March 17, 2003

Chad Chaffin and the No. 18 Dickies Dodge Team Score First Top Five of the Season

Chad Chaffin and the No. 18 BHR Dickies Dodge came into Darlington needing a shot in the arm to get back on track after a tough race at Daytona, and that is exactly what they got. The team started seventh, after rain washed out qualifying, and put on a great run with 10 laps to go to finish in the fifth position. This great finish vaulted the No. 18 BHR Dickies Dodge into the seventh position in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points standings, an increase of 10 positions since Daytona.

“What a great race for the Dickies team and for all the Bobby Hamilton Racing teams,” said Chaffin. “We had a little trouble from the get-go. We fell back a little bit at the start. It never did pull up off the corners like we needed, but we had a great run. As soon as we'd get a few laps on the tires, I could stand on the gas and that Dickies Dodge would sail through the turns. It was handling awesome, and the crew did a great job. They made some adjustments and the Dickies Dodge was flying. The crew was telling me I was faster than the leaders. I just wish I could have seen them, and I might have picked up another tenth. Bobby Hamilton is my hero and I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him. I can't say enough about him. I’m having the time of my life with this team, and I just can’t wait to get to Bakersfield. I think we’ll have another great truck there too.”

In 147 laps of competition, Chaffin and the No. 18 Dickies team never fell outside of the top ten in the running order, and after putting on tires with 18 laps left in the race, he managed to battle from ninth place to fifth with relative ease. In fact, had the race been a few more laps, Chaffin would have had a chance to finish in the top three possibly. Unfortunately, track position played into the final few laps, and Chaffin and the team just ran out of time. Chaffin did however lead lap 92 under green flag pit stops, which is the first lap he had ever lead in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

“I think we could have run as high as third place, but we just could never get track position,” said Chaffin. “I had a little trouble getting off pit road on two of our three stops, and that hurt us a little.”

The next event is at the Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield California. It will be the first time Chaffin has ever been to the half-mile race track in southern California. The track, however, is much like the inactive Nashville Speedway USA, that the Truck Series competed on from 1996 to 2000.

Race-by-Race Run Down:
Location Start Finish Laps Status Money Won
Daytona 6 17 103 of 106 Running $ 13,015
Darlington 7 5 147 of 147 Running 9,175
Bakersfield (Next Event)
Totals 250 of 253 (98.8%) $ 22,190

NEXT EVENT: Lucas Oil 250 at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield, California on March 23, 2003. The event will be televised live on SPEED Channel at 5:00 PM Eastern Time.