Anywho, when we left off with 10 races to go, it was Johnny Benson, Ron Hornaday, and Matt Crafton within 100 points of each other. There has never been a back-to-back champion in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Could Hornaday become the first? Well the next stop was Thunder Valley for the race that was run earlier in the week than any other, a Wednesday night race at Bristol. Buckle up, here we go again...Race #16: O'Reilly 200 - Bristol Motor Speedway (Aug. 20, 2008)
Rookie Scott Speed sat on the pole for this race, but never led a single lap. The Dover winner did, however, finish a very respectable 3rd. Jimmie Johnson was in this race, driving the #81 truck, Randy Moss's new team. It was Johnson's debut. Johnny Benson was the outside pole sitter, and led the first 29 laps. There were 12 caution flags in this race, a typical Bristol wreckfest, and oh what a wreckfest it was. The first caution flew on lap 10 when Bryan Silas wrecked. He'd stay in the race though with no major damage. On lap 30, the Shrub took the lead for 12 laps before Jimmie Johnson took the lead away on lap 42 under a set of pit stops during a caution for rookie Colin Braun's crash. He would come back after repairs, but would finish 96 laps down. Roughly 10 laps after the restart, Matt Crafton got in a mess with Tyler Malsam, who would be the first truck out of the race. Crafton would survive, but still finished 5 laps down in 21st. Jimmie Johnson is still leading by the way, doing a good job, until Kyle Busch passes him on lap 71, and never looks back. On lap 80, Sean Murphy and John Wes Townly crash on the frontstretch. Murphy would finish on the lead lap, Townles wasn't so lucky, his night was done. Then just a lap after halfway, after leading for 29 laps, Jimmie Johnson makes an early exit. The truck got out from under him in turns 1 and 2. Johnson did an incredible job trying to save the truck, but when he came off turn 2, he corrected it one too many times, and around he went. He didn't have too much damage, and was about to drive away, when POW! Jeff Green had nowhere to go except right into Johnson. The Cup Champ's Truck Series debut only made it to halfway, and Jeff Green did finish, but 34 laps down in 27th. Ken Schrader also got some damage in this, and it proved to be the end of his night as well. The next incident involved Murphy again in turn 2, while Green spun in a separate incident in turn 4. They didn't even make 3 laps after the restart before caution was back out. This time it was a 3-truck incident involving Stacy Compton, Timothy Peters, and David Starr, and all 3 would be finished for the night. Bryan Silas spun again to bring out the next caution. With 21 laps to go, we have the biggest wreck of the night, involving 5 trucks. Silas gets the trifecta, as he's involved again, and finally retires from the race. Also involved are Shelby Howard and Patrick Carpentier, both of whom would be done, and KHI, both of them, the 2 and the 33. Jack Sprague finished on the lead lap in 14th, but Ron Hornaday finished 20 laps down in 24th. After a 10-minute red flag to clean up the mess, and a quick debris caution (probably because they missed some of the scraps or someone was shedding parts), there were 9 laps to go. With 5 to go, Jason White crashed and brought out a quick caution. With 2 laps to go, it looked as though Kyle Busch was on his way to an easy victory, but Erik Darnell spun to put the race into OT, where Shrub held off Todd Bodine. Hornaday lost a lot of ground to Benson who finished 4th. Here's a look at the standings...
1. Johnny Benson 2426
2. Ron Hornaday -119
3. Matt Crafton -156
4. Todd Bodine -239 (+2)
5. Mike Skinner -254 (-1)
6. Rick Crawford -261 (+1)
7. Erik Darnell -287 (-2)
8. Jack Sprague -353
9. Terry Cook -380
10. Dennis Setzer -436 (+1)
Race #17: Camping World 200 - Gateway International Raceway [Madison, IL] (Sept. 6, 2008)
Dennis Setzer and Ron Hornaday started on the front row. Dennis Setzer and Ron Hornaday led 133 of the 160 laps. Dennis Setzer and Ron Hornaday finished on the front row. There were 5 leaders in this race, and they all finished in the top 7. 3 drivers called it quits in the first 15 laps, and Bobby East brought out the first caution on lap 7 with a spin, he'd finish 3 laps down in 25th. Rookie Marc Mitchell brought out the 2nd caution, but would stay on the track. As the lead is being traded between Hornaday, Johnny Benson, Jack Sprague, and Mike Skinner, no major crashes occur. Robb Brent ruined that on lap 112 when he crashed out of the event. You know what they say, cautions breed cautions, and that held true here. It took 8 laps to clean up from the Brent crash. The restart came on lap 120...by lap 122 they were back under caution after the big pile-up of the race. Rookies Colin Braun and Brian Scott were involved, but managed to finish 9th and 14th respectively, along with Terry Cook who also finished on the lead lap in 17th. Jack Smith was also involved, and finished one lap down, and Jason White got the worst of it and was finished. On lap 132, David Starr crashed out of the event. With 15 laps to go, rookie Justin Marks crashed out of this one, and at the same time Marc Mitchell had some brake problems and took his truck to the garage for the remainder of the race. Now I did say that Hornaday and Setzer started 1-2 and finished 1-2, however, this was a replay of Dale Jr. and Kurt Busch from July 2007 at Pocono, because Hornaday led well over half the race and won, while Setzer led only a handful of laps and finished 2nd. However, not to be outdone was Johnny Benson, who led 6 laps himself and finished 3rd, keeping a nice little cushion between himself and Hornaday, check the standings...
1. Johnny Benson 2596
2. Ron Hornaday -94
3. Matt Crafton -199
4. Todd Bodine -249
5. Mike Skinner -273
6. Rick Crawford -289
7. Erik Darnell -307
8. Jack Sprague -363
9. Dennis Setzer -431 (+1)
10. Terry Cook -438 (-1)
Race #18: Camping World RV Rental 200 - New Hampshire Motor Speedway (Sept. 13, 2008)
Rain washed out the Cup Series qualifying on Friday afternoon, and caused the cancellation of the Truck Series qualifying as well. So that meant Benson and Hornaday got to start on the front row, and once again they finished on the front row, leading 160 of the 200 laps. 3 trucks were done by lap 18, and Brendan Gaughan spun on lap 6. He'd finish as the first truck a lap down in 20th. Then Mario Gosselin spun on lap 12, and would finish 7 laps down in 27th. The next incident occurred on lap 50 between Mike Skinner and David Reutimann. Both would finish on the lead lap, however. Then they ran nearly 100 laps under green before rookie Donny Lia crashed out. 2 laps after the restart, Timothy Peters was involved in an accident, and would finish 3 laps down in 23rd. With 27 to go, Michael Annett spun out, and would wind up 3 laps down in 24th. Reutimann spun again on lap 182, but still finished 13th. With 13 laps to go, rookie Colin Braun wrecked out in an incident with Matt Crafton and Brendan Gaughan; Crafton would finish 12th. With 5 laps to go, Todd Bodine spun out thanks to his teammate David Starr. Bodine finished as the last truck on the lead lap in 19th, and after the race, their teams got into it on pit road. In the end, it was Hornaday with a replay of Gateway, leading 149 laps and switching places with Benson from the start of the race. He chopped off a little more of Benson's lead, check it out...
1. Johnny Benson - 2771
2. Ron Hornaday - 74
3. Matt Crafton -242
4. Rick Crafword -309 (+2)
5. Todd Bodine -313 (-1)
6. Erik Darnell -317 (+1)
7. Mike Skinner -330 (-2)
8. Jack Sprague -400
9. Dennis Setzer -491
10. Terry Cook -499
Race #19: Qwik Liner Las Vegas 350 - Las Vegas Motor Speedway (Sept. 20, 2008)
Ron Hornaday was the pole sitter for this race, but in his bid for 3 in a row, the only lap he led was the first one. 2 trucks ended their day by lap 3, and Sean Murphy spun on lap 5, but would finish on the lead lap. Justin Marks spun on lap 25, and that was the end of his day. Stacy Compton was next on lap 40, his race was also done. During this time, Johnny Benson led twice for 26 laps...BUT, on lap 64, Benson crashed out of the race, and would be credited with a 27th place finish, YIKES! Jack Sprague and Brendan Gaughan wrecked on lap 78; Gaughan finished on the lead lap in 20th, but Sprague's day was done. Jason White spun on lap 98, but managed to finish on the lead lap in 17th. Bobby East and Brian Scott got together on lap 107. Scott finished on the lead lap, but East was finished for the day. Then Robb Brent and Terry Cook crashed. Brent was done for the day, and Cook might as well have been too, because he finished 19 laps down and only one position ahead of Brent. With 19 laps to go, Todd Bodine, who had led 5 times for 20 laps, spun in turn 2, but managed to still finish 9th. With 15 to go, Dennis Setzer and Shane Seig got together, but both would finish on the lead lap. Jason White spun again on lap 138. David Starr crashed out in the final laps, setting up a green-white-checkered finish. Erik Darnell led the most laps in this race, and took the green flag in overtime, but Mike Skinner took the lead for the 5th and final time, and led the final 2 laps en route to finally getting the monkey off his back and winning his first race of 2008. Benson took a tremendous hit in the points, as Hornaday finished 5th. Benson led by 74 points heading into this race. By day's end, the lead was completely gone, down to just one single point, check the standings!
1. Johnny Benson 2858
2. Ron Hornaday -1
3. Matt Crafton -164
4. Erik Darnell -224 (+2)
5. Mike Skinner -227 (+2)
6. Rick Crawford -246 (-2)
7. Todd Bodine -257 (-2)
8. Jack Sprague -402
9. Dennis Setzer -463
10. Terry Cook -492
Race #20: Mountain Dew 250 - Talladega Superspeedway (Oct. 4, 2008)
Erik Darnell sat on the pole for this one, and led the most laps, but had to settle for a 12th place finish. Kyle Busch also led 14 laps, but came home 3rd. 3 drivers went to collect their paychecks by lap 7. Sean Murphy had troubles by lap 48, and had to take his truck to the garage. Jason White followed 2 laps later with clutch problems, and Rick Crawford came right behind White on lap 52 with a broken radiator. There were only 4 caution in this race, and it was a short one, just 94 laps. The first 2 cautions were for debris, the 3rd was for Jack Sprague who crashed out of this race on lap 65. With less than 10 laps to go, a 3-truck crash brought out the 4th and final caution of the day. This involved Terry Cook, John Andretti, and rookie Colin Braun. Cook finished a lap down in 23rd, Andretti on the lead lap in 14th, and Braun in 4th. In a wild and crazy finish, Ron Hornaday gave Todd Bodine the push he needed to cross the line first and take the checkered flag. Las Vegas winner Mike Skinner never led a single lap, and finished 9th. So Hornaday finished second, but what about Benson? Well, Benson started 17th...and finished 11th. You know what that means! With 5 races to go, Hornaday retakes the points lead by 39 points over Johnny Benson. Here's a look at the standings...
1. Ron Hornaday 3027 (+1)
2. Johnny Benson -39 (-1)
3. Matt Crafton -218
4. Todd Bodine -236 (+3)
5. Erik Darnell -256 (-1)
6. Mike Skinner -258 (-1)
7. Rick Crawford -336 (-1)
8. Jack Sprague -489
9. Dennis Setzer -503
10. Terry Cook -567
Don't miss the conclusion of the year-in-review for the Truck Series, coming your way tomorrow! Hornaday kept chipping away at that lead, and he finally got it back, but can he hold it? You'll find out when we relive the final 5 races, with an epic battle that came down to the checkered flag in Homestead. Until next time, I'm your NASCAP VP, hoping this was one championship battle that NASCAR won't soon forget!
BK over and out
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