Mix a brand-new asphalt surface with a Goodyear Wrangler tire hard enough to figuratively produce sparks and what do you get?

A lot of slipping and sliding but - ironically - the cleanest NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race of the four run at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

A couple of trucks wound up in the wall, more from close racing than anything to do with tires and grip. Winner Kyle Busch turned in a record performance Friday night as he covered the 201-mile distance at an average speed of 124.845 mph.

Earlier, Mike Skinner came nowhere near duplicating his one-lap qualifying record as he wound up on the Budweiser Pole about three miles per hour shy of last year's standard.

In short, everyone adapted.

"I wouldn't say it was an easy night but it was a forgiving night," said Busch in retrospect. "We were able to cure the tire chattering problem and (then) didn't have much. I rate the new surface 'excellent'. All in all, they did a good job with the pavement. It's just that the tires are so hard. When you come up beside someone you have to slow down."

Busch's defense of his 2005 victory wasn't unprecedented but still rated as rare. The 21-year-old is just the second driver to win the same event twice in succession since 2003. There were no successful defenders in 2004 and Todd Bodine completed a two-year sweep of Texas Motor Speedway's fall races last November.

Erin Crocker, by her own admission, has labored since graduating to NASCAR's national touring series after a successful stint in ARCA and as a World of Outlaws winner. On Friday, she showed a flash of the brilliance predicted by team owner Ray Evernham qualifying second to 25-time Budweiser Pole winner Mike Skinner.

In doing so, Crocker ousted Tammy Jo Kirk as the series' highest qualifying female driver. Kirk timed third in 1997 at the old Portland Speedway, a now defunct half-mile oval.

Time trials proved to be ecumenical if not a predictor of the race itself. Winner Busch came from 20th with runnerup Cook gridded seventh and third-place Bodine a distant 26th in the lineup. Lowe's marked the first time that each manufacturer landed a spot in the top four.

Skinner failed to finish due to engine trouble, Crocker was 18th in her best series run and No. 3 qualifier Marcos Ambrose was four laps and out after a Turn 4 tangle with Jack Sprague.

Chevrolet's 121st victory allowed the truck maker to join Ford as a winner in all 12 seasons. Chevy's last win - also by Busch - came at Atlanta Motor Speedway last October. Dodge has gone exactly one year since Bobby Hamilton's May 15, 2005 victory at Mansfield Motorsports Speedway.

Wayne Spears, the final active owner to have fielded a truck in the Feb. 5, 1995 series inaugural race, matched Jim Smith's 272-race total to share most starts by a team n NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competition. He'll own the record outright when Aric Almirola, a ninth-place finisher at Lowe's, goes to the post next Saturday at Mansfield Motorsports Speedway.

Spears, whose team missed only the Richmond event in 1997, was unaware of his status until so advised by a NASCAR representative. Typically, the southern California businessman - who has eschewed sponsorship since becoming a NASCAR owner at the old Saugus (Calif.) Speedway in the late 1970s - downplayed the achievement.

"I don't think about these kinds of things," said Spears, whose team counts three victories - all with David Starr - since the series began."

"I'm worried about next week and next year and the tools it takes to make us the best team. All in all, it's been good. It's been a fun thing."

Smith's streak of having entered a truck in every series race ended after last month's event at Gateway International Raceway when he ceded ownership of Crocker's Dodge to Evernham.

Raybestos rookies finally busted the Lowe's jinx in which no freshman driver had finished higher than 12th at Lowe's. Almirola was chased to the checkers by rookie leader Erik Darnell, who passed veteran Rick Crawford for 10th-place in the waning laps.

Inaugural Lowe's pole winner Bill Lester, whose SunTrust Toyota lacked top 30 owner status, missed the race after a qualifying accident. The incident ended string of 102 consecutive starts that began at Daytona International Speedway in February 2002.

The streak was the fifth longest (shared by Bobby Hamilton) by drivers with a current season start.

Two well-known figures will make NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debuts at Mansfield - one from racing and the other a former Major League Baseball all-star. Michel Jourdain Jr., a Champ Car World Series winner and NASCAR Busch Series competitor, climbs into Roush Racing's No. 50 Ford while 43-year-old Mike Greenwell, the retired Boston Red Sox outfielder with a career batting average over .300, moves up from the Florida late model circuit.

"The sports [of racing and baseball] are more similar than I think people would realize," Greenwell recently told the Boston Globe. "It takes a team to win. One person can make a mistake and you can lose because of that. Racing is probably a little bit tougher only because of the fact that you have mechanical failures that you can't control."

Greenwell, a 37-time late model winner, will drive the No. 08 Yankee Candle Co. Chevrolet that Rich Bickle guided to a fifth-place finish in last year's Mansfield 250.