Friday, November 2 Texas Motor Speedway Fort Worth, Texas

Ted Musgrave in Victory Lane after winning a wild Silverado 350k.

Musgrave Wins Wild One
By Reid Spencer, Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

FORT WORTH, Texas (November 2, 2007) -- The bizarre Silverado 350K NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway ended under caution Friday night with Ted Musgrave the race winner and Mike Skinner enjoying an uncharacteristically comfortable cushion over Ron Hornaday in the battle for the series championship.

Both Musgrave and Skinner survived a multi-truck wreck in the first corner on an attempted green-white-checkered-flag restart on Lap 148, when leader Chad McCumbee spun his tires approaching the start/finish line and then attempted to block Jack Sprague, who was running second.

McCumbee spun after contact with Sprague's Toyota, and both trucks hit the outside wall. Rick Crawford, Terry Cook and Erik Darnell also were collected in the wreck, which brought out the seventh and final caution of the race.

Brendan Gaughan was second, and Skinner eluded the spinning trucks to finish third. Mike Bliss came home fourth, followed by Crawford. Skinner left Texas with a 57-point lead over Hornaday, who finished 18th after an earlier wreck that involved both his truck and Skinner's.

"I just tried to keep my head up and my nose clean, because I knew something was going to happen," said Musgrave, who was right about the carnage to follow. Musgrave claimed his 17th win in the series and broke a 66-race winless streak dating to 2005.

"I was thinking about making the high line move when I saw Chad spinning the wheels (on the restart)," Musgrave said. "When I saw them (McCumbee and Sprague) get together, I knew it was going to get bigger and bigger and bigger -- and it did."

A restart with four laps remaining in the 147-lap event scrambled the running order and gave Skinner breathing room in the race for the title. Hornaday and Skinner ran side-by-side through the first two turns, but McCumbee powered off Turn 2 and dived below the Skinner and Hornaday into the lead.

That's when the back of Hornaday's Chevrolet began to slide up the track. Before Hornaday could regain control, his truck clipped Skinner's Toyota, sending both spinning. A broadside hit from Matt Crafton severely wounded Hornaday's Chevy, but Skinner survived with flat-spotted tires and minor damage to the right rear of his Tundra.

NASCAR red-flagged the race for 15 minutes to clean up the debris from the wreck, which also damaged the trucks of Musgrave, Willie Allen and Darnell.

"It was a crazy, crazy race," said Skinner, who was happy to have survived the wreck in better condition than his rival. "We jumped up on the outside there, and we had good momentum. I think Ron was focused more on me than running on the inside, and he opened the door for Chad McCumbee. I don't know exactly what happened, but I was hit and spun around, and I ended up better off than the 33."

Hornaday took a one-lap penalty for moving up to pit under the red flag to give his crew a chance to examine the damage to his truck.

After pitting for two tires and splash of fuel on Lap 129 of the scheduled 147-lap event, Hornaday held a 4.5-second lead before Travis Kvapil blew a right rear tire and hit the wall out of Turn 4, bringing out the fifth caution of the race.

That bunched the field for the restart on Lap 144 with Hornaday in the lead and Skinner running second. Out of the second corner after the restart, both the race and the championship picture changed dramatically.

Complete race results and point standings in the Event Stats section below...

Broadcast Times

• Pre-Race Show: Friday, November 2 (SPEED at 9:30 p.m./AT)
• Race: Friday, November 2 (SPEED at 10 p.m. AT)

Event Stats PDF files unless noted otherwise

Entry List

Qualifying Results

Starting Lineup

Race Results

Point Standings

Green Flag Fast Facts
The Race: Silverado 350K
The Place: Texas Motor Speedway
Track Layout: 1.5-mile oval
Race Purse: $588,064
2006 Winner: Clint Bowyer
2006 Pole: Clint Bowyer
Schedule (local track time): Thursday: Practice 12:30–1:30 p.m., 2–2:30 p.m. (rookies) and 2:30–3:30 p.m., Qualifying 7 p.m.
Year-To-Date Standings: click here

Track Map



Green Flag Notes

• This weekend’s trip to Texas Motor Speedway couldn’t have come at a better time for Todd Bodine (No. 30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota). The defending series champion has won four times at Texas in six attempts, and is looking for a fifth victory to pick up much needed momentum as the season winds down. Bodine is going through a mini-slump of sorts. He finished 24th at Atlanta after a 20th-place finish at Martinsville, marking the first time he has finished worse than 20th in consecutive races since June 2005. The slip has allowed Johnny Benson (No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Toyota) to tie Bodine for fourth in the standings. Another Texas victory for Bodine would do more than pull him ahead of Benson in the standings – it would give Bodine the series record for wins at a track. He currently shares the record with Brendan Gaughan (No. 77 South Point Chevrolet). “I’m happy to have a lot of victories at Texas,” Bodine said. “I really like racing at Texas. But when we get to the track, nothing matters except we want to win. Holding the record for the most wins at Texas would be nice, but having the record on the line won’t change my approach – or the team’s approach – when we show up at the track.”
• Much like two heavyweight fighters slugging it out until the final bell, Ron Hornaday Jr. (No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet) and Mike Skinner (No. 5 Toyota Tundra Toyota) continue to trade shots, with Hornaday emerging from Atlanta with a four-point lead in the standings. Hornaday entered the weekend trailing Skinner by 11 points. It was the fifth time in the last six weeks that the two former champions have traded the points lead. Hornaday knows it won’t be the last time, either. “That’s okay for now, but after Homestead is when I’ll be jumping up and down,” Hornaday said. “I am sure Skinner will get it back next week and I will try to get it back the week after.” Hornaday has reason to be cautious headed to Texas – Skinner has five consecutive top-five finishes at the 1.5-mile oval, including three runner-up finishes. Skinner trailed only Todd Bodine in each of his three runner-up finishes. Hornaday finished fourth at Texas in June, his highest career finish at the track. “To have two great teams battling and changing the points lead each week is unbelievable,” Hornaday said.

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