Johnny Benson won the 2008 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship, his first series title. He became the 10th different driver to win the series championship. Benson finished the 2008 season seven points ahead of Ron Hornaday Jr., the second-closest championship points margin in series history. Benson finished the 2008 season with five wins, 14 top-five finishes and 18 top-10s. Benson’s first series championship comes in his fourth year of full-time competition in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (2005-08). He has finished in the top-10 in the final points standings in all four of those years. Benson competed in 25 series races prior to 2005.
There were 12 different race winners in the 2008 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season, led by Ron Hornaday Jr. (six) and Johnny Benson (five).
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 Auto Club Speedway 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 Dover – 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.
• Erik Darnell continued truck owner Jack Roush’s prominence at Michigan, notching the 49th series victory for the organization.
• Johnny Benson won at Milwaukee, his first victory since the season finale at Homestead in 2007.
• Ron Hornaday Jr. won at Memphis and became the first three-time winner of 2008. The victory, coupled with Johnny Benson’s 33rd-place finish, gave Hornaday the points lead.
• Johnny Benson won at Kentucky and moved back into the points lead.
• Johnny Benson won at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis, posting back-to-back victories for the
second time in his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career. Benson also won consecutive races with his first and second career victories (Michigan and Milwaukee 2006).
• Johnny Benson notched three consecutive wins with his victory at Nashville Superspeedway. It was the fifth time in series history that a driver had won three in a row.
• Kyle Busch posted a perfect Driver Rating of 150.0 in posting his win at Bristol.
• Ron Hornaday Jr. scored a perfect Driver Rating in his victory at New Hampshire.
• Mike Skinner posted his first win of the 2008 season with his victory at Las Vegas and became the 10th different race winner of the season.
• Todd Bodine won at Talladega with the second last-lap pass for the lead this season. It is his third straight restrictor-plate victory.
• Johnny Benson won at Martinsville, posting his fifth victory of the season and tying his career-high set in 2006.
• Ryan Newman won at Atlanta, joining Mike Skinner, Robert Pressley and Kasey Kahne as the only drivers to win in his series debut.
• Ron Hornaday Jr. won at Texas, posting his series-leading sixth win of 2008.
• Kevin Harvick won at Phoenix, his third series victory. All of Harvick’s series wins have come at Phoenix International Raceway.
• Todd Bodine won at Homestead-Miami Speedway, giving him victories in both the season opener and the finale.
Career First Wins
• Matt Crafton (Lowe’s Motor Speedway), 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.
• 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. Bryan Reffner held the previous mark of 111 races before his first win (1996-2000).
Qualifying
• 121 different drivers attempted to qualify for at least one race this season, including J.R. Norris who qualified for Kyle Busch at Texas.
• There were 12 different pole winners in 2008. (Qualifying was canceled at Auto Club Speedway, New Hampshire and Atlanta-2):
Ron Hornaday (five)
Mike Skinner (four)
Johnny Benson (three)
Erik Darnell (two)
Jack Sprague (one)
Justin Marks (one)
Kyle Busch (one)
Bobby East (one)
Todd Bodine (one)
Scott Speed (one)
Dennis Setzer (one)
Rick Crawford (one)
• Three drivers posted their career-first poles this season: Justin Marks (Texas) Bobby East (ORP) Scott Speed (Bristol-2)
• Erik Darnell won the pole at Talladega, followed by Roush Fenway Racing teammates Jon Wes Townley and Colin Braun. It was the first 1-2-3 qualifying effort for a truck owner in series history. There had been nine truck-owner 1-2 starts prior to that, including one by Roush Fenway: Mark Martin (first) and David Ragan (second) at Talladega in 2006.
• 45 different drivers posted top-10 starts this season, led by Ron Hornaday Jr. with 23.
The Races
• 119 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.
• There have been 12 different race winners in 2008:
Ron Hornaday Jr. (six)
Johnny Benson (five)
Kyle Busch (three)
Todd Bodine (two)
Dennis Setzer (one)
Matt Crafton (one)
Donny Lia (one)
Scott Speed (one)
Erik Darnell (one)
Mike Skinner (one)
Ryan Newman (one)
Kevin Harvick (one)
• 42 different drivers have posted top-10 finishes this season, led by Johnny Benson, Ron Hornaday Jr. and Mike Skinner, each with 18.
The Pole Winner/Race Winner
• The pole winner (or driver that started first in cases of no qualifying) finishing position:
First 2
2nd-5th 7
6th-10th 6
11th-30th 9
31st or beyond 1
• The lap-leader performance of the pole winner (or driver that started first in cases of no qualifying):
Led First Lap 14
Led at All 19
Led Most Laps 7
Won Race 2
• The race winner’s starting positions:
Pole 4
2nd-5th 9
6th-10th 5
11th-30th 7
31st or beyond 0
• The lap-leader performance of the race winner:
Led First Lap 5
Led Most Laps 11
Led Mid-Race Lap 8
Led With 10 to Go 18
Led With One to Go 22
Note: Mid-Race lap is as scheduled regardless of shortened or extended race length.
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