Darnell Takes the Photo Finish
June 14, 2008 by Tim Zaegel
Filed under Racing
It took NASCAR officials a couple of looks to determine the winner of the Cool City Customs 200 Craftsman Truck Series race at Michigan on Saturday, and at the end, they finally determined that Erik Darnell fended off Johnny Benson in a photo finish. The win is the first of the season for Darnell and the second in his career.
A caution flag with six laps remaining bunched the field up for a final restart. Darnell led the field when the green waived with just three to go, with Scott Speed and Benson following behind in 2nd and 3rd. After an exciting side-by-side battle, Benson was able to make the pass on Speed to take over second, and then began working on Darnell. The two battled side-by-side all the way to the finish line, and it was eventually determined that Darnell edged him by mere inches.
Scott Speed went onto finish 3rd, followed by Todd Bodine and Brendan Gaughan to complete the top-five. Kyle Busch – again pulling triple duty this weekend – finished in 7th, and Mike Skinner finished 8th. The Kevin Harvick Inc. duo had a rough weekend. Jack Sprague finished 8 laps down in 30th place, and Ron Hornaday spun out on the final lap, relegating him to 23rd. Hornaday’s disappointing finish dropped him out of the points lead all the way down to third, with Johnny Benson and Todd Bodine each picking up two spots to move into 1st and 2nd.
Check here for the Cool City Customs 200 complete results.
Craftsman Truck Series Standings:
|
|
|||||||||
| RANK |
+/- |
DRIVER |
POINTS |
BEHIND |
STARTS |
POLES |
WINS |
TOP 5 |
TOP 10 |
| 1 |
+2 |
Johnny Benson |
1422 |
Leader |
10 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
7 |
| 2 |
+2 |
Todd Bodine |
1407 |
-15 |
10 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
6 |
| 3 |
-2 |
Ron Hornaday |
1401 |
-21 |
10 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
6 |
| 4 |
-2 |
Matt Crafton |
1375 |
-47 |
10 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
5 |
| 5 |
+1 |
Rick Crawford |
1361 |
-61 |
10 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
5 |
| 6 |
+1 |
Mike Skinner |
1349 |
-73 |
10 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
8 |
| 7 |
+1 |
Chad McCumbee |
1314 |
-108 |
10 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
6 |
| 8 |
-3 |
Jack Sprague |
1304 |
-118 |
10 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
5 |
| 9 |
– |
Terry Cook |
1303 |
-119 |
10 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
5 |
| 10 |
+2 |
Erik Darnell |
1270 |
-152 |
10 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
| 11 |
– |
Dennis Setzer |
1237 |
-185 |
10 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
| 12 |
-2 |
David Starr |
1230 |
-192 |
10 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
| 13 |
– |
Kyle Busch |
1205 |
-217 |
8 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
6 |
| 14 |
+2 |
Brendan Gaughan |
1200 |
-222 |
10 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
| 15 |
-1 |
Colin Braun* |
1200 |
-222 |
10 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
| 16 |
-1 |
Ted Musgrave |
1141 |
-281 |
10 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
| 17 |
– |
Justin Marks* |
1101 |
-321 |
10 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| 18 |
+1 |
Donny Lia* |
1049 |
-373 |
9 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
| 19 |
-1 |
Shelby Howard |
1045 |
-377 |
10 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| 20 |
– |
Stacy Compton |
997 |
-425 |
10 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
That was an awesome race! There was very little time when there wasn’t a race for the lead. The trucks provided excellent entertainment for a track like MIS.
Here’s something I really like about CTS: Look at how close in points the top nine teams are. They will probably stay that close up to the end of the season. No Chase needed here.
Yeah, Jim, I’ve noticed that as well. It’s funny, cause it’s the only series where it seems like nearly every week the points leader drops two spots in the standings, and then makes their way back up two weeks later. The CTS also provided the most entertainment last season, IMO.
i hope that the cup race is as exciting as the truck race was cuz usually cup races suck at michigan.