SPARTA, Ky. — Steve Portenga, who recently moved to New Richmond, Ohio, was the only “local” driver in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck race Saturday night at Kentucky Speedway.

        He finished 10th, his second top-10 finish of the season.

        Portenga, 32, is from Bakersfield, Calif. One reason he moved to Ohio is his sponsor, Cincinnati-based Roto-Rooter, is located here.

        “We've got a race shop in Norwood, in a 50-year-old Roto-Rooter building they didn't need any more,” said Portenga. “We like Cincinnati's central location as far as the truck schedule, since we travel all over the country.”

        Portenga (pronounced PORT-en-gay) started 19th in Saturday night's truck race. Before Saturday's race, he stood 22nd in season points, with one other top-10 finish.

        Portenga was a charter member of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck series when it debuted in 1995, finishing 13th in the season standings. He didn't drive regularly again in the series until this year, having gone to the NASCAR Winston West series in the meantime.

        Portenga, married with three children, said he is looking for some land even further east of Cincinnati, perhaps in Adams County. He's an avid outdoorsman, but for now his trips have been more confined to the city.

        “We've already been to Kings Island a couple of times,” he said. “We're calling this home now.”

        TV TIME: The NASCAR Craftsman Truck series is the No. 3-rated motorsports series on cable TV for 2002, behind only Winston Cup and Busch. The trucks rank ahead of the Indy Racing League, Formula One and CART in cable numbers.

        The 2002 cable-only Nielsen numbers entering this weekend:

        • Winston Cup, 4.5 average rating; 3,419,000 households.

        • Busch, 1.7 rating; 1,290,000 households.

        • Craftsman Trucks, 0.6 rating; 524,000 households.

        • IRL, 0.6 rating; 519,000 households.

        • Formula One, 0.5 rating; 277,000 households.

        • CART, 0.5 rating; 254,000 households.

        “We're No. 3, and we're happy with that,” said Owen Kearns, the Truck series' chief communications manager. “Eight of our 10 races have been rated higher than at a comparable point last year.”

        REMEMBER WHEN: Saturday's truck race was the third annual stop at Kentucky Speedway, but not the series' first visit to the Bluegrass State. The truck series was formed in 1995 and raced five times (1995-99) at the old Louisville Motor Speedway. NASCAR moved Louisville's truck race to Sparta in 2000.

        UP NEXT: Kentucky Speedway will conclude its 2002 season with an Indy Racing League event, the Belterra Casino Indy 300, on Aug. 11. It will be the third annual visit for the IRL, which has served as Kentucky's season-ending event since the speedway opened in 2000.

        The IRL recently announced it will return to Kentucky in August 2003. The rest of Kentucky's 2003 schedule hasn't been set, but track officials expect the NASCAR Busch and Truck series to return. The ARCA stock car series also is expected back.

        Kentucky had hoped to get a Winston Cup date in 2003, but NASCAR president Mike Helton said last month that Kentucky probably wouldn't be on the '03 Cup schedule. NASCAR schedules its three national series (Winston Cup, Busch, Trucks) on a year-to-year basis, with the schedules usually announced by late summer.

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