Friday, November 16 Homestead-Miami Speedway Homestead, Florida

Johnny Benson won the Ford 200.

Benson Wins Ford 200; Hornaday Claims Third Title
By Reid Spencer, Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (November 16, 2007) -- This was the kind of race that might make Jimmie Johnson nervous.

Johnny Benson won the Ford 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race with a last-lap pass on a green-white-checkered-flag restart that sent the event four laps beyond its posted distance; in the process, Ron Hornaday Jr. won his third series championship when the anticipated shootout between Hornaday and points leader Mike Skinner failed to materialize.

Skinner entered the race with a 29-point lead but exited the season finale 54 points behind Hornaday. Johnson will take the green flag in Sunday's Ford 400 Nextel Cup race with an 86-point lead over teammate Jeff Gordon.

Benson passed runner-up Kyle Busch on the final lap at the 1.5-mile track after Chris Jones' spin on Lap 133 brought out the fourth and final caution of the race. Benson crossed the finish line .60 seconds ahead of Busch, with Rick Crawford finishing third, Kevin Harvick (Hornaday's truck owner) fourth and Jason Leffler fifth.

But the expected fireworks between Skinner and Hornaday never happened.

The sparks flew, all right, but not from an intense battle between the two championship leaders. The sparks were a product of contact between the left rear hub of Skinner's truck and the asphalt, after his star-crossed Tundra jettisoned its left rear wheel on Lap 75, and with it, Skinner's dreams of a championship in Toyota's 100th race in the series.

Hornaday secured the championship, his third in the series, in the absence of a pitched battle with his rival. The driver of the No. 33 Chevrolet soldiered to a seventh-place finish, the last truck on the lead lap.

"I hate to see it for Mike, but only one of us could win it," Hornaday said.

The title race took a drastic turn on Lap 25, when Skinner slowed from the lead off Turn 4, believing his right front tire was losing air. Skinner brought the No. 5 truck to pit road on Lap 26, where his crew changed right-side tires, but Skinner lost a lap in the process.

That was just the beginning of Skinner's troubles. On Lap 74 he slowed again, this time with a vibration that preceded his left rear wheel falling off as he rolled through Turns 3 and 4 a lap later. With two wheel studs having been broken during the mishap, the No. 5 crew was unable to tighten the lug nuts to secure a new tire.

Skinner brought his Toyota to the garage where the crew changed the left rear hub, but the repairs cost the points leader another 10 laps and any hopes of winning the championship he might have had.

"We changed right-side tires, but that didn't fix it," Skinner said. "Eventually the hub just came apart."

Benson finished third in the point standings followed by 2006 champion Todd Bodine and Crawford. Travis Kvapil, who held third at the start of the race, fell to sixth after finishing 21st.

Complete Race Results and Point Standings in the Event Stats section below...


2007 NASCAR Craftsmna Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday (right) celebrates with team owner Kevin Harvick.

Checkered Flag Fast Facts

• Johnny Benson won the Ford 200, his ninth victory in 100 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races.
• This is his fourth victory and 20th top-10 finish in 2007.
• This is his first victory and second top-10 finish in four races at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
• Kyle Busch (second) posted his fourth top-10 finish in 11 races in 2007. He posted two victories and two secondplace finishes.
• Rick Crawford (third).posted his 17th top-10 finish in 2007.
• Willie Allen won the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Raybestos Rookie-of-the-Year.

Broadcast Times

• Practice: Friday, November 16 (SPEED at 11:30 a.m./AT)
• Qualifying: Friday, November 16 (SPEED at 6 p.m./AT)
• Pre-Race Show: Friday, November 16 (SPEED at 8:30 p.m./AT)
• Race: Friday, November 16 (SPEED at 9 p.m. AT)

Event Stats PDF files unless noted otherwise

Entry List

Starting Lineup

Race Results

Point Standings

Green Flag Fast Facts
The Race: Ford 200
The Place: Homestead-Miami Speedway
Track Layout: 1.5- paved oval
Race Purse: $655,346
2006 Winner: Mark Martin
2006 Pole: Mike Skinner
Schedule: Friday: Practice 8:30 a.m.–9:30 a.m., 9:45 a.m.–10:15 a.m. (rookies) and 10:25 a.m.–11:25 a.m. Qualifying 5:00 p.m.
Year-To-Date Standings: click here

Track Map



Green Flag Notes

• Mike Skinner (No. 5 Toyota Tundra Toyota) hopes history repeats itself for the 10th time. Ron Hornaday Jr. (No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet) hopes he’ll be the third to score a come-from-behind victory.
  
  Skinner, following an eighth-place finish at Phoenix International Raceway, enters the 2007 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series finale leading rival Hornaday by 29 points. The margin is the fourth-closest in series history and marks the 12th time in 13 seasons the championship has gone down to the final race.
  
  Just twice – Jack Sprague (No. 60 Con-way Freight Toyota) in 1999 and Travis Kvapil (No. 6 K&N Filters Ford) in 2003 – has the leader entering the final race failed to win the title. Sprague came from 13 points down to bypass Greg Biffle. Kvapil, 34 points behind in third place, overtook Brendan Gaughan (No. 77 South Point Chevrolet).
  
  Skinner can clinch his second championship by finishing second or third with a lap led. Hornaday can clinch by winning, leading the most laps and having Skinner finish third with zero laps led.
  
  “We've run awfully well this year – we've won five races,” said Skinner. “If they would have told me I'd win five races this year and run eighth in the points, I would have said 'okay, I'll take that.' Anything after that is a bonus.”
  
  “All we can do is keep doing what we are doing and racing hard,” said Hornaday.
• The 2007 Raybestos Rookie of the Year battle – like the overall series championship – appears to be headed for a final-lap, last-turn conclusion. Nashville’s Willie Allen (No. 13 ThorSport Chevrolet) has a seven-point lead over Tim Sauter (No. 07 Lester Buildings Chevrolet) on the eve of the Ford 200 but there’s plenty of competition left on and off the track.
  
  The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Rookie of the Year Committee will meet at Homestead and award up to 30 bonus points to each freshman competitor. There’s also an overall finish bonus of 10 points with a drop of one-point increments. Allen is 15th in series points but Sauter is just 78 back in 16th. Allen admits to looking in his mirror and listening to his spotter for positioning of his rivals. “It’s in the back of your mind where they’re running,” he said. “I definitely want to stay ahead of them.”
  
  “All in all, the season’s gone pretty well but we’ve had some good runs get away from us,” said Sauter. “We’ve just got to keep the pressure on and do the best we can.” The “wild card” in the mix is Joey Clanton (No. 09 Zaxby’s Ford). Nine points behind Allen, Clanton has competed in only 15 of 24 races and has the worst finish of the three contenders – five points – to discard.
  
  “We have to make the best of it at Homestead and go get a top 10 and let the cards fall where they may,” he said.
• As they say, “Do the math.” Every spot in the current top 10 could change with the results of Friday night’s Ford 200. The tightest battles are for positions third and 10th. Four drivers have a shot at the No. 3 position that Travis Kvapil has held since his victory in Nashville. Tenth – the final spot on-stage at the awards banquet – is tighter yet. Erik Darnell faces three challengers within 13 points.
• This week’s race marks the 100th time a Toyota Tundra truck has taken the green flag in a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race. Since 2004, the manufacturer has won 37 times including 12 this season. Toyota already clinched its second consecutive Manufacturers’ Championship and is hoping to clinch a second consecutive driver title.

IMPORTANT: All information, schedules and/or scheduled events is/are subject to change without notice. Please check with the source to confirm.