Top 10 Races
12-17-2011 7:52 am

As part of its year-end coverage, SPEED.com is counting down the top 10 races in all three of NASCAR's top series. Here are the 10 best from the 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season:

1. NextEra Energy Resources 250, Feb. 18 — Two-time Daytona 500 Michael Waltrip knows that it's the last lap that pays the money and the trophy, and gets you the kiss in Victory Lane. It was fitting, therefore, that 10 years to the day after his first Daytona 500 victory that Waltrip used a last-lap, frontstretch slingshot to pass Elliott Sadler during a green-white-checkered finish and win at Daytona by just 0.061 seconds. The victory was Waltrip's first in the Truck Series, as he led only the final lap of the race.

2. WinStar World Casino 350k, Nov. 4 — Kevin Harvick beat eventual Truck Series champion Austin Dillon to the Texas Motor Speedway checkered flag by 0.294 seconds to score his fourth win of the season in just nine starts. But the big news was that NASCAR parked Kyle Busch for the entire remainder of the weekend, after Busch deliberately drove Ron Hornaday Jr. into the Turn 4 wall under caution on Lap 14. The aggressive and controversial maneuver by Busch cost Hornaday any shot he had left for the series championship.

3. AAA Insurance 200, July 29 — A mid-race flat tire caused Timothy Peters to spin, sending him to the pits and out of sequence with the leaders at O'Reilly Raceway Park near Indianapolis. But the tide eventually turned and the unscheduled pit stop allowed Peters to have the advantage over the competition in the final laps and chase down James Buescher, had who led 97 laps, with six laps remaining to score the upset victory.

4. Kentucky 225, Oct. 1 — On a cold night at Kentucky Speedway that featured a record 18 lead changes among 11 drivers, ageless Ron Hornaday Jr. fought off a valiant charge from young Austin Dillon to win the 50th Truck Series race of his illustrious career. "It will mean a lot when I sit on the front porch in the rocking chair with my grandkids and I can tell them that I won 50 races," Hornaday said. "Austin is an up-and-coming star, and at age 53, I beat him."

5. Coca-Cola 250, Oct. 22 — Mike Wallace wept after his Kevin Harvick Inc. teammate pushed him to an emotional victory at Talladega Superspeedway. "A lot of people doubt you," said Wallace, who won his first Truck Series race since 2000 and his first in any of NASCAR's top three series since July 2004 at Daytona. "They doubt your ability. An opportunity like this just proves, 'Hey, I can get it done. Give me something good to drive, and I can prove I can do it.'"

6. O'Reilly 200, Aug. 24 — Kevin Harvick won his third consecutive Truck Series race with a convincing triumph on the high banks of Bristol Motor Speedway, where he held off Johnny Sauter and Todd Bodine. Kyle Busch and Elliott Sadler made headlines, with Busch wrecking Sadler after the two made contact on the track. "He wrecked us and I'm not going to put up with it," Busch said. "That's just Kyle (upset) because Kyle didn't win," Harvick countered. "You can't fix a crybaby and he's just a crybaby."

7. Ford 200, Nov. 18 — Johnny Sauter won the battle, but it was Austin Dillon who claimed the war. Sauter won the season-ending, rain-shortened Ford 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but Dillon's 10th-place finish allowed him to win his first series championship. In the process, Dillon became the first driver in series history to win the rookie of the year title in his first full season and the series championship the following year. "I remember my first championship with Dale Earnhardt," said team owner Richard Childress, Dillon's grandfather. "I had the same feeling tonight watching my grandson."

8. WinStar World Casino 400k, June 10 — Ron Hornaday Jr. stole the first of two Truck Series races at Texas Motor Speedway after race leader Johnny Sauter was black-flagged for changing lanes on the last restart. Sauter, who took the lead on Lap 130, was penalized for moving from the outside lane to in front of Hornaday before crossing the start/finish line on a green-white-checkered restart on Lap 167. The race went 168 laps, one beyond its scheduled distance.

9. Kroger 250, April 2 — Johnny Sauter did something you aren't supposed to be able to do at Martinsville Speedway: Pass Kyle Busch at the end of the race. Sauter blew past Busch on the race's penultimate lap to score his first victory of the season and just the third of his Truck Series career. Ron Hornaday Jr. finished third, followed by his team owner, Kevin Harvick.

10. North Carolina Education Lottery 250, May 20 — Kyle Busch took the lead for the first time on Lap 128 of 134 and held off Clint Bowyer for the win at Charlotte Motor Speedway. At the time, the victory was Busch's third straight Truck Series triumph, his fourth in six races in 2011 and the 28th of his career. It was his 97th victory in NASCAR's top three series, tying him with Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip for third all-time in total wins across all three national series.