Benson Won’t Be Denied This Time
June 21, 2008 by Tim Zaegel
Filed under Racing
Image details: Camping World RV Sales 200 served by picapp.com
After losing the race last weekend to Erik Darnell in hearbreaking fashion, Johnny Benson won the Camping World RV Sales 200 at the Milwuakee Mile for the third straight year, also giving he and Bill Davis Racing their first win of the season in the Craftsman Truck Series.
Benson exited the pits with the lead after a caution for light rain on lap 146, and then NASCAR again stopped the race, this time red-flagging it for lightning with only fifty laps remaining. From there, Benson went unchallenged as he raced his way to a 2.5 second win over Matt Crafton, who finished the race in 2nd. Making only his fifth start in the truck series, Landon Cassill finished third, and behind him was last week’s race winner, Erik Darnell. Todd Bodine finished fifth.
Benson started the race from the pole position and had a 3.3 second lead over Rick Crawford 70 laps into the race when the field began cycling through their green flag pit stops. A caution came out on lap 78 as Benson was pulling out of pit road, and because of the timing, only seven lead lap trucks were scored behind him, with the others being considered the tail end of the lead lap and were placed in front of Benson, including Crawford. Crawford would later regain his track position on a lap 96 caution, and then rallied from 16th to 8th in the closing 56 laps of the race.
Other race notables: Michael Annett made his first start of the season for Bill Davis Racing, and finished 6th; Ron Hornaday dropped another spot in the standings after finishing 7th; Mike Skinner finished 10th; Jack Sprague finished 13th; Making only her 2nd start in the series for Germain Racing, Chrissy Wallace finished 20th.
The victory was the 10th in the series for Johnny Benson, all of which have come in the last 3 seasons, and it opens up a 50 point lead now over 2nd place, Todd Bodine.
Click here for complete Camping World RV Sales race results.
Craftsman Truck Series Standings:
| +/- |
DRIVER |
POINTS |
BEHIND |
STARTS |
POLES |
WINS |
TOP 5 |
TOP 10 |
|
| 1 |
– |
Johnny Benson |
1617 |
Leader |
11 |
2 |
1 |
6 |
8 |
| 2 |
– |
Todd Bodine |
1567 |
-50 |
11 |
0 |
1 |
6 |
7 |
| 3 |
+1 |
Matt Crafton |
1550 |
-67 |
11 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
6 |
| 4 |
-1 |
Ron Hornaday |
1547 |
-70 |
11 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
7 |
| 5 |
– |
Rick Crawford |
1508 |
-109 |
11 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
6 |
| 6 |
– |
Mike Skinner |
1483 |
-134 |
11 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
9 |
| 7 |
+2 |
Terry Cook |
1441 |
-176 |
11 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
6 |
| 8 |
+2 |
Erik Darnell |
1435 |
-182 |
11 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
4 |
| 9 |
-1 |
Jack Sprague |
1428 |
-189 |
11 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
5 |
| 10 |
-3 |
Chad McCumbee |
1396 |
-221 |
11 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
6 |
| 11 |
– |
Dennis Setzer |
1367 |
-250 |
11 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
| 12 |
– |
David Starr |
1324 |
-293 |
11 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
| 13 |
+1 |
Brendan Gaughan |
1315 |
-302 |
11 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
| 14 |
+1 |
Colin Braun* |
1270 |
-347 |
11 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
| 15 |
+1 |
Ted Musgrave |
1247 |
-370 |
11 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
| 16 |
-3 |
Kyle Busch |
1205 |
-412 |
8 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
6 |
| 17 |
– |
Justin Marks* |
1189 |
-428 |
11 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| 18 |
+1 |
Shelby Howard |
1166 |
-451 |
11 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| 19 |
-1 |
Donny Lia* |
1146 |
-471 |
10 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
| 20 |
– |
Stacy Compton |
1088 |
-529 |
11 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
