October 6, 2003

Chad Chaffin finished 13th at South Boston Speedway

Chad Chaffin and the No. 18 Dickies Dodge Team had a pretty uneventful day on the short track in South Boston, Virginia. He and the No. 18 Team started from the 16th position, ran as high as third place using pit strategy, and finished in the 13th position.

“There’s not much I can say,” said Chaffin. “We just never did have the truck to get up off the corners and down the straight-aways. We needed more forward bit all day long. I could run with the leaders in the corners, but down the straight-aways people could pull us. They would get on the gas before me exiting the turns. When that happened they would get a run on me, and then have me in the high grove entering the next turn. We just didn’t have a good day. I’m glad it’s over, and we’re moving on to Texas Motor Speedway. We should be better there. We’ll have a lot of fans looking on from Dickies World Headquarters so the boys will definitely be motivated.”

Chaffin began the race in the 16th position but hovered between the 13th and 16th positions for much of the first 70 laps of the race. On lap 77, Chaffin came down pit road during a caution for his first pit stop of the day. He entered the pit road in the 13th position and exited in the 15th place after receiving four tires and fuel. But that was not the most important thing that Chaffin needed. Just before the restart of the race Chaffin came down pit road again to replace a faulty battery in the radio. Chaffin rejoined the race in the 17th position, but at least now he could hear what the team was saying on the radio.

“It really wasn’t a big deal,” said Chaffin. “The radio in the truck went dead and we had to come back into the pits to get a new one.”

When the race restarted, Chaffin moved back up to 12th place before a caution on lap 107. It was at this point that everyone else on the track pitted leaving Chaffin in third position for the ensuing restart. From that moment on Chaffin battled with the leaders, but with older tires and no forward grip, as he had described earlier, it took about 100 laps and he was in the 12th position again. With little to no help from cautions late in the race, Chaffin was forced to solider on to the end and a 13th place finish.

“The race just didn’t go our way,” said Chaffin. “It’s hard to put your finger on it. We just didn’t have a very good race today. There were about a dozen guys that were better than we were today and that’s where they finished.”

With four races remaining in the 2003 season, there are nine drivers that can still mathematically win the 2003 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship. Chaffin and the Dickies Team were officially eliminated from the championship hunt. They still remain in the tenth position in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points standings with four races remaining in the season.

NEXT EVENT: Silverado 350K at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas on October 11, 2003. The event will be televised live on SPEED Channel at 3:00 PM Eastern Time and also live on MRN radio at 3:00 PM Eastern Time.