Benson Wins Kroger 200

Johnny Benson was able to conserve fuel and hold off a hard-charging Dennis Setzer to win the Kroger 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race Saturday afternoon at Martinsville Speedway.

 It was also a good day for Benson in the point standings as Ron Hornaday Jr. ran out of fuel while running second to Benson three laps from the finish. Hornaday's misfortunes opened the point's race door to Benson, who was able to reclaim the top spot. With four races remaining in the season, Benson is 90 points ahead of Hornaday.

"We had a really good Toyota truck today," said Benson. "I watched the 24 (Jeff Gordon) in (Sprint Cup) practice this morning to watch his line in the corners and it helped us some today. (Crew chief) Tripp (Bruce) kept reminding me to conserve fuel and we are fortunate to come out of here with the win."

 Hornaday wasn&'t the only driver to come up short on fuel mileage as his truck owner Kevin Harvick also ran out of fuel two laps from the end while running second to Benson. Hornaday led the most laps in the race but eventually finished 29th after leading 154 of the 200 laps in the race.

"We had a great truck today and that is all you can ask for," said Hornaday. "You try to save fuel but you can't, especially here at Martinsville."

 Rick Crawford followed Setzer to finish third with Kyle Busch and Todd Bodine completing the top five.

 T.J. Bell continued his impressive run finishing sixth with Scott Speed finishing seventh and collecting Raybestos Rookie of the Race honors. Matt Crafton came home eighth with Sam Hornish, Jr. ninth and Timothy Peters rounding out the top 10.

 Racing action returns to Martinsville Speedway’s historic half-mile Sunday with the running of the TUMS QuikPak 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race. Good tickets remain and may be purchased at the box office Sunday morning.