Craftsman Truck Series News and Notes

Championship Battle Hits Homestretch
Johnny Benson keeps his championship points lead following the race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. However with a second place finish, Ron Hornaday, Jr. cut into that lead. Benson holds only a 31-point lead over Hornaday. Looking at the final three races, Hornaday has wins at all three tracks (Texas, Phoenix and Homestead-Miami) while Benson claims wins at only two (Phoenix and Homestead-Miami).

Gone To Texas
This weekend the series will visit the Lone Star State for the second time this season. Hornaday captured his first win at the 1.5-mile track in June. Texas is known for last lap drama. The last five NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races have come down to green-white-checkered finishes.

Top-10 Continues to Shuffle After Wild Atlanta Race
The points shuffle continues for the top-10 after Atlanta. With a fourth-place finish, Todd Bodine moves up to third in points, 218 out of first. Erik Darnell jumped from sixth to fourth. He’s tied with Matt Crafton who fell from third to fifth following his 29th-place Atlanta finish. Mike Skinner had climbed up to fifth after Martinsville but shuffles back down to seventh. Chad McCumbee jumps back into the top-10 – but is tied with eleventh place Terry Cook with 2,654 points.

Tripleheader … Kyle Busch will have a busy weekend at Texas, competing in Friday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series events in addition to Sunday’s Dickies 500.