Ted Musgrave and the No. 1 Mopar Dodge Ram team from Ultra Motorsports were thrown for a loop at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway on Saturday.

Musgrave, who boasts two of the last four NCTS poles at the half-mile bullring, and finished second there last April, crossed the finish line 15th, after dealing with tires that reacted unfamiliarly to air pressure changes. The race saw a series-record 24 drivers complete all 254 laps.

Musgrave is currently 13th in NCTS points. The NCTS heads next to Mansfield (Ohio) Motorsports Speedway for a race May 16.

"Before we head to Mansfield, we're going to run a tire test," Musgrave said. "We're going to rent out a track to just go run a lot of laps. We're going to figure out what's going on with the tires and how the react to certain track conditions and what we can do to adjust to them. I think this test will help us a lot, and we'll be ready for Mansfield."

"It wasn't the day we would have liked to have had. We just got caught up in problems with the new tires.

"These tires react differently to air pressure changes and they change dramatically after a few laps, compared to the ones we've run in seasons past. We'd try to make adjustments, but it seemed that we got worse instead of better after every pit stop."

— Ted Musgrave, who still managed to bring his Mopar Dodge Ram home 15th at Martinsville despite tire concerns.

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