August 4, 2003

Spin in Turn Three Cost Chad Chaffin a Top Ten Finish

Chad Chaffin and the No. 18 Dickies Dodge Team had a good truck all day long, but a bad break with a lap truck and a bad set of tires relegated Chaffin to a 12th place finish.

“Every time we pitted for tires, we got a little worse,” said Chaffin. “The tires were just really inconsistent all race long. It’s pretty bad when after you pit, you really would like the old tires back because they felt better than the new ones. As far as the spin with the lap truck, I was just trying as hard as I could to get by him and not lose a lap as the leader was gaining on us both, and we just crashed each other. After we lost the lap, we were kind of messed up as far as a top ten run. It just was not our race. We started out fast with a truck that could have won the race, but the handle just went away and that was pretty much it.”

Once again Chaffin was a rocket ship in qualifying, posting the third fastest time early in the day at Indianapolis Raceway Park. The only problem he had was on his second lap, Chaffin he was going for the pole and just brushed the outside wall with the truck.

When the race started, Chaffin looked strong, hanging on to the third position until the leader spun. When the race restarted, Chaffin was in second place. Over the next few laps, the third place competitor put some heat on Chaffin for the position, but with no success. Then on lap 60, Chaffin came down pit road for his first stop and from that point on, it was a struggle.

When the race restarted, Chaffin was in seventh place. Over the next 100 laps, He battled an ill-handling truck, running as high as eighth place and as far back as 12th place. As the laps clicked off, the leader began to catch Chaffin to put him a lap down. As Chaffin was racing through turns three and four, he ran up on a slow truck and the two got together, spinning the No. 18 truck. As Chaffin got back under speed, the leader flashed by his stopped truck, putting him a lap down.
On the next lap, Chaffin pitted for tires and fuel. He came back out in the 17th position. |

Over the final 40 laps, Chaffin drove the wheels off the truck so to speak marching up to 12th position. When the race ended, he was the first truck one lap down, running laps that would have put him in the fifth position had he not lost the lap.
“It was just a tough night,” said Chaffin. Nashville will be a good race for us. I know all the guys are looking forward to being at home.”

Driver: Chad Chaffin, No. 18 Dickies Dodge Team
Starts Pole Wins Top Fives Top Tens Earnings Points Position
14 1 0 2 5 $ 164,035 11th

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 27 20 253 of 255 Running 5,665
Martinsville 23 26 245 of 250 Out of Gas 6,865
Charlotte 10 8 136 of 136 Running 11,075
Dover 12 7 200 of 200 Running 15,375
Texas 10 8 167 of 167 Running 13,900
Memphis 2 28 76 of 200 Engine 8,940
Milwaukee 7 13 196 of 200 Running 10,115
Kansas 1 14 166 of 167 Running 13,640
Kentucky 3 26 50 of 150 Engine 11,540
St. Louis 13 13 160 of 160 Running 11,240
Michigan 2 3 100 of 100 Running 22,975
Indy 3 12 199 of 200 Running 10,515
Nashville (Next Event)

Totals 2198 of 2438 (90.1%) $ 164,035

NEXT EVENT: The Federated Auto Parts 200 at Nashville Super Speedway in Gladeville, Tennessee on August 8, 2003. The event will be televised live on SPEED Channel at 9:00 PM Eastern Time and also live on MRN radio at 9:00 PM Eastern Time.