Benson Still Leads with Three to Go
By:  Toyota Motorsports

Martinsville - "The Place To Be"

JB Fan Cliff Calton made his presence known at Martinsville Speedway.  Cliff a long time Benson fan who resides in North Carolina hung out in the garage area for the Craftsman Truck Race. 

Cliff - you got a little to close to the trophy and we are surprised you did not slip on a Toyota Certified Used Vehicle Uniform! 

Thanks for your support, Cliff!

Martinsville Race Review
By:  Toyota Motorsports

Johnny Wins in Martinsville!

Johnny Scores 50th Win for Toyota
Johnny Benson scored his fifth NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) victory of the season Saturday afternoon at Martinsville Speedway, regaining the lead in the unofficial NCTS point standings with four races remaining.

The win is the 50th victory for Toyota in NCTS competition since joining the series in 2004 (121 races) and the 14th career victory in a Tundra for Benson. Today's win also marked the 12th win for a Tundra this season.

"That was pretty cool," said Benson, following the race. "I learned a lot today -- probably more from the 24 (Jeff Gordon) today sitting down in (turns) one and two during our three hours worth of sitting around waiting for the race to start. So I sat down there and watched (NSCS practice) for a bit. I watched a bunch of different lines down there and Trip (Bruce, crew chief) gave me a good truck, no doubt, but just a couple of different lines down there really worked out great. I love Martinsville. I don't like sometimes how it races here, but it's cool to be in victory lane here, I can tell you that."

Benson started fifth in the No. 23 Bill Davis Racing Tundra and led once for 46 laps en route to his fifth victory in the last 11 races. Benson took the lead on lap 155 of the 200-lap race from pole-sitter Ron Hornaday Jr. Hornaday Jr., who led the points race coming into Saturday's race, ran out of fuel with four laps remaining and finished 29th."

"That was pretty exciting there a couple of times when we were battling for the lead -- both myself and Ron (Hornaday Jr.), but we had a great battle," added Benson. "It was pretty cool. I knew Ron (Hornaday Jr.) was having a little problem braking and getting into the corner. I'd see him locking up the left front (tire) every once and a while. So I knew if I got beside him I'd run him hard enough that hopefully he had locked it up and I think that's really what happened and I was able to get by.

Kyle Busch finished fourth in the No. 51 Miccosukee Resorts Tundra, the 23-year-old's 12th top-10 finish in 14 NCTS starts in 2008. Todd Bodine also recorded a top-five finish for Toyota with a fifth-place result, giving Toyota three top-five finishing positions for the second consecutive race.

Scott Speed (seventh) also finished in the top-10 for Toyota, while Tundra drivers Jack Sprague (11th), Mike Skinner (12th), Brian Scott (14th), Terry Cook (16th), Jason White (17th), David Starr (33rd), Dustin Skinner (34th) and Sean Caisse (36th) were also in the field. Dustin Skinner and Caisse both made their first-ever NCTS start on Saturday at the half-mile Virginia oval.

With his win, Benson regained the point lead in the unofficial NCTS driver standings following Martinsville, holding a 65-point lead over second-place Hornaday Jr. Tundra drivers Bodine (fourth), Skinner (fifth) and Cook (10th) are also in the top-10 in points with four races remaining.

The next race on the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule is at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Oct. 25.

Pals Hornaday, Benson in a battle
By Aaron McFarling
They are friends off the track, the kind of guys who will have a beer in the hauler and talk about family and racing long after the fans have gone home.  They've had dinner together with their wives. They've been bobsledding together in New York.

But for Ron Hornaday and Johnny Benson, the chumminess will have to slide into the back seat for a few more weeks. Entering today's Kroger 200 at Martinsville Speedway, both drivers are closing in on personal milestones, and neither can afford to give his buddy a break.

Hornaday leads Benson by 39 points in the Craftsman Truck Series standings. Nobody else is within 200 of the lead. And with only five races left on the schedule, Benson can't allow himself to fall any farther behind if he hopes to win his first trucks title.  "We've got to go dig and go get him," said Benson, 45. "Our team's capable of doing that, but Ron's team's capable of winning a championship, too."

Hornaday proved that yet again last year, when he captured his third career trucks championship. If he can hold on this year, he'll become the first back-to-back champion in series history and the first to win four titles.Hornaday -- 50 years old and a grandfather of four -- would also be the oldest champion in series history.

"I've definitely got a lot of fans this year," Hornaday said with a chuckle. "I get a lot of calls from the elderly drivers saying, 'Hey, at least you're showing we can still do it.' But I feel like I'm 18 when I get out of the things."

It helps when you're winning, and Hornaday has visited Victory Lane five times so far. But Benson put together an impressive stretch of his own beginning in June, when he finished in the top five in seven of eight starts and collected four victories. 

On Aug. 20, Benson saw his points lead over Hornaday bulge to 119, but he didn't feel he was in command. "You're never in control of this deal until it's over with," said Benson, the 1995 Busch Series champion who won a Cup race at Rockingham in 2002. "You can look at probably the last five years and it's come down to the last race -- matter of fact, often it comes down to the last lap to decide who's going to win the championship. I don't foresee that to be any different this year."

Hornaday would like to see it change. After surging to the points lead with a second-place finish at Talladega two weeks ago, he's been reminded of how good it feels to be on top. "It would probably feel even better this year," Hornaday said of winning a title. "To go back-to-back is tough to do in any series."

Hornaday has done it before -- in the NASCAR Southwest Tour Series in 1992-93. "It was the hardest thing we've ever done," he said. "Now we're expected to do it."

Neither Hornaday nor Benson has a victory at Martinsville despite a combined 22 starts. So today's event -- always an unpredictable one here -- could go far in determining the fourth-closest points race in series history at this stage of the season. The rainout of Friday's practice throws more uncertainty into the mix when the green flag drops at 3 p.m. today.

Still, Benson says the friendship will not be jeopardized by earnest competition -- or even some late contact today. "I don't foresee that changing no matter what happens," Benson said. "We've seen other drivers that are close like that, where incidents have happened and you may not talk for a week or two. We may be [ticked] for a little while, but it goes away in time. The friendship deal is hard to come by."

So, both drivers know, is a title.
 

Shoemaker, Wright, Root, Anderson, Senneker, Bergakker and Campbell victorious at the Boyne at Berlin

The Boyne at Berlin saw an action-packed and caution-filled night of racing.  Brandon Wright took home the trophy in the Instant Cash Advance Sportsman division, as did Scott Root in the De-Jay Slick Truck Pro Stock class.  Denny Anderson won the Engine Pro Super Stock race and Terry Senneker won in the Coors Light Late Models. Rob Shoemaker was the Burnips Equipment 4-Cylinder Feature winner, Brian Bergakker won the USA Modified feature and Brian Campbell took the checkers in the CRA Super Series. 

The Instant Cash Advance Sportsman got the night started with a 25-lap feature; #38 Maurice Davis was on the pole with #33 Allen Davis on his outside.  M. Davis held on to the lead while A. Davis fell back to fourth.  #6 Terry Bockheim was working the outside, trying to pass M. Davis, but he was able to hold him off.  Lap 6 saw the first caution of the night for a spin involving the #36X Mike Barendse.  Caution was out again on the next lap later, the #81 Marc Coleman spun on the frontstretch and #551 Mat VanHorssen was unable to avoid and the two collided.  On the restart, #89 Kirk Meissner spun coming out of turn 3, bringing out the third caution of the race.  There was a three-car breakaway with M. Davis, #48 Brandon Wright and A. Davis when the fourth caution came out; #36 Rose Leland spun coming out of turn 4.  After the restart, the field had mostly settled into single-file racing, but the car to watch was #2 Shawn Simon.  After starting 15^th, he made his was up to 6^th while M. Davis was in control with a one-second lead.  The fifth caution came out on lap 21 when Leland blew an engine and spun in turn two. With four laps to go, the race was restarted and Wright went after M. Davis.  After a dramatic last-lap pass that saw the two cars cross the start/finish line side-by side, Wright got his first-ever win, .032 seconds over M. Davis.  The rest of the top ten were A. Davis, #88 Tony Davis, Simon, #62 Richard DeJong, #88 Lisa Crawford, #44 Brian VanZalen, Meissner and #1 Charlie Adams.

The De-Jay Slick Truck Pro Stocks rolled next with #15 Scott Root and #15 Garison Jewett on the front row.  Jewett took the lead while the rest of the field raced single file.  The first caution of the race came out on lap 10 for Jewett; while passing a slower car, it appeared that he was off of the pace and came to a stop on the frontstretch just out of turn 4.  This gave the lead to Root, who lead the single-file field to the restart.  #76 Brian Tillema was making his way to the front, passing #11 Nick Bonstell on lap 5 for 4^th and then passing #20 Dave Hull for 2^nd on lap 18.  Their battle let Root get a two-second lead which was promptly erased on lap 20 with #11 Nick Bonstell encountered problems and went off of the backstretch.  Root brought them down for the restart, but this time he had Tillema right on his bumper.  Root seemed to have no problem putting distance between himself and Tillema while the battle for 3^rd was heating up between Hull and #76 Ryan Gruppen.  Their battle for third brought out the third caution of the race when Gruppen spun in turn 2.  After holding the field off after another restart, Root cruised to his fourth victory of the season.  Completing the top ten were Tillema, Hull, #61 Jack DeJong, #17 Ryan Meldrum, #26 Brian Thome, #51 Weston Jewett, #40 Dave Cutler, #8 Sadie Klein and #20J George Munniksma.

Up next were the Engine Pro Super Stocks for their 35-lap feature, #3ish Travis Nylaan and #71 Kyle Ballard were on the front row.  They raced caution-free with Nylaan leading until lap 14 when the first caution came out.  The #5 of Cal Castle spun coming out of turn 4.  After a single-file restart, #18 Denny Anderson got side-by-side with Nylaan as Ballard and #1 Brian Wiersma were battling side-by-side for 3^rd.  On lap 17 Anderson grabbed the lead just as the caution came out; #8 Billy Eppink went off of the backstretch.  Anderson took off from the field on the restart and with 10 laps to go, he had a 2.5-second lead.  Anderson doubled his lead as Nylaan, Ballard, #1 Brian Wiersma, #12 Josh Slade and #13 James Haney were all looking for the second position.  It looked as if Anderson was going to easily cruise to Victory Lane, but a caution flag on the last lap for the spinning car of Haney bunched the field back up.  With the green and white waving at the same time, Anderson held off the field to get his third win.  The rest of the top ten were Ballard, Slade, Wiersma, #26 Chris Muyskens, Nylaan, #77 Andrew Nylaan, #55 Dave Lake, #76 Warren Speet and Castle. 

The 100-lap Coors Light Late Model feature rolled next, #1 Randy Sweet and #8 Phil Bozell lead the field to the green flag.  Sweet lead the field with #27 Billy Shotko running second and the two cars were pulling away from the field.  Caution was out on lap 10, Shotko spun after he blew a tire and then #71 Scott Hantz and #8 Dakota Carlson made contact.  By lap 21, Sweet had a commanding lead, almost 3 seconds ahead of Bozell, but Bozell was slowly catching him.  On lap 32, Sweet dropped out of the race and handed the lead to Bozell.  On the same lap, the yellow flag came out again for the #12 of Tim DeVos.  On the restart, #82 Tom Thomas was stalking Bozell, but the battle to watch was for 3^rd between #15 Brian Maxim, #32 Ross Meeuwsen and #37 Terry Senneker.  That battle ended in caution number 3 when Maxim went off of the backstretch after contact with Meeuwsen.  Six laps later, caution was out again; #29 Chad Finley spun on the frontstretch.  On lap 58 the leaders were coming up on lapped cars and on lap 61, #14 Steve Needles was off the pace, bringing out the fifth caution.  During that caution, Tom Thomas gave up second position by going to the pits; Senneker inherited the position.  On Lap 82, debris on the frontstretch slowed the field and after the restart, Senneker went after Bozell.  Senneker had moved to Bozell's outside, but Bozell threw the block on Senneker two laps in a row.  By lap 87, Senneker managed to get around him, but Bozell caught back up when the leaders were fighting lapped traffic.  With one lap to go, it was going to be a close finish, but Meeuwsen spun in turn three, bringing out the caution which resulted in a red flag due to oil on the track.  Once the race was restarted, there was no catching Senneker who went on to get his second win of the season.  Bozell, #101 Joe Bush, #61 John Grega, #28 Scott Thomas, #222 Caleb Bisacky, Needles, #19 Nick Shotko, Maxim, and B. Shotko completed the top ten. 

The USA Modified 50-lap feature followed with #12 Brian Bergakker and #29 Tom Hernley started on the front row.  The Modifieds went three-wide on the start of the race, so #11 Brian Nester grabbed the lead and Bergakker was shuffled back to fourth.  The first caution of the race came out on lap 9 for a wreck in turn three and after clean-up, Bergakker was on the move.  He took 2^nd from Hernley on lap 8 and then he began to reel in Nester.  By lap 15, he caught Nester and used the outside to make the pass on lap 17.  Caution was out again on lap 22 for another pile-up in turn 3.  On the restart, debris from #42 Joe Axsom brought out the caution again.  After the race was restarted, Bergakker continued to lead and started to pull away from Nester to grab the win.  The rest of the top ten were Nester, #99 Jake Meyerink, Hernley, #28 Scott Coe, #10 Bud Perry, #25 Mike Brooks, #78 Travis Eddy, #$ John Beach and #14 Tim Burkett.

The CRA Super Series took the track next for their 125-lap feature with #00 Andy Ponstein and #72 Scott Hantz on the front row.  Lap one saw the first caution of the night with a 4-car accident in the turn 2 wall involving #21 Terry VanHaitsma, #7 Jason Dietsch, #31 Aaron Pierce and #81 Terry Fisher, Jr.  As soon as the green flag flew, the caution was out again for debris.  Two laps later, the caution was out again for a spin in turn 3.  Once the race got started, #121 Robbie Pyle established himself as the leader and the drivers settled in to a long green-flag run.  #77 Brian Campbell was on the move, he took 2^nd on lap 19 and then set his sights on the leader.  On lap 49, the leaders we in heavy traffic and that gave Campbell an opportunity to close in.  Once they were clear of the lapped cars, Pyle was able to pull away from Campbell again.  #16 Johnny VanDoorn was also having a nice run, making his way from starting 10^th to running in 3^rd on lap 63.  Campbell caught Pyle again on lap 65, but Pyle was holding him off.  On lap 79, VanDoorn caught Campbell and Pyle and passed them both while the trio tried to maneuver around #23 Chris Koslek.  Caution came out on lap 81 for a spin on the frontstretch involving Pierce.  VanDoorn got a great restart and managed to put some space between himself and Pyle who was still holding off Campbell.  Campbell got around Pyle on lap 88, leaving Pyle to hold off Hantz.  A change for the lead happened on lap 95 when Campbell made his way around VanDoorn and he began to pull away from the field.  Campbell went on to get the win, lapping everyone but the top four.  The rest of the top ten were Hantz, Pyle, #155 Chris Anthony, Ponstein, VanDoorn, #5 Brett Sontag, #17 Nick Bussell, #90 Tom Thomas and #04 Phil Bozell.