Full Throttle

Musgrave, who hasn?t won a pole position or a race this season, won the pole Thursday for the O?Reilly 400k, a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway.

Driving Jim Smith?s No. 1 Mopar Performance Dodge, Musgrave recorded a lap of 28.839 seconds (180.971 mph), good enough to top Toyotas driven by Robert Huffman and Bill Lester. It was Musgrave?s strongest statement this season after posting just one top-10 finish in the first six races this season.

“This is one hurdle we?ve needed to overcome,” said Musgrave, who?s had 13 wins and nine poles in his NCTS career. “We?ve got this program back on track. It?s unfortunate that we didn?t have this kind of success early in the season, but this is a good way to get things going.”

Dennis Setzer had the fourth-fastest lap, followed by Carl Edwards and David Reutimann. Chad Chaffin, who has won last week at Dover, will start eighth when the 34-car field takes the green flag at 9 p.m. EDT. The race will be televised live by Speed.

Musgrave, the third driver out on the track, said he was surprised that his lap held up.

“I told my guys that we might be in the top-five area, but I didn?t think it was good enough to be on top,” Musgrave said. “I think some of the guys might have struggled with tech, going through the room of doom and having to change wing angles. I think they slowed down some of the guys who might have been fudging on the rules.”

Huffman was pleased just to make it to TMS, let alone start on the front row. As was the case with most teams arriving in the Dallas-Fort Worth area for the weekend?s IRL IndyCar Series and NCTS races, Huffman?s crew experienced travel delays because of heavy rain and flooding this week.

“We?re happy with second,” Huffman said. “We?re happy just to be here. All of these guys had a tough time getting here this week.” “I?ve had enough, let?s put it that way,” Musgrave said. “We?re down in points, but not down in spirit.”