MARTINSVILLE, Va. --On Lap 128, Kyle Busch ran into the back of Brent Raymer who spun in front of Busch, forcing him to slam on the binders and come to a halt. After the caution flew, Busch, Ron Hornaday and a number of other drivers came down pit road for gas and tires. That handed the lead to Dennis Setzer, ahead of Ron Hornaday, Brendan Gaughn, Johnny Benson, Mike Skinner and David Starr. Setzer then held on through numerous restarts and survived a green-white-checker finish to to win the Kroger 250 Craftsman Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway and put his Duck Head Footwear/Aquadock Dodge Ram into victory lane. The victory was the first for Dodge (and Bobby Hamilton Racing) since the late Hamilton won at Mansfield in 2005, and the truck Setzer won in is co-owned by Hamilton's widow, Lori.
"The emotions are running high right now," Lori Hamilton said. "We always said after Bobby passed away that if we could build it, then we'd do it in honor of him."
Setzer prevailed in a single-file restart. For him, winning at a track where he and Bobby Hamilton dueled also was special.
"I ran second to Bobby the year he won the championship," Setzer said. "We fought like heck all year as far as racing goes, but we were probably as good of friends off the track. We never had a harsh word with each other any time during the year."
The race, run on a cold, overcast day after the teams practiced in heat and sunshine Friday, was dominated by 15 cautions that slowed the pace for 82 laps, and caused the race to go three extra laps for a two-lap sprint to the checkered flag. It was Setzer's 18th career victory in the series and third at Martinsville.
Ten years ago this weekend Bobby Hamilton won The Winston Cup event at Martinsville in the Morgan McClure Motorsports Kodak sponsored Chevrolet. Perhaps Setzer's win today was written in the stars.
Text by The Associated Press, Tom Jensen of TruckSeries.com, Small Town Girl and 14Falcons
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