Kvapil Wins Rain Delayed Sylvania 200
by Charles Krall, TrackSide Editor

Travis Kvapil stalked Jamie McMurray for 30 laps and made a power move to the inside on a late race restart to take the lead and the win in the Sylvania 200 presented by Lowe’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at New Hampshire International Speedway on Saturday. Kvapil, whose team has been embroiled in numerous rumors over the course of the past six weeks, gave Toyota it’s second win of the 2004 season.  With rains delaying the start, NASCAR mandated a green-yellow situation on the start which officially started the event, but kept the drivers under the caution flag. This situation lasted for the first 36 laps of the event.

When the field took the green, Jack Sprague snookered outside front row starter David Starr, causing Starr to lose several spots on the initial start. Sprague darted out to a lead, but had defending series champion Travis Kvapil right on his tailgate.

As the field completed lap 44, Terry Cook’s Ford erupted in smoke entering turn three, bringing out the second caution of the afternoon. Cook’s problems were terminal, forcing him to the garage and ending his afternoon.

The field took the green to restart on lap 46, and Sprague again pulled out to the lead with Kvapil on his tail. Shane Hmiel flexed the muscle in his ride and quickly moved to third and started to pressure Kvapil for second. As Sprague completed lap 50, Hmiel moved past Kvapil to take over the second position and started to chase down the leader.

Hmiel quickly closed the gap on Sprague and took the top spot just before the field took the competition caution, which NASCAR brought out on lap 65. As the leaders completed lap 65 they caught Tracy Hines, who had been tagged on the previous restart and sent into the turn one wall. With Hines in the outside groove, Sprague seized the opportunity and dove to the inside. Just as Sprague was making a move to pass the leader, the caution waved, preserving Hmiel’s lead.

On pit road, Dennis Setzer drove into the wrong pit stall and boxed Hmiel in, costing him several seconds on pit road. Matt Crafton beat Mike Skinner, Ricky Craven, Starr, and Hmiel off pit road to take over the lead.

Skinner immediately dove to the inside to pressure Crafton for the lead, and as the two trucks bounced off one another, everyone checked up though turns three and four, allowing Hmeil to move up to second. The next lap off turn four, Hmiel powered around the outside and took over the lead.

On lap 76, Jon Wood and Ted Musgrave came together coming off turn two, sending Wood head on into the backstretch wall. Several trucks narrowly missed making contact, and Wood then limped his damaged truck to the garage area.

After a quick caution, Hmiel took the green to restart the race on lap 79. Skinner again dove inside and pressure Hmiel for the lead. As the field came to complete lap 80, Robert Huffman pushed into the outside wall coming off turn four, and collected Andy Houston as he came down off the wall. The caution did not come out, and both drivers drove back to the garage.

As Huffman pulled down on to pit road, Ricky Craven broke loose underneath Matt Crafton in turn one, and bounced his machine off the SAFER Barrier in turn two. Crafton narrowly avoided being collected in the incident, which sent Craven behind the wall with terminal nose damage.

Hmiel drove hard into turn one on the restart but had a big wiggle coming off turn two, allowing Skinner to retake the top spot on lap 87. By lap 92, Hmiel had chased him back down and power past to retake the lead for the third time in the event.

Hmiel led at halfway, with Skinner, Crafton, Jamie McMurray, and Bobby Hamilton rounding out the top-5.

On lap 101, NASCAR called for a quick caution so track officials could attend to a quick weeper that sprung under the retaining wall in turn one. With the pit open, most of the leaders came down for service, planning on the race going the full distance. Hmiel, Hamilton, and Starr stayed out, and Musrgave beat Crafton to win the race off pit road.

On the restart, Hmiel led Hamilton and Starr while some of the drivers behind were banging off one another. The accordion effect eventually caught out Kelly Sutton, who spun in turn four but did not bring out the caution flag.

Hamilton dove under Hmiel on lap 111, but Hmiel fought hard on the outside. Hmiel powered off the outside of turn two on lap 112 and kept his machine out front while Hamilton fell back into second. Steve Park, who started the event from the tail after his team changed engines after practice, ran fourth behind Starr, and rookie Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-5.

Chase Montgomery spun to the inside of turns three and four to bring out the caution on lap 117. As the sun popped through the clouds, many of the leaders came to the pit road to make the remainder of the distance on tires and fuel. Hamilton stayed out to pick up the five bonus points for leading, but as the field came to the one to go signal, he dove down pit road to get his service. That put Park into the lead, with Hamlin, McMurray, Crafton, and Kvapil rounding out the top-5.

On the restart, McMurray got a great jump and powered past Hamlin into second. On the break, Hamilton was penalized for jumping the start and was forced to make a pass thru penalty down pit road. This put the leaders right on his tail when he exited the pits on lap 125.

Hamilton pulled away from Park after serving his penalty, and caught a break on lap 136 when Kvapil and Crafton made contact in turn two. Crafton went on a wild 360 spin, sending up a huge cloud of smoke, bringing out the caution. Park and Hamlin led the charge down pit road, with McMurray taking over the point for the first time in the race.

McMurray took the green on lap 140 and pulled Kvapil by five lengths going into turn three. The action the pack was intense as Park and Hamlin tried to make their way back towards the front, with Hamilton and Crafton on their tailgates.

At lap 150, McMurray led Kvapil, Hmiel, Johny Benson, and Rick Crawford. Dennis Setzer was sixth, with David Reutimann, Jack Sprague, Hank Parker, and Ted Musgrave rounding out the top-10.

With 40 laps to go, Sprague made a strong move to pass Crawford for fifth. Carl Edwards followed him through and moved into sixth and both set sail for the leaders, who had pulled to a full straightaway advantage.

As darkness settled in, Kvapil started to pressure McMurray for the lead. At lap 165, he was just off the leader’s decklid and looking to use lapped traffic to his advantage to make the pass.

With 25 to go, Kvapil really turned up the heat and started nosing into the tailgate of McMurray’s truck. On lap 177, Kvapil moved to the outside and powered into the lead coming across the stripe on lap 178. McMurray turned up with wick and retook the lead down the backstretch and led lap 179, but Kvapil stayed less than a truck length back.

Kvapil kept the pressure on in the outside lane, but the side-by-side racing allowed Hmiel to close the gap. Just as Hmiel caught them to make it a three way race for the lead, Kelly Sutton had a tire go down and she stopped on the outside of turn 4. With 15 laps to go, McMurray led Kvapil, Hmiel, Benson and Sprague, with Edwards, Reutimann, Setzer, Musgrave and Starr rounding out the top-10.

After trying the outside several times, Kvapil dove to the inside on lap 188 and drove hard down into turn one to snatch the lead from McMurray. McMurray ran out of fuel on lap 195 to take the pressure off Kvapil, and Hmiel ran out of fuel on the next lap. Kvapil’s win was preserved when Bobby Dotter and Bill Lester came together coming out of turn four and made hard contact with the turn four wall.

Jack Sprague ran his way to second, with Johnny Benson giving Toyota two top-3 finishers, Carl Edwards was fourth, and David Reutimann finished fifth. Dennis Setzer was sixth, with Ted Musgrave, David Starr, Hank Parker, and Mike Skinner rounding out the top-10