Milestone Day for many
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The 2001 Advance Ayto Parts 250 at Martinsville Speedway on April 7 was a milestone race for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in more ways than one.
• It was the 150th race in the history. The truck series has come a long way since its beginning in 1995. What started out as primarily a short-track series expanded to include a road racing at Watkins Glen and racing at superspeedways like Daytona. The team will not visit a road course this year, but historic Darlington Raceway was added to the 2001 campaign.
• It was the 150th race for driver Jack Sprage, having been around for every race in the series' history. Sprague is the career winnings leader in the Craftsman Truck Series and is on track to be the first driver in series history to hit the $4 million mark sometime this season. This is no surprise since Sprague has been around since the beginning and has never finished a season outside the top-five in points. He finished fifth in 1995 and 2000, the only two years the two-time champion failed to finish either first or second.
• Second-year driver Scott Riggs claimed his first career win. The 2001 point-leader thus far ran in the top-five practically all day until getting involved in an accident with Terry Cook on pit road about midway through the race.
"I ended up helping him win by changing his strategy," Cook said. Cook continued to finish the race in third.
Piloting a torn-up truck, Riggs and his team opted not to pit with the rest of the field when a caution came out on lap 141 of the 25-lap race, cycling him to first. Riggs never relinquished the lead, going on to win his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event.
• Joe Ruttman tied a series record with his 15th career Bud pole. Ruttman finished fourth after spending pretty much all day near the front, usually battling with his boss, Winston Cup driver Bobby Hamilton. Hamilton was dominant most of the day until bowing out early due to transmission problems.
Rookie Travis Kvapil finished second for the second time this season (other second finish at Miami-Homestead).
Randy Tolsma finished fifth and was among one of the few drivers to avoid carnage at Martinsville. Of the 36 trucks that started when the green dropped, at least 17 failed to stick around until the checkers waved.
The series takes almost a month off before making a stop near St. Louis for the Ram Tough 250 on May 6 at Gateway International Raceway.
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