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 8
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 4
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 21
Note: Mid-Race lap is as scheduled regardless of shortened or extended race length.
Points
• There have been 10 changes among five drivers who have led the points 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 points 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 points standings 13 times in his career.
• Ron Hornaday Jr. retook the points lead at Milwaukee but Benson moved back to the top spot the next week at Kentucky and has held the lead since. His margin has varied from 119 points after Bristol to just a point following Las Vegas.
• Three drivers have ranked in the top 10 in points all season: Johnny Benson, Todd Bodine and Rick Crawford.
Laps Led
• 36 different drivers have led at least one lap in 2008.
• Ron Hornaday Jr. has led 1,289 laps, more than any other driver.
• Seven different drivers have led the most laps in a race in 2008:
Ron Hornaday Jr. (nine)
Kyle Busch (six)
Todd Bodine (three)
Johnny Benson (two)
Rookie Performance
• Six different rookies have been the highest-finishing rookie this season:
Colin Braun (seven)
Scott Speed (six)
Donny Lia (four)
Marc Mitchell (three)
Justin Marks (two)
Brian Scott (two)
• Six different rookies have posted top-10 finishes this season, led by Scott Speed with nine.
• 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.
• 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 306 on-track penalties issued this season.
• Penalty Recap:
Pitting Before Pit Road is Open 157
Too Fast Entering Pit Road 27
Too Fast Exiting Pit Road 39
Others 83
Manufacturer
• Toyota leads the manufacturers’ points standings with 169 points to 160 for Chevrolet, 112 for Ford and 87 for Dodge.
• Toyota has 12 victories in 2008 while Chevrolet has 10. Dodge and Ford each have one.
• Dodge posted its first victory since Mansfield in 2005 when Dennis Setzer won at Martinsville.
• Johnny Benson’s win at Martinsville-2 was the 50th in 121 series races for Toyota. Chevrolet posted its 50th series victory in its 67th race.
Manufacturers’ Championship Toyota has clinched the Manufacturers’ Championship for 2008. It is the third time that Toyota has won the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Manufacturers’ Championship – all in the past three seasons.
Notebook
• Erik Darnell won the Keystone Light Pole Award at Daytona, posting his first pole at Daytona and just the second of his career.
• 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.
• There were eight lead changes and 34 cars running at the finish at Martinsville, both tying the track records.
• Kyle Busch won the pole at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and posted Toyota’s 50th pole in 106 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races.
• Not only did Donny Lia (Mansfield) and Scott Speed (Dover) post their career-first victory this season – for both it was the first time they had led a lap.
• Bobby East won the pole and led four laps at ORP. It was his first career pole and the first time he has led a lap in his career.
• Johnny Benson led the final 46 laps at Martinsville-2 – the first laps he has ever led in 11 series races there.
• Kevin Harvick won his third series race with his victory in the Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix. All three of his victories have come at Phoenix and all three have come as an owner/driver.
• Ron Hornaday Jr. won his sixth race of the 2008 season with his victory at Texas-2. It is his fourth victory since turning 50 eight days before he won at Memphis in June. Hornaday is one win shy of tying Joe Ruttman for the most wins by a driver 50 or older in a single season. Ruttman won five times in 1997 at the age of 52/53.
• Ryan Newman became the 19th driver to post victories in all three of NASCAR’s top three national series with his win in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Atlanta-2.
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