After an early season that saw six races stretched over nearly three months,
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series teams head to Texas Motor Speedway for the
second race of a five-weekend swing that takes teams from Dover, Del., to Texas,
Michigan, Wisconsin and Tennessee.
The May-June schedule won't decide the 2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck
championship. But safe to say a championship can be lost as spring becomes
summer and both heat and pressure intensify.
A year ago, neither 2008 champion Johnny Benson (No. 1 Red Horse Racing Toyota)
nor runner-up Hornaday missed a beat .
Benson collected his third consecutive victory at the Milwaukee Mile, finished
second at Michigan, was third in Texas and 10th at Dover.
Hornaday won twice, in Texas and at Memphis Motorsports Park, was third at Dover
and seventh in Milwaukee.
Both outdistanced 2006 titleholder Todd Bodine, whose trio of top-five finishes
couldn't match his rivals' pace. Bodine was the points leader entering Dover's
AAA Insurance 200 but emerged third, 54 points behind Hornaday, when the Memphis
race had been run.
Bodine ultimately finished 104 points behind Benson and 97 arrears of Hornaday.
The post-Dover margin between first and third a year ago was a slim 24 points
vs. 29 points in 2009. Veteran Rick Crawford (No. 14 Circle Bar/International
Truck and Engine Ford) headed the standings.
One bad finish — 21st at Texas — may not have doomed Crawford's championship
hopes but it stalled the Alabama driver's momentum. Crawford had slipped to
fifth after the Memphis race and was seventh at season's end.
It's still early in the year but running both fast and mistake-free during the
coming month figures to pay dividends when the season winds down in the fall.
