NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series 2008 Manufacturers’ Championship Standings Following Race 20 of 25 at Talladega Superspeedway:
Toyota 142
Chevrolet 130
Ford 96
Dodge 72
Points Battle Shuffle After Dega
Not only did Ron Hornaday Jr. take away the points lead from Johnny Benson and his No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Toyota team, but the guys behind him played a round of musical points swap.
While Matt Crafton (No. 88 Menards Chevrolet) holds on to his third-place spot 179 points out of second, he has his eye on the drivers behind him.
Todd Bodine’s win helped him leap from seventh to fourth in the standings, shuffling Erik Darnell (No. 99 Northern Tool + Equipment Ford) out of the spot to fifth.
Darnell, who started from the pole, dominated the majority of the race, leading the most laps with 48. However, he ended his day with a 12th-place finish after losing some positions during the final stop on Lap 68.
The jump in standings has Bodine only 18 points behind Crafton, yet just 20 over Darnell.
Mike Skinner brought his No. 5 Toyota Tundra Toyota home among the top 10 but slipped from fourth to fifth. Chances are he and Darnell will swap spots again. A mere two points separate the two.
This Week’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Leaders
(Through 20 races of the 25-race season)
Points leader – Ron Hornaday, Jr. (3,027)
Driver Rating – Ron Hornaday Jr. (115.2)
Laps led – Ron Hornaday Jr. (980)
Victories – Ron Hornaday, Jr. (5)
Keystone Light Poles – Three drivers with three
Top-five finishes – Johnny Benson, Ron Hornaday, Jr. (12)
Top-10 finishes – Mike Sinner (16)
Raybestos Rookie Leader – Colin Braun
Races led – Ron Hornaday Jr. (16)
Weeks in Top 10 – Three drivers with 20
Rookies Hold Their Own
Rookies made a strong showing over the weekend at the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway. Colin Braun kept his No. 6 Con-way Freight Ford up front, even overcoming a blown tire on Lap 84 to finish fourth.
“It definitely was an exciting race for me,” Braun said. “I learned a lot, obviously, racing up front with guys like Todd (Bodine) and Ron (Hornaday, Jr.) and Kyle (Busch). That’s the best of the best right there. It was a lot of fun.”
The 20-year-old, who started the day behind his two Roush Fenway Racing teammates in third, opens a 30-point lead over fellow rookie Donny Lia.
Brian Scott also was among the top of the field. The freshman driver brought his No. 16 Albertson’s Toyota to a seventh- place finish, his best career finish in the series and his third top-10 of the season.
“It was a good day all around,” Scott said. “We weren’t always in the front, but we were always able to get there when we wanted to. You just can’t be upset with a top-10 finish at a place like this.”
NASCAR Raybestos Rookie of the Year Standings After 20 Races of the 2008 Season:
1. Colin Braun 182
2. Donny Lia 152
3. Brian Scott 145
4. Justin Marks 131
5. Marc Mitchell 108
6. Scott Speed 97
7. Andy Lally 71
In The Loop:
Here’s what two wins and six top-five finishes in the last seven races will produce: The points lead and the top spot in every key Loop Data statistical category.
Those accolades all now belong to Ron Hornaday Jr., the defending NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion.
With his second-place finish at Talladega, Hornaday nabbed the series lead from Johnny Benson, and pushed his statistics to the top of the charts.
Hornaday leads the series in Driver Rating (115.2), Average Running Position (7.1), Fastest Laps Run (410) and Laps in the Top 15 (2,869 for a percentage of 86.5%).
Also helping his statistical cause this weekend was Talladega winner Todd Bodine, who is one of three full-time drivers with a Driver Rating over 100.0 (Benson and Hornaday are the others).
Bodine has a season Driver Rating of 102.6, an Average Running Position of 8.1 and 152 Fastest Laps Run. He also has a series-best Pass Differential (passes minus times passed) of 243. Bodine has 683 passes, compared to being passed only 440 times.
With yet another strong run—this time at Talladega—Colin Braun continued his ascent into the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series hierarchy. Braun, who holds the top spot in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings, had a Driver Rating of 115.9 and an Average Running Position of 5.7 at Talladega. The performance improved his season-to-date Driver Rating to 85.1.
Up Next:
The series will return to action at the .526-mile track of Martinsville Speedway for the Kroger 200 on Oct. 18. Dennis Setzer took his No. 18 Dodge to Victory Lane there in March.
Fast Facts
The Race: Kroger 200
The Place: Martinsville Speedway
The Date: Oct. 18, 2008
Race Distance: 105.2 miles / 200 laps
Track Layout: .526-Mile oval
2007 Winner: Todd Bodine
2007 Pole: Todd Bodine
2008 Standings:
Rk Driver Points
1 R. Hornaday Jr. 3,027
2 J. Benson 2,988
3 M. Crafton 2,809
4 T. Bodine 2,791
5 E. Darnell 2,771
6 M. Skinner 2,769
7 R. Crawford 2,691
8 J. Sprague 2,538
9 D. Setzer 2,524
10 T. Cook 2,460
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