There have been eight different race winners in the 2008 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season: Kyle Busch (two) Ron Hornaday Jr. (two) Todd Bodine (one) Dennis Setzer (one) Matt Crafton (one) Donny Lia (one) Scott Speed (one) Erik Darnell (one).
Hornaday re-assumed the points lead following Texas – the third race overall that he has led the points.
2008 Season Highlights
• Todd Bodine’s victory at Daytona continued the streak of a different Daytona race winner for the ninth consecutive year.
• Todd Bodine, Kyle Busch and Johnny Benson all finished in the top three in the first two races of the season.
• Kyle Busch won at California to become the sixth different race winner in as many races at California.
• Kyle Busch won at Atlanta, becoming the first repeat winner in eight races at Atlanta.
• Dennis Setzer won at Martinsville, his third victory at the Virginia short track, making him the all-time win leader there.
• Ron Hornaday Jr. won at Kansas – his 34th series victory. Hornaday has won in 11 of his 12 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series seasons.
• Matt Crafton won at Lowe’s Motor Speedway – his career-first victory.
• Donny Lia won at Mansfield – his career-first victory in just eight NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races.
• Scott Speed won at Mansfield – his career-first victory in just six NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races.
• Ron Hornaday Jr. won at Texas – becoming the second repeat winner of the season and ending a string of three straight first-time race winners.
Qualifying
• 73 different drivers have attempted to qualify for at least one race this season, including J.R. Norris who qualified for Kyle Busch at Texas.
• There have been seven different pole winners in 2008, led by Ron Hornaday Jr. and Mike Skinner, each with two. Qualifying was canceled at Auto Club Speedway.
• Ron Hornaday Jr. (two), Jack Sprague (one), Kyle Busch (one) and Johnny Benson (one) are the other pole winners this season.
• Jack Sprague set a new track record of 96.327 mph, in qualifying at Martinsville – eclipsing the mark set by Mike Skinner one year earlier.
• Justin Marks won the pole at Texas posting his career-first pole.
• 28 different drivers have posted top-10 starts this season, led by Ron Hornaday Jr. and Jack Sprague – each with nine.
The Races
• 72 different drivers have qualified for and competed in at least one race this season. J.R. Norris qualified for Kyle Busch at Texas but did not compete in the race.
• Todd Bodine won at Daytona. Not only was it his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory there – it was his first ever at the 2.5-mile superspeedway. Bodine was winless in nine NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and 11 NASCAR Nationwide Series Daytona races. He also competed in six Gatorade Duels and four Budweiser Shootouts – bringing his total number of Daytona races to 33 prior to his first victory there.
• Kyle Busch won the second and third races of the 2008 season, the first back-to-back victories since Johnny Benson won at Bristol and Gateway in 2007.
• Dennis Setzer won at Martinsville – his third victory in 17 races there.
• Ron Hornaday Jr. won at Texas – his first victory there.
• Erik Darnell won at Michigan – his second career victory.
• 29 different drivers have posted top-10 finishes this season, led by Mike Skinner with eight. Skinner has posted six straight top-10s.
Career First Wins
• Matt Crafton won at Lowe’s Motor Speedway – his career-first victory in his 178th race. He set the record for the most races before a career-first victory ever in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Ryan Reffner held the previous mark of 111 races before his first win ((1996-2000).
• Donny Lia won the following week at Mansfield – the 11th time in series history that drivers posted career-first victories in back-to-back races, and first since 2004. Eight of the 11 instances came during the series’ first three years (1995-1998).
• Scott Speed posted his career-first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory with his win at Dover.
Triple First-time Winners
Matt Crafton (Lowe’s), Donny Lia (Mansfield) and Scott Speed (Dover) all scored their career-first victories this season. Speed became the third first-time winner in as many races – the third time in series history that there have been three consecutive first-time winners. Mike Skinner, Ron Hornaday Jr. and Ken Schrader won the first three races of the series. Andy Houston (New Hampshire), Terry Cook (Flemington) and Jimmy Hensley (Nashville) posted their career-first victories in back-to-back races in 1998.
The Pole Winner/Race Winner
• The pole winner (or driver that started first in cases of no qualifying) finishing position:
First 1
2nd-5th 2
6th-10th 4
11th-30th 3
31st or beyond 0
• The lap-leader performance of the pole winner (or driver that started first in cases of no qualifying):
Led First Lap 7
Led at All 9
Led Most Laps 3
Won Race 1
• The race winner’s starting positions:
Pole 1
2nd-5th 2
6th-10th 2
11th-30th 5
31st or beyond 0
• The lap-leader performance of the race winner:
Led First Lap 2
Led Most Laps 5
Led Mid-Race Lap 3
Led With 10 to Go 8
Led With One to Go 10
Note: Mid-Race lap is as scheduled regardless of shortened or extended race length.
Points
• Four drivers have led the point standings in 2008: Todd Bodine, Kyle Busch, Ron Hornaday Jr., Rick Crawford and Johnny Benson.
• Kyle Busch led the points for three races – his first time ever to lead the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series standings.
• Rick Crawford took the point lead following Dover – his first time to lead the points since he headed the series for one week following his win in the season-opening Daytona race in 2003.
• Johnny Benson assumed the points lead at Michigan – his first time to lead the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series standings. Benson had been second in the point standings 13 times in his career.
• Three drivers have ranked in the top 10 in points all season: Johnny Benson, Todd Bodine and Rick Crawford.
Laps Led
• 26 different drivers have led at least one lap in 2008.
• Not only did Donny Lia (Mansfield) and Scott Speed (Dover) post their career-first victory this season, but it was also the first time they had led a lap.
• Ron Hornaday Jr. has led 414 laps – more than any other driver. He is also the only driver that has led in every race in 2008.
• Five different drivers have led the most laps in a race in 2008: Kyle Busch (three), Ron Hornaday Jr. (three), Todd Bodine (two), Dennis Setzer (one) and David Starr (one).
Rookie Performance
• Five different rookies have posted top-10 finishes this season – led by Colin Braun and Scott Speed, each with four.
• Donny Lia won at Mansfield and became the first Raybestos Rookie of the Year contender to win in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series since Carl Edwards at Nashville in August 2003.
Rookie Excellence
Donny Lia and Scott Speed recorded the first back-to-back victories by different rookies in the series history. It was the third time that back-to-back rookie victories had occurred but the other times were by the same driver: Kurt Busch in 2000 (Milwaukee and Loudon) and Carl Edwards in 2003 (ORP and Nashville).
Penalties• There have been 130 on-track penalties issued this season.
• Penalty Recap:
Pitting Before Pit Road is Open 58
Too Fast Entering Pit Road 10
Too Fast Exiting Pit Road 21
Others 41
Manufacturer
• Chevrolet leads the manufacturers’ point standings with 67 points to 65 for Toyota, 50 for Ford and 38 for Dodge.
• Toyota has posted four victories in 2008. Chevrolet has three wins and Dodge and Ford each have one.
• Toyota swept the first four finishing positions at Daytona and California.
• Dodge posted its first victory since Mansfield in 2005 when Dennis Setzer won at Martinsville.
• Kyle Busch won the pole at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and posted Toyota’s 50th pole in 106 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races.
Notebook
• There were eight lead changes and 34 cars running at the finish at Martinsville, both tying the track records.
• Mario Gosselin led the first lap of his career with his lead at Michigan.
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