Trucks head to Martinsville week after two-day test

The Craftsman Truck Series held their final NASCAR-scheduled test for the season this past week at Martinsville Speedway. Two of the next four races on the series' schedule will take place on short tracks beginning with a return to Martinsville on March 29.

The test at the .526-mile oval is the only NASCAR-scheduled test done on a short track.

Fast facts

What	Kroger 250
When	Green, 3:13 p.m. ET Saturday
TV	FOX, 3 p.m. ET
Radio	MRN (Sirius Ch. 28), 3 p.m. ET

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Testing at the track also provided teams the opportunity to gather information beneficial for not only short tracks, but some of the flat tracks on the 25-race schedule.

Drivers and teams left the test satisfied with the results.

Veteran driver Terry Cook (No. 60 Toyota) is looking forward to coming back for the Kroger 250. Cook wrapped up testing with the fastest truck, posting best time and speed of 20.113 seconds (94.148 mph).

The driver and team believe they have found the right setup to be competitive come race day. "Instead of coming back and racing for a top-10, I think we can come back and race for the win," Cook said.

With all three of their trucks running fast, the Roush Fenway Racing camp is also confident about returning to the speedway.

Erik Darnell, driver of the No. 99 Ford, was pleased with the test and knows it was a productive two days.

"This test gave us a chance to try a lot of different things that will help our short-track program all year," he said.

"Matt [Puccia, crew chief] and the guys gave me a good truck which I think will be very competitive when we come back for the race."

Next generation drivers spotted at testing

During Martinsville's two-day test, some new faces were spotted in the garage. Among those newcomers were drivers with familiar last names.

• Dustin Skinner, the youngest son of former series champion Mike Skinner, will get testing and seat time in a development program created by Key Motorsports. The hope is to get the 22-year-old driver in a possible six races in 2008.

The younger Skinner tested recently at New Smyrna Speedway, the driver's home track in Florida.

What we had at the end of the test in terms of a race truck and how it drove was a really huge improvement from where we started," he said of the test.

No. 40 Chevrolet crew chief Gary Showalter was on hand during the two days of testing. "Dustin did a really great job," he said.

"You can see that he definitely has the talent and his father's no-fear driving style," Showalter added. "We were genuinely impressed with his performance over the two days."

As for dad, he's pretty happy with the deal. "Everyone at Key Motorsports really worked hard with Dustin to give him the education he needed, and he's only going to get better," Mike Skinner said.

"And as the team gets more used to Dustin and his driving style and listens to his feedback, they then can give him what he needs to improve," he added. "He [team owner Curtis Key] has some really experienced people that will be working with Dustin on this deal so I'm really pleased."

Future Stars

Chrissy Wallace looks to make her Truck Series debut at Martinsville. Justin Marks has a top-10 in three starts in 2008. Both drive for Germain Racing.

• Chrissy Wallace: Time is now
• Justin Marks: Finding a groove

• Chrissy Wallace, middle daughter of NASCAR Nationwide Series driver and four time Craftsman Truck Series winner Mike Wallace, tested the No. 03 Toyota for Germain Racing. The driver, who started racing at the age of 12, is looking to take her success in late models to the next level.

"Once I turned 14 or 15, I became more serious about racing and realized last year that racing was what I wanted to do," she said. "I want to come to Trucks because this is the next step."

• Adam Crawford, son of veteran driver Rick Crawford (No. 14 Ford), tested a Circle Bar Racing-prepared truck.

The younger Crawford found his way to the top of the speed charts. He closed out the second day with the third-fastest truck, posting a fast lap time of 20.142 seconds -- a time faster than dad, a former Martinsville race winner.

The series has a history of fathers racing sons occurring on 16 different occasions. In fact, the first race for the series at Martinsville in 1995 featured a father/son duo, Geoffrey and Barry Bodine.

The race, eventually rained out, was postponed to a Monday where the younger Bodine had to "skip" high-school class to participate in the race. Father Geoffrey, who led the race until he was involved in a next-to-last-lap tangle with Mike Skinner finished 15th. Barry finished 30th.

Rookies make most of test

Raybestos rookies who have held their own on the track so far this season made the most out of the two-day test at Martinsville.

Colin Braun (No. 6 Ford) kept his Ford near the top, finishing the test with a best speed 95.041 mph, the third-fastest on the track.

Braun feels the test was well worth it. "Our truck was fast both days and we had a lot of time to try different setups to see what worked best," he said.

"The guys worked really hard to get a lot accomplished that will help us tremendously when we go back for the race."

Donny Lia (No. 71 Chevrolet) ran right behind Braun. Lia consistently stayed on top of the speed charts for both days of the test.

In the Loop: Skinner and Hornaday

Kyle Busch's stellar performance in the Truck Series has made afterthoughts of last year's two front-runners, Mike Skinner and Ron Hornaday.

The two champions dueled the entire season, and were the only drivers still mathematically eligible for the title going into the season-ending race at Homestead. Hornaday eventually took the crown.

But this year, the buzz surrounds Busch. Still, Skinner and Hornaday are within eyeshot of Busch and because the Sprint Cup Series regular will race only a part-time schedule this season, they likely will focus their energy on second-place Todd Bodine.

Statistically, both Skinner and Hornaday have fared well despite not being at the very top of the standings (although Hornaday is close, in third).

Hornaday has a season Driver Rating of 112.9 (third-best), an Average Running Position of 7.5 (third), 25 Fastest Laps Run (second) and 272 Laps in the Top 15 (fourth). He trails Bodine in all those categories, and by 50 points in the series standings. Hornaday is 122 points behind Busch.

Skinner has slowly crept up the standings after a 29th-place finish at Daytona. A third-place finish at Atlanta has Skinner in seventh place in the standings, 162 points behind Busch and 90 points behind Bodine.

In the three races this season, Skinner has a Driver Rating of 94.5 (fifth-best) and an Average Running Position of 14.1 (10th).