- (Sports Network) - Ron Hornaday, Jr. dominated three-quarters of the Kroger 200, but Johnny Benson made a late-race pass on the defending Craftsman Truck Series champion to take the victory in Saturday's race at the Martinsville Speedway. Benson also recaptured the lead in the championship standings with his fifth victory of the season, while Hornaday ran out of fuel less than four laps from the checkered flag and ended up finishing 29th.

"I love Martinsville," Benson said. "I don't like sometimes how it races here, but it's cool to be in victory lane."

Benson now holds a 65-point lead over Hornaday with four races to go in the season.

Hornaday started on the pole, but Todd Bodine challenged Hornaday for the lead on the first lap. Bodine fell back in line before Kevin Harvick passed him for the second spot the following lap. Benson then moved ahead of Bodine two laps later to claim the third position.

Sean Caisse spun on Lap 35 to bring out the first caution flag of the day. Hornaday was the quickest out of the pits during the caution and held on to the lead for the restart five laps later.

After taking four new tires on his first pit stop, Benson restarted sixth but charged through the field as he moved around Harvick for the second spot on Lap 82. Benson caught Hornaday just before another caution came when Jon Wood spun on Lap 93.

When the race resumed four laps later, Hornaday quickly pulled away from the field, while Ben Stancill got loose and bumped into Benson. Stancill, who was one lap down, was running on the inside of Benson during the restart.

Benson caught Hornaday on a restart on Lap 120 as the two ran side-by-side for the lead the next three circuits before Hornaday pulled ahead. David Starr spun, but the race continued under green with Hornaday stretching his lead.

Colin Braun crashed on the backstretch on Lap 147 for the seventh caution. On the restart several laps later, Benson chased down Hornaday again, but this time he caught him on Lap 154 as Hornaday got loose and locked up his left- front tire heading into the turn, allowing Benson to dip below him and take the lead with 46 laps remaining.

The ninth and final caution for an accident involving Jeff Green set up a five-lap shootout to the finish. Benson pulled away on the restart, while Hornaday, running second at the time, appeared to be slowing down as he ran out of fuel.

"You try to save fuel, but you can't especially here at Martinsville," Hornaday said. "We win and lose as a team, and we'll take this one and go on. It was a bad day for us."

Dennis Setzer finished second, and Rick Crawford was third. Kyle Busch and Todd Bodine rounded out the top-five.

Hornaday's team owner, Harvick, also ran out of gas while running third after the final restart. Harvick finished 15th.

The next race is scheduled for Saturday, October 25th, at the Atlanta Motor Speedway.



Copyright 2008 The Sports Network
All rights reserved