Series Champion Back In Familiar Territory…Victory Lane
Veterans Control The Top, Leave Little Room For Others
Braun’s Kansas Performance Shakes Up Rookie Standings

Reigning Champ Back In Victory Lane

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (April 28, 2008) — It’s pretty easy to say Ron Hornaday Jr. had a good weekend. 

The reigning series champion kicked things off at Kansas Speedway with one of the fastest trucks in practice. He took qualifying, capturing his second Keystone Light Pole of the season. 

The driver of the No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet then dominated the race.

After leading 136 of 167 laps — most by a Kansas winner —  Hornaday won the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250. He’s the first driver in eight editions of the race to win from the pole position. 

Add another first to the mix. The win was Hornaday and crew chief Rick Ren’s first win at the 1.5-mile track.

“I’ve got to thank Chevrolet, Camping World, the VFW, everybody at KHI and this whole Camping World team for giving me this awesome truck,” he said. “I hadn’t won at Kansas before so this is really cool.”

The driver added, “What Kevin and DeLana (Harvick) are doing at KHI, just putting the right people in the right places, it’s an honor to race equipment like this. To sit on the pole and win this race was amazing.”

Ren echoed his driver’s comments. “We unloaded and were fast. We had a really awesome truck,” he said.

While the truck was good, it was a fuel gamble for the team as the cautions fell and the laps dwindled down. “I normally don’t mention saving fuel to him (Ron), but I think he heard it more than ever this race,” Ren said.

Hornaday has led laps in all five races so far this season. His Kansas win brings him to the top of the driver point standings, 61 points over  Rick Crawford.

Series Veterans Meeting Challenge Of ‘Young Guns’

It is clear there is up and coming talent in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series with young drivers like Roush Fenway Racing’s Erik Darnell (No. 99 Northern Tool + Equipment Ford), Colin Braun (No. 6 Con-Way Freight Ford) and Germain Racing rookie Justin Marks (No. 9 crocs/Construct Corps Toyota) among them.

The almost 23-year-old Kyle Busch (No. 51 Toyota) is throwing his hat in the ring, too, throughout the season. Busch returns to the series at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, where he’s a double winner.

But don’t count out the other competitors. A glance at the driver point standings and race finishes proves the veterans are holding their own.

Defending series champion Hornaday, with a dominating win at Kansas, has taken the points lead from  the absent Busch.

Not far behind, Crawford, driver of the No. 14 Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford, has jumped to second.

Strong performances over the weekend helped  other seasoned drivers break into the top of the pack. Three-time series champion Jack Sprague (No. 2 American Commercial Lines Chevrolet) weathered a rocky start to the season, but finished second to teammate Hornaday in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 and moved to ninth in the driver point standings.

Sprague is hungry for a win. “I am really proud of this team,” he said. “To be able in just five races to come together and run as strong as we have says a lot about KHI and this team. I know we will get a win soon.”

Mike Skinner (No. 5 Toyota Tundra Toyota), just shy of the top-10, is a three-time pole sitter at Lowe’s. He finished fifth at Kansas. The former series champion is definitely not out of contention.

Etc. & Quotable

• Speed Finding His Way … Scott Speed (No. 22 Red Bull Toyota) is finding his way toward Victory Lane. The driver, who made his debut with Bill Davis Racing in Kansas, won the previous day’s Kansas Lottery $150 Grand ARCA RE/MAX race. 

  The former Formula One driver started the race from the outside pole position but found himself a lap down after he had to make a pit stop to fix his window net which had fallen down.

  Awarded the Aaron’s Lucky Dog, he fought his way back to contention and took the checkered flag.

  Speed continued his momentum in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 Saturday with an eighth-place finish. 

• A Return In Richmond … Key Motorsports for the first time in 10 NASCAR seasons hopes to qualify for this Friday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Richmond International Raceway.

  The team, which has competed in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series since 2004, will field the No. 31 Key Motorsports Chevrolet with veteran driver and former NASCAR Nationwide Series champion Jeff Green behind the wheel.

• Owner’s Championship Battle Heats Up … Ron Hornaday’s win at Kansas brought a lead change in the Owners’ Championship point standings.

  DeLana Harvick and the No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet now lead the battle by 21 points over Billy Ballew and his No. 51 Toyota. Not far behind in third,  61 points out from the No. 33 is Tom Mitchell with his No. 14 Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford team.

  Kyle Busch is scheduled to return to the series at Lowe’s Motor Speedway where he has two series wins to his credit. Points could swap again.

In The Loop:

It’s hard to have a better day than the one Ron Hornaday Jr. had during Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas Speedway.

Statistically speaking, it’s impossible.

Hornaday was perfect. The defending series champion won his first of 2008 in a truly dominating fashion, notching a perfect Driver Rating of 150.0.

He held race-best figures in Laps Led (136), Average Running Position (1.6), Fastest Laps Run (55) and was the only driver to run all 167 laps in the top 15. With the win, Hornaday took the series points lead, and is now 61 points ahead of second-place Rick Crawford.

Also notable during Saturday’s race was the strong performance by rookie Colin Braun. The Roush-Fenway upstart scored a third-place finish and ran up front throughout the 250-mile race. Braun had a Driver Rating of 118.5, an Average Running Position of 5.2, seven Fastest Laps Run and spent 164 of the 167 laps running in the top 15.

Jack Sprague also chimed in with a season-best run. Sprague, finishing second, scored a Driver Rating of 121.0, an Average Running Position of 5.7, 20 Fastest Laps Run and spent 152 of the laps among the top 15.

Chad McCumbee was the only other driver to break the 100.0-point Driver Rating barrier – he tallied a 103.1 Driver Rating in his seventh-place finish. He also earned a fourth-best Average Running Position of 7.4.

This Week’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Leaders
(Through five races of the 25-race season)

Points leader – Ron Hornaday Jr. (775)
Driver Rating – Kyle Busch (122.0)
Laps led – Ron Hornaday Jr. (236)
Victories – Kyle Busch (2)
Keystone Light Poles – Ron Hornaday Jr. (2)
Top-five finishes – Three drivers with three
Top-10 finishes – Ron Hornaday Jr. (4)
Raybestos Rookie Leader – Colin Braun
Races led – Ron Hornaday Jr. (5)
Weeks in Top 10 – Five drivers with five

Rookie Shake Up

The rookie class has experienced a shake-up in points as Colin Braun moves from fourth to first in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year battle.

The rookie’s third-place finish gives him a five-point advantage over Justin Marks (No. 9 crocs/Construct Corps Toyota). Marks posted an 11th-place finish in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250.

Braun’s performance is the best by a Raybestos rookie  since Roush Fenway Racing teammate Erik Darnell ran third in the 2005 season finale.

Donny Lia (No. 71 Autism Speaks/TRG Chevrolet) and Brian Scott (No. 16 Albertsons Chevrolet), likewise, had strong finishes among the top 15. 

Up Next:

Coming off his performance at Kansas Speedway,  Ron Hornaday Jr. looks to carry that momentum in defense of his 2007 win at  Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

Mike Skinner, who has started from the pole position in the last three races at the track, will aim to visit Victory Lane  for the first time this season. 

Toyota Strong

Toyota remains on top after five races of the 2008 season.  Last Saturday’s victory was the first of the year for Chevrolet. Ford is the only one of the four truck makers without a win in 2008.

2008 Manufacturers’ Championship Point Standings
Toyota     34
Chevrolet 30
Ford        24
Dodge      22

FAST FACTS

The Race: North Carolina Education Lottery 200
The Place: Lowe’s Motor Speedway
The Date: May 16, 2008
The Time: 8:00 p.m. ET
Race Distance: 201 miles / 134 laps
TV: SPEED, 7:30 p.m. ET
Track Layout: 1.5-Mile Paved Oval
2007 Winner: Ron Hornaday Jr
2007Pole: Mike Skinner
2008 Standings:

Rk. Driver               Points
1    R. Hornaday Jr.  775
2    R. Crawford        714
3    T. Bodine           704
4    D. Setzer           666
5    J. Benson          666
6    Ky. Busch         645
7    M. Crafton         639
8    C. McCumbee    633
9    J. Sprague         629
10  T. Musgrave        627

Schedule: Friday: Practice, 9-10:00 a.m. and 10:20 a.m.-11:50 a.m.; Qualifying, 3:35 p.m.

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Huntersville, North Carolina (April 29, 2008) – Fresh off a record breaking NFL season, New England Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss announced today the formation of Moss Motorsports, LLC  with its intended participation to begin in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

Moss anticipates that the team will debut at some point in the second half of the 2008 season and run selected races through the conclusion of the year. The partial schedule is a prelude to a full-time campaign in 2009. Sponsors and manufacturer alignments will be announced at a later date.

“We don’t have all of the details in place just yet, but I am very excited about Moss Motorsports becoming a part of NASCAR,” Moss said. “I am by nature a very competitive person and this is an outlet for me to compete at another level. There are some pretty awesome challenges in building a program like this from the ground up, but I am looking forward to it. That’s just another aspect of the competition – you want to find the best people available and you’re competing with all the other teams out there. We’re starting to look at who the best people are and working on getting them to be a part of our team.”

Moss is a ten year veteran in the National Football League and was a first-round draft pick in the 1998 draft out of Marshall University.  He has been a NASCAR fan for several years including sponsorship of a local dirt track program and recently made the decision to get involved with the ownership of a NASCAR team.  He is also a Goodwill Ambassador for the Urban Youth Racing School and furthers his youth advocacy while holding the same honor with American Youth Football. A major component of the Moss Motorsports program will be the continued involvement and support of youth programs.

“There are a lot of NASCAR fans in the locker room,” Moss said. “We’ve seen a lot of football players get involved – guys like Dan Marino and Troy Aikman to name a couple. I think it’s a good fit and gives some of the companies I am already working with an additional outlet. It’s a smart move on the marketing side of things but on the personal side of things I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Randy has kick started his efforts by contracting with Integrity Sports Marketing, LLC – a leading motorsports marketing company in NASCAR.   “We know it takes time to build a team from the ground up, and we have some good people working with us to get that process started,” Moss said. “We are talking to the manufacturers, and we’re already evaluating some drivers. Eventually I’d like to be able to have our team work with some of the young guys that are working hard to make it up the ladder, but right now it might make more sense to find a driver with a lot of experience to get us started. But we really don’t have anyone in mind. We’ll look at who is available and find someone that can help us compete and win as quickly as we can.”

Moss believes Moss Motorsports will give his current marketing partners another avenue to gain exposure and will open doors for new companies that want to work with him.

“The companies I already work with now have a chance to get some exposure to another group of dedicated sports fans,” Moss said. “And we’ll have an opportunity to build some relationships with an entirely new group of companies as well. We’ll have a chance to do some pretty cool things between the football side and the racing side. That’s a part of the equation that most of the other teams don’t have, so we already have a competitive advantage over them. Once we get everything in place we look forward to competing on the race track too.”

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Craftsman Truck Kansas Speedway Official Results

Nationwide Series Talladega Superspeedway Official Results

Sprint Cup Talladega Superspeedway Official Results

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McCumbee Has Right ‘Feel’ For Intermediate Tracks
With Busch Out, Driver Points Will Change — Owners’ Perhaps Not
Kansas Speedway Winners Tend To Prosper In Point Standings

O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 Could Be Break-Out Race For McCumbee

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (April 21, 2008) – Will Chad McCumbee (No. 8 MRD Motorsports Chevrolet) became the fifth under-25 winner of Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas Speedway?

If the 23-year-old McCumbee’s recent performances on intermediate tracks are any indication, the answer could be yes.

He nearly won last fall in Texas before contact with Jack Sprague (No. 2 American Commercial Lines Chevrolet) knocked McCumbee from the lead on a green-white-checker restart.

McCumbee has led two of the three most recent races on 1.5-mile speedways including last month’s stop at Atlanta Motor Speedway where the Supply, N.C., native finished a career-best fifth.

He qualified on the front row at Texas Motor Speedway and Atlanta.

“The intermediates always have been a strength of mine,” said McCumbee, whose first top-10 finish in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series came in June 2006 at 1.5-mile Texas. “They suit my driving style.”

McCumbee has a sense of “feel” greater than his NASCAR Craftsman Truck experience. He agrees that was key to helping crew chief Randy Dean make the aero adjustments that nearly put the team in Victory Lane at Atlanta.

“We definitely were able to find the right balance that the truck wanted,” he said.

McCumbee’s best finish at Kansas is 13th, but the driver has run well there in other series.

Kansas Win Sets The Table For Successful Season

Win the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 and odds are excellent you’ll finish high in the final standings.

The Kansas Speedway winner has gone on to log a top-10 finish in six of the seven seasons the 1.5-mile track has been a part of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck schedule.

Mike Bliss also won the 2002 championship; four other Kansas winners — including 2006 champion Todd Bodine (No. 30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota) — finished among the final top five.

Bliss, currently a NASCAR Nationwide Series competitor, is the only driver to win multiple times in Kansas. He captured the final of five races at nearby Heartland Park Topeka, a 2.1-mile road course, in 1999.

Ironically, 2007 broke the Kansas Speedway/top-10 streak. It was good news and bad for Erik Darnell (No. 99 Northern Tool + Equipment Ford).

Darnell became the track’s third, first-time winner joining Ricky Hendrick and Jon Wood.

Unfortunately for Darnell, the season didn’t end quite so successfully. He won the Raybestos Rookie of the Year Award, but finished 14th overall.

Kansas Speedway Winners: How They Finished

The O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 winner has finished among the top 10 in six of seven seasons.

Year Winner Final Points
2001 Ricky Hendrick 6
2002 Mike Bliss 1
2003 Jon Wood 5
2004 Carl Edwards 4
2005 Todd Bodine 3
2006 Terry Cook 8
2007 Erik Darnell 14

Standings Leader Kyle Busch Out; Shane Sieg In At Kansas

One set of standings will change. The other — perhaps not.

Kyle Busch, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series standings leader since his February victory at Auto Club Speedway, will not drive the No. 51 Miccosukee Resorts Toyota at Kansas Speedway.

With four drivers within 69 points of Busch, it’s a certainty someone else will be the leader when Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 concludes.

Georgia native Shane Sieg, 25, will take the wheel of the Tundra — a move Ballew hopes will allow him to retain the owner standings lead. Busch is expected to return May 16 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

Sieg has competed in 27 races since 2003 with a best finish of eighth at The Milwaukee Mile. He drove Ballew’s No. 15 truck three times last season, finishing 10th at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

“With Kyle’s schedule at Joe Gibbs Racing this weekend, there was no way he could make the race in Kansas,” Ballew said. “We looked at all the scenarios but it just wasn’t feasible. Shane has driven for us before and is familiar with the equipment.

“We hope to leave Kansas still leading the owners’ points and know Kyle can make up some ground in the drivers’ points when we race at Lowe’s.

Sieg ran as Busch’s teammate in 2007, but as Billy Ballew Motorsports’ No. 1, knows the pressure is on.

“It’s a great opportunity to get back behind the wheel,” Sieg said. “I know I have big shoes to fill but I just want to bring a good finish home to keep Billy as the team owner point leader.”

Etc. and Quotable

Two Teams Change Crew Chiefs: John Quinn has succeeded George Church at Wyler Racing while Lance Hooper — formerly with Thorsport Racing — replaces Gary Showalter at Key Motorsports. “Let’s just say John and I are both working on a Windows computer,” said Terry Cook (No. 60 Wyler.com Toyota). “We’re on the same page and speaking the same language.” Curtis Key, owner of the No. 40 Chevrolet driven by Chad Chaffin, said the move was performance-related.
Speed In No. 22 Toyota: Scott Speed will drive the Red Bull Tundra for Bill Davis Racing in Kansas. Phillip McGilton has left the organization.
New Faces: Mario Gosselin (No. 212 Chevrolet) and Michelle Theriault (No. 73 Dodge) will debut at Kansas. Gosselin is a former USAR Pro Cup champion. Theriault was 13th in NASCAR Camping World Series East competition last year.
Germain’s Kyle Davis Kansas City-Area Native

Kyle Davis, truck chief on the No. 9 Toyota driven by Justin Marks, grew up in Savannah, Mo., a small town 45 minutes from Kansas Speedway.

When he moved to the southeast hoping to break into NASCAR racing by offering his services free of charge, little did Davis know he would become a key part of one of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ top teams.

“I laid brick to pay the bills,” said the Savannah High School graduate, former go-kart racer and Savannah Speedway champion.

As truck chief, Davis is the right arm of crew chief Jason Overstreet. “Jason decides on which chassis we will run and what he wants to do with it. I just make sure the truck setup matches up with the calls he’s made.”

Noted: J. B. Fiske, Mike Skinner’s coach driver/ fuel runner, hails from Solomon, Kan.

Raybestos Rookies

Colin Braun (No. 6 Con-way Freight Ford), had a productive off-week, winning the Coors Light Pole for last Sunday’s Corona Mexico 200 presented by Banamex. Braun won the coveted No. 1 starting position in just his third NASCAR Nationwide Series appearance.

Braun ran near the front of the field for much of the race before finishing 33rd.

Now, he has some work to do to catch current NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Rookie of the Year co-leader Justin Marks (No. 9 V Foundation/Germain Racing Toyota). Marks won the pole for last year’s ARCA RE/MAX Series race at Kansas before finishing sixth.

“It is an honor to represent The V Foundation on our Tundra this weekend in Kansas,” Marks said. “They have made an incredible impression in the fight against cancer in professional sports and we look forward to playing a small part in spreading their message. Having The V Foundation for Cancer Research on our truck this week gives us purpose beyond on-track results.”

After four races of the 2008 season:

1. Justin Marks 38
2. Phillip McGilton 38
3. Brian Scott 36
4. Colin Braun 34
5. Donny Lia 28
6. Andy Lally 28
7. Marc Mitchell 22

Up Next:

At last: A home game.

Virtually all of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams call the Charlotte, N.C., area home, so a trip to Lowe’s Motor Speedway takes just a few minutes.

The May 16 North Carolina Lottery 200 marks the sixth time the series has competed at the 1.5-mile facility.

Ron Hornaday Jr. (No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet) is the defending race winner. Kyle Busch, the 2005-06 winner, also is expected to compete.

In The Loop:

As the days since the race at Martinsville clicked off Mike Skinner’s calendar, the race at Kansas Speedway got closer and closer. And all of a sudden, Skinner’s outlook got brighter and brighter.

A former series champion, Skinner has encountered uncharacteristic troubles. After four NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races, he’s just 14th in the standings. Two poor finishes of 29th sandwich two strong results of eighth and third.

But Kansas acts as an opportunity for Skinner to vault back into the top 10 and get his season back on track.

In four Kansas races, Skinner’s worst finish is 12th, and he’s finished inside the top five in each of the last three races.

Over that three-race span, Skinner has series-best numbers in Driver Rating (122.9), Average Running Position (5.5) and Laps in the Top 15 (468), and is second only to Todd Bodine in Fastest Laps Run with 65.

One other stat Skinner has going for him – he has yet to win at Kansas.

Oddly, that might help his cause. No driver has repeated at Kansas.

Another driver who has yet to visit Kansas’ Victory Lane is Jack Sprague, who finished third there last season. Over his past three Kansas races, Sprague has a Driver Rating of 102.7 and an Average Running Position of 13.5.

Last season, Erik Darnell was not only a first- time Kansas winner, he was a first-time winner – period. Watch for another strong performance. Darnell has a Kansas Driver Rating of 105.0, an Average Running Position of 11.1 and 50 Fastest Laps Run.

This Week’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Leaders
(Through four races of the 25-race season)

Points leader – Kyle Busch (645)
Driver Rating – Kyle Busch (122.0)
Winnings – Kyle Busch ($183,935)
Laps led – Dennis Setzer (130)
Victories – Kyle Busch (2)
Keystone Light Poles – three drivers with three
Top-five finishes – Kyle Busch (3)
Top-10 finishes – three drivers with three
Raybestos Rookie Leader – Justin Marks (0 points/best finish over Phillip McGilton)
Races led – Ron Hornaday Jr. (4)
Weeks in Top 10 – Seven drivers with four
Wayne’s Words

“Kansas Speedway, by virtue of the way the track was built, makes this week’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 a wide-open affair.

“The track consistently produces new winners – three in seven races – and sends up-and-coming drivers as well as veterans to Victory Lane. It’s anyone’s guess who might end up driving a victory lap holding the checkered flag this Saturday.

“What makes Kansas Speedway so interesting and unpredictable? Unlike some of the intermediate tracks where hitting the exact racing line is critical, Kansas Speedway allows a driver to select multiple grooves in order to find out where the truck works the best.

“That’s one good reason why a newer driver can get up to speed in short order.

“Finally, the sweeping nature of the turns, banked less than some tracks on which we compete, allows competitors to enter side-by-side, easily pick up the throttle and keep right on racing.

“Based on what we saw in Atlanta, another intermediate track, reducing horsepower increased the level of competition. That has put the outcome more in the hands of the drivers and has created the kind of race, from start to finish, that our NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series fans and competitors have come to enjoy.” — Wayne Auton, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Director

More Etc.

“We’ve gotten to that point a few times, but we’ve just never had the perfect day that it takes to win a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race (at Kansas). You never say a track owes you one, but it’d sure be nice to put our Ford F-150 in Victory Lane at Kansas and erase all those memories of finishing second there.” — Rick Crawford, No. 14 Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford, the runner-up finisher at Kansas in 2006-07.

Skinner Defends Pro/Celebrity Title … Mike Skinner (No. 5 Toyota Tundra Toyota) won the Professional division of Saturday’s Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race at the Long Beach (Calif.) Grand Prix. He finished .324 second behind ESPN pit reporter Jamie Little. The race featured a split start with celebrity drivers getting a 30-second handicap. “That was fun,” said Skinner. “Knocked a little paint off my car and had a blast.”

Cancer Week To Be Observed … Lori Hamilton, co-owner of BHR-VA, and Yahoo Sports reporter Bob Margolis were in Atlanta Monday as part of Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week. They spoke with current cancer patients and conducted several media interviews with CNN and Fox. Kansas Speedway will offer free Head and Neck Cancer screenings throughout the race weekend.

FAST FACTS

The Race:O’Reilly Auto Parts 250
The Place: Kansas Speedway
The Date: April 26, 2008
The Time: 6 p.m. ET
Race Distance: 250.5 miles/167 laps
TV: SPEED 5:30 p.m. ET
Track Layout: 1.5-mile paved
2007 Winner: Erik Darnell
2007 Pole: Mike Skinner

Rank Driver Points
1 Ky. Busch 645
2 T. Bodine 610
3 R. Hornaday Jr. 580
4 D. Setzer 578
5 R. Crawford 576
6 M. Crafton 539
7 D. Starr 534
8 E. Darnell 527
9 J. Benson 501
10 T. Cook 499

Schedule: Friday: Practice, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 2:30-3:30 p.m.
Saturday: Qualifying, 12:40 p.m.

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 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Martinsville Unoffical Results

Setzer Takes Hamilton Racing Back To Victory Lane

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

MARTINSVILLE, Va. (March 29, 2008) — For the first time since the late Bobby Hamilton won at Mansfield, Ohio, in 2005, Dennis Setzer took Bobby Hamilton Racing back to victory lane.

“This win right here is for Bobby Hamilton only — he is the man!” shouted crew chief Marcus Richmond after Setzer, who had run 173 laps since his final pit stop, crossed the finish line with trucks wrecking in his wake.

Setzer’s victory in the Kroger 250 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race Saturday at Martinsville Speedway was his third at the .526-mile short track and the 18th of his career. Setzer won for the first time since taking the checkered flag at Mansfield on May 26, 2007.

Hamilton, who posted 10 wins in the truck series before his death from cancer on Jan. 7, 2007, claimed his last victory at that same track on May 15, 2005.

“I ran second to Bobby Hamilton the year he won the championship (2004),” Setzer said. “We raced really hard against each other, but off the track, we were the best of friends. I don’t think we ever had a harsh word for one another. I respected him a lot.”

The 15th and final caution of the race on Lap 248 necessitated a green-white-checkered-flag finish that took Saturday’s race three laps beyond its scheduled distance. As Setzer rounded Turn 3 on the final circuit, Kyle Busch powered his No. 51 Toyota beneath the second-place No. 23 Toyota of Johnny Benson as the trucks entered the corner.

Busch’s truck clipped Benson’s and both spun out of control. Matt Crafton dodged the wreck to finish second, and Rick Crawford came home third. Ken Schrader inherited fourth place and Erik Darnell fifth, as Benson and Busch dropped to 25th and 26th at the finish, respectively.

“Kyle drove in underneath that 23 and wheel-hopped it and opened the door for me,” said Crafton, who had an up-close view of the accident. I kind of shut my eyes and went through the middle. In Kyle’s defense, he wheel-hopped and got sideways, and that’s why he wrecked the 23.”

Setzer took the lead on Lap 128 when Brent Raymer spun in Turn 4 in front of Busch, who had surged past teammate Denny Hamlin on Lap 97 and stayed in front until the mishap with Raymer. Setzer remained in the lead the rest of the way, through nine more cautions that helped him stretch his fuel mileage.

Notes: Martinsville Speedway president Clay Campbell is part of the ownership group for Bobby Hamilton Racing, which relocated from Nashville, Tenn., to Martinsville after Hamilton’s death. . . Busch retained the series points lead by 35 over Todd Bodine, who finished 12th Saturday.

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