Picking up experience

Busch, Winston Cup regulars get start in Truck Series

NEW YORK (AP) -- A lot of NASCAR fans drive pickup trucks to the races. So it's no surprise that trucks are getting some of the drivers to the same events.

The lineups of both the Busch and Winston Cup series are dotted with graduates of the 8-year-old NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, which will run its third race of the 2002 season Saturday at Martinsville, Va.

"It's obvious that the truck series is a great training series for any driver," said Greg Biffle, the 2000 truck series champion who is now chasing the Busch title after being the top rookie in that series last year.

"Many of the competitors that I ran against in the truck series were either NASCAR veterans or future Winston Cup or Busch standouts. I learned a great deal from each of them.

"That series also gave me a chance to run on many of the track we compete on in the Busch Series and will in Winston Cup. Track experience is invaluable, no matter what series you're running in, and I know the familiarity with many of the tracks certainly paid off when we made the jump to Busch."

Biffle, who is also scheduled to run a handful of Cup races this season for Roush Racing, established rookie records last year in the Busch Series with five wins, 198 laps led and 4,509 points en route to fourth place in the points.

So far this year, he is third in the standings, trailing Jeff Green and three-time truck champion Jack Sprague.

"I had run Busch cars years before I even started racing trucks, so I knew what they felt like and how to drive them," Sprague said. "But the truck series definitely made me the racer I am today. That and Rick Hendrick, my boss. I definitely think I am a lot calmer, smarter racer and know when to be patient and when to dig hard.

"After winning races and a championship in the trucks, I knew I was ready to move up and that I could be competitive at the next level."

Sunday's Winston Cup race in Martinsville will include former truck stars Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Mike Skinner and Stacy Compton.

Harvick, who finished 12th in the 1999 truck championship, blossomed into a stock car star last year, winning the Busch Series title and top rookie honors in Cup after replacing the late Dale Earnhardt at Richard Childress Racing.

"It's a series dedicated to pure racing," Harvick said. "It's about taking your truck out on the track and racing it. It's as simple as that.

"It's just a racer's series and that's why I keep running the companion events," added Harvick, who is entered in Saturday's race. "I get the opportunity to go out and think about nothing other than racing."

Childress, who fields entries in Winston Cup, Busch and the truck series, said Harvick was able to move easily from trucks to cars.

"I think the guys who come through the truck series learn some valuable lessons. The trucks are basically the same chassis and weight as the Cup cars. The handling is different, but it gives them a feel for what it's going to be like in the Cup cars," Childress said.

Scott Riggs is hoping to be the third straight truck series graduate to win Rookie of the Year honors in the Busch Series, following Harvick and Biffle.

Riggs finished fifth last year in the trucks, posting five wins and four poles and is seventh in the Busch standings, leading fellow rookie and former truck racer Johnny Sauter by three positions.

"The truck series is a perfect series in between late model stocks and the Busch Series," Riggs said. "It definitely teaches you patience and knowing you have to be there on the last lap to capitalize on the run you had going all day."

 

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