Bill Lester has been on a slow moving process over the last six races. Early in the season, he got behind in the points standings after problems at Daytona, Darlington, and Martinsville. Over the last six races, he has slowly gained back the ground he had lost. He has moved from 21st place to 18th place in the points standings, in the last few weeks, and with a solid run at Kansas, he has a chance to leave this event 15th in the overall points standings.
"We've been on a steady climb since early in the season," said Lester. "But we're finally getting back in contention. If we can continue finishing these race we'll be in the top fifteen in the points before too long, and that was our goal at the beginning of the year."
Rookie of the Year Points Race: With nine races completed in the season it appears that Brendan Gaughan will be Lester's main competition for the Rookie of the Year Award. Gaughan holds a 35 point lead heading to Kansas Speedway, but the race is far from over. "Brendan (Gaughan) has a lot of heavy car experience, but I think in the second half of the year we'll be hot on his heels for the title," said Lester. "So far, the difference has been his win and a few top ten runs, but this team is ready for the challenge. We just have to go out there and make it happen."
Petty Driving School: At most of the tracks that the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races at this year Lester has little to no experience, but not at Kansas Speedway. Lester spent time making laps around the speedway in one of Petty Driving School's cars. He served as one of the School's instructors for a week.
"I got about 400 laps around this place," said Lester. "It's fast and smooth. About the only thing that may make it hard racing at this track is the heat. It' s going to be pretty hot this week, so conditioning will be a factor."
No. 8 Past History: Last year at Kansas Speedway, Willy T. Ribbs recorded his second best career finish, a 15th place finish, in the No. 8 Dodge Motorsports Dodge. He began the day from the 21st position and finished five laps off the pace.
Top 20 Finishes: Lester has recorded six top 20 finishes in his last six starts. He will be attempting to stretch that to seven in a row at Kansas Speedway.
This Week's Truck: Lester will be racing, "Trix," at Kansas Speedway this weekend. Trix has only competed in one other event, which just happens to be Lester's career best finish in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
"We're bringing out Trix for this race so I'm pretty pumped about how I
think we're going to run," said Lester. "It was awesome at Texas last month
so we'll just have to see how it is here at Kansas."
