CRAFTSMAN TRUCKS

• Darnell beats Benson by inches at MIS

  
  

  Brooklyn. MI (Sports Network) - Youngster Erik Darnell got a great restart and held off a charging Johnny Benson to win Saturday's Cool City Customs 200 at the Michigan International Speedway. Darnell, in the No.99 Roush Fenway Racing Ford, crossed the finish line just 0.005 seconds ahead of the Michigan native.

  The finish was the second closest in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series history. The smallest margin of victory was a 0.001-second win by Butch Miller in July of 1995.

  The victory was Darnell's first of the season and second of his Craftsman Truck Series career.

  A caution flag on lap 94 set up a final four-lap shootout for the win. They would restart with Darnell, Scott Speed, Benson and Ron Hornaday Jr. holding down the top-four spots.

  Darnell got a great restart and pulled out a four-length lead. Meanwhile, Benson and Speed went side-by-side for second. Benson got past Speed and went after Darnell. They saw the white flag and down the back stretch Hornaday Jr. spun. But on the final lap they race back to the checkered flag.

  Benson got even with Darnell and stuck his nose ahead of him as they came out of Turn 4. They charged to the finish and Darnell came back on Benson. It was a "photo-finish" at the line and after a few moments Darnell was declared the winner.

  "Johnny raced me real clean and that's what truck racing is all about, this is exciting stuff," said Darnell. "We've had some strong runs this year, been close a couple of times, but haven't been able to pull it off. To finally get that win is going to help the team out a lot." Veteran Mike Skinner brought the 34-truck field to the green flag for 100 laps of racing over the fast two-mile MIS oval.

  But Skinner and Jack Sprague touched on the start cutting down Sprague's left-rear tire and allowing Todd Bodine to jump from third all the way to first.

  Meanwhile, series champion Ron Hornaday Jr. started at the back of the field after a pre-race engine change. Following the first caution flag he was up to 28th.

  Bodine and Speed quickly jumped out from the pack and had a one-second lead after the first dozen laps. The gap was four seconds by lap 18 as the two were clearly the quickest on the track. And Hornaday Jr. was up to 17th.

  Speed finally got past Bodine on lap 23, but it was still a two-man race - their lead almost six seconds.

  Meanwhile, Hornaday Jr. was about ready to crack the top-10 on lap 30. A debris caution flag on lap 45 came just after a round of green-flag stops to didn't disrupt the running order. although it did erase Speed and Bodine's big lead.

  Most of the leaders debated coming in at that point.

  Benson got the lead by taking fuel only. Bodine was second, but he had four new tires and Speed was third after taking right-side tires only. It wasn't long before the tires made the difference and Bodine re-took the lead.

  Another caution flag (Justin Marks spin), sent everyone down pit lane with 40 laps to go. It meant that those who came in could all go the distance with just a little help.

  Bodine, Kyle Busch and Mike Skinner were one-two-three as the green flag dropped and Busch didn't wait very long. He ducked to the inside and grabbed the lead. But back came Bodine and Skinner and they both got around Busch who got shuffled back to fourth behind Hornaday Jr.

  Busch scraped the wall and began to fall back a little as the lead group began to slice and dice with each other. Meanwhile, Speed who had restarted in 10th, was making a move and up to fourth with 30 laps to go.

  Speed was flying and with four fresh tires got past Skinner and Bodine for second place with plenty of time remaining in the 100-lap race. Speed went to the inside of Hornaday Jr., but his truck broke loose and while he gathered it back up, Erik Darnell slipped past him for second.

  There were still 25 laps to go.

  Darnell used the high line to charge past Hornaday Jr. for the lead as the defending champion slipped in behind him. Meanwhile, Benson joined the group to make it a four-way battle.

  Benson got to second and seemed to settle in behind Darnell, just stalking him. By just following Darnell instead of racing him, the two pulled away to a one-second lead on third-place Speed.

  With 10 laps to go Benson charged towards Darnell, got inside him, but couldn't hold the line and had to let off the gas pedal. That allowed Speed to catch up to the leaders, making it a three-man race and just nine laps to go.

  But the late race caution flag changed everything and set up the final run to the checkered flag. Darnell did everything right and held on for his first win of the season.

  The series will return to the track next Friday at the historic Milwaukee Mile.

  06/14 23:24:11 ET