NASCAR has put another year in the history books, and this is the first blog in a series that will take a look back at each of the 3 seasons, the Truck Series, the Nationwide Series, and the Cup Series.  We begin with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, which, like the other 2 series, began in Daytona.  Thanks go out to both NASCAR.com and Jayski for the ability to check the results and points standings following each race in all 3 series!  Note that a (*) denotes that the driver was a rookie.

Race #1: Chevy Silverado 250 - Daytona International Speedway (Feb. 15, 2008)
Erik Darnell started the 2008 season as he led the field down for the green flag in this race.  He led laps, but would find trouble late.  6 trucks found trouble early, as an accident involved several trucks on lap 18.  3 of those trucks were done for the night, Chad Chaffin, P.J. Jones, and Brendan Gaughan respectively.  Mike Bliss was also involved and only completed 23 laps.  2 more trucks driven by Joey Clanton and rookie Colin Braun retired after 24 laps.  Mike Skinner led laps early, but had major troubles and finished 51 laps down.  An accident on lap 52 took out Jon Wood and Scott Lagasse Jr.  Ron Hornaday also led laps, but finished 46 laps down.  Jason White led some, but ignition problems ended his night 27 laps early.  A lap before, Shane Seig lost an engine.  With 13 laps to go, pole sitter Erik Darnell was done after an accident.  In all, 16 of 36 trucks finished on the lead lap.  Johnny Benson led laps and finished 3rd, Kyle Busch finished second without leading a single lap.  The winner, who also happened to lead the most laps, was Todd Bodine.  After the first race, here's how the top 10 in points looked...

1. Todd Bodine 170
2. Kyle Busch 170
3. Johnny Benson 170
4. David Starr -10
5. Rick Crawford -15
6. Stacy Compton -20
7. Chad McCumbee -24
8. Justin Marks* -28
9. Brian Scott* -32
10. Dennis Setzer -36

Race #2: San Bernadino Count 200 - Auto Club Speedway [formerly California Speedway] (Feb. 23, 2008)
Ron Hornaday started on the pole.  He led laps, but did not win this race.  He did, however, rebound from his dismal night at Daytona.  Hornaday would round out the top 5 when the checkered flag fell.  Butch Miller and Morgan Shepherd dropped out of the race on lap 3 and lap 7 respectively.  Rookie Justin Marks, after a strong top 10 finish at Daytona, wound up 33rd out of 35 trucks, however, he was still listed as finishing the race.  Scott Lynch was the only other casualty of the race, losing an engine with 21 laps to go.  17 trucks finished on the lead lap.  Dennis Setzer and Rick Crawford led, but faded late, finishing 16th and 14th respectively.  Erik Darnell also led, and rebounded from his Daytona troubles to finish 11th.  Travis Kvapil also led, but had to settle for 7th.  The top 3 from Daytona were again the top 3 at Fontana, but this time the top 2 were reversed.  Johnny Benson and Todd Bodine both led, but finished 2nd and 3rd.  This time, Kyle Busch did lead, in fact, he led the most laps en route to a victory.  Here's a look at the top 10 in the standings after 2 of the season's 25 races...

1. Kyle Busch 365 (+1)
2. Todd Bodine -20 (-1)
3. Johnny Benson -25
4. David Starr -81
5. Rick Crawford -84
6. Phillip McGlinton* -104 (+6)
7. Chad McCumbee -110
8. Dennis Setzer -111 (+2)
9. Ron Hornaday -112 (+15)
10. Stacy Compton -115 (-4)

Race #3: American Commercial Lines 200 - Atlanta Motor Speedway (March 7, 2008)
After a week off, the Truck Series rejoined the Cup and Nationwide Series for another week of triple action at NASCAR's fastest track.  Ron Hornaday again sat on the pole, and this time led the most laps.  However, he would have to settle for 2nd.  Once again, Butch Miller took the green flag, claimed "overheating" after just 3 laps, and went to collect his paycheck.  The only other driver to not finish this race was Shane Seig, who again couldn't get his engine to last past lap 76.   Johnny Benson had problems in this race, and finished 20 laps down in 30th position, ouch!  Erik Darnell and Dennis Setzer led again, but they both wound up a lap down at day's end in 12th and 13th position respectively.  Chad McCumbee and Jack Sprague also led, and finished 5th and 6th.  Mike Skinner led some laps and finished 3rd.  The winner of this one was Kyle Busch for the second race in a row.  Here's how the top 10 looked after this one...

1. Kyle Busch 555
2. Todd Bodine -72
3. Ron Hornaday -122 (+6)
4. Chad McCumbee -140 (+3)
5. Johnny Benson -142 (-2)
6. Rick Crawford -144 (-1)
7. Mike Skinner -162 (+9)
8. David Starr -171 (-4)
9. Dennis Setzer -172 (-1)
10. Phillip McGlinton* -179 (-4)

Race #4: Kroger 250 - Martinsville Speedway (March 29, 2008)
After 2 weeks off, including the weekend of Easter, the trucks returned for 250 laps at the paper clip.  Jack Sprague was the pole sitter.  Rookie Andy Lally was surprisingly one of only two drivers who didn't finished this race, after an accident took him out on lap 77.  The only other casualty was Shelby Howard, who was involved in an accident with just 13 laps to go.  Denny Hamlin started on the outside pole and led a little more than 1/5 of the race.  Ron Hornaday led laps again and finished in 8th position.  This was also the debut of Mike Wallace's daughter Chrissy.  At the end of the day, she finished on the lead lap in 18th position.  Mike Skinner, after a great run in Atlanta, finished an abysmal 29th, 2 laps down.  This race went to a green-white-checkered, 3 laps over its scheduled distance.  On the final lap, Kyle Busch won the dummy award for driving over his head (as usual).  He spun out both himself and Johnny Benson trying to drive like a maniac.  Benson was running 2nd, Busch was 3rd.  Instead of finishing with a very respectable top 5, Busch tried to go for the win and screwed himself over along with Benson.  They wound up finishing 25th and 26th.  That allowed Dennis Setzer, who led the most laps, to cruise to victory.  Let's check the top 10 after this race...

1. Kyle Busch 645
2. Todd Bodine -35
3. Ron Hornaday -65
4. Dennis Setzer -67 (+5)
5. Rick Crawford -69
6. Matt Crafton -106 (+8)
7. David Starr -111 (+1)
8. Erik Darnell -118 (+5)
9. Johnny Benson -144 (-4)
10. Terry Cook -146 (+1)

Race #5: O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 - Kansas Speedway (April 26, 2008)
This race saw a change in the points lead, as Kyle Busch did not attend.  There were 12 cautions in this one, not typical of Kansas.  Wayne Edwards decided to get his paycheck after just 2 laps, ending his day with a "vibration."  Another driver, Michelle Theriaut, had electrical problems after just 16 laps.  Then the disaster started.  Mario Gosselin lost an engine on lap 25.  Just 6 laps later, Jennifer Jo Cobb's truck went kablooey.  Ryan Lawler lost an engine on lap 72, and on the same lap, an accident ended rookie Marc Mitchell's day.  Scott Lagasse had a race-ending crash on lap 85.  Rookie Andy Lally crashed out on lap 106.  Also caught up in a mess was Erik Darnell, whose day was finished after 108 laps.  David Starr was involved in an accident just after the restart from Lally's crash, which ended Starr's day on lap 114 after leading this race.  Dennis Setzer was looking for 2 in a row, but crashed out on lap 126.  Todd Bodine and Bobby East got together, and wrecked out on lap 154.  In the end, Ron Hornaday led the most laps and earned his first victory of 2008, holding off his teammate Jack Sprague in a 1-2 finish for Kevin Harvick Inc.  Here's the top 10 after 1/5 of the season...

1. Ron Hornaday 775 (+2)
2. Rick Crawford -61 (+3)
3. Todd Bodine -71 (-1)
4. Dennis Setzer -109
5. Johnny Benson -109 (+4)
6. Kyle Busch -130 (-5)
7. Matt Crafton -136 (-1)
8. Chad McCumbee -142 (+5)
9. Jack Sprague -146 (+6)
10. Ted Musgrave -148 (+1)

Stay tuned for Part 2 which will showcase races 6-10.  Also in the works are season reviews for the Nationwide and Cup Series.  Until next time, I'm your NASCAR VP!

BK over and out