Carmichael Eighth at California in Truck Series
February 22, 2009, 11:04am
FONTANA, Calif. – Ricky Carmichael and the No. 33 Monster Energy KHI All-Stars team finished the San Bernardino County 200 at Auto Club Speedway in eighth place, a career-best finish for Carmichael in only his second career start in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Kyle Busch won the race, followed by Todd Bodine and Chad McCumbee in third. Carmichael was the top-finishing rookie of the race.
Ricky Carmichael Post-Race Quote: “I learned SO much today. The boss (Kevin Harvick, team co-owner) had a goal for me today – and that was to finish in the top-15, so we beat the bosses’ goal! I wanted to exceed his expectations. I’m pleased to have bettered his goal because we really wanted to learn, turn laps and finish the race. I kept my nose clean all day and I feel like if we could start this race over again right now, I could do much better with everything I learned!
“This place (Auto Club Speedway) is so fast, it took me all of practice, qualifying, and the first 50 laps of the race to get used to the speed. Once I got myself acclimated, then I could start to worry about how the truck was handling. Luckily, the team gave me a great truck and we were the fastest truck on the track in the late stages of the race. I cost us some track position when I thought the right front (tire) was going soft, so we made an extra pit stop (on lap 47) and lost a lot of positions. But, we were able to pass a lot of trucks the rest of the way to get back into the top 10.”
Race Highlights: Carmichael, the most successful motocross racer in American history, started from the third position and ran among the top eight positions for the first half of the event, running as high as fifth place until beginning to struggle with what felt like a soft right-front tire. The team made an extra pit stop on lap 47 to take four tires, which placed Carmichael 19th on the restart. It took him four laps to climb to 14th, and then he spent the final 40 laps gradually passing trucks on his way to an eighth-place finish.
In two career Truck Series starts, this marks his first top-five start and first top-10 finish. Carmichael is tied for 14th place in the drivers point standings.
Carmichael will race the Monster Energy/ KHI All-Star Silverado again Saturday, April 25 at Kansas Speedway.
DID YOU KNOW: Ricky Carmichael will be a color commentator for SPEED-TV’s live coverage of the AMA Supercross race at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, Saturday night March 7. Carmichael, a 15-time AMA Champion, designed the Supercross course for the Daytona event.
Ricky Carmichael Post-Race Quote: “I learned SO much today. The boss (Kevin Harvick, team co-owner) had a goal for me today – and that was to finish in the top-15, so we beat the bosses’ goal! I wanted to exceed his expectations. I’m pleased to have bettered his goal because we really wanted to learn, turn laps and finish the race. I kept my nose clean all day and I feel like if we could start this race over again right now, I could do much better with everything I learned!
“This place (Auto Club Speedway) is so fast, it took me all of practice, qualifying, and the first 50 laps of the race to get used to the speed. Once I got myself acclimated, then I could start to worry about how the truck was handling. Luckily, the team gave me a great truck and we were the fastest truck on the track in the late stages of the race. I cost us some track position when I thought the right front (tire) was going soft, so we made an extra pit stop (on lap 47) and lost a lot of positions. But, we were able to pass a lot of trucks the rest of the way to get back into the top 10.”
Race Highlights: Carmichael, the most successful motocross racer in American history, started from the third position and ran among the top eight positions for the first half of the event, running as high as fifth place until beginning to struggle with what felt like a soft right-front tire. The team made an extra pit stop on lap 47 to take four tires, which placed Carmichael 19th on the restart. It took him four laps to climb to 14th, and then he spent the final 40 laps gradually passing trucks on his way to an eighth-place finish.
In two career Truck Series starts, this marks his first top-five start and first top-10 finish. Carmichael is tied for 14th place in the drivers point standings.
Carmichael will race the Monster Energy/ KHI All-Star Silverado again Saturday, April 25 at Kansas Speedway.
DID YOU KNOW: Ricky Carmichael will be a color commentator for SPEED-TV’s live coverage of the AMA Supercross race at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, Saturday night March 7. Carmichael, a 15-time AMA Champion, designed the Supercross course for the Daytona event.
RACE STATS:
Career Truck Starts: 2
Started: 3rd
Finished: 8th
Laps Led: 0
Point Standings: 14th (tied)
Career Truck Starts: 2
Started: 3rd
Finished: 8th
Laps Led: 0
Point Standings: 14th (tied)
