Benson Wins For Second Week in a Row

July 26th, 2008 | by BBC Sport Player | Motorsport |

NASCAR veteran, Johnny Benson, held off Ron Hornaday in a two-lap shootout for the checkers to win the Power Stroke Diesel 200 on Friday night at O’Reilly Raceway Park. Hornaday took the lead from polesitter Bobby East back on lap 5 and went onto lead a race high 153 laps before surrendering the lead to the charging Benson on lap 162.

There were a record-tying 11 cautions during the event, the last of which came on lap 195 when Benson’s Bill Davis Racing teammate, Michael Annett, spun while trying to race Rick Crawford for position inside the top-five. The accident setup a restart on lap 198 of the 200 lap race, with Hornaday still running in second. Hornaday attempted a final charge, but he slipped high up on the track, and Benson pulled away for the victory. Hornaday went onto finish 2nd, followed by Erik Darnell, Matt Crafton, and Shelby Howard completing the top-five.

Other Notables:
Kyle Busch finished 8th in the race after stirring up a bit of controversy earlier in the evening, sending Chad McCumbee into the wall back on lap 136 as the two raced for position. Mike Skinner rounded out the top-ten in 10th place. Rick Crawford finished 12th. Hornaday’s Kevin Harvick Inc. teammate, Jack Sprague, was 17th.

Johnny Benson’s victory now opens up a 15 point lead over Hornaday in the points standings. Hornaday jumped past Matt Crafton to take the 2nd spot in the standings as Crafton drops down to 3rd. There were no other changes through the top-six in points. For Benson, the win gave him his second in a row, and his third in the past four weeks.

Complete Power Stroke 200 Results

Craftsman Truck Series Standings (from nascar.com):


RANK	+/-	DRIVER	POINTS	BEHIND	STARTS	POLES	WINS	TOP 5	TOP 10
1	–	Johnny Benson	2071	Leader	14	3	3	8	10
2	+1	Ron Hornaday	2056	-15	14	2	3	7	10
3	-1	Matt Crafton	2040	-31	14	0	1	8	9
4	–	Rick Crawford	1916	-155	14	0	0	4	7
5	–	Mike Skinner	1914	-157	14	3	0	3	12
6	–	Todd Bodine	1867	-204	14	0	1	6	7
7	+1	Erik Darnell	1846	-225	14	1	1	6	6
8	-1	Terry Cook	1825	-246	14	0	0	2	7
9	–	Jack Sprague	1787	-284	14	1	0	3	6
10	+1	David Starr	1749	-322	14	0	0	4	6
11	-1	Dennis Setzer	1739	-332	14	0	1	2	4
12	–	Chad McCumbee	1657	-414	14	0	0	2	6
13	–	Brendan Gaughan	1641	-430	14	0	0	2	4
14	+1	Colin Braun*	1579	-492	14	0	0	1	4
15	-1	Ted Musgrave	1577	-494	14	0	0	0	3
16	–	Kyle Busch	1502	-569	10	1	2	4	8
17	+2	Shelby Howard	1491	-580	14	0	0	1	2
18	+2	Donny Lia*	1472	-599	13	0	1	1	3
19	-2	Stacy Compton	1448	-623	14	0	0	0	3
20	-2	Justin Marks*	1423	-648	14	1	0	0	1

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