Engine Problems Slow Spencer's Charge in Vegas
TruckSeries.com Report
September 27, 2005

Jimmy Spencer qualified sixth and had a strong truck in the early stages of the Las Vegas 350 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday night, but a persistent engine miss forced Spencer to reduce his pace before eventually sidelining him just short of the finish.  Spencer drove the No. 2 Team ASE/Ultra Wheels Dodge into the top-5 before the baffling engine problem struck, leaving Spencer 31st at the finish.

Spencer was forced to run at partial throttle to minimize the miss under the hood, which sent him free-falling through the pack.  A protracted green flag run didn't allow Spencer a chance to dip into the pits, forcing him to stay out under green, and at a reduced pace he lost numerous laps before he came to the pits under green.

"I could only run about three-quarter throttle," Spencer said.  "If I went any higher than about 7800 rpms, it would vibrate like crazy.  We didn't want to blow it up and finish even worse than we were going to.  We didn't know what the problem was.  We were hoping it was something simple like a spark plug wire, but it was acting like it was a broken valve spring.  Whatever it was, we were down to seven cylinders."

The rare engine problem for the No. 2 Team ASE/Ultra Wheels Dodge resulted in the team's worst finish of the 2005 NASCAR CRaftsman Truck Series season.  With just 137 of 152 laps complete, it also breaks a streak of eight consecutive lead lap finishes for the team.  Spencer now drops to sixth in the championship standings, 284 points behind leader Dennis Setzer.  Spencer is tied with fifth-place Todd Bodine, but Bodine earns the fifth position based on two 2005 wins