Sunday, December 24, 2006

2006 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Review

By Charles Krall, TrackSide Editor


2006 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Review With three consecutive victories to end the 2005 season - and a charge from the middle of the championship standings at mid-season to an eventual placing of third - Todd Bodine entered the year as the driver to beat.

He didn't disappoint the prognosticators.

Despite two green-white-checker losses to veteran Mark Martin at Daytona International Speedway and California Speedway, Bodine and his No. 30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota team didn't lose sight of the bigger prize: a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series title that would be based upon consistent finishes rather than early victories.

Bodine finally got the better of his rival at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March posting the first of three victories. And when Martin's NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series schedule and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series took different forks in the road, Bodine was there to claim a point lead he'd hold for a record 21 consecutive races. The 42-year-old Chemung, N.Y. native vaulted from third to first - ironically, past his Germain Racing teammate and 2005 series champion Ted Musgrave - on the final weekend of April with a victory at Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis.

With just five of 25 races in the books, it could hardly be said the championship battle was over. But, as Musgrave, David Reutimann and ultimately Johnny Benson took their best shots through the remainder of the year that in fact was to be the case. Benson, who broke a 59-race victory drought at Michigan and wound up winning five times, was Bodine's only serious challenger down the stretch. He closed the point gap from nearly 200 to less than 100 only to see mechanical misfortune stop the charge. Bodine went to Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 17 needing only to finish 12th or higher and clinched the title with a 21st-place finish as Benson's No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles/Exide Batteries Toyota was swept up in a late accident.

Bodine, the youngest of three racing brothers, produced the family's first NASCAR national touring series title in the clan's 1,853rd start. He finished the season with three wins, his first Budweiser Pole and 12 top-five and 16 top-10 finishes. Bodine - amazingly - completed all but four laps.

"This means as much to my family as it does to me," said Bodine during his championship celebration at the Grand Floridian Hotel on the Walt Disney World property. "My brothers have been good enough to win a championship on their own but, for whatever reason, never were able to get one of their own."

Although the youngest Bodine was the first among the family to win a title, both Geoffrey and Brett had come close. Geoffrey, the eldest brother, won the Daytona 500 and finished third in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series points in 1990. Middle brother Brett was runnerup in the NASCAR Busch Series in 1986, a finish that Todd duplicated in 1997.

All told, the trio has 55 NASCAR national series victories and combined winnings of more than $49 million. The 2006 season wasn't just about Bodine and his Germain Racing team, whose co-owners Steve, Bob and Rick won their first title. Mike Hillman Jr., at age 28 years one month, became the series' youngest championship crew chief.

In all, there were 12 different winners with Martin and Benson combining to visit Victory Lane on 11 occasions. Martin, who started only 14 of 25 races, wound up 19th in overall points - highest ever for a fulltime NASCAR NEXTEL Cup competitor.

Martin wasn't the only member of NASCAR's premier series to win in 2006. Kyle Busch duplicated the previous season's victory at Lowe's Motor Speedway while Clint Bowyer gave a Morgan-Dollar Motorsports Chevrolet a winning ride in the season's second event at Texas Motor Speedway.

Benson, who became the series' 11th Most Popular Driver, also captured victories at The Milwaukee Mile, Nashville Superspeedway, New Hampshire International Speedway and Phoenix International Raceway. He and Bowyer were the year's only first-time winners.
Four former series champions also recorded victories. Ron Hornaday Jr. scored at Mansfield Motorsports Speedway and Kentucky Speedway to run his all-time victory mark to 29. Three-time champion Jack Sprague won from the pole at Memphis Motorsports Park and Martinsville while Mike Bliss and Mike Skinner won at Atlanta and Las Vegas, respectively. Skinner, with eight Budweiser Poles, upped to 32 his series qualifying record.

The season's other winners were veterans Terry Cook, Rick Crawford and David Starr. Cook's Kansas Speedway victory snapped a drought that began after his 2002 win at O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis.

For the first time, 10 different drivers won more than a half million dollars with Bodine leading the way with a record $1,046,680. Until this season, only 2000 champion Greg Biffle had won $1 million in a single year.

Erik Darnell, who closed the season with five top-10 finishes, was the runaway winner in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year derby. Darnell led after each of the 25 races and became the fifth driver of a Roush Racing Ford to claim top freshman honors.

A single new track, Talladega Superspeedway, joined the series in 2006. A crowd estimated at more than 80,000 saw Martin win the inaugural John Deere 250 on a perfect, autumn afternoon in Alabama.

http://www.truckseries.com

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