The Craftsman Truck Series will run an early Saturday afternoon race at the tiny 0.50-mile Mansfield Motorsports Speedway oval.
Short track specialist Dennis Setzer is the defending champion after he edged Jack Sprague by 0.522 seconds. Setzer did it by completing all 250 laps without a pit stop. The race was interrupted by three rain delays and more than 100 caution-flag laps, but with 27 laps to go Rick Crawford led Setzer, Aaron Fike, Sprague and Ken Schrader to the restart.
Crawford's No.14 Ford pulled away from the field on the restart, but with 20 laps remaining Setzer started to chip away at Crawford's lead. With 13 laps left a flat right-front tire for Crawford caused him to slide high on the track allowing Setzer to make the pass for first.
Can it be done again?
Says Setzer: "We have smaller fuel cells this season and I can't help but wonder if that is because of me. But I think if the right circumstances played out it could still be done at a short track such as MMP. NASCAR also changed the carburetor this season. We are seeing with the combination of the new carburetor and smaller fuel cells that we are getting within a few laps of the fuel mileage we got last year at certain tracks. It may never be done again, but I wouldn't write it off just yet."
CONCORD, N.C. -- It took Matt Crafton 178 starts to snare his first Craftsman Truck Series victory. It took about 35-crash filled laps at Lowe's Motor Speedway to set the unlikely win in motion.
Crafton took advantage of the mistakes and ill behavior of others to drive his Menard's Chevrolet Silverado to victory in the North Carolina Education Lottery 200. Crafton's victory was his first in 177 NCTS starts, the longest stretch any driver has gone before winning his first race in the series.
Crafton held off Chad McCumbee in a green-white-checkered finish to score his historic win in a wild night of racing.
"Finally, we can shut them up," Crafton said. "Now they can say, 'When's the next one coming?
With the win Crafton moved up from seventh to fourth in the points race.
1. Ron Hornaday 874 Leader
2, Rick Crawford 865 -5
3. Todd Bodine 836 -38
4. Matt Crafton 829 -45
5. Dennis Setzer 817 -57
A fierce battle for second ended with Germain Racing's Todd Bodine third in the point standings, spinning points leader Ron Hornaday just past the start-finish line at the entrance to Turn 1. An angry Hornaday limped home 23rd and took umbrage with Bodine, who finished 12th after being penalized for rough driving.
"He just flat tried to kill me," Hornaday said. "You don't spin somebody out on the straightaway. Life is too short to have an #### like that."
Bodine said he didn't mean to cause Hornaday to wreck.
"I was just trying to help him," Bodine said. "And now I look like a goat."
McCumbee was followed by Brendan Gaughan who finished third.
Erik Darnell was leading late in the race but spun his tires in the night's second-to-last restart, recovering to finish fourth. Rick Crawford finished fifth. Hornaday leads the series points race, by five over Crawford.
Dennis Setzer finished seventh and slipped to fifth in the points behind Crafton.
HAMPTON, Ga. -- Mike Skinner bumped past Clint Bowyer to take the lead on a restart seven laps from the finish Friday night and raced away to his second consecutive victory in NASCAR's Craftsman Truck Series. Todd Bodine, the defending series champion and last spring's winner at Atlanta Motor Speedway, followed Skinner past Bowyer to grab second place on Lap 124 of the 130-lap event, but the leader was just too strong, pulling away to a five-length victory, the 21st of his truck career. Matt Crafton had a big day, finishing third after starting the race 17th. Rick Crawford, making his 250th start in the Craftsman Truck Series brought home his No. 14 Ford in fourth. Bowyer held on for fifth.
Brendan Gaughan stayed out when the rest of the field pitted with 34 laps to go, but the lead was short lived as Bowyer was able to pass him for the lead just two laps later. The move still worked for Gaughan, who held on for a sixth-place finish. Dennis Setzer finished seventh in his Morgan Dollar Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado.
Next up for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is the Kroger 250 at the half-mile Martinsville Speedway on Saturday March 31.
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