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NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
Race
#23 | Silverado 350K
Texas Motor Speedway
Fort Worth, TX
Friday, November 2, 2007
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Todd Bodine and his crew chief, Mike Hillman Jr., have developed a special feeling deep in their heart for Texas Motor Speedway. And with good reason. When the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series returns to TMS this week for the The Silverado 350K, Bodine will be seeking a record fifth career victory at the track and a sweep of this year's two races there. Bodine has won four of the past six races at TMS, tying him with Brendan Gaughan for the most victories at the track in NCTS history. Bodine equaled Gaughan's mark in June by winning the Sam Town's 400 from the pole position. "Texas is one of Todd's favorite tracks. He really, really runs well there," said Hillman, who has been Bodine's crew chief for all four TMS victories. "Our setups in our trucks have been really good, and things have fallen into place. That's been the biggest thing. The last race we won there we had a carburetor issue, but pit strategy and everything worked out and we were still able to win the race." (Steve Keller/TruckSeries.com Photo)
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This time it is Mike Skinner who has a slight edge over Ron Hornaday Jr. Skinner, who trails Hornaday by only four points in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series standings, was the leader in practice Thursday afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway in preparation for Friday's Chevy Silverado 350K. Skinner had the best run of the day during the first practice session, turning a fast lap in 29.349 seconds for an average speed of 183.993 mph. He nearly matched that during the final practice with a run of 183.861 (Worth Canoy/VPS Motorimages Photo)
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Mike Skinner has been qualifying like a rookie this season. Which in his case is a good thing. Skinner turned a fast lap of 184.137 mph to pick up his 10th Bud Pole of the season during qualifying Friday night for the Silverado 350K at Texas Motor Speedway. That ties the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series record for most poles in one season set in 1995 by none other than Mike Skinner. That was the first year of the Truck Series, so it obviously was Skinner's rookie season on the circuit. "Our Tundra was real good right off the trailer," said Skinner, who also had the fastest lap time during practice. "We didn't really know if it was going to be a pole contender or not. I feel like this truck will race good, and it has raced good here." Skinner extended his record for the most career NCTS poles to 42, including 25 in the past three seasons combined. He has yet to start outside the top-10 this year, and he has qualified out of the top-five only twice. (VPS Motorimages Photo)
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There was one winner and a number of big losers Friday night in the Silverado 350 at Texas Motor Speedway. Two accidents in the final five laps stirred up the running order. When the smoke finally cleared, Ted Musgrave had his first victory in 67 races, Mike Skinner had somehow salvaged a third-place finish and regained the lead in the Truck Series point standings, and at least three drivers - including previous point leader Ron Hornaday Jr. - were frustrated at missing a shot at winning. (VPS Motorimages Photo)
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There was one winner and a number of big losers Friday night in the Silverado 350 at Texas Motor Speedway. Two accidents in the final five laps stirred up the running order. When the smoke finally cleared, Ted Musgrave had his first victory in 67 races, Mike Skinner had somehow salvaged a third-place finish and regained the lead in the Truck Series point standings, and at least three drivers - including previous point leader Ron Hornaday Jr. - were frustrated at missing a shot at winning. Musgrave held the lead early in the race, but fell back as the evening progressed. It appeared his winless streak would continue until two sets of leaders crashed in two separate late-race incidents. Those wrecks resulted in the race finishing under caution, with Musgrave in front. It was the first career victory at TMS for Musgrave, who lost one race at the track because of loose lug nuts and another because of a flat tire. "We've had a few of these stolen away from us here," Musgrave said. "It's a sweet victory to come back and have something like that fall in my hands where I had a little luck. Now I can finally say I won at Texas after so many tries. I was just hoping for a top-five (near the end), but if you play your cards right, sometimes it comes to you." Truck Series point leaders Ron Hornaday Jr. and Mike Skinner were running one-two on a restart with four laps to go. Then as Skinner tried to pass Hornaday on the high side going down the backstretch, Chad McCumbee went low and passed both drivers as the trio headed into Turn 3. That was quickly followed by Hornaday and Skinner making contact in the turn, starting a major incident that brought out the red flag for nearly 30 minutes. But while Skinner still was able to finish in third place (behind runner-up Brendan Gaughan), Hornaday slipped all the way to 18th when he was assessed a one-lap penalty for pulling into the pits and failing to stop on the track for the red flag. That enabled Skinner to turn a four-point deficit in the standings into a 57-point lead with only two races remaining in the season.
(VPS Motorimages Photo)
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The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway ended under caution Friday night with Ted Musgrave the race winner and Mike Skinner enjoying an uncharacteristically comfortable cushion over Ron Hornaday in the battle for the series championship. Both Musgrave and Skinner survived a multi-truck wreck in the first corner on an attempted green-white-checkered-flag restart on Lap 148, when leader Chad McCumbee spun his tires approaching the start/finish line and then attempted to block Jack Sprague, who was running second. "I just tried to keep my head up and my nose clean, because I knew something was going to happen," said Musgrave, who was right about the carnage to follow. Musgrave claimed his 17th win in the series and broke a 66-race winless streak dating to 2005. (VPS Motorimages Photo)
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