By Joe Dunn joe@onpitroad.com
2006 Nascar Craftsman Truck Series Champion Todd Bodine held on to a squeaker in a super close 3 wide finish to repeat as the winner at Talladega Super Speedway. Bodine who started on the Pole for the Mountain Dew 250 in his number 30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota managed to stay clear of several wrecks, by virtue of remaining up front all day.
A late race restart with two laps to go, began with Bodine out front, followed closely by Rick Crawford and Johnny Benson. The single file pack all remained in line bumper to bumper until they came out of turn four on the final lap. As the leaders approached the tri-oval, Crawford went to the high side while Benson dove low. But neither was able to get the jump on Bodine who cleared second place Crawford by a mere 0.014 seconds.
The big wreck came on lap 74 when three time series Champion Jack Sprague was leading the race. Sprague had a right front tire blow. Sprague slowed coming out of turn 4 in an attempt to head to pit road when he got a bump from behind by Benson, turning him sideways and eventually causing a six truck crash fest.
“It’s typical Talladega,” Bodine said of the second truck race at the Alabama track. “The guys get racing hard and try to jockey for position at the end of the race. Somebody bumps somebody else and pretty soon everybody is crashing.”
The win leaves Bodine 26 points behind third place Travis Kvapil as the teams take a week off to prepare for the next race October 20 at Martinsville Speedway.
