With the 2008 season winding down, the No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles team knew Texas Motor Speedway would be a pivotal race in deciding the 2008 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Champion.  Earlier in the season, Johnny Benson and his Bill Davis Racing team had a strong run at the 1.5-mile speedway and brought their Tundra home in the third spot.  The team knew it would have to repeat that performance in order to stay alive in the championship hunt.

The team used the two practice sessions Thursday to prepare its truck the 146-lap event Friday night.  Benson and Crew Chief Trip Bruce had a plan of attack and methodically went through each change.  Benson said the truck handled tight getting into the corners, which hurt his speed.  The team made significant changes to the front end geometry, hoping it would help the truck rotate.  By the end of practice, Benson was pleased with the progress the team’s Tundra had made and was optimistic about another strong run at the “Great American Speedway.”

Benson lined up in the 20th spot for the start of Friday night’s event and immediately started to navigate his way through the 36-truck field.  On lap 15, he explained to his team that his Tundra was still really tight into the corners.  The handling issues did not hinder him from passing trucks both on the outside and inside of the track.  By lap 25, Benson was in the top-10 and setting up his next pass.

Benson and the rest of the field were slowed by caution on lap 56, and the No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles team serviced its truck on lap 58.  The team made air pressure and chassis adjustments during the four tire stop, and Benson restarted seventh on lap 69.

Two laps later, Benson communicated to his team that the truck was still really tight in the corners.  Bruce and the team discussed what changes to make during the final pit stop of the night.  The team knew it only had one more shot to get the truck right before the end of the race.  Although the truck’s handling was tight, Benson’s lap times were consistently as fast as those of the leader.

The team made its final pit stop of the evening under caution flag on lap 95.  Another four-tire stop yielded major adjustments designed to push Benson to the front.  Benson restarted seventh on lap 98.

With only 48 laps remaining in the race, Benson knew he had to gain as much ground as possible.  With five laps to go, Benson passed the No. 6 truck for the fourth position.  He then went to work on fellow Toyota Tundra driver Todd Bodine.  Benson pulled to the inside of Bodine coming to the checkered flag to take the third spot.  With the pass, Benson regained the point lead over championship contender Ron Hornaday.  The two are only separated by six points with two events left in the 2008 season.

All three Bill Davis Racing Toyota Tundra machines finished Friday night’s event in the top 10.  This was the fifth time this season all three entries have had a top-10 result, which leads all other NCTS teams.

The No.23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles team will be back in action Friday night at Phoenix International Raceway.  The race is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. MT.  The race can be seen live on the Speed Channel beginning at 5:30 p.m. MT.

• This Week’s Race Truck for Texas Motor Speedway is Chassis No. 23-73.  Chassis No. 23-73 was the Tundra with which the No. 23 team finished seventh last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
• Certified Leader… Toyota Certified Used Vehicles will serve as the primary sponsor of the No. 23 Toyota Tundra team at Texas Motor Speedway.  The used car leader is the first in the automotive industry to surpass two million certified used vehicles sold.
• Cattle, Anyone?  Team owner Bill Davis will be busy this weekend.  Not only will he attend the weekend’s activities at TMS, he will also be at his ranch in Concord, Ark., for the second-annual Chimney Rock 500, the premiere Brangus cattle sale.  The two-day event will begin Thursday afternoon with a commercial female sale, then carry into Friday for the registered herd sale.  The event will attract more than 1,000 cattlemen from all over the world to the state-of-the-art facility on Davis’ ranch.  For more information on Chimney Rock Cattle Company, please visit www.chimneyrockcattle.com.
• Autographs, Anyone?  Johnny Benson will sign autographs at Sport City Toyota in Dallas, Texas, Wednesday, Oct. 29 from 5:15 p.m. CST to 6:30 p.m. CST.  Visit sportcity.com for more information.
• Listen and Watch… The Silverado 350K is scheduled to start at 9 p.m. ET Friday, Oct. 31.  It will broadcast on SPEED (TV), MRN (radio) and Sirius Satellite Radio (Ch. 128).