If 2007 is any indication, old is new again in the Craftsman Truck Series.
A few favorites are returning to the series, and Daytona is the perfect track to welcome back these familiar faces, as not one of them has ever taken their truck to Victory Lane at the legendary 2.5 mile superspeedway.
Seven former Truck Series champions will be waiting for the green flag to fly on Friday night's Chevy Silverado HD 250 (7:30 p.m. ET, SPEED), including Travis Kvapil, the 2002 series champion.
Kvapil is making his first start in a Truck Series event since the Homestead season finale in November 2004 where he finished 13th.
Other former champions searching for that elusive Daytona victory include last year's champion Todd Bodine, Ron Hornaday, Mike Skinner, Jack Sprague, Ted Musgrave and Mike Bliss, who is driving in the Truck Series on a part-time basis for Key Motorsports.
Another familiar face back in a truck is Ken Schrader. Schrader returns in the No. 18 Bobby Hamilton Racing Dodge and hasn't driven in the series since 2005. He holds the honor of longest period in between victories -- 11 years, 10 months and still counting.
Interesting Fact
12 In the 13 years of the Craftsman Truck Series, the season has opened in the state of Florida 12 times, but only eight of those races have been at Daytona International Speedway. In 1996 and 1999, Homestead-Miami Speedway hosted the opening race. In 1997 and 1998, Walt Disney World Speedway near Orlando kicked off the season. The one season-opening race not in Florida was in the inaugural season of the Truck Series in 1995, when Phoenix International Raceway hosted the first race.



Fun Fact
11 In honor of the 13th season of the Craftsman Truck Series, we pay homage to the Friday the 13th movie franchise. There have been 11 Friday the 13th films, but three different machete-wielding villains. Jason Voorhees played the hockey-masked slasher in nine of the films, Jason's mother Pamela was the killer in the original and in Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, Roy Burns pretended to be Jason.



All the Facts
0 Number of wins by a Dodge truck in 2006.
0 Number of times a Truck Series champion has repeated the next season.
2 Manufacturers who have yet to find Victory Lane at Daytona: Chevrolet and Toyota.
2 Number of drivers who have won multiple Truck Series championships: (Jack Sprague: (1997, 1999, 2001); Ron Hornaday: (1996, '98).
3 Only three drivers competing in this year's race have won a Truck Series race at Daytona: Mike Wallace, Rick Crawford and Carl Edwards.
6 Number of drivers who will be shooting for a multiple Truck Series championship: Todd Bodine, Ted Musgrave, Travis Kvapil, Jack Sprague, Mike Skinner and Ron Hornaday
6 Number of winners in the seven Daytona races who have started in the top 10. (Bobby Hamilton won the race in 2005 starting in the 36th position).
7 There have been seven different winners in the seven Truck Series races held at Daytona International Speedway.
13 This is the Craftsman Truck Series 13th year in existence.
17 Laps under caution in last year's Daytona race, the fewest in Truck Series history at Daytona.
23 Consecutive laps Kyle Krisiloff made a pass in last year's Daytona race; tops among the drivers.
90 Drivers who made at least one Truck Series start in 2006.
146.622 Average speed of last year's race winner Mark Martin, the fastest in Truck Series history at Daytona.
$766,958 The difference between the purse for the opening race in 1995 and this year. (1995's Phoenix race had a total purse of $98,825; this year's Daytona race features a purse of $865,783).

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