Kentucky: Brandon Whitt preview

'Great track, great location, great fans'

Brandon Whitt and the #38 McMillin Homes/Cure Autism Now Toyota Tundra team head to the 1.5-mile Kentucky Speedway this week for Saturday night's Kentucky 225; the 13h race in the 2005 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season.

Whitt, 22, is a native of El Cajon, Calif., driving his second full season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Known for his penchant of being fast and loving speed, Whitt is considered one of the top up-and-coming young drivers in stock car racing. His truck is owned by Red Horse Racing, which consists of general manager Marty Gaunt, a winning veteran leader of motorsports teams; Jeff Hammond, a NASCAR Nextel Cup championship crew chief now serving as an analyst for FOX Sports; and Tom DeLoach, a former Mobil Corp. executive who, with Hammond, owns and operates PIT Instruction and Training LLC, the number one pit crew training center in the world.

The thoughts of McMillin Homes/Cure Autism Now Toyota Tundra driver Brandon Whitt heading into Kentucky:

"Kentucky is a great track and a great facility. It catches a lot of flak for being in a rural area, but, when you look at it, it's actually directly between two pretty good-sized markets in Cincinnati and Louisville, and not far from a third with Lexington. There's not much difference in the distance, or least the time it takes to travel from one of these cities to the speedway and the time it takes to get from Chicago to Joliet. The local media coverage is great from both Louisville and Cincinnati, as well as from Lexington."

"Kentucky is one of those tracks where the fans really embrace the Craftsman Truck Series. Our race fans are great everywhere we go, but at some of these stand alone events, you can really see the true Truck Series fans come out and support us. Race fans around there are insane about their racing and it really makes for a fever pitch, especially under the lights at Kentucky. It's a great track in a great location with great fans."

"The track itself is a lot of fun. It's wide, plenty of room to race side-by-side; you don't have to crowd one another in order to make a pass. It's fast-- really fast. That's one thing that makes this race even more exciting. There's no wonder that a lot of Cup teams use the track for testing purposes. Being a 1.5-mile, high-banked oval, it's similar to a lot of 1.5-milers on the Cup circuit. Atlanta, Charlotte, Texas, Kansas, even Chicago to a certain degree. The Cup teams can get a good read on how their car will handle at any one of these tracks by testing at Kentucky, and it doesn't count as a test for them because they don't run there."

"Personally, I'm glad we run there. Again, it's a great track, fast, and smack in between two good markets. We love going there and will be looking to give the McMillin Homes/Cure Autism Now Toyota Tundra a great ride there this weekend."

"We've been running really well and super speedways this season, and with the Toyota power under the hood we've been competitive really everywhere we've raced at. Looking forward to Kentucky, because it seems the faster the track, the better we qualify. Yeah, I know it's not where you start the race, it's where you finish. But, it sure makes it a lot easier to finish higher the less people you have to pass on the track."

"We've had it both ways this season. Some races where we start up front, others not so much. With the impound procedure this season, it seems you really get drivers making their way to the front from a variety of starting positions. One thing remains the same though; if you're truck is fast when they drop the green flag, you're going to be going forward. Hopefully, that will be us this weekend, and you'll see the #38 heading to the front."

-cw-