CRAFTSMAN TRUCKS

• Speed is third straight first-time truck winner

  
  

  Dover, DE (Sports Network) - Former Formula One driver Scott Speed, in just his sixth Craftsman Truck Series race, won Friday's AAA Insurance 200 at the one-mile Dover International Speedway. Speed joins first-time winners Matt Crafton (Lowe's) and Donny Lia (Mansfield) in Victory Lane. The No.22 Red Bull Toyota crossed the finish line comfortably ahead of runner-up Jack Sprague.

  Speed's pit crew used a two-tire stop late in the race to get him track position and he drove around Todd Bodine (no tires) for the lead.

  "The truck seemed a little quicker (with just two tires)," said Speed after the race.

  From there it was a "simple" matter of holding off a group of former champions in Sprague, Ron Hornaday Jr. and Travis Kvapil for the victory.

  All-time pole winning record-holder Mike Skinner led the field to the green flag for 200 laps of racing around the "Monster Mile." But Kyle Busch never likes to follow and as they crossed the start/finish line for the first time, the No.51 Toyota had passed Skinner for the lead.

  Busch quickly built the margin to two seconds and we were still less than 10 laps into the race. The other early item of note was last week's winner, Donny Lia, slapping the wall and dropping from eighth on the starting grid to 13th.

  Then on lap 13, rookie Ryan Seaman brought out the first caution flag to slow the field.

  Again Busch jumped out to a straightaway lead after the caution flag, but behind him Skinner and Johnny Benson were locked in a battle of Bill Davis Racing teammates. Meanwhile, Hornaday Jr. got around Speed for fourth.

  Busch's lead was about five seconds on Hornaday Jr. as they approached 50 laps and yet he was "just cruising" according to his crew chief. But another caution flag quickly erased the big lead. Two stops on pit road, for a missing lug nut because of a faulty air hose, put Skinner at the back of the field.

  The green flag dropped at lap 58 and off went Busch, at least until lap 63 when Andy Lally spun. Shane Sieg and the lapped car of Brendan Gaughan also got together at the same time.

  They restarted on lap 68 and Busch, Benson and Hornaday Jr. all got off to good starts, getting in front of the lapped trucks while Sprague and Matt Crafton fought it out for fourth. But no one was able to stay with Busch and again the lead was 1.5 seconds after just a few laps of green-flag racing.

  Hornaday Jr. got around Benson for second, but he was still a long way behind the No.51 truck. Then just before the halfway point Busch's Toyota began to smoke and it was bad enough to bring out a caution flag. It was a transmission leak and Busch's chance to win went up in the grey fog.

  Hornaday Jr.

  inherited the lead as they went back to green on lap 100, but Crafton was hanging right with him.

  More caution flags slowed to action and Hornaday Jr. and Crafton were still one-two at lap 130.

  On the following caution everyone came in for fuel and tires except Terry Cook, Todd Bodine and Sieg. Speed (two tire change), Ted Musgrave and Sprague beat Hornaday Jr. out and were fourth through seventh as they went back to green.

  After the green flag Bodine quickly grabbed the lead with Sieg battling Speed for second place. Speed beat him and took off after Bodine, who appeared to be trying to go the final 78 laps without stopping.

  Speed, with newer tires, caught him and passed him before lap 150. Hornaday Jr., who had gotten four fresh tires on the last stop, was also closing on Bodine and would make the pass.

  Bodine would fall to fifth and then slap the outside wall to end his chance at a victory and set up a 22-lap shootout for the win. Speed got a good restart and the "King of Restarts," Hornaday Jr. made a rare mistake, spinning his tires and fell to third behind Sprague.

  Ten laps to go and unless Speed made an error or got an unlucky caution flag, the race was his. His lead was more than two seconds and he had little traffic in front of him. The lead was 3.3 seconds with just three laps to go and in just his sixth truck race, Speed made the extra turn into Victory Lane.

  Rick Crawford will take a 20-point lead over Crafton and 24 points over Hornaday Jr. heading to next Friday's race at Texas Motor Speedway.

  05/30 20:05:40 ET