NASCAR veteran, Johnny Benson, held off Ron Hornaday in a two-lap shootout for the checkers to win the Power Stroke Diesel 200 on Friday night at O’Reilly Raceway Park. Hornaday took the lead from polesitter Bobby East back on lap 5 and went onto lead a race high 153 laps before surrendering the lead to the charging Benson on lap 162.

There were a record-tying 11 cautions during the event, the last of which came on lap 195 when Benson’s Bill Davis Racing teammate, Michael Annett, spun while trying to race Rick Crawford for position inside the top-five. The accident setup a restart on lap 198 of the 200 lap race, with Hornaday still running in second. Hornaday attempted a final charge, but he slipped high up on the track, and Benson pulled away for the victory. Hornaday went onto finish 2nd, followed by Erik Darnell, Matt Crafton, and Shelby Howard completing the top-five.

Other Notables:
Kyle Busch finished 8th in the race after stirring up a bit of controversy earlier in the evening, sending Chad McCumbee into the wall back on lap 136 as the two raced for position. Mike Skinner rounded out the top-ten in 10th place. Rick Crawford finished 12th. Hornaday’s Kevin Harvick Inc. teammate, Jack Sprague, was 17th.

Johnny Benson’s victory now opens up a 15 point lead over Hornaday in the points standings. Hornaday jumped past Matt Crafton to take the 2nd spot in the standings as Crafton drops down to 3rd. There were no other changes through the top-six in points. For Benson, the win gave him his second in a row, and his third in the past four weeks.

Complete Power Stroke 200 Results

Craftsman Truck Series Standings (from nascar.com):

Post from: EveryJoe

Benson Wins For Second Week in a Row

Image details: Built Ford Tough 225 served by picapp.com

Johnny Benson won his second race of the season and took the points lead for the first time in 2008 after making a 4-wide pass with just 32 laps remaining in the Built Ford Tough 225 Saturday at Kentucky Speedway. As the field restarted on lap 119, Benson was third in line behind Bill Davis Racing teammate, Michael Annett, and Dennis Setzer, and the lapped truck of Chad Chaffin was on the inside. Benson and Setzer both attempted the pass on Michael Annett at the same time, and Chaffin moved to the bottom of the track as well in an effort to make the pass and get his lap back. In the end, though, it was Benson getting the spot and cruising through the final 32 circuits to pickup the win.

Annett finished second – 0.475 seconds behind Benson – in just his third Craftsman Truck Series start. Matt Crafton finished third, with Setzer in fourth, and David Starr rounded out the top-five finishers. Kyle Busch failed in his bid to get his 15th overall win of the season, as he finished sixth. Mike Skinner, Terry Cook, Marc Mitchell, and Ron Hornaday finished 7th through 10th.

Making his debut for the newly formed Moss Motorsports, Willie Allen started 20th and finished 15th. Jack Sprague’s tough luck this season continued with a 22nd place run after starting 5th. Erik Darnell’s no. 99 Roush-Fenway Ford was caught up in an earlier accident and finished a disappointing 29th. And, in her third Truck Series start, Chrissy Wallace made it through just 50 laps before finding an accident of her own, and she finished 33rd.

Johnny Benson climbed up three spots in the standings to take a 1 point lead over second place, Matt Crafton. Ron Hornaday’s top-ten effort wasn’t enough, as he dropped two spots down to third, where he sits just five points out of first. Rick Crawford and Mike Skinner each moved up a spot to fourth and fifth, respectively.

Complete Ford 225 Results.

Craftsman Truck Series Standings:

Post from: EveryJoe

Johnny Benson Wins at Kentucky With a Daring 4-Wide Pass

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:

Post from: EveryJoe

Benson Won’t Be Denied This Time

2/9 – Michael Annett won the season opener for the ARCA Series at Daytona this weekend in only his second race for Bill Davis Racing.  Read More.

2/10 – Jimmie Johnson won the Pole Award on Sunday for the Daytona 500, with Michael Waltrip set to start on the race from the outside of the front row.  Read More.

2/12 – Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart have both been placed on probation by NASCAR for the next six races for incidents that occurred during practice sessions for the Budweiser Shootout last Friday. Nobody has yet come forward and confirmed allegations that Stewart punched Busch in the hauler, as NASCAR officials state that the penalties for both drivers are for their conduct on the track.  Read More.

2/12 – While many members of the NASCAR family spent their days off in Daytona on Monday and Tuesday by visiting places like Sea World or playing golf, Brian Vickers decided to take a shot at skydiving.  Read More.

Post from: EveryJoe

Wednesday Mid-Week Wrap