PHOENIX (Nov. 5, 2004) – In the final laps of the Chevy Silverado 150 Dickies Driver Chad Chaffin tangled with another truck causing him to careen into the inside retaining wall and damage his Dodge.  Because of the extensive damage, the team was forced to park the truck and finish the race in 30th position.  The unfortunate accident dropped Chaffin to ninth in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series point battle, but he’s only five points out of eighth.    

Chaffin qualified 19th on the one-mile oval and he quickly moved up to 15th position in the first few laps.  By the time the first caution came out on lap 41 Chaffin was telling his Crew Chief Kip McCord that he needed more forward bite in his Dickies Dodge.  McCord called him into the pits on lap 43 and the team cranked out a speedy pit stop with air pressure and track bar adjustments allowing Chaffin to restart the race in the 15th position.

The next two cautions came out back to back.  During this time McCord reminded his driver, who said his truck was extremely loose getting in and through the center of the corners, that his tires would wear in and the truck would tighten up as the run went on.  By lap 76 Chaffin, like all of the competitors, was complaining of the sun setting behind the grandstands which was causing a glare on the windshield down the front straightaway.  “I’m so loose I can’t touch the gas and it’s so hard to see anything down the frontstretch,” Chaffin radioed.

Just in the knick of time before Chaffin, who was complaining that his Dickies Dodge was still very loose on the throttle, got lapped, the fourth caution came out.  He told McCord to make major adjustments on this pit stop.  “Whatever you did last time we pitted, go the opposite way twice as much,” Chaffin said.  McCord called his driver into the pits on lap 110. 

Once again the Dickies Racing Team cranked out a timely pit stop making major adjustments to the tire pressures and track bar allowing Chaffin to restart the race on lap 117 in 19th.  Only seven laps later the fifth caution came out.  Chaffin was still extremely loose, so McCord told him to pit on lap 125 for another track bar and air pressure adjustment.  The team did not change tires or add any Sunoco fuel as the race was almost over. 

The race restarted on lap 131.  On lap 133 going into turn one Terry Cook passed Chaffin for position.  The Dickies driver was not going to lose the spot lightly.  He set Cook up for the pass coming off turn four.  Once under Cook the duo tangled and Chaffin tried to bounce off of Cook, but wrecked himself in the process.  He careened into the inside wall and busted the radiator on the Dickies Dodge.  Chaffin pulled the truck behind the wall and parked it for the remaining 17 laps and finished the race in 30th position. 

“We started out in the race pretty good,” Chaffin said.  “We had a really fast truck, but we just didn’t have the track position to show it.  Kip McCord made a great adjustment and all the guys had good pit stops today.  Terry Cook got around me on the restart going into turns one and two and I let him go.  Then I set him back up fair and square.  I got under him off turn four.  He turned into me, and I tried to get off of him and, in fact, I wrecked myself.  I turned it left and when he hit me I got into the inside wall and busted my radiator and ruined our day.”

David Starr won the Chevy Silverado 150 at Phoenix International Raceway.  Jack Sprague, Matt Crafton, Shane Hmiel and Johnny Benson followed in the top five.