Travis Kvapil proudly displays his Gibson. (VPS Motorimages Photo)

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series runs three races annually in the State of Tennessee at tracks in Memphis, Nashville, and Bristol. The Memphis race was run at the end of June, the Nashville race sits firmly in the middle of August and Bristol closes out August each season. Travis Kvapil picked up a controversial win at Memphis after late-race contact with Brad Keselowski, but there was no controversy on the track in Nashville as Kvapil came on strong in the final third of the Toyota Tundra 200 to go two-for-Tennessee. Combined with his win earlier in the season at Michigan, Kvapil has a trio of victories after 15 races of the 2007 season.

Kvapil started the No. 6 K&N Filters Ford from the eleventh position and methodically worked his way through the top ten throughout the first 100 laps of the 150-lap race. The longer the field ran under green, the better Kvapil's became and as they neared 40 consecutive green flag laps following the third caution of the day, Kvapil made quick work of second place Ted Musgrave and then race-long leader Mike Skinner to make the first pass for the lead.

Musgrave would lead as the caution waved for fourth time on lap 111, but Kvapil retook the top spot after pit stops and led from lap 112 through the conclusion.

Travis Kvapil, No. 6 K&N Filters Ford, scores a hard fought victory at the Toyota Tundra 200. (VPS Motorimages Photo)

"We weren't that good off the trailer, but Mike Beam and the guys never gave up and worked and worked to give me a chance to get up there and race with Skinner and Musgrave," Kvapil said. "Even when Skinner was so far ahead in the early part of the race, they were thinking about what we needed to do to make it better. We needed some track position, because clean air always helps and once we were able to get up there and get past them and get out front, the truck was a lot better."

Ron Hornaday worked his way past Skinner late in the going, and following the final caution flag at lap 122 it appeared Hornaday would make a challenge for the victory. But after pressuring Kvapil hard for the first couple of circuits after the restart, Hornaday eventually was forced to settle for second at the finish. Unofficially, the No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet was 2.403 seconds behind Kvapil at the stripe.

"Travis runs me clean, and I wasn't going to play rough with him with 30 to go," Hornaday said. "Maybe if it was three laps to go it would have been a different story. We were a little better through the corners but he was a little better off the corners."

Hornaday relied on a mid-race change by his Rick Ren-led crew for improved performance over the final half of the race.

"I don't even know what Rick changed," Hornaday said. "Whatever change he made to the right side air pressures really made the truck come alive and we were able to get up there and run with Travis and Skinner."

Mike Skinner led the first 103 laps of the Toyota Tundra 200 at Nashville. (VPS Motorimages Photo)

Skinner was forced to settle for third at the finish. Skinner led the first 103 laps in the No. 5 Toyota Tundra Toyota and looked like he was on pace to pick up his fifth win of the season, but he was not able to keep Kvapil and Hornaday back at the end.

"Our truck got a little tight. When we were in clean air, we could get away with it. In dirty air, we didn't have anything for Travis," Skinner said. "His truck was just really, really strong -- they mashed the gas when they needed to go. Our Tundra was strong, we just got too tight. If we could have got a little better handling on this coil binding -- this is only the second time that we ran this stuff."

Skinner said a driver error on the last pit stop cost him second at the finish.

"The driver made a huge mistake on a pit stop," Skinner said. "I changed my foot position when they went around to the left side of my truck and I rolled forward just a little bit, and it messed up our jack man. So, I messed the stop up and it cost us a spot -- actually the spot that Ron (Hornaday, Jr.) got. If we had been in front of Ron, he probably wouldn't have passed us -- we were running about the same lap times. It was a pretty good day. It could have been a lot worse. We're not happy with third, but it beats fourth."

David Starr made a huge gamble on the final stop by taking just right side tires and restarted second. He eventually was passed by Hornaday and Skinner, but he was able to hold on for a fourth-place finish in the No. 10 International MaxxForce Diesel Ford.

"Dennis Connor said the left side tires have absolutely no wear on them," Starr said. "Right before the last pit stop, Dennis made that great call and said only right side tires. We were tight right through the center of the corner. We knew that the left side tires didn't have much wear on them, we made a track bar adjustment and right side tires with air pressure adjustments. We knew that if we had track position that we'd have a shot at it. And the truck came alive and I wasn't able to hold off the guys that had four tires on."

Defending series champion Todd Bodine finished fifth in the No. 30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota. Bodine was disappointed that he didn't have a chance to mix it up for the win over the final fifty laps.

"We missed the setup. We started off too tight and we got too loose," Bodine said. "Then, we adjusted back and got too tight. We just missed it. Fifth -- for what we had, we'll just take it. The guys did a great job trying to fix the truck through the race. I never gave up on it and that's what we got."

Even with a top five finish, Bodine needs better to close the gap and make a run at defending his series championship.

"I've said all along that the only way any of us our going to gain points is if somebody has a bad race and wrecks or finishes in the back," Bodine said. "We're all going to be top-five trucks every week, and when that's the way it is you don't gain points. You just move around a little bit. It's going to take a big mistake on somebody's part to change that."

Rick Crawford finish sixth in the No. 14 Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford, Jon Wood was seventh in the No. 21 Bush's Beans Ford, Ted Musgrave was eighth in the No. 9 Team ASE Toyota, Erik Darnell was ninth in the No. 99 Northern Tool + Equipment Ford, and Joey Clanton rounded out the top ten in the No. 09 Zaxby's Ford.

The race was relatively clean with just a few minor incidents slowing the pace throughout the evening. After a debris caution at lap 43, Mike Bliss's spin into the turn two wall brought out the second caution in lap 54. Shortly after the restart, Chad McCumbee crashed hard going into turn one bring out the third caution ion lap 62. Johnny Benson was running fourth when he blew a right front tire and popped the turn two wall on lap 111. The final caution of the night waved on lap 111 when Willie Allen blew an engine and dropped fluid on the track. The five cautions consumed 21 laps.

Skinner unofficially leads Hornaday by 82 points going into the O'Reilly 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway on August 22.