Rick Crawford made the most of a late-race scramble that saw the leaders go three-wide into O'Reilly Raceway Park's first turn to capture Friday night's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Power Stroke Diesel 200.

Crawford led defending race winner Dennis Setzer and two-time series champion Ron Hornaday Jr. past Mike Bliss's Chevrolet on the 168th lap as a crowd estimated at 35,000 held its collective breath.

Amazingly, all four tracks came through unscathed just before the night's ninth of a record 11 caution flags waved for a two-truck accident.

Crawford, driving Tom Mitchell's Circle Bar Truck Corral Ford, held on through two more restarts - the last with four laps to go - and beat Setzer's FlexFuel E85 Chevrolet to the stripe by a margin of .790 second.

Hornaday took third in Kevin Harvick's Chevrolet followed by David Starr's Red Horse Racing Toyota and Bliss's Xpress Motorsports Chevy.

The victory was the 47-year-old Alabama's fifth on the series and first since last September at New Hampshire International Speedway where he also edged Setzer. Crawford is the track's 10th different winner and ninth of the current season.

"To win a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race they say you have to have a perfect race," said Crawford, who won from the No. 3 starting position - the 12th consecutive victor to start fifth or better. "Tonight was a perfect night for me."

Crawford, who averaged 75.789 mph for the 137.2-mile distance, won $57,900. He led 87 of the 200 laps including the final 33 around the .686-mile short track.

Five drivers - Crawford, Starr, Bliss, Budweiser Pole starter David Ragan and David Reutimann - swapped the lead five times. The 11 caution periods - most for debris on the track and minor incidents - consumed 51 laps, three shy of the ORP series record.

Terry Cook battles Ted Musgrave. (High Sierra Photo)

Terry Cook, another former ORP winner, finished sixth ahead NASCAR Craftsman Truck point leader Todd Bodine, who battled up from a 29th-place start. Bodine's Germain Racing teammate and defending series champion Ted Musgrave was eighth with Roush Racing partners Ragan and Raybestos Rookie of the Year contender Erik Darnell completing the top 10.

Twenty-two of the race's 32 finishers went the distance.

Ragan headed the first 59 laps before caution, for Kelly Sutton's spin on the backstretch, brought the field to pit road. Reutimann stayed on track to take the helm but was dispatched at lap 74 by Crawford, who paced the field until the next round of stops at lap 128.

Bliss, who'd pitted at lap 81, chose to run the remainder of the race without stopping and was able to hold off his rivals as a trio of cautions worked to his advantage.

Crawford, Setzer and Hornaday finally put enough pressure on the 2002 champion to squeeze past - a move that virtually covered the asphalt from top-to-bottom. With the dominant truck, Crawford held the winning hand and easily drove away from Setzer and Hornaday when the final green flag waved at lap 197.

"We had a good truck (but) we just couldn't get by the 14 (Crawford)," said Setzer. "It seemed like he would pull away and then I would reel him in. I just couldn't figure out where he was beating me."

Offered Hornaday, "We were still tight in the middle (of the corners). I could roll up there on them but I couldn't get back on the throttle."

Bodine took advantage of Reutimann's late-race accident and a so-so finish by point contender Johnny Benson to extend his championship lead after 15 events to 182 points. Benson moved past Reutimann into the runnerup spot as Crawford took the No. 3 position.

Next event is the Aug. 12 Toyota Tundra 200 at Nashville Superspeedway where Reutimann will defend last year's race win.