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Ron Hornaday won his sixth Craftsman Truck Series race of the season last night, picking up his series-leading sixth win of the season. He also extended two of his career records with his 39th career win in the Truck Series (Jack Sprague is a distant second with 28 wins) and his 43rd overall NASCAR win, which ties him with Dale Jarrett for 19th on the all-time list but is the MOST of any driver who has never won a Cup race.
The win moves Hornaday to within six points of Johnny Benson, who finished third last night while failing to lead a lap. Benson has had a fantastic season as well, with five wins, and if you compare his results with Hornaday's they are actually quite similar.
BEST 17 FINISHES IN 2008
Hornaday: 1-1-1-1-1-1-2-2-2-2-3-5-5-5-7-8-10
Benson: 1-1-1-1-1-2-2-3-3-3-3-3-4-4-7-8-10
These are almost frighteningly similar. Hornaday's got one more win and more runner-up finishes, but Benson's finished third or fourth seven times. If you take these 17 finishes (nearly 3/4 of the season's races), Hornaday would have ten more points than Benson.
Now, if you look at bonus points, Hornaday has another advantage, and this time is a much bigger one. Benson has led laps in 16 races and led the most laps twice, for a total of 90 bonus points. Hornaday, OTOH, has led the most laps NINE times, while leading in nineteen races, for a total of 140 bonus points, 50 more than Benson. That nets out to a 60-point advantage for Hornaday so far.
However, Benson has a six-point lead over Hornaday in the standings, right? Well, we've covered all of the top-ten finishes each driver has had, and we've covered the bonus points, so where does Benson make up that ground on Hornaday? That would be in their next two "best" finishes.
WORST 6 FINISHES IN 2008
Hornaday: 23-23-24-25-29-35
Benson: 11-11-25-27-30-33
The first part of this I don't have such a huge problem with, actually. Benson's two 11th-place finishes are worth 36 points more each than Hornaday's 23rd-place finishes, so those two finishes alone make up the 60 point-advantage Hornaday had and give BENSON a 12-point cushion. You could argue that Benson deserves credit for two almost top-10 finishes where Hornaday has none, and I wouldn't have THAT big of a problem with it.
The thing is, that Hornaday makes up EXACTLY those twelve points because his 24th and 29th-place finishes are better than Benson's 27th and 30th-place finishes, which means if you take the Jack Roush Chase Plan (with a mulligan) Hornaday and Benson are TIED. So I ask you: who in the heck likes the fact that two guys with eleven combined wins and 34 top-tens in 23 races are having their points-positions affected by races in which they finished 24th-to-30th? Don't these guys deserve better than THAT?
And, the final kicker is that we haven't even talked about these guy's two WORST finishes of the season. Benson has a six-point lead in the standings - which just happens to be the difference between his WORST finish of the season (the 33rd at Memphis) and Hornaday's (35th at Mansfield). And when you really LOOK at those races, Hornaday finished 145 out of 250 laps at Mansfield with 36 trucks in the race, while Benson completed 84 out of 204 laps (scheduled for 200 but extended with a G/W/C finish) with 35 trucks in the race. So, while in reality Hornaday's worst finish was better than Benson's in terms of how much of the race each driver completed, BENSON actually gets more points because HE was fortunate enough to have his problem in a race with LESS trucks AND two trucks that suffered early problems. And, let me just remind you, again...
...THOSE SIX POINTS ARE THE DIFFERENCE IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!
Also - remember that we've covered this - Benson only finished 27th in Las Vegas because that race had the shortest field of the season - 31 trucks. With a full field Benson potentially loses five spots, which would put him nine points DOWN instead of six points UP. Yet another reason why NASCAR's points system drives me nutty.
I mean, really - THAT is rewarding consistency or whatever the hell NASCAR says their point-system DOES? I don't think so. That is pure 100% blind LUCK.
And just because - here are my point standings in the Truck Series. Yes, Hornaday is ahead but that is almost entirely due to the extra win and all of the bonus points for leading the most laps. Benson would make a fine champion if he wins the title - I just hope if he is it is because he's earned it over these last two races.
(These are expanded to the top-20, just to get Scott Speed in there. That guys impresses me every week.)
CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES
Rank Points LW
1 Ron Hornaday 283 1
2 Johnny Benson 267 2
3 Todd Bodine 205 3
4 Kyle Busch 192 4
5 Erik Darnell 166 5
6 Matt Crafton 147 6
7 Mike Skinner 127 7
8 Rick Crawford 117 8
9 Jack Sprague 101 9
10 Dennis Setzer 93 10
11 David Starr 80 11
12 Scott Speed 78 12
13 Colin Braun 69 14
14 Chad McCumbee 68 13
15 Terry Cook 64 15
16 Travis Kvapil 49 17
17 Brendan Gaughan 44 16
18 T.J. Bell 39 18
19 Donny Lia 35 19
20 Ted Musgrave 31 20
Why I hate NASCAR's point system (part 435)
Saturday, November 1, 2008, 09:18 AM EST
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