Dennis Setzer will be competing in his fourth straight season as driver of the No. 46 Morgan-Dollar Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado. 2004 will also be Dennis' sixth straight full season of competition in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
After phenomenal success and growth over the past three seasons, Dennis and his Morgan-Dollar teammates are looking for nothing less than a championship in 2004. Setzer, who just completed a three-year driving stint with Morgan-Dollar is ready to get started on year one of another driver contract that was signed at the end of the 2003 season. Dennis Setzer will be driving the No. 46 Silverado-sponsored race truck through 2006.
However, the future is now. After finishing ninth, sixth, and second in his past three seasons with Morgan-Dollar; the overall championship is the goal. Setzer, a veteran driver who came extremely close to the 2003 championship by finishing nine points behind the eventual winner is excited about the team’s chances in 2004.
Dennis' performance in 2003 saw him tie or set several records in the Craftsman Truck Series. By winning the Lucas Oil 250 in March, he became only the second driver to win a race in six consecutive seasons. Then, Setzer and the #46 crew reeled-off 20 straight top-ten finishes to end the season, which gave him the record for the most consecutive top-ten finishes in a single season. The streak brought him to within nine points of the overall championship. Dennis went on to score three wins, 15 top-five, and 23 top-ten finishes in just 25 races in 2003.
Setzer has been racing for over 20 years. He has raced up and down the east coast racking up seven track championships at four different tracks – mostly in the late model and sportsman divisions. Dennis made his first ARCA and Busch Series starts in 1991. Dennis has two wins in 101 starts in the NASCAR Busch Grand National Division and seven starts in NASCAR’s most elite division – the Nextel Cup Series. In 1994, his rookie season in the Busch Grand National Series, Setzer won twice - once at his home track at Hickory and the other in South Boston, Virginia. In his first ever truck series start, Setzer proved he had what it takes by finishing second to Mike Skinner at the Milwaukee Mile in 1995. Dennis also holds the record for winning from the worst starting position of a NCTS winner, (33rd) at Martinsville in 2002.
Setzer's Craftsman Truck Series career really began as a backup driver in 1998 for the #29 K-Automotive team and their injured driver/owner Bob Keselowski. His performance landed him the full-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series ride for the coming campaign. Setzer had posted top-10 finishes in three of six starts, including a victory in the Dodge California Truck Stop 300 at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield, CA.
Dennis Setzer nearly captured the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship in his first full season on tour, in 1999. Despite finishing 34th and last in the Miami opener, Setzer went into the finale in California just 25 points off the lead. An early accident ended that bid, and after he came up nine points short in 2004, Setzer learned what it takes to win a championship and that you are never out until the last lap.
