mile event was originally slated for Friday; May 29th but was delayed due to rain just as the race was about to begin.  Busch placed the Miccosukee Resort Tundra in the 10th-place position on the starting grid after posting a time of 23.523 seconds at a speed of 153.042 miles per hour.  Busch, thinking the truck had gotten tight soon discovered that he had cut a tire on the race truck and had qualified on a flat tire.

Tire troubles would continue to plaque Busch in the race, but caution and pit strategy paid off for the team keeping the No. 51 Tundra upfront the majority of the race. 

“This truck was dominant,” Crew Chief Doug George said.  “These tires have been an issue since we unloaded.  We had a tire go down when Kyle (Busch) went out for his qualifying run. The driver did an awesome job.” (more…)

‘Young rookie has impressive run despite outcome’

Brian Ickler piloting the No. 15 Samsung Instinct Toyota Tundra looked to have his second top-10 finish in his third NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start until a spin sent him into the wall ending his day early at Dover International Speedway Saturday afternoon.

Ickler took to the track for the running of the rain delayed AAA Insurance 200 race Saturday afternoon in the 9th-place position on the starting grid after posting a time of 23.515 seconds at a rate of speed of 153.094 miles per hour in NASCAR Truck Series qualifying.

Ickler had been fast in both practices and qualifying continued the streak right into the 200 lap, 200 mile race on the Monster Mile running times as fast as the leader, his Billy Ballew Motorsports teammate, Kyle Busch. The young driver in his second appearance at the Dover, Delaware race track, his first in a NASCAR Camping World Truck, used skill to navigate the high banked, fast one-mile race track. He used his instincts to find the grooves and negotiate the corners on the concrete surface advancing to the fourth place position by lap 41.

A competition caution on lap 45 shuffled the running order up putting him in the 15th-place position for the restart on lap 51. Again, Ickler advanced, moving into the 9th-place position but was battling a loose race truck dropping back to the 10th-place position on lap 62. Unfortunately, Ickler’s luck would run out when the No. 51 Samsung Instinct Tundra snapped loose on lap 65 ending his day and sending the Billy Ballew Motorsports team home with a 25th-place finish.

“We’ve been struggling loose the whole race and it’s my fault, just lost it off of Turn 4,” Brian Ickler said. “We’re trying to keep Samsung Instinct on board with us and that’s not the way we want to do it. We’ve just been free from the get go today. We had a pretty good truck and we’d get through traffic pretty decent. Just corded the right rear really bad there on the first run and tried to tighten it up a little more and just lost it up off of four and ruined our day there.”

Ickler will return to the No. 51 Miccosukee Resort Tundra at Texas Motor Speedway next weekend with Aric Almirola slated to drive the No. 15 Samsung Instinct Billy Ballew Motorsports entry.

Tire issues stopped win for Kyle Busch Saturday evening at Dover International Speedway and ended Brian Ickler’s night early.

Busch led five times for 133 laps but with less than 10 laps to go Busch had a flat tire moving him to a 9th-place finish.

Ickler had tire troubles early only logging 65 laps before his first start at the Monster Mile ended in an accident. Ickler’s issue relegated the team to a 25th-place finish in the AAA Insurance 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck race.

NASCAR Sprint Cup driver, Aric Almirola is slated to drive the No. 15 Samsung Instinct NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Toyota Tundra in the WinStar World Casino 400 at Texas Motor Speedway, Friday June 5, 2009.

Almirola piloted a Camping World Truck Series entry for Billy Ballew Motorsports in 2007 at Memphis Motorsports Park.  He has one previous NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start and four Camping World Truck Series starts at Texas Motor Speedway.

“I’m looking forward to getting back behind the wheel of a race truck,” Almirola said.  “Billy Ballew Motorsports builds some excellent equipment and with the power of Samsung Instinct behind us I’m sure we’ll be very competitive in Texas.”

Samsung Mobile, as part of the sponsorship of the No. 15 Camping World Truck is running a promotion where one lucky person will become an Honorary Samsung Instinct Pit Crew Member for the day at the upcoming NCWTS race at Texas Motor Speedway.  Visit www.BillyBallewMotorsports.com or www.samsunginstinct.com/nascar for complete contest rules and entry requirements.) (more…)