TALLADEGA, Ala. - Todd Bodine barely held off Rick Crawford and Johnny Benson in a three-wide finish Saturday in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.
Bodine, the reigning truck champion, was out front for a restart with two laps to go on the 2.66-mile oval, with Crawford and Benson close behind in a singlefile line of competitors. It stayed that way until the final corner of the 94-lap race, when Crawford drove high on the steeply banked track and Benson, who drives for truck owner Bill Davis of Batesville, ducked below Bodine.
That's the way they drove across the finish line, with Bodine beating Crawford by .014 seconds - about the length of a hood. Benson was .028 seconds behind the winner, with Jason Leffler, in fourth, also less than a second behind Bodine.
"We only made one change in practice to make this Toyota truck run better," said Bodine, who started from the pole. "It was awesome."
The wild race included several crashes, the biggest of which came on lap 74 when three-time series champion Jack Sprague had his right front tire blow while he was leading. Sprague tried to slow enough to get to the pits and wasbumped from behind by Benson, turning him sideways and igniting a six-truck melee.
"It's typical Talladega," Bodine said of the second truck race at the Alabama track. "The guys get racing hard and try to jockey for position at the end of the race. Somebody bumps somebody else and pretty soon everybody is crashing."
Mike Skinner, another Davis driver who came into the race with a three-point lead over Ron Hornaday Jr. in the championship, took advantage of Sprague's problem to jump into the lead. But Skinner had to pit during the last caution - brought outby Mike Wallace's spin on lap 90 - to have his flapping hood tacked down.
Hornaday, who had several close calls and fell back into the pack several times, wound up seventh, while Skinner finished 13th. That gave Hornaday the series lead by 14 points - the third time the two have swapped the top spot in the past four races. There are five races to go.
NHRA Schumacher, Fuller clinch
DINWIDDIE, Va. - Tony Schumacher led top fuel qualifying Saturday in the Torco Racing Fuels NHRA Nationals to join three other drivers - including Rogers' Rod Fuller - in clinching berths in the Countdown to 1, the two-race championship that marks the end of the NHRA Playoffs.
The Torco Racing Fuels NHRA Nationals is the fourth and final race in the first round of the playoffs, which will halve the field of title contenders from eight to four. One spot remains open in top fuel, three in funny car and two in pro stock.
Larry Dixon and Fuller also wrapped up top fuel spots Saturday, and Tony Pedregon clinched his position in funny car.
The fourth and final berth in top fuel will be the subject of a monster first-round matchup today between fourth-place Brandon Bernstein and fifthplace Bob Vandergriff Jr. Bernstein enters the race with a 27-point cushion.
Sports, Pages 29 on 10/07/2007