RWI SpeedBlog: Saturday At Rockingham Speedway

Check back here often for live updates from today’s racing activities at Rockingham Speedway in Rockingham, N.C.

5:30 p.m. — That will do it for our live coverage today. Be sure to come back tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by.

4:50 p.m. — The Frank Kimmel Street Stock Series has its 75-lap feature race next. Unfortunately, we won’t be posting live updates from this event. Look for a rundown later today.

4:47 p.m. — Harraka is equally surprised to be starting second.

“I thought it was a good lap, not a great lap,” he said. “It makes me really excited about this race.”

4:43 p.m. — Piquet on his pole (his first in 33 career Truck Series starts):

“I wasn’t expecting a pole at all. I think the track got much hotter and slower.”

However, “I was anxious to get my first pole, and now I think we’re going to get more this year.”

4:40 p.m. — Just heard from the top three qualifiers. Interesting tidbit: They all think they could’ve gone faster.

4:26 p.m. — Pending inspection, Clay Greenfield, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Chris Fontaine, Wes Burton and Brian Weber will not make the race tomorrow.

4:25 p.m. — Nelson Piquet will bring the 36-truck field to green tomorrow. He’s your pole sitter. Paulie Harraka will share the front row with him.

4:24 p.m. — Johnny Sauter is the final truck on the speedway for qualifying. He can only muster a 10th-place effort.

4:22 p.m. — Good crowd for qualifying here at the Rock. I’ve seen worse turnouts for Sprint Cup qualifying sessions.

4:20 p.m. — Timothy Peters jumps to third on the qualifying board.

4:19 p.m. — There are only eight trucks left to qualify. Piquet still holding on to the top spot.

4:17 p.m. — Ron Hornaday doesn’t have a sponsor on his truck. These are tough times, indeed.

4:15 p.m. — Todd Bodine clocks in fourth-fastest for the moment. Jason Leffler takes a wide line off turn 4 and makes it up to third.

4:10 p.m. — Paulie Harraka is now second-fastest. He’ll be in my feature story on Raceweek tomorrow.

4:08 p.m. — Nelson Piquet throws down a hot lap. The Brazilian is at the top of the board.

4:02 p.m. — Brad Sweet jumps to the pole. He’s qualifying the No. 4 truck for Kasey Kahne. Kahne will have to start at the back of the field.

4 p.m. — Nice lap for Ross Chastain. He’s second-fastest. Enfinger still on top, 20 trucks in.

3:55 p.m. — While each truck gets two laps to qualify, many are only running one lap. Second laps are proving to be slower.

3:50 p.m. — Twelve trucks have qualified so far, and Grant Enfinger is currently the fastest. Chad McCumbee, who is qualifying for David Reutimann, is second, while Jeff Agnew is third.

3:37 p.m. — Qualifying is underway. Norm Benning is the first truck on the track. Each truck will get two laps.

3:20 p.m. — The trucks are making their way to pit road. Qualifying starts at 3:35 p.m.

3:12 p.m. — Lajoie guaranteed victory yesterday, but that was before his poor qualifying effort. This is his third UARA win here at Rockingham.

“It’s just my comfort with this track,” he said about his success. “I know the feel I’m looking for, and I know how to get there.”

He’s three for three here in UARA competition. “I call it ‘three for Dale,'” he joked.

3:10 p.m. — Ronnie Bassett finished second. He said he had a problem in qualifying — actually, he spun — but had a blast driving up through the field.

3:05 p.m. — Swaim lost a motor yesterday and was borrowing one from another team. He found out in qualifying that he didn’t have a clutch. “That’s why we wanted to stay in front all day,” he said.

On the last restart: “I tried to time it just right, but the guys behind me got a great run. I think we ran through turns 1 and 2 three-wide.”

3 p.m. — We have a 35-minute window until Camping World Truck Series qualifying begins. Time for a short break.

2:54 p.m. — Tim George, who will qualify his truck later today, was also in the UARA race. He finished in the top 5.  Swaim was third.

2:52 p.m. — Lajoie on the win:

“I knew (Swaim) was having trouble on restarts. I had a real good one and got away from the field. All the stars lined up and the Good Lord gave us a victory.”

2:50 p.m. — Gallaher is OK, but his car is destroyed.

2:43 p.m. — Lajoie celebrates as crews work on Gallaher’s car in turn 3.

CAUTION — CHECKERED — Lajoie wins as Rogers and another car tangle down the backstretch. Will Gallaher gets the worst of it.

2 to go — Lajoie gets the jump as Swaim struggles and grabs the lead.

RESTART — 2 laps to go — Swaim – Lajoie – Ronnie Bassett are your top 3. Here we go.

Lap 73 — We’re going to have a green-white-checkered finish. Rogers has rejoined the field in 9th.

CAUTION Lap 72 — Rogers spins off turn 4. He slides through the infield grass all by himself. Wow.

Lap 72 — Lajoie wants second back from Swaim. They’re side by side as Rogers drives away.

Lap 70 — Swaim’s car is visibly faster than Rogers’ down the backstretch. Rogers still leads.

Lap 68 — Swaim is starting to work on Rogers. The lead is about 3 car lengths.

RESTART Lap 66 — 10 laps to go — Lajoie dives to the inside of Swaim as Rogers goes to the lead.

Lap 64 — Hearing that Swaim has a transmission problem. This could be big trouble on this restart.

CAUTION Lap 62 — Debris in turn 1. There was a lot of beating and banging back in the field on that restart.

RESTART Lap 62 — 14 laps to go. Rogers takes the lead on the outside as Dillon Bassett’s car doesn’t come up to speed.

Lap 56 — Your new top 6: Swaim – Rogers – Lajoie – Dillon Bassett – Jake Morris – Ronnie Bassett

CAUTION Lap 55 — Andy Mercer blows an engine down the backstretch. Ben Rhodes also pulls in with trouble.

Lap 53 — Corey Lajoie is up to third.

Lap 50 — Scott Turlington loses an engine. He was running inside the top 10.

Lap 49 — Swaim may have just been playing with Rogers. He’s opened up his largest lead of the day.

Lap 45 — Rogers is starting to reel in Swaim for the lead. He’s gone to the top of the track, and the new line seems to be working for him.

Lap 40 — Bassett has moved to 10th.

Lap 38 — Rhodes gets loose in turn 4 and loses all the ground he had made on Rogers.

Lap 36 — Ben Rhodes is closing on Rogers for second.

Lap 33 — Cory Joyce loses an engine. He makes it back to pit road.

Lap 32 — Ronnie Bassett started 27th. He’s now 12th and looking for more.

Lap 30 — Devin Jones hits pit road after bouncing off the wall.

Lap 28 — Swaim holds the point while Rogers falls in behind.

RESTART Lap 28 — It’s a double-file restart. Swaim still leads.

CAUTION Lap 21 — Jimmy Simmons loses a tire and goes for a spin in turn 2.

Lap 14 — Swaim dives to the inside of Rogers in turn 1 and takes the lead.

Lap 11 — Travis Swaim is lurking, closing in on the leader.

Lap 1 — Clay Rogers jumps to the early lead.

2 p.m. — Green flag.

1:57 p.m. — Because the press box is closed today, I’m heading to the roof. I’ll get in as many updates as possible.

1:54 p.m. — 30 cars will start this 75-lap UARA race. Here are your top 10:

1. Travis Swaim
2. Clay Rogers
3. Ben Rhodes
4. Josh Wright
5. Dillon Bassett
6. Scott Turlington
7. Jake Morris
8. Sammy Jasper
9. Brandon Jones
10. Paddy Rodenbeck

1:50 p.m. — The UARA engines roar to life.

1:45 p.m. — There’s a pretty good crowd here for the UARA race — perhaps 1,500 in the grandstands. Opening ceremonies are complete.

1:40 p.m. — Paulie Harraka may be a rookie, but he’s no stranger to Rockingham. He learned to drive a stock car here at Andy Hillenburg’s driving school. Hillenburg owns the track now.

He likes his truck, too.

“We’re probably a top-five truck right now,” he said. “We may not be that great in qualifying, but we’ve spent two days here working on long runs. When everyone gets laps on their tires, we’re not falling off as much as everyone else.”

1:35 p.m. — The UARA race is next on the schedule. Driver introductions are underway, and the green flag for the 75-lap feature is scheduled for 2 p.m.

1:20 p.m. — Paulie Harraka will have the “Send a Soldier to the Rock” program sponsoring his truck this weekend. The program is pretty neat: fans could buy tickets and give them to servicemen and women at Fort Bragg and Camp Lejeune. About 2,500 soldiers will be here Sunday.

1:15 p.m. — Andy Hillenburg says that there’s a 30- to 40-percent chance of a sell out tomorrow. He expects a crowd of 25,000-plus. The Rock holds 31,000.

1 p.m. — Paulie Harraka is in the media center. He’s a rookie in the series this year.

12:50 p.m. — Just took a ride around Rockingham in the pace truck. Truck Series veteran Mike Skinner was driving and gave us some insight on what we’ll see today and tomorrow.

For qualifying, drivers will try to hook the apron at the bottom of the track and stay as low as possible. During the race, grip in the tires disappears after about 10 laps. At that point, drivers are in a four-wheel drift.

Drivers will run around the top of the track in turns 3 and 4. In turn 1, they will try to hook the apron going in, drift up the track and try to drive straight off turn 2. “What you try to do is diamond the corner,” Skinner said.

Other tidbits:

• Pit road is off-camber.
• The track is incredibly bumpy and worn out, which is just how drivers like it.
• The word of the day is “loose.” Drivers have their hands full in turns 2 and 4.

Fatigue, changes you could look here bulk generic viagra in physique angel and caring for your new built-in can all prove to be hazardous to the health of the patient. Fertility treatment for women: Ovulation disorders: Woman having ovulation disorders will be prescribed with the proper suitable dosage that can help you to avoid the adverse reflection of this drug in forms of dizziness, stomach pain, diarrhea, nausea, less urination, weakness, swelling in the affected region. * Damage of joint tissue resulting from trauma or excessive joint use. The nightmarish experience of early ejaculation, just when you want something in your daily life and you need to get up to pass urine two or more times a night Bedwetting/Accidents occur (mainly in children). At Pharmacy Online Drugstore, we viagra without side effects djpaulkom.tv have the lowest risk for getting affected with impotence issue.
12:45 p.m. — Your top-10 in final practice:

1. Dakoda Armstrong
2. Matt Crafton
3. Parker Kligerman
4. Timothy Peters
5. John Wes Townley
6. Miguel Paludo
7. Paulie Harraka
8. Ross Chastain
9. Nelson Piquet Jr.
10. John King

12:35 p.m. — Dakoda Armstrong was the fastest in final practice.

12:05 p.m. — NASCAR has extended this practice a few more minutes because the session started late.

Noon — Final practice is ending for the Camping World Truck Series. The UARA race starts at 2 p.m., followed by CWTS qualifying. We’ll have a practice sheet rundown shortly.

11:57 a.m. — Hearing that all of the frontstretch reserved tickets are sold for tomorrow’s race. This thing is getting close to a sell out. If you want to be here, you need to get your tickets now.

11:55 a.m. — As practice wraps up, I’m stepping out for a minute. Time for a pace car ride.

11:46 a.m. — Interesting. The UARA pole speed today was 24.56 seconds. They’re just as fast as the trucks are.

11:43 a.m. — Johnny Sauter just ran a lap of 24.50 seconds, backing up his time in the previous practice session. That’s impressive, considering the track is warming up and losing grip.

11:40 a.m. — Here’s a look at the top-10 starters for today’s UARA race:

1. Travis Swaim
2. Clay Rogers
3. Ben Rhodes
4. Josh Wright
5. Dillon Bassett
6. Scott Turlington
7. Jake Morris
8. Sammy Jasper
9. Brandon Jones
10. Paddy Rodenbeck

11:30 a.m. — There are a lot of preferred lines around this race track under race conditions, but look for everyone to be hugging the bottom during qualifying.

11:15 a.m. — This practice session finds truck teams on different agendas. Some are making mock qualifying runs, while others are making longer runs to see how the tires wear.

11:10 a.m. — Parker Kligerman has been fast so far this weekend, and for good reason. Since The Rock reopened a few years ago, he’s had some success. Still, that prior success in ARCA may not mean much.

“Honestly, the difference between the cars and the tires that we’ve run back in the other series, there’s a huge amount that doesn’t really carry over.

“For me, I feel like I know the feel that I want in a race truck, and that’s the biggest thing.”

He’ll be looking for that feel in final practice, which is underway.

11:05 a.m. — We’re just a tad behind schedule. UARA qualifying is taking longer than expected — there have been a few spins and crashes. Yikes.

11 a.m. — Temperatures are expected to hit about 75 today. We’re well on our way to getting there. Also, there’s not a cloud in the sky.

10:55 a.m. — UARA qualifying is ongoing here. According to the entry list, there are 30 cars here. That’s a lot more than the series had for its last race at The Rock in November.

10:45 a.m. — The third practice session for the Camping World Truck Series wrapped up about 30 minutes ago. Johnny Sauter was the fastest, turning in a lap of 24.511 seconds (146.873 mph). Here’s a look at your top 10:

1. Johnny Sauter
2. Parker Kligerman
3. James Buescher
4. Timothy Peters
5. Joey Coulter
6. Ty Dillon
7. Ron Hornaday
8. Matt Crafton
9. Jason Leffler
10. Todd Bodine

10:40 a.m. — There are a lot of fans here to welcome The Rock back to life. The campgrounds are sold out and ticket sales are picking up for tomorrow’s main event. Track officials are also expecting a good crowd today for practice and qualifying, as well as a UARA and Frank Kimmel Street Stock race.

10:30 a.m. — Good morning from Rockingham Speedway, where NASCAR is making its first stop in eight years. This weekend, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will take to the unique 1-mile oval for the Good Sam Roadside Assistance 200.

Today, 41 trucks will try to make the 36-truck field. Qualifying is this afternoon, but final practice is coming up at 11 a.m. Stay tuned for live updates from the track.