Dennis Setzer shows his excitement climbing from his winning No. 75 Spears Manufacturing Chevy Silverado at the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series 250 at Mansfield Motorsports Park. (VPS Motorsports Photo)

Dennis Setzer drove the entire 250-lap distance without a pit stop Saturday to win the Ohio 250 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Mansfield Motorsports Park.

It was Setzer's first NCTS victory since Aug. 5, 2005 at O'Reilly Raceway Park (Clermont, Ind.) and the 17th of his career.

"It's been a long drought," Setzer said.

Setzer began saving fuel from the start in his Chevrolet and was aided by 103 caution laps. Many of those were for laps to help dry the track.

The race was stopped for rain three times for a total of five hours. Setzer also was helped by the fact that the track, officially listed as one-half mile, is actually .444 of a mile.

"Goodyear builds such a great tire, you can go 250 laps on them," Setzer explained. "We started thinking about it (not pitting) before the race. It was an option."

Rick Crawford had pitted his Ford early in the race and moved into the lead on Lap 121 when he passed Matt Crafton's Chevrolet. Crawford pulled away after the drop of the green flag.

Setzer moved up to second when he passed Crafton, also trying to make it without a pit stop, on Lap 163.

Rick Crawfords No. 14 Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford F-150 showers sparks at Mansfield. (Ronda Greer Photo)

Crawford cut a tire and slowed dramatically in Turn 4, and Setzer went around him high on the outside to take the lead on Lap 239. Crawford's Ford was leaving a trail of sparks, which brought out the final caution.

The race restarted with six laps remaining. Aaron Fike was in second, but he also was trying the no-stop strategy and ran out gas. Jack Sprague moved into second, but was unable to challenge Setzer, who won by .522 seconds.

"There's no way he made it on fuel," Sprague said. "It's impossible. The Chevrolets don't get the mileage of the Toyotas and the 1 (Fike) pitted with me on (Lap) 35 and he didn't make it. If he (Setzer) made it and they're legal, my hat's off to them. It blows my mind, there's no way."

Ken Schrader was third in a Dodge, followed by the Toyotas of Mike Skinner and Johnny Benson.

"Setzer had a real good foot," Schrader said. "If anybody could do it, it's Dennis."

SOURCE: NASCAR Communications