High Sierra Photo

Mark Martin took an easy victory in the O'Reilly 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race Wednesday at Bristol Motor Speedway. Martin took off from the Bud Pole, lead until he pitted at lap 30, reassumed the lead when the other lead lap trucks pitted at lap 60, and led the rest of the way for his third win of the 2006 season. With his win, Martin also broke a five race win streak in the state of Tennessee for Toyota.

Martin did face some heat late in the going as Todd Bodine put on some pressure on a final two-lap dash to the flag, but Martin was able to keep him at bay to score the victory. Martin pointed all the credit for the victory to the team who put together his potent Roush Racing ride.

"It's all these guys right here," Martin said. "This Scotts F-150 was just spectacular. I'm just really lucky to be able to drive this thing. I really want to thank Jack Roush and this whole team. It's fun to drive this truck. This place has not been kind to me lately and Mike Beam (crew chief) just had a good strategy and the best truck here. I knew it was awesome in practice, and I've been looking forward to it all day."

Martin was nervous that pitting at the 30 lap mark would be too early to go the rest of the way and hold off the drivers with fresher tires, but a total of 8 caution flags allowed Martin to preserve his tires and stay up front.

"At lap 100 I knew it wasn't because the tire wear, I swear, we never raced anyway, it seemed like we were under caution ever other lap," Martin said. "There at the end, I don't know how much faster new tires would have been. I guess it would have been faster, but that thing would have rolled. It was just so tough."

Martin's crew chief, Mike Beam, credited hard work by the Roush Racing crew to get the No. 6 Scott's Ford ready after a long weekend with the team's NASCAR Busch Series car.

Pole winner Mark Martin and Aric Almirola make up the front row. (High Sierra Photo)

"These guys were up late working on this thing on Monday after we raced the Busch car on Friday," Beam said. "I keep telling Mark that I have been waiting all my life for him to come along. I just pinch myself every morning when I wake up thinking that this must be a dream."

For second-place Bodine, the second-place run was gratifying and a relief after a series of frustrating finishes for the No. 30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota team. Bodine said that while he was best in class, he had nothing at all for Martin at the end.

"We didn't have anything for Mark tonight," Bodine said. "He was just playing with us tonight. Our truck went away at the end of the race. I had Teddy (Musgrave) behind me and he was taking it easy on me tonight. It was a good night as far as the points race. I think we picked up some points on Johnny. So, from that standpoint, it was a pretty good night. To come out of Bristol second, that's what we had to do for the points."

Bodine's Germain Racing teammate Ted Musgrave brought his No. 9 Team ASE Toyota home in third, a scenario that was eerily reminiscent to the early season races.

"We finished behind Mark and Todd again, just like all those races at the beginning of the season," Musgrave said. "It was a great night for the ASE team. We brought Rick Gay on board and the communication was right there right off the bat. The crew made a great call when we came in early for tires and fuel. We just rode around and tried to save our tires for the end of the race. I tried to take it easy, and hold our position. Towards the end of the race, my truck was just a little 'off.'"

Johnny Benson was fourth in the No. 23 Exide Batteries Toyota, just in front of David Starr in the No. 11 Red Horse Racing Toyota. Kyle Busch recovered from an early race flat tire to finish sixth in the No. 15 Bowen Family Homes Chevrolet, with Mike Skinner seventh in the No. 5 Toyota Tundra Toyota, Mike Bliss eighth in the No. 16 Xpress Motorsports Chevrolet, Bobby Hamilton, Jr. ninth in the No. 18 Fastenal Dodge, and David Reutimann tenth in the No. 17 Team Tundra Toyota.

There were nine cautions for 53 laps, which held the average speed down to 72.081 miles per hour. None of the drivers involved in the several incidents were injured, but as can be expected tempers did flare.

Bodine continues to lead the NCTS championship standings by 154 points over Johnny Benson, with David Reutimann third, Ted Musgrave fourth and Rick Crawford fith.

Next up for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is the Sylvania 200 at New Hampshire International Speedway on September 16. TruckSeries.com will have complete event coverage starting with TrackSideLive! coverage of practice on September 15 and race coverage on Saturday September 16.