Two Toyotas In
Top-10 Saturday Night in South Carolina
Two Toyota Tundras placed
among the top-10, and five Tundra drivers finished among
the top-20, in the penultimate race of the 2004 NASCAR
Craftsman Truck Series season at Darlington Raceway
Saturday night.


In the first-ever night race at the historic South
Carolina track -- an event which was rescheduled to
Saturday from Friday evening due to rain -- Tundra drivers
Johnny Benson and Robert Huffman registered top-10
finishes. Benson guided his No. 23 Bill Davis Racing
Tundra to a sixth-place finish and Huffman drove his No.
12 Innovative Motorsports Tundra to a ninth-place result.
"The night started out pretty rough because the truck was
just too loose," said Benson, who recorded his eighth
top-10 finish in 12 races driving the No. 23 Tundra. "We
also got lucky because we had a flat tire, but it happened
during a caution period and we were able to change it
without losing a lap. We made adjustments all night and my
Tundra just kept getting better and better. Overall, we
came out of the race pretty good."
"We had a really good run," said Huffman, the first rookie
to cross the finish line. "People told me you have to race
the track here, and I tried to do that all night long. I
tried to get around people, without getting into trouble.
The last set of tires made my Tundra a little too tight.
If we had a better set for the last stop, I think we might
have finished higher."
Todd Bodine, driver of the No. 30 Germain/Arnold Racing
Tundra, was running in third-place near the end of the
race when contact with another truck spun him out and
relegated him to 20th-place. "Early in the race, I got
into Hank (Parker Jr.) and Shane (Hmiel) when they got
together," said Bodine, following the race. "I tried to
slow down, but I just couldn't, and that really messed our
truck up. It wasn't the same aerodynamically after that,
although my guys did a good job putting it back together
-- and putting a new nose on it. We were able to come
right back and get up front again. But, I wore my tires
out getting to the front."
Bill Lester (16th), Travis Kvapil (19th), Mike Skinner
(23rd), David Reutimann (28th) and Hank Parker Jr. (35th)
were the other Tundra drivers in the Darlington field.
After 24 2004 races, three Toyota drivers sit among the
top-15 in the NCTS championship point standings. Kvapil is
seventh in the point standings with 3,046 points and
Skinner is 12th (2,887 points) in the standings. David
Reutimann is 15th (2,744 points) in the standings and also
continues to top the Rookie-of-the-Year standings.
The final NCTS race of the season is Friday, November 19,
at Miami-Homestead Speedway, beginning at 3:30 PM (EST).
SPEED Channel will provide live television coverage of the
race.
Toyota Finishing Positions @ Darlington Raceway
6th Johnny Benson - Bill Davis Racing, No. 23 Toyota
Tundra
9th Robert Huffman - Innovative Motorsports, No. 12 Toyota
Tundra
16th Bill Lester - Bill Davis Racing, No. 22 Toyota Tundra
19th Travis Kvapil - Bang Racing, No. 24 Toyota All-Star
Showdown Tundra
20th Todd Bodine - Germain/Arnold Racing, No. 30 Toyota
Tundra
23rd Mike Skinner - Bill Davis Racing, No. 5 Toyota Tundra
28th David Reutimann - Darrell Waltrip Motorsports, No. 17
NTN Bearings Tundra
35th Hank Parker Jr. - Innovative Motorsports, No. 21
AirVest Tundra
Toyota Drivers in the NCTS Point Standings - following
Darlington Raceway
7th Travis Kvapil - 3,046 points
12th Mike Skinner - 2,887 points
15th David Reutimann - 2,744 points
17th Hank Parker Jr. - 2,625 points
21st Bill Lester - 2,309 points
23rd Robert Huffman - 2,256 points
25th Johnny Benson - 1,683 points
27th Todd Bodine - 1,317 points