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(Jamie Squire/Getty/NASCAR Photo) |
Hornaday needed to finish just one position ahead of Benson to take the championship and, in fact, he spent most of the Ford 200 with his Camping World Chevrolet Silverado leading Benson's Exide Batteries Toyota Tundra, usually by several positions.
But it was a combination of pit strategy and a radio problem that decided the battle in Benson's favor, giving him the championship by seven points. On Lap 126 of the scheduled 134-lap distance, the caution flag flew when Mike Skinner exploded a right-front tire. Hornaday, who was running third at the time, could hear crew chief Rick Ren on the radio, but Ren couldn't hear Hornaday.
With the caution out, Ren brought Hornaday in for four fresh tires while Benson, who had been running eighth, stayed out. That moved Benson up to sixth, while Hornaday restarted 13th on four fresh tires. But there weren't enough laps left for Hornaday to make up ground, despite another caution and a green-white-checkered finish.
When the checkered flag fell, Benson was seventh, one position ahead of Hornaday, which was exactly the margin he needed to claim the championship. Thus, Benson joins Greg Biffle as the only two drivers in history to claim championships in the NASCAR Nationwide and Craftsman Truck Series. Benson won his other title in 1995, and the 13-year spread between championships is also a NASCAR record, eclipsing the 12-year mark between Terry Labonte's two Sprint Cup titles in 1984 and '96.
"Words can't describe this," said Benson, following the race. "I was kind of crying down the backstretch, it's fairly emotional, obviously. Trip (Bruce, crew chief) told me early on that if we weren't the fastest, we'll definitely do what we have to do to be the smartest. It was only fun at the end of tonight's race — it wasn't fun at the beginning or the middle. I knew Trip was going to make some pretty gutsy calls, and that's what we had to do. Ron had a great truck tonight but we just ended up beating them on a little bit of strategy work."
It was a poignant night on a lot of levels. Benson's championship came in his final drive for Bill Davis Racing, with his future plans not yet publicly announced. And for Davis, who is losing his Sprint Cup sponsorship next season and already has announced major layoffs on the Cup side, his first NASCAR championship was welcome news in turbulent times.
"Well, sure, it's been a challenge for everybody in the sport," Davis said afterwards. "The entire economy worldwide is something that is in a condition that I don't think many of us in this room, certainly myself, has never seen in 40 years of business. But the championship is just — as I said earlier, it's what it's all about."
Understandably, Benson didn't want to discuss about the future or why he's leaving BDR. "You know, it is bittersweet to talk about that, but in the same token, I really want to talk about the championship and what it's meant for us because that's what today is about," he said. "Next year doesn't have anything to do with right now. Right now it's about the championship. Right now it's about winning this for Bill Davis Racing and Toyota and everybody involved, and that's what it's about."
Indeed it was.
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.