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Benson makes it three straight in Milwaukee

Fri 20th, June 2008

West Allis, WI (Sports Network) - Johnny Benson led 130 of 200 laps en route to a dominating win in Friday night's Camping World RV Sales 200 at the Milwaukee Mile. The No.23 Toyota crossed the finish line 2.530 seconds of Matt Crafton.

The victory was Benson's first of the season, third straight at Milwaukee and 10th of his Craftsman Truck Series career.

"These guys have been great all year," said Benson.

Benson won the pole, but quickly gave way to Rick Crawford on the opening lap of 200. Three laps later Benson blew by Crawford to retake the lead and gain five bonus points.

After the early challenge, Benson pulled away from everyone, including Crawford. At lap 40 his lead was two seconds on Crawford and four seconds on Colin Braun, the third-place truck.

That was bad news for the field because Benson radioed to his crew that he was in "cruise-mode" just trying to take care not to overuse his equipment. The long green-flag run gave the field a chance to spread out as he lapped trucks up to the 18th position as they reached the 70-lap mark.

They began green-flag pit stops on lap 71 with Benson holding a three-second lead. It was 10 seconds when Benson pitted on lap 77. He took four tires and off he went. But the caution flag came out as Benson entered pit road and Todd Bodine was still making laps.

Bodine inherited the lead, although he had to give it up two laps later to pit for tires and fuel and dropped to third place.

On the restart, Erik Darnell went around the outside of Benson to grab the lead, but traffic from "tail-end-of-the-lead-lap-trucks" made driving very difficult for all the leaders. Bodine also got around Benson, who was complaining about the new set of tires.

Just before the halfway point a debris caution sent all the leader back down pit lane.

Marc Mitchell stayed out to lead a lap when a huge multi-truck accident slowed the race again. It looked like it started when Jack Sprague slowed in Turn 4 and got hit from behind by Brendan Gaughan. Having occurred just after a restart, the trucks were all very close together and no one had a chance to avoid Sprague.

When the smoke cleared and they got back to green-flag racing, Darnell was the leader, but Crawford and Benson were just behind. Just after they crossed the start/finish line for lap 116, Crawford slid underneath Darnell for the lead.

Meanwhile, Benson was losing his position to Matt Crafton. Crafton charged past Darnell for second with still more than 70 laps to go. Crawford's lead was one and-a-half seconds at lap 135 and three seconds on Benson who slid past Darnell.

Sixty laps to go and it was still Crawford, Crafton, Benson and Darnell. But some rain was in the area and there was a question as to whether they could get all 200 laps in before it hit.

A caution flag for light rain slowed the race at lap 146.

It made for a tough call for crew chiefs. Pit now if the race were to go the distance, or stay out and hope the race ended.

The leaders all followed Crawford down pit lane. Benson won the race off pit lane ahead of both Crawford and Crafton, but Crawford was caught for speeding and had to give up his good track position. He would restart in 14th place.

"They won the race with that pit stop," said Benson.

Before the race could be restarted, the red flag was displayed and the trucks were pulled onto pit lane. Additionally the fans were told to leave the stands until after the thunderstorm storm came through. The lightning was just too close for NASCAR officials.

After a 25-minute delay, the engines were restarted and the trucks pulled back onto the track. The green flag dropped with 45 laps to go and Benson charged off. But a Chrissy Wallace/Chad McCumbee spin slowed the field again with 42 laps to go.

On the restart with 40 laps to go, Benson quickly built a half-second lead on Crafton. It was 1.395 with 28 laps remaining and 2.509 seconds with 13 laps to go. From there Benson cruised to the checkered flag unchallenged.

Landon Cassill, Erik Darnell and Todd Bodine completed the top-five.

The win extends Benson's championship lead to 50 points over Bodine and 67 over Crafton.

The next race in the series is scheduled for Saturday, June 28th at Memphis Motorsports Park.

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