Darnell, who gave team owner Jack Roush his fourth truck victory and 17th race win overall on the 2-mile oval in Brooklyn, Mich., was on his way to what seemed an easy victory until rookie Mark Mitchell scraped the wall and brought out a caution seven laps from the end.
That is the closest finish under electronic timing and the second closest in series history. Butch Miller beat Mike Skinner by 0.001 seconds at Colorado National Speedway in July 1995.
NASCAR officials had to look at photos of Saturday’s finish before calling Darnell to Victory Circle.
“I think the finish was a little more exciting than I wanted it to be, but I knew that Johnny had been running me clean when he was behind me before, and I knew he wasn’t going to get into me or anything,’’ said Darnell.
“But, the way these trucks draft, the way you can side-draft with them, especially the air here at a bigger place like Michigan, I knew was going to be able to suck up to the side of me and pull off and get a run, so I had to do the same thing to him. And fortunately for me, got it right at the start-finish line and were able to beat him by just a little bit.”
Darnell looked as if he would cruise to the win but rookie Mark Mitchell’s scrape with the wall brought out a caution flag seven laps from the end and bunched up the field for the finish. Former Formula One driver Scott Speed ran third and was followed by Todd Bodine and Brendan Gaughan.
Team owner Jack Roush got a thrill at the beginning and the end of Saturday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Cool City Customs 200.
Roush of Northville performed the flyover before the start of the race at Michigan International Speedway, then saw his driver, Erik Darnell, chase down Johnny Benson for the second-closest finish in Truck Series history.
“I was out doing some other things and missed the beginning of the race,” said Roush, who did not watch from Darnell’s pit box after returning to the track after landing his P-51 Mustang. “I don’t know exactly how it ended, but he was really motivated and he deserved this, I’m sure.”
It was Darnell’s second career Truck series victory after winning last April at Kansas.
Ron Hornaday Jr., who came into the race leading the points, was spun out by Kyle Busch on the last lap, raising a huge cloud of white smoke that the whole back of the field had to drive through. But Hornaday remained low on the track and NASCAR left the green flag out to the end.
Hornaday, who began the last lap in the 100-lap event seventh, wound up 23rd, the last truck on the lead lap. He fell to third in the standings, with Benson, new runner-up Bodine and Hornaday separated by just 21 points.
After the race, Hornaday and car owner Kevin Harvick sought out Busch in the garage and there was some yelling and finger pointing among the trio before things calmed down.
“He just drove into me because he got mad because I took us four wide and passed him cleanly,” Hornaday said. “Halfway through the race, he showed me he was upset because he lifted the back of the truck up. If he is going to race that way, that is pretty chicken. He doesn’t deserve to be a racer.
“He has a lot of talent, but that is just flat stupid. ... I don’t knock any other driver, but I will tell you what, that kid has just about done wore me out. I don’t know if I have to give up this championship to teach him a lesson. I hope I don’t hurt him because, if Joe Gibbs lets him do this, I am ashamed for them.”
Busch, who got started on another weekend tripleheader with a seventh-place finish, said the bump wasn’t payback for an incident this year in Charlotte.
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