Todd Bodine won the battle, but Johnny Benson won the war Friday night, finishing ahead of Ron Hornaday Jr. to claim the 2008 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship.

Bodine took the victory at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the Ford 200, the 25th and final race on the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2008 over Brian Scott and Kevin Harvick. But Benson's sixth-place finish — one position ahead of Hornaday — was enough to make him the champion.

Starting from the pole was the No. 5 Toyota Tundra driven by Mike Skinner, who earned the No. 1 starting spot for the 47th time in his career. Hornaday started from the fourth spot, with Benson back in eighth.

At the drop of the green flag, Kevin Harvick moved the No. 2 American Commercial Lines Chevrolet from third to first, with Skinner second and Kyle Busch third in the No. 51 Miccosukee Resorts Toyota.

The first caution came on Lap 7, when Ryan Hackett spun the No. 78 JandRSUPPLY.com Ford coming out of turn four. When the caution flew, Hornaday was fourth, Benson 12th. Under caution, Busch pitted because his front splitter was dragging. When the track went green on Lap 10, the order was Harvick, Skinner, Hornaday, Erik Darnell's No. 99 Northern Tool + Equipment Ford and the No. 18 University Dodge Ram of Dennis Setzer.

Skinner led Lap 11, but Hornaday took the lead for the first time on Lap 12, earning the critical 5 bonus points. After 30 laps, Hornaday was in the lead, with his boss Harvick on his bumper, the two some 1.998 seconds up on Darnell, with Benson seventh.

On Lap 40, Terry Cook took third place from Darnell, his Team ASE/Harris Trucking Toyota charging hard. Two laps later, the caution flew for debris on the backstretch. That sent the field down pit road on Lap 43, just short of the one-third distance in the race. The order out was Hornaday, Harvick and Darnell, with Benson in ninth.

NASCAR officials told Benson's crew that it to replace a missing piece of tape on the rear spoiler during its next stop.

On Lap 47, Harvick took over the lead and Busch second place, as Hornaday's truck began dropping through the field with handling issues. But after falling back to fourth, Hornaday seemed to gather it up again and held the spot, three positions ahead of Benson in seventh.

Up front, Busch took the lead on Lap 51 and eased to a comfortable lead of about half a second over Harvick, quickly stretching it to 2.60 seconds by lap 70. On Lap 75, Hornaday took third from Darnell, with Benson still mired back in eighth.

The third caution of the night flew on Lap 91 for debris in Turn 3. That sent the leaders down pit road for four tires and fuel. Benson's crew took two tires and repaired the missing tape on the rear spoiler. By taking just two tires, Benson won the race off pit road and took the lead for the first time in the race.

The green flew on Lap 95, Benson ahead of Hornaday, Harvick and Travis Kvapil in the No. 09 Zaxby's Ford. A furious four-way battle broke up at the front, with Benson leading Busch, Hornaday and Harvick. On Lap 100, they went three-wide, with Busch moving to the front and Hornaday to second. Then it was Benson up to second, he and Hornaday fighting hard as the Chevy retook second on Lap 102.

But on two tires, Benson couldn't keep up, falling to fourth on Lap 106 behind Busch, Hornaday and Brian Scott's Albertsons Toyota. Two laps later, Harvick dropped Benson to fifth. And soon Todd Bodine went by Benson, too, and that was it for Benson.

Caution flew on Lap 126 when Skinner blew a right-front tire and littered the track with debris. Busch and Bodine pitted, while Scott and Benson stayed out on the track. That made the order Scott, Todd Bodine, Harvick, Setzer, Scott Speed and Benson. Hornaday, on fresh tires, was 13th.

The race restarted on Lap 130, with Bodine challenging Scott for the lead and Harvick going low, while Benson moved to fifth and Hornaday was 11th. Hornaday quickly grabbed two more spots, but then a crash on the backstretch brought out a caution on Lap 133, setting up a green-white-checkered finish.

At this point, Benson was sixth and Hornaday ninth. Bodine, meanwhile, had taken the lead over Scott, with Harvick third.

The green flew on Lap 136, the season on the line. Bodine took the checkered over Scott and Harvick, with Benson winning the championship with a seventh-place finish to Hornaday's eighth.

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.