The 33 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series drivers who participated in Saturday's Mountain Dew 250 at Talladega Superspeedway all managed to avoid The Big One, the huge multi-vehicle pile-up that always seems to happen at Talladega. But on this autumn Alabama afternoon, Johnny Benson couldn't avoid his onrushing archrival, Ron Hornaday Jr.

Hornaday overcame a pit-road speeding penalty to drive his No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet Silverado to a second-place finish behind the No. 30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota of race-winner Todd Bodine. Benson, who entered the race with a one-point lead, finished 11th in the race, losing points to Hornaday for the fourth consecutive race.

More importantly, Hornaday took over the points lead for the first time since Memphis in late June, as he looks to earn his second consecutive NCTS championship and his fourth overall. Unofficially, Hornaday now leads Benson by 39 points with 20 of 25 NCTS races complete on the 2008 season. Matt Crafton, who finished 16th at Talladega in his Menards Chevrolet, is third in points, 218 markers back of Hornaday and unlikely to make it a three-man race.

In the last seven races, Hornaday has earned two victories, two runner-up finishes and six top fives, which has vaulted him to the top of the points standings.

And with the lead, Hornaday clearly has the momentum. "This says a lot for our team," said Hornaday. "Rick Ren (crew chief) built a brand-new truck. I never even sat in it until I got down here. … I'm just a lucky guy to get to drive this thing. This is a lot of fun."

Benson blamed his 11th-place finish on a bad decision on the chaotic last-lap. "I messed up right there at the end," said Benson. "It got so crazy there at the end and I didn't stay tight enough and the 9 (Mike Wallace) started squeezing his way up there. That hurt our shot right there — maybe not for a chance to win, but for a top five. We fell back there at the end and went from fifth to 11th. That hurt us a little bit. Other than that it was a good run and we made it through with only having to rebuild half the truck."

The Midwestern native was philosophical about his race. "Sometimes we got banged up there a little bit, but outside that it is what it is," he shrugged. "It wasn't a horrible day."

And for Hornaday, it was a great day. "I said — and it was probably the first time I ever said it — I've just got to see where the 23 truck (Benson) is and just keep him in sight and we'll worry about it at Homestead," said Hornaday. "Heck, now the way it is, maybe I try to get a points lead and go down to Homestead and relax and have fun down there."

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.