Todd Bodine (30) tries to hold off the hard charging Johnny Benson. (Steve Snoddy/High Sierra Photo)

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series racer Todd Bodine went to New Hampshire International Speedway with the championship points lead and left with it. After 200 laps of racing at the Magic Mile, Bodine ran as high as second, wowed the crowed with a 24-lap battle for second place, and finished the race in fourth place, 18 spots ahead of last year's finish in this same race.

"Today was a big improvement. From where we were on the practice times to where we finished was a huge improvement for us. It was a great team effort," said Bodine, who ranked 17th after first practice, and 22nd after final practice. "We struggled with the same issues we faced in last year's race here at New Hampshire, but the Lumber Liquidators team really worked hard on our Toyota Tundra this weekend. We learned a lot more for next year, and had a lot of fun doing it."

After the race, winner Johnny Benson and his crew chief took turns thanking Bodine for the spectacular race for second place. It started on lap 124 just after caution number 8 and held over through another brief caution. Bodine was second, and Benson pulled under him for the pass. The door handle to door handle battle was finally settled around lap 148 when Benson pulled teammate Mike Skinner with him past Bodine.

"It was a lot of fun racing the 23 truck. The outside groove was really working for me, but I knew he'd eventually get the spot. We missed the chassis setup a little bit - I knew I wasn't the truck to beat, but our finish shows how much we improved as a team," said Bodine, who finished 22nd and 34th in his previous Truck Series starts at Loudon.

Bodine fourth place finish was a strong performance for his Germain Racing team, but it cut his lead over Benson by 30 points in the very tight Truck Series points chase. He leaves New Hampshire with the points lead, a total of 2,784 points and a 124-point margin over second place. David Reuitmann is third, 263 points behind, and Rick Crawford and David Starr returned to the top-five in the standings following strong finishes at Loudon.