High Sierra Photo

For Ted Musgrave (No. 1 Mopar Dodge), the 2004 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season has been filled with ups and downs.

History suggests that Saturday’s Toyota Tundra 200 should be an “up” experience for the Franklin, Wis. competitor, who’s never finished worse than third in the championship standings since joining the series fulltime in 2001.

Musgrave hasn’t won at Nashville Superspeedway although he’s done just about everything else. He’s finished second twice, in 2001 and 2003, and has led all three races at the 1.333-mile concrete surfaced speedway.

Concrete certainly suits Musgrave and his Ultra Motorsports team. Musgrave has a victory at Dover International Speedway while teammate Andy Houston (No. 2 Team ASE/Carquest Dodge) has won once in Nashville and twice at Dover.

“Nashville is a race track that I like to race on,” said Musgrave, whose sole victory this season came June 25 at The Milwaukee Mile. “It’s hard to really get a good handle on the track as far as your shocks and chassis setups because of the concrete surface.

“The biggest thing is getting the shock absorbers set up right so you can get the amount of grip right and be aggressive driving the truck.”

Aggressive describes Musgrave’s driving style. He’s won 14 NCTS races, 11 Bud Poles and usually is among the season leaders in laps/miles led. Musgrave has led seven of 14 races in 2004 and also led the most laps in three of those events. He ranks third in laps/miles led.

In most years, that would put Musgrave in the thick of the title run. But this season – one of unprecedented depth and parity in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series – there are no givens.

Musgrave, whose 2003 crew chief Gene Nead left the team but returned to Ultra Motorsports in late May, is still trying to recover from five finishes outside the top 12 in the season’s first six events.

He stood 15th in the standings on June 1, but has battled back to a high of fourth place. Musgrave currently sits seventh, 230 points behind leader Bobby Hamilton (No. 4 Square D Dodge). Since finishing second at Texas Motor Speedway in early June, Musgrave has logged five top-five finishes and a pair of Bud Poles.

Nead’s return to the team has been key. He replaced Shawn Parker.

“We knew we had to change,” said Musgrave. “When you get the people all pulling in the right direction, it makes a huge difference.”

How it affects Musgrave’s title hopes remains to be seen. Musgrave, however, has put the team’s early-season travail in the past and is concentrating on what he does best – running hard and letting the points fall where they may.

“As tight as the points are right now, one, more good race could put us in the top three and one bad race could put us back to sixth or seventh,” said Musgrave, who finished second behind Carl Edwards (No. 99 Superchips Ford) in last year’s Toyota Tundra 200.