When the green flag drops on the inaugural NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) Pocono Mountains 125 Saturday, the field will be stacked with a solid mix of series regulars as well as several NASCAR Sprint Cup stars making it anyone's guess as to who will take the history making checkered flag.

With a track as unique as Pocono, you may want to go with a driver who has a respectable amount of laps at the Tricky Triangle as well as being a seasoned veteran with the trucks, and in that case you need not look any further than current NCWTS point leader Todd Bodine.

A native of Chemung, N.Y., the 46-year old journeyman has one pole in 13 Cup Series starts at Pocono and, with the track being about a 90-minute drive south of his hometown, he also has many close ties to the Mattioli family-run facility.

"I've been going there since I was a little kid watching (brothers) Geoff and Brett. I changed tires on pit road with Brett's modified and then was fortunate enough to race there in the Cup Series and even had a pole there," said Bodine, who drives the No. 30 Toyota Tundra for Germain Racing.

"Our family has a lot of history there and aside from Watkins Glen it's the closest track we have to call home. The fact that the three of us grew up going to Pocono, it's very much a home track for us. Victories are hard to get anywhere but to be able to get one at Pocono would definitely be icing on the cake. I know it would be a very special win, we'd have a lot of family and friends there."

With a distance of just 50 laps, Bodine, the 2006 NCWTS champion, feels that Saturday's race will be fan pleaser from start to finish.

"Well, I think you're going to see a heck of a race. I know everybody is saying that. You know, the way the trucks are and the drafting that's involved, the way Pocono is, long straights with a little bit slower corners, drafting is going to be very large, it's going to be critical," said Bodine, who has amassed 18 career truck victories.

"I think a lot of the veteran drivers like myself and (Mike) Skinner and (Ron) Hornaday, guys that have competed there in the Cup Series, we're going to have a little advantage for a while. But I think that the guys in the Truck Series are good enough and the teams are good enough that they're going to catch up."

There are other factors aside from track experience that will play a role. With no notes to fall back on, teams will be thrashing throughout Friday's practice sessions to find a decent setup. Plus with that short a distance there won't be the benefit of making adjustments during pit stops.

"Fifty laps is short, it's a sprint race. You don't have time to mess around. The guy that hits the setup perfect is the guy that's going to win the race," he said. "We're going to have one shot at adjusting the truck. It's a one-stop race. That's why it will be a green-flag stop. The one that gets the setup on the money is going to be the guy that wins the race."

NASCAR is also implementing a new qualifying procedure for the trucks. Beginning with Pocono the order in which trucks will qualify will be based on their practice speeds from final practice on Friday. Times will be inverted, allowing the slowest truck in practice to be the first out in qualifying on Saturday morning, with the fastest truck going out last. Trucks will be released from pit road in approximately 25-second increments. Two laps of qualifying will be allowed with the fastest lap counting. Once a truck comes onto pit road its respective qualifying lap is complete. No drafting will be permitted.

Pocono marks the midway juncture for the NCWTS and Bodine brings with him a comfortable 177-point lead. Although maintaining that is paramount to a second championship, he still has a ways to go before thinking about uncorking any celebratory bottles of champagne.

"Our philosophy is simple: prepare every week to win the race. You go to the racetrack to win the race. If you can't win the race, then you do the best you can. You do the best you can with what you have and get the most points you have. That's how we go about it. Every week we go to win the race," he said.

"The 177-point lead is large, substantial. But when you got guys like Hornaday, (Tim) Peters and Aric (Almirola), they're all right there. If we have a couple of bad races, they're going to be right on it. We can't let up. We have to keep doing what we know how to do, and that's running in the top five, and the wins will come along the way. - By DINO OBERTO  - www.standardspeaker.com

CLERMONT, Ind. -- The back-to-basics approach seems to work for Ron Hornaday and the No. 33 Kevin Harvick Inc. Camping World Truck Series team.

Hornaday snapped a 22-race winless streak in the Truck Series on Friday night, winning the AAA Insurance 200 at O'Reilly Raceway Park.

Watched by team owner Kevin Harvick, Hornaday led 129 laps and beat runner-up Kyle Busch by 2.095 seconds for his first victory since Aug. 1 of last year at Nashville Superspeedway.

Hornaday credited crew chief Ernie Cope -- who rejoined the truck team while maintaining his crew chief job with the KHI Nationwide Series group -- with helping turn things around.

"We couldn't do it without Ernie Cope and all these guys on this Chevrolet," Hornaday said. "They worked their guts out, changing the truck after last weekend. It's just a great day. Hopefully it keeps a little bit quiet. It took Ernie to come over here and settle everybody down. The guys were getting a little anxious. We know we've got a winning team. We just had to prove it to them."

What did Cope do for Hornaday?

"We just kind of went back to what we call our basic package," Cope said. "We've had people come in and try to do their own thing. I know everyone wants to make an identity for themselves, but it wasn't working. We had to make changes. We just went back to basics here with Ron and let him drive the truck, don't try to do nothing tricky. We just went to basics and let him do his job. You're going to win a lot of races when you do that with Ron Hornaday."

Hornaday chipped in, too, trying to change his luck to get back to the winner's circle.

"I changed my tennis shoes, changed all my luck stuff," Hornaday said. "I just [went] back to my basic [of] come to the race track and try to kick butt, and it seems to be working."

The victory was Hornaday's fourth at ORP in 11 starts at the .686-mile short track. He led 67 laps in winning the race here in 2009 and has won three of the past four at the facility.

The key moment of the race came on Lap 153, when Hornaday squirted past Busch and polesitter Timothy Peters for the lead in Turns 3 and 4. Busch was trying to pass Peters on the high side but was blocked by Peters, opening the door for Hornaday.

"That's one the things you've got to remember about this place," Busch said. "You can dive-bomb the bottom really fast and pull a slide job on somebody, and he did it so well that I was still stuck behind the No. 17, so I couldn't even turn back underneath him and do it back to [Hornaday] in the next corner."

"Timothy was kind of backing up the corners, so once I got under Kyle, I kind of pinned him back there," Hornaday said. "We never touched or anything, but that's what you've got to do here at ORP."

Busch finished second after practicing his Cup Series car at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Matt Crafton was third, with Johnny Sauter fourth and James Buescher fifth.

Austin Dillon was sixth, with Todd Bodine seventh, Brad Sweet eighth, David Starr ninth and Peters 10th.

Bodine's series points lead grew to 177 on Aric Almirola, who finished 31st after being involved in a Lap 96 accident with Narain Karthikeyan and Mario Gosselin. The points lead is the largest in series history with 13 races remaining.

For the first time since 2004, three female drivers competed in a Truck Series event. Jennifer Jo Cobb has been running all season and she was joined by Michelle Theriault and Johanna Long. - sporting news wire service

Cobb finished 26th while Theriault posted a DNF, finishing 32nd in her fifth Truck start and first of 2010. Long was the top female finisher, coming home 17th in her Truck Series debut. - sporting news wire service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (July 21, 2010) – NASCAR announced today that it will revise the qualifying procedure for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series’ inaugural Pocono Mountains 125 at Pocono Raceway on Saturday, July 31, with a multi-truck session on the 2.5-mile track.

MADISON, Ill. -Kevin Harvick took the first half of a racing doubleheader Saturday with a near wire-to-wire victory in the Camping World 200.

''That was the hope coming here, that the day was going to go like it did,'' Harvick said.

Before qualifying for the Nationwide Dodge Dealers 250 on Saturday night, he traded barbs with runner-up Brad Keselowski.

''The only way we were going to win the race is if he made a mistake, and I felt like he did. He passed the pace car pitting and you're not supposed to do that,'' said Keselowski, while acknowledging that Harvick had the best truck all race. ''He got away with that one, so we didn't catch that break.''

Harvick's response: ''I'd have complained if I got beat that bad, too.''

The truck race was postponed Friday night because of a power failure. The top three finishers plus Steve Wallace, who was 17th, planned to race Saturday night.

Among those racing twice, Keselowski was the third-fastest qualifier, Wallace was ninth and Harvick 10th.

Harvick took the first trucks pole position of his career in qualifying Friday, then dusted the field with an average speed of 101.983 mph. Johnny Sauter finished third and Aric Almirola, who led for 16 laps, was eighth.

Todd Bodine, the series points leader, was fourth on a hot, muggy day with temperatures in the high 90s. Minutes after the finish he was sprawled in the air-conditioned media center surrounded by ice packs.

''Man, I burned my butt bad and my back even got burned,'' Bodine said. ''That's why I laid down on the cold floor.''

The top finishers weren't concerned about racing more in the heat.

''It won't be near as hot tonight,'' Harvick said. ''This race, it was hot, but it's still shorter than a NASCAR (Cup) race ... so I should be OK.''

The heat might have helped Harvick, who woke up with a stiff neck.

''The longer I ran, I actually felt better,'' he said. ''As the race went on I got more and more relaxed.'' - AP

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- NASCAR will revise its five-year-old procedure governing guaranteed starting positions for the Camping World Truck Series in 2010. The revision will open up additional spots in the line-up for teams qualifying via time trials.

Beginning with the season opener at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 12, the "lock-in" will be reduced to the top 25 eligible owners who have entered the event based upon 2009 owners' points.

The 36th and final position continues to be reserved for a past champion not otherwise qualified for the race. If no past champion is eligible, the position is filled by the next fastest qualifier.

Under the procedure implemented in 2005, the top 30 eligible owners' trucks were locked into the starting lineup and guaranteed a spot among the top 35 positions in the 36-truck field.

The reduction in guaranteed starting positions brings the series in line, percentage-wise, with the Nationwide Series, which guarantees a top 30 eligible owner's car a position among 42 of 43 starting spots.

Twenty-five teams competed in all 25 races in 2009 and are thus eligible for guaranteed starting positions for the season's first four races. Eligibility for the lock-in is set by 2010 owners' points for the remainder of the season.

"All owners who would have been locked in under the previous procedure will have guaranteed starting positions at Daytona and for three additional races," Truck Series director Wayne Auton said. "Teams which saw limited competition in 2009 or are new to the series will have greater opportunity to qualify for races than they might have had in the past -- especially at short tracks such as Martinsville Speedway -- where drivers who may not have a great deal of experience at the national series level are attempting to further their careers."

Red Horse Racing owner Tom DeLoach praised the move. DeLoach has a pair of teams locked into the field and the possibility of another with a rookie driver with zero points and no NASCAR experience.

"This is the thing to do," said DeLoach. "If I'm starting a team moving from five [open positions] to 10 you've doubled my chances. It's absolutely the right thing to do. Let's get out there and race.

"It strengthens the field and it should work well for the fans and the teams."

The revised procedure does not affect races in which qualifying is canceled. Starting fields in such instances are based upon a separate procedure dictated by the series' rule book. - nascar pr

MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- The Monster Energy "M" claw will grace the No. 4 Chevrolet of Ricky Carmichael in the 2010 Camping World Truck Series.

Carmichael will compete in the entire 25-race Truck Series schedule for Turner Motorsports. He had 16 starts last season for Kevin Harvick Inc. with two top-10 finishes before moving over to Turner Motorsports for the final two races of the year.

In the history of the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), no other rider has won as many championships (15) and races (150) as Carmichael, earning him the nickname the Greatest of All-Time (the GOAT). He was also a record five-time AMA Rider of the Year.

Carmichael also will compete in nine ARCA races, beginning with the season opener at Daytona International Speedway.

"Monster has been a sponsor of mine for five years," Carmichael said. "So it's really an honor for them to continue to expand their motorsports efforts with me. I learned so much as a driver working with Kevin last year. He encouraged me to make the jump to Turner Motorsports because of the number of races I was going to be able to compete in.

"I know seat time is the key for me becoming a successful driver. Last season was a great year for me, but I am really looking forward this season."

Mike Fritts, who served as Carmichael's crew chief in his first stock-car endeavor in 2007, will again assume the role as crew chief for the 2010 season. The No. 4 Chevrolet is locked in for the first five races of the season based on last season's owner points. - tm pr

MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- Champion crew chief Trip Bruce has joined Stringer Motorsports to lead Brad Sweet in the Truck Series for the 2010 season.

Bruce has worked for some of the most respected teams in the industry, spanning all three of NASCAR's top series. In 2004, Bruce got his first job as a crew chief when he joined Ultra Motorsports to lead their No. 2 entry in the Truck Series. Under Bruce's leadership, the team posted one pole and three wins with Jamie McMurray and Kasey Kahne.

In 2005, Bruce joined Evernham Motorsports to lead its Nationwide program. Working with numerous drivers in two years, Bruce compiled three wins, four top-fives and 12 top-10s, winning crew chief of the year in 2006.

In 2007, Bruce returned to Bill Davis Racing, where he worked from 1999 to 2003, to serve as crew chief for Johnny Benson in the Truck Series. The two captured four wins, 12 top-five and 19 top-10s in their first season together. The following year, Bruce saw a life-long goal fulfilled as he and Benson captured the 2008 championship with five wins, five poles, 14 top-five and 18 top-10s.

Stringer Motorsports owner Doug Stringer is thrilled to have the opportunity to hire someone with the caliber and championship-experience that Bruce brings to the table.

"Trip has worked for some of the most successful organizations in the industry and brings to this team a wealth of knowledge and experience," Stringer said. "When looking for someone to lead Brad Sweet's transition from open-wheel to stock cars, I knew I needed someone that not only could build this team into a winning organization but also someone that could be a strong mentor to Brad. Trip fits those requirements to a T."

For his part, Bruce is more than up for the challenge of not only working with a relatively new race team, but also a driver new to the NASCAR ranks.

"It's exciting to be a part of an organization that is just beginning to blossom," Bruce said. "We are basically starting from scratch and while that is a challenge, it's one that I enthusiastically welcome. Doug Stringer is no stranger to success in this sport and is dedicated to building this team into a championship-winning organization. I look forward to this new endeavor and to helping Brad Sweet make a successful transition into the Camping World Truck Series." - sr pr

KERNERSVILLE, N.C. -- Kevin Harvick Inc. on Thursday announced that Kevin Harvick and Elliott Sadler will climb behind the wheel of the No. 2 Chevrolet Silverado in 15 of 25 Truck Series events in 2010.

Sadler will kick off the 2010 season at Daytona as he returns to the Truck Series for the first time since '03. During the past 10 years, Sadler has made three starts in the Truck Series, all in his home state of Virginia: two races at Richmond in 2000 and '01, each time experiencing mechanical troubles and posting finishes of 29th and 30th, respectively; and one start at Martinsville in '03 where he had an engine failure and finished 30th.

Sadler is looking forward to returning to the series for a little redemption and a new challenge.

"Racing in the Truck Series in 2010 with KHI will be a blast," Sadler said. "It'll be nice to jump in the truck and go out and race for wins and not have to worry about points. We're going to kick the year off with a bang in Daytona and have some great races to run between then and the finale in Homestead."

Harvick drove a limited schedule in 2009 and won three times in six starts, including back-to-back wins in the final two races at Phoenix and Homestead in his No. 4 truck while Ron Hornaday drove his other truck to his fourth series title and the second owners' championship for KHI. (In 2009, the No. 4 served as KHI's second truck, alongside the No. 33 that Hornaday drove).

"I really enjoy being a part of the Truck Series," Harvick said. "I feel like the combination of Doug George as crew chief and Elliott and I will bring experience and success to the team immediately."

Sadler is confident of his Truck Series equipment at KHI and the tracks at which he has chosen to compete.

"Every track that's on my schedule in the No. 2 truck is a place I know we can go out and win," Sadler said. "I've won races at some of the tracks during my career and I know Kevin and Ron Hornaday contend for wins when they climb behind the wheel of a KHI truck. This is going to be a lot of fun."

The remainder of the driver lineup for the No. 2 team will be announced at a later date. - khi pr

Ren led Ron Hornaday and the No. 33 Kevin Harvick Inc. truck to the truck title two of the last two seasons.

Not a bad track record for a little less than three years on the job. But Ren, who holds the truck series record for crew chiefs with 27 wins, was ready to start the next chapter in a 34-year racing career.

In 2010, Ren will manage Kyle Busch Motorsports' new truck venture, which is expected to field as many as three teams -- depending on sponsorship.

Although Ren, 53, is grateful for the experience that Kevin and Delana Harvick offered him with Hornaday, the ability to spend more time at home and attempt a new challenge was impossible to pass up.

"I have the opportunity to build a stellar organization and be just 10 minutes from my house," said Ren, who lives in Mooresville and was commuting 68-miles each way to work. "This is a brutal sport as we all know and I've been on the road for many years. I love being a crew chief, but this is a step up. Now, I'll be the guy that gets to hire the crew chiefs. And I'll get to improve my home life in the process."

Ren said the "best part" of working for the Harvicks was the relationships he was able to build over the last three seasons, particularly with Hornaday. Ren says he hopes Hornaday believes that the pair was able to "revive each other's careers". And while the move is "emotionally tough to walk away from a championship caliber program" -- especially after the teammates amassed 16 wins, 10 poles, 42 top fives and 60 top 10 finishes.

"But there comes a time when I have to look out for me and my family," Ren added. "Kyle Busch is in a position where he can build a dominant force in racing and I will be on the ground floor for that. There are a lot of good people out there that have recently lost their jobs so I'm certain we'll be able to build three strong teams." - by le spencer - www.foxsports.com