DAYTONA BEACH, Florida — There have been nine different race winners in the 17 races
run thus far in the 2008 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season, led by Johnny Benson and Ron
Hornaday Jr., each with four wins. Benson now leads Hornaday by 94 points.
2008 Season Highlights
• Todd Bodine’s victory at Daytona continued the streak of a different Daytona race winner for the
ninth consecutive year.
• Todd Bodine, Kyle Busch and Johnny Benson all finished in the top three in the first two races of
the season.
• Kyle Busch won at Auto Club Speedway to become the sixth different race winner in as many races
at California.
• Kyle Busch won at Atlanta, becoming the first repeat winner in eight races at Atlanta.
• Dennis Setzer won at Martinsville, his third victory at the Virginia short track, making him the all-time
win leader there.
• Ron Hornaday Jr. won at Kansas – his 34th series victory. Hornaday has won in 11 of his 12
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series seasons.
• Matt Crafton won at Lowe’s Motor Speedway – his career-first victory.
• Donny Lia won at Mansfield – his career-first victory in just eight NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
races.
• Scott Speed won at Dover – his career-first victory in just six NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
races.
• Ron Hornaday Jr. won at Texas – becoming the second repeat winner of the season and ending a
string of three straight first-time race winners.
• Erik Darnell continued truck owner Jack Roush’s prominence at Michigan, notching the 49th series
victory for the organization.
• Johnny Benson won at Milwaukee, his first victory since the season finale at Homestead in 2007.
• Ron Hornaday Jr. won at Memphis and became the first three-time winner of 2008. The victory,
coupled with Johnny Benson’s 33rd-place finish, gave Hornaday the points lead.
• Johnny Benson won at Kentucky and moved back into the points lead.
• Johnny Benson made it three consecutive trips to Victory Lane when he won at Nashville
Superspeedway. It was the fifth time in series history that a driver had won three in a row.
• Kyle Busch posted a perfect Driver Rating of 150.0 in posting his win at Bristol, his third series
victory of the season.
• Ron Hornaday Jr. became the second four-time winner of 2008 with his victory at Gateway.
Triple First-time Winners
Matt Crafton (Lowe’s Motor Speedway), Donny Lia (Mansfield) and Scott Speed (Dover) all scored
their career-first victories this season. Speed became the third first-time winner in as many races – the
third time in series history that there have been three consecutive first-time winners. Mike Skinner, Ron
Hornaday Jr. and Ken Schrader won the first three races of the series. Andy Houston (New
Hampshire), Terry Cook (Flemington) and Jimmy Hensley (Nashville) posted their career-first victories
in back-to-back races in 1998.
Career First Wins
• Matt Crafton won at Lowe’s Motor Speedway – his career-first victory in his 178th race. He set the
record for the most races before a career-first victory ever in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
Bryan Reffner held the previous mark of 111 races before his first win (1996-2000).
• Donny Lia won the following week at Mansfield – the 11th time in series history that drivers posted
career-first victories in back-to-back races, and first since 2004. Eight of the 11 instances came
during the series’ first three years (1995-1998).
Qualifying
• 90 different drivers have attempted to qualify for at least one race this season, including J.R. Norris
who qualified for Kyle Busch at Texas.
• There have been 10 different pole winners in 2008. (Qualifying was canceled at Auto Club
Speedway):
Johnny Benson (three)
Mike Skinner (three)
Ron Hornaday (two)
Erik Darnell (one)
Jack Sprague (one)
Justin Marks (one)
Kyle Busch (one)
Bobby East (one)
Todd Bodine (one)
Scott Speed (one)
Dennis Setzer (one)
• Jack Sprague set a new Martinsville qualifying record of 96.327 mph, eclipsing the mark set by Mike
Skinner one year earlier.
• Justin Marks (Texas), Bobby East (ORP) and Scott Speed (Bristol-2) posted their career-first poles
this season.
• 34 different drivers have posted top-10 starts this season, led by Ron Hornaday Jr. and Jack
Sprague with 15.
The Races
• 88 different drivers have qualified for and competed in at least one race this season. J.R. Norris
qualified for Kyle Busch at Texas but did not compete in the race.
• There have been nine different race winners in 2008:
Johnny Benson (four)
Ron Hornaday Jr. (four)
Kyle Busch (three)
Todd Bodine (one)
Dennis Setzer (one)
Matt Crafton (one)
Donny Lia (one)
Scott Speed (one)
Erik Darnell (one)
• 34 different drivers have posted top-10 finishes this season, led by Mike Skinner with 14.
The Pole Winner/Race Winner
• The pole winner (or driver that started first in cases of no qualifying) finishing position:
First 2
2nd-5th 5
6th-10th 5
11th-30th 4
31st or beyond 1
• The lap-leader performance of the pole winner (or driver that started first in cases of no qualifying):
Led First Lap 11
Led at All 15
Led Most Laps 5
Won Race 2
• The race winner’s starting positions:
Pole 3
2nd-5th 6
6th-10th 2
11th-30th 6
31st or beyond 0
• The lap-leader performance of the race winner:
Led First Lap 4
Led Most Laps 10
Led Mid-Race Lap 7
Led With 10 to Go 14
Led With One to Go 17
Note: Mid-Race lap is as scheduled regardless of shortened or extended race length.
Points
• Five drivers have led the points standings in 2008: Todd Bodine, Kyle Busch, Ron Hornaday Jr.,
Rick Crawford and Johnny Benson.
• Kyle Busch led the points for three races, his first time ever to lead the NASCAR Craftsman Truck
Series standings.
• Rick Crawford took the points lead following Dover, his first time to lead the points since he headed
the series for one week following his win in the season-opening Daytona race in 2003.
• Johnny Benson assumed the points lead at Michigan – his first time to lead the NASCAR Craftsman
Truck Series standings. Benson had been second in the points standings 13 times in his career.
• Ron Hornaday Jr., retook the points lead following race No. 12 (Memphis). It is his third stint as the
points leader this season.
• Johnny Benson reassumed the points lead following Kentucky.
• Three drivers have ranked in the top 10 in points all season: Johnny Benson, Todd Bodine and
Rick Crawford.
Laps Led
• 31 different drivers have led at least one lap in 2008.
• Ron Hornaday Jr. has led 830 laps – more than any other driver. He has led in every race except
Milwaukee, Kentucky and Bristol.
• Six different drivers have led the most laps in a race in 2008:
Ron Hornaday Jr. (six)
Kyle Busch (four)
Todd Bodine (three)
Johnny Benson (two)
Dennis Setzer (one)
David Starr (one).
Rookie Performance
• Six different rookies have been the highest-finishing rookie this season:
Colin Braun (five)
Marc Mitchell (three)
Donny Lia (three)
Scott Speed (three)
Justin Marks (two)
Brian Scott (one)
• Six different rookies have posted top-10 finishes this season – led by Colin Braun with six.
• Donny Lia won at Mansfield and became the first Raybestos Rookie of the Year contender to win in
the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series since Carl Edwards at Nashville in August 2003.
Rookie Excellence
Donny Lia and Scott Speed recorded the first back-to-back victories by different rookies in the series
history. It was the third time that back-to-back rookie victories had occurred but the other times were by
the same driver: Kurt Busch in 2000 (Milwaukee and Loudon) and Carl Edwards in 2003 (ORP and
Nashville).
Penalties
• There have been 223 on-track penalties issued this season.
• Penalty Recap:
Pitting Before Pit Road is Open 114
Too Fast Entering Pit Road 17
Too Fast Exiting Pit Road 28
Others 64
Manufacturer
• Toyota leads the manufacturers’ points standings with 118 points to 111 for Chevrolet, 82 for Ford
and 63 for Dodge.
• Toyota has nine victories in 2008 while Chevrolet has six. Dodge and Ford each have one.
• Dodge posted its first victory since Mansfield in 2005 when Dennis Setzer won at Martinsville.
Notebook
• Erik Darnell won the Keystone Light Pole Award at Daytona, posting his first pole at Daytona and
just the second of his career.
• Todd Bodine won at Daytona. Not only was it his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory
there, it was his first ever at the 2.5-mile superspeedway. Bodine was winless in nine NASCAR Sprint
Cup Series and 11 NASCAR Nationwide Series Daytona races. He also competed in six Gatorade
Duels and four Budweiser Shootouts, bringing his total number of Daytona races to 33.
• There were eight lead changes and 34 cars running at the finish at Martinsville, both tying the track
records.
• Kyle Busch won the pole at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and posted Toyota’s 50th pole in 106 NASCAR
Craftsman Truck Series races.
• Not only did Donny Lia (Mansfield) and Scott Speed (Dover) post their career-first victory this
season – for both it was the first time they had led a lap.
• Bobby East won the pole and led four laps at ORP. It was his first career pole and the first time he
has led a lap in his career.
