September 17, 2006

Tough Break for East Leaves Him 30th in New Hampshire

Bobby East had a great qualifying run for the New Hampshire 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at New Hampshire International Speedway, lining the No. 21 Edy’s Dibs/State Fair Corn Dogs Ford F-150 in the third position at the start for the 18th race of the 2006 season.

East settled into has pace at the start hoping to bring the truck home in one piece and gather up a good finish. But an accident on the backstretch on lap 74 involving Brendan Gaughan, Terry Cook, and Mark Martin blocked the track leaving East no where to go to avoid. East impacted Gaughan as he slid across the track, doing significant damage to the right front of his truck.

"This is very disappointing,” East said. “We had a great qualifying effort, and we were making adjustments during the race to make it better when we got caught up in somebody else's wreck. A couple guys got together ahead of me and started spinning. I thought I had it cleared, then another truck came across and hit me. We've had good trucks, but we keep having bad luck. It's very frustrating."

While he was behind the wall for many laps while the Wood/jtg Racing Team made repairs, East returned to action with enough laps left to run to gain four positions in the final rundown.

“They went to work on it and put it back together, and that gives you a lot of motivation as a driver to come back out and do the best you can do,” East said. “That's the thing about this race team: It doesn't quit. We gained four spots by going back out. It's no fun to ride around and log laps when your truck is torn up, but we had something to show for it."

Next up for East and the Wood/jtg Racing Team is the Smith’s Las Vegas 350 at the newly renovated Las Vegas Motor Speedway. There will be an open test day on Friday September 22, while practice, qualifying, and the 350-kilometer race are all scheduled for Saturday. Speed Channel will carry the race live starting at 9 P.M. Eastern, while Motor Racing Network will have the live radio call on selected affiliates nationwide. TruckSeries.com will have complete event coverage online at www.truckseries.com.