Thursday, Nov. 16, 2006 | 7:08 a.m.
Casey Kingsland came to expect the worst when he showed up at a racetrack during his three-year odyssey to land a ride in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
There was the time in 2003, for example, when the Las Vegas native attempted to make his Truck Series debut at Indianapolis Raceway Park. The truck he and his father, Roger, had leased from an underfunded team was called a "death trap" by a fellow competitor, who urged Kingsland not to race it. Despite limited practice time, Kingsland just missed qualifying for the race.
A year later at the same track, Kingsland showed up to race another leased truck, only to find that the engine was missing several crucial parts - namely three rocker arms - and wouldn't run.
After several failed deals, Kingsland said he finally has found what he was looking for and actually is confident when he arrives at the track.
Kingsland, 21, will attempt to make his second Truck Series start for Pennington Motorsports in Friday's season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway and plans to compete for Rookie of the Year as the team's full-time driver in the series in 2007.
Team owner J.L. Pennington "has been an angel from heaven," said Kingsland, an Eldorado High graduate who recently moved to North Carolina to be near the team's shop.
"Before, I was scared to get into some of those trucks. I knew what it took to get to the league we're in right now and I knew that what they were showing up with and the knowledge they didn't have - and the knowledge I didn't have being my first time - it was just a lose-lose situation from the start."
Now, Kingsland is racing brand-new Chevrolet trucks under the guidance of veteran crew chief Gary Showalter and an experienced team.
"It's been a process," he said of his journey to this point in his career. "We've been trying to do this for a while now and everything is starting to pay off now.
"So far, it's night-and-day difference. It's such a big turnaround from where I was (three years ago)."
Kingsland qualified last among the 35 trucks entered in Friday's race at Phoenix International Raceway, and finished the race three laps down, in 31st place, in the Hooters Energy Drink Chevy. The race was a success for Kingsland, who had to prove to NASCAR officials that he could handle racing on a one-mile track before they would approve him for bigger tracks.
"I hope no one is judging us by our performance at Phoenix because we were quicker than (we showed)," he said. "All we had to do at Phoenix was to run, to finish and to stay out of trouble and not cause any accidents.
"I know we could have been a Top 20, Top 25 (truck), easily. We were running up there, but every caution I just let everybody go by because they were fighting and dicing pretty good up there. That's all I needed to do was get accidentally spun out and then have NASCAR say, 'Nope, you're a hazard.' We did what we needed to accomplish and, so far, everything's going according to plan."
In addition to running the full Truck Series schedule, Kingsland said Pennington Motorsports has a NASCAR Busch Series car and plans to enter him in five Busch Series races next season. Kingsland said he hopes to attempt to qualify for the Sam's Town 300 in March at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
"The old man isn't done yet."
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