|| *Comments on the 2001 Florida Dodge Dealers 250:* View the most recent comment <#22> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. J. Kircher posted: 04.19.2006 - 5:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Another Daytona classic for the Trucks, Joe Ruttman gets the win and Ricky Hendrick almost gets his first. 2. Darrell posted: 05.25.2006 - 11:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Was this not the race where Randy MacDonald injured his neck, and thus pretty much putting an end to his full-time driving career? 3. Rusty posted: 10.01.2006 - 6:37 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Truck debut for future champion, Travis Kvapil. 4. SK posted: 11.26.2006 - 10:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was the race in which MacDonald was injured in a crash, but it didn't really put an end to his full-time racing career -- he drove the full Truck Series schedule in the two years after this season. I think a lack of funding for his self-run team was more of a culprit in him scaling back his NASCAR efforts, but he still shows up now and then in Busch. 5. The Real Thomas posted: 07.27.2007 - 6:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Oh yeah, I think Randy clobbered the spinning truck of Nathan Haseleu. 6. most posted: 08.08.2007 - 4:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Boy Mark Petty had some nasty words for Sprague, Musgrave and Riggs. He was warranted however seeing as how he has won 13 Nextel Cups..... (Sarcasm) 7. adamal82 posted: 09.10.2008 - 2:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) best truck series finish for morgan shepherd(11) 8. 21277Penske posted: 06.07.2010 - 5:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) You could also call this the 2001 Florida Dodge Dealers 260 because it ended up being a 104 lap, 260 mile long race. Not a 100 lap, 250 mile long race. Congrats to Joe Ruttman, Bobby Hamilton Racing, and the #18 Dana Corporation Dodge team on a job well done. 9. Anonymous posted: 08.24.2011 - 9:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This race was televised live on ESPN Announcers: Dr. Jerry Punch, Phil Parsons Pit-Road Reporters: Ray Dunlap, Amy East 10. CBASS posted: 04.24.2012 - 8:52 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsors using TruckSeries.com's photos #16/61 TeamRensi.com #51 World Champs Baltimore Ravens/ RV TwoWay 11. Daniel posted: 05.21.2012 - 11:56 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) In using fastest 36: #19 Ricky Sanders Out using fastest 36: #12 Rich Woodland 12. 83andJoe posted: 07.06.2013 - 3:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) #66 crew chief: John Monsam (same for all races this year) 13. Mr.Victory posted: 01.29.2018 - 8:29 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Early in the race, a big crash took out 5 or so cars. 14. Bramblegrunt posted: 03.15.2018 - 11:29 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) After the chaos and carnage of the 2000 Daytona truck race, this race was a bit more controlled but still featured a lot of small incidents. Definitely not the start of the season for Roush Racing where their 2 rookies both had pretty rough races which included Hossfeld going for 2 spins and hitting Sprague early in the going. This really was the race of Dodges up front. Aside from a brief time when Fords were running 1-2-3, it was all Dodges all the time mostly between Musgrave and Ruttman. Musgrave appeared to have this race in the bag but after a late debris caution, his truck sputtered on the restart from the lead which pretty much led to a 3 truck battle for the lead between Ruttman Hendrick and Riggs. After the Ronnie Hornaday III engine and subsequent Hossfeld/Gunselman crash, the race was a GWC situation with Ruttman leading the way. The end story was on the last lap from the lead, Ruttman waved from his window to Hendrick, this was universal signal for "I am slowing down", but this was the wily veteran's attempt to have Hendrick slow down in response. Hendrick didnt fall for it, but Ruttman didnt need to do this, his truck was just too good and he cruised to victory. Hendrick said in response to if he fell for it, "Nah. You gotta pull out all the stops here at Daytona on the last lap" Great runs for Norick, Gibbs, and Amick in the top 10 15. Turn 4 posted: 06.05.2018 - 11:38 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The 2001 truck season was ESPNs last NASCAR coverage until 2007. 16. Z posted: 12.20.2019 - 12:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) In a race w/ multiple lead changes & only x2 cycles lasting more than x10 laps, It was Joe Ruttman @ the ripe young age of 56 who prevailed over spring chicken Ricky Hendrick. Noting Hendrick, it was a strong run to start his first full season in trucks, a season which saw him narrowly lose ROTY to Travis Kvapil. Kvapil, plucked from Midwest to replace Andy Houston following the latter's move to Cup, didn't have much to brag home about in this one. He was involved in a lap 5 wreck & never recovered, though this proved not to be an omen of things to come. Bryan Reffner came into this one looking to build on a career year that saw him capture his 1st win, & though his run garnered an 8th, he would unfortunately soon find himself out of a ride & out of NASCAR in a few years. Coy Gibbs... well, he was able to overcome a lacking qualifying to bring it home 7th, though his 1st full season in trucks would ultimately be more of the same or a step below. Terry Cook, coming off his best season by most measures (sans win), just narrowly misses out on a top 5 in his Bob Keselowski debut & would largely back up his showing as the year progressed (to say nothing of what he achieved the ensuing season) Randy Tolsma would find himself in the same boat as Reffner, looking to build on a career season (in this case with a new team) & running good to open the year; though Tolsma ended up w/ a longer run in the interim, his career ended almost instantly afterwards (BTW, I forgot Tolsma attempted Indy in '96 - just an "oh yeahh" moment) Lance Norick had a career run in his family-owned #90 , topped only by a 3rd later in the year @ Cicero. Scott Riggs, having ran the majority of the preceding season, hops into a Jim Smith ride for a spin & marks a sign of things to come w/ a 3rd place finish. Riggs would successfully match & exceed his predecessor Mike Wallace's performance en route to x5 of Smith's x12 wins. Kenny Allen would DNQ for longtime owner Jim Rosenblum, doing so again next year @ Daytona before calling it a career. Allen's last race would ultimately end up a race @ Homestead in '00. Mark Petty, in what would end up his 2nd to last race, finished 32nd in x99 less laps than it would take the next week. Though his racing career didn't take off in the top x3 levels, Petty would find a 2nd wind in various crew chief type roles, including a stint w/ KHI. Also unnoted, Petty intended to run for ROTY over the whole season in '01 - I'm assuming lack of funds? (though on the flip side, his debut the year before was intended to be his only stab @ NASCAR, so it lasted longer than he envisioned). https://us.motorsport.com/nascar-truck/news/mark-petty-to-drive-remainder-of-2000-season/1832558/ Nathan Haseleu made his Roush debut in this one coming off x2 full years of Midwest & a winning year, but crashed out in 29th & would last x9 races before losing his full-time seat, running only x3 further truck races afterwards. Roush, Pt.II: Chuck Hossfield edition. An identical fate, but less top 10s, a better finish this race, & no additional truck races afterwards. A tough year to be a Roush development driver (sans Biffle, though Wood was so-so; Busch's moreso b/c of the Marlboro situation) Matt Crafton, an aspiring young gun coming off a Southwest title, inherited the reins from Terry Cook looking to build on his debut from the previous season, but an engine issue impeded such an outcome; fortunately, we all know how this one turned out. Billy Baigley, Jr. would parallel in mamy ways, running to similar results & coming off a regional title of his own (Southeast), but age & sponsorship (??, I don't recall) weren't on his side & no future campaigns were in his horizons. Dennis Setzer - new ride, almost identical results. Setzer debuted for David Dollar in this one & though he didn't do too hot, he & Dollar would hit another gear in the 2nd half of the season. Willy T. Ribbs would return from the open-wheel/sportscar ranks in this one, though his qualifying 3rd was really the only highlight of his trying season. Ted Musgrave showed flashes of what was to come, though his run ended on lap 82 w/ a 22nd to his name. His season would see him successfully drop down from Cup & finish runner-up in the Championship. Carlos Contreas' debut w/ Petty Enterprises, the 1st of a x2 year partnership. Bobby Dotter, former Busch regular, returns from a strong runner-up in K&N West to mark the debut full-time assault of Gene Christiansen's team, finishing what would become a familiar 11-15 range. Jack Sprague was back @ it w/ Hendrick in this one, & he would ultimately succeed in topping his 5th in standings the year before w/ a title; though he won x3 titles, a 1 year gap existed b/w each. Lastly, the 1st driver to debut in Cup following this race was actually DNQ Jason Small. 17. Rich posted: 09.19.2020 - 5:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dr. Jerry Punch and Phil Parsons were the commentators. Ray Dunlap and Amy East were the pit road reporters. 18. TTaylor944 posted: 09.24.2020 - 2:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Now that it appears as though his driving career is actually finished, this will go down as Morgan Shepherd's only lead lap finish in the Truck Series. 19. AutoRockinRacing94 posted: 01.29.2021 - 10:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Those 104 laps at Daytona would be implemented in NASCAR Dirt to Daytona for the Truck Series' 100% race length. 20. JSPorts posted: 01.30.2021 - 7:29 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) That's interesting. Did the game not have green/white/checker finishes? I don't remember, it's been so long since I played it. 21. TeamDCRfan posted: 02.06.2021 - 7:34 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Morgan Shepherd at almost 60 had a truck capable of winning, spending pretty much the whole race in the top 10-15 22. Tarheel posted: 02.06.2021 - 11:20 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) 21, he also had a good run going at South Boston later that year, leading 15 laps before being involved in a crash. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: