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.
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
Ron Hornaday was marvelous, simply marvelous. He had the best truck tonight. And tonight the best truck won the race. Hornaday took his new sponsor Camping World to victory lane on their first outing with him. Somewhere on a lake near Charlotte they are having a big bonfire, camp out and celebration party tonight.
By Jenna Fryer, The Associated Press May 19, 2007 12:23 AM EDT
CONCORD, N.C. -- Ron Hornaday Jr. passed A.J. Allmendinger with 36 laps to go, then held on for two restarts to win the Craftsman Truck Series race at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Friday night. It was Hornaday's 30th career Truck Series victory, but the first at LMS. Hornaday, driving for Kevin Harvick Inc., also scored the first win of the season for Chevrolet after Toyotas won four of the first five events.
Kernersville, N.C. (May 14, 2007) – Beginning with the Quaker Steak and Lube 200, Bowling Green, Ky., based Camping World will become the primary sponsor of Ron Hornaday’s No. 33 Chevrolet Silverado for the remainder of the 2007 season. Camping World has been affiliated with Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI), since the early part of 2007, originally signing on to sponsor a select number of races with KHI’s No. 33 Busch and No. 2 Truck Series programs. Kevin Harvick, co-owner and CEO of Kevin Harvick Inc., stated “I am thrilled that Camping World decided to expand their involvement with KHI and join the No. 33 truck team. The combination of Ron Hornaday and Rick Ren has been fun to watch this season in their bid for the Truck Series championship. Now that Camping World is a part of that program, I feel like we’ve got a winning combination both on and off the track.” “Our experience with the No. 2 Camping World truck and the KHI bunch has been outstanding,” said Marcus Lemonis, Camping World President and CEO. We’re looking forward to riding along with Ron as he makes a run for his third NASCAR Truck Series championship in the No. 33 Silverado.”
A tangle on a late-race restart with second-place driver Ron Hornaday sent Mark Martin sliding through the grass and opened the door for Mike Skinner just enough to allow the 1995 Craftsman Truck Series champion to slide through and claim the lead. Skinner made a clean restart with two laps remaining and was able to hold off Hornaday to take the 20th win of his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career. A native of nearby Ontario, California, Skinner becomes the first home state driver to score a Truck Series victory at California Speedway. "I am going to make sure I find my teammate Tyler Walker tonight and pick up some of that 360 OTC," Skinner joked in victory lane. "We're going to go back tonight and celebrate, so we may need some hangover relief in the morning!"
Mike Skinner
While Skinner was all smiles after the race, he knew exactly where he needed to be in the final laps in order to put his No. 5 Toyota Tundra Toyota in the winner's circle.
"I knew my best chance to win the race was going to be the restart," Skinner said. "If they got together, or even if they didn't, I knew the restart was it. If they went down into one side-by-side, I was going to get a good run on them down the frontstretch and slide down on the inside in turns one and two. My truck was great down there all night long. But they ended up getting together and I drove hard until I heard the spotter call for the caution.
"I was ahead of Hornaday and I knew when they went back to the scoring loop we'd be the leader. But it wasn't over, I had the King of Restarts Ron Hornaday on my back bumper. I had to be smooth. I could have held it wide open in one and two on those last two laps but I just barely burped it. Once I got to the backstretch and I was leading, I knew we had enough horsepower under the hood of our Toyota to hold him off."
Mike Skinner
Martin was pragmatic in defeat. The No. 21 Bad Boy Mowers Ford led the race three times for a total of 45 laps and seemed to have victory within his grasp until the restart with four laps remaining.
I don't know what happened," Martin said. "All of a sudden the motor revved up and the wheels started spinning and I got behind on the steering. That was a lot of fun. It was awesome, but (NASCAR) has got to get their cautions there at the end."
Two-time series champion and fellow California native Hornaday was regretful about the contact with Martin, but the driver of Kevin Harvick's No. 33 AES HR Solutions Chevrolet said he had no other option. "I knew what Mark was doing," Hornaday said. "He slowed it down just enough so that I would have to get off the gas and flood the carburetor with fuel.
But, I drag the brake on the restarts so I don't spin the tires. When he slowed down, I got up under him and the bumpers didn't line up. If they did, all I would have done is shoved him down the straightaway. But it lifted the tires off the ground and he lost it.
Mark Martin
I feel bad about it because Mark doesn't race me that way and I don't race him that way. In all my years racing with Mark, that may be the first time we've ever gotten together."
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Mike Skinner
Mike Skinner
Mark Martin
