(Ronda Greer/NASCAR Photo)

Johnny Benson won Saturday night's Toyota Tundra 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Nashville Superspeedway, becoming the sixth driver in series history to win three races in a row.

Benson triumphed over Erik Darnell, Todd Bodine, Jack Sprague and Ron Hornaday to extend his points lead over Hornaday.

At the drop of the green flag, Mike Skinner dove to the bottom of the track and took his Toyota Tundra No. 5 Toyota three-wide with pole-sitter Bodine's No. 30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota and the BobFrensley.com Chrysler Jeep Dodge No. 4 Dodge Ram of Stacy Compton. Skinner got loose into Turn 2 and had to make a great save to keep from crashing, as Bodine took the lead over Compton.

Bodine controlled the opening laps, opening up a lead of more than 3 seconds over Compton by Lap 25, with the leaders followed by Kevin Harvick Inc. teammates Sprague in the No. 2 Camping World Chevrolet Silverado and Hornaday in the No. 33 VFW Chevy. Behind them were the Bill Davis Racing Toyotas of Johnny Benson in the No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles entry and Skinner.

On Lap 30, points leader Benson moved by Hornaday for fourth, as Bodine stretched his lead to 4.2 seconds over Compton's Dodge. But that lead was wiped out on Lap 38, for a caution for debris. That sent the trucks down pit road for the first time, most of the leaders opting for four tires and fuel. Bodine won the race off pit road ahead of Sprague, Skinner, Erik Darnell in the No. 99 Northern Tool + Equipment Ford F-150 and Hornaday.

Just after the track went green again, Terry Cook got loose in the No. 60 Wyler.com Toyota and turned Keven Wood's No. 21 Air Force Ford, collecting the No. 09 Zaxby's Ford of Jon Wes Towney and the No. 51 Miccosukee Resorts Toyota of Shane Sieg.

Bodine, who had lead from the start, paced the field again when the green came out on Lap 48. Cautions flew for Ted Musgrave's flat tire in his Team ASE/Harris Trucking Toyota, and then, at Lap 74, when T.J. Bell's Home for the Holidays Chevy nerfed the Gunbroker.com Dodge of Jason White.

The top five trucks stayed out on the track while the rest pitted, as Compton led Lap 75 of 150, becoming the first driver other than Bodine to lead a lap. Behind him were Chad McCumbee in the Malcolmson Chevy, Musgrave, Dennis Setzer in the Tahoe Dodge and Sprague. Bodine, meanwhile, restarted eighth. By Lap 89, Bodine was back up to fifth and looking towards the front.

With clean air on the nose of his Dodge, Compton found first place as much to his liking as Bodine did earlier.

With 37 laps to go, a caution came out for debris, setting up a round of pit stops. Hornaday opted for fuel only, to lead over Darnell, Bodine, Benson, David Starr's Red Horse Racing Toyota, Musgrave, Compton and the No. 6 Con-way Freight Ford of Colin Braun.

The green flew on Lap 118, with Darnell shocking the field by going low in Turn 3 to pass Hornaday, the acknowledged master of the restarts. Behind them, Benson and Bodine were waging a furious battle for third place. Then, with 28 laps to go, Willie Allen's Rascal Flatts/GoDaddy.com backed into the wall, damaging Donny Lia's Nationrides.com Chevy in the process.

That set up another restart, this one with 23 laps to go, when Hornaday bumped Darnell and nearly wrecked him, but the Ford was able to pull away. With 19 to go, Bodine and Benson passed Hornaday to take over second and third, respectively. One lap later, Rick Crawford's Powerstroke Diesel by International Ford bounced off the wall.

Bodine, meanwhile, began pressuring Darnell for the lead. But then, with 10 to go, it was third-place Benson applying the heat to Bodine, passing him one lap later to take over second place.

Benson then parked himself on Darnell's bumper, as he sought to be the sixth driver in NCTS history to win his third consecutive race. On Lap 198, Benson went past Darnell on the low side and on to victory.

Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com.  He is the author of "Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED," and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the President of the National Motorsports Press Association.  Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing.