When the Ford 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway began, only three points separated Ron Hornaday Jr. and Johnny Benson in the points standings. Even though Todd Bodine won the Friday night’s battle, Johnny Benson won the war of 2008, capturing the final Craftsman Truck Series Championship. Benson’s 2008 championship makes him only the second driver in NASCAR to win both the Truck Series championship and the Busch Grand National (now Nationwide) series championship.
“Tonight was tough. Tonight was about Trip Bruce and making the calls that he did, because if I wouldn’t have screwed up last week we wouldn’t have been in this situation,” said Benson in a post race interview. ” But I have more confidence in this race team and Trip than I’ve had in many, many years, and it’s been a pleasure to ‑‑ one, to win this championship, but to have a fabulous year with five wins, a lot of great runs, and just really got to thank Bill and Gail Davis, for giving me the opportunity to come and do this. “
At the end of the night, Hornaday wasn’t as happy but just as proud. “We’ll be all right. We’re happy with second. We gave that one away last week, and coming down here if we would have played our cards right, you never know what happens in racing. It all goes back to Homestead and goes back to Daytona, it goes back to a flat tire, it goes back to running out of fuel. “
The action heated up the moment the green flag dropped.
Kevin Harvick, Ron Hornaday’s team owner, took the lead in the first few seconds of the race, getting around pole setter Mike Skinner before the field got to turn one on the first lap. While the race instantly shifted towards the Kevin Harvick Inc. trucks favor, Johnny Benson’s luck wasn’t as good, slipping back from his eighth place starting spot when his truck was struggling to find grip on the track.
The racing action did not lost long, when Ryan Hackett spun his truck coming out of turn four on lap five. After that wreck, Harvick played the team owner role, setting a pick with his #2 Chevy Silverado for Mike Skinner, which allowed Hornady Jr. to get to the front and pick up five bonus points for leading a lap.
After a debris caution on lap 42, the momentum began to shift. After the restart, Hornaday began to struggle with the handling of his truck while Benson began plowing through the field. That is when luck shifted for both teams.
There were anxious moments with 40 laps to go, when there was three wide racing for the lead on the restart between Hornaday, Benson and Harvick. When Harvick let off a bit, Kyle Busch shot between the mass of tracks to compete for the lead and the win.
With a long green flag run, Benson’s tires began to wear, sending him fading through the field, but luck was on his side with ten laps to go, when Mike Skinner blew his right front tire, bringing out the caution. Pit strategy came into play.
When Honraday pits for four fresh tires, Benson thought he made the mistake of not coming in for fresh tires as well. On the restart, Hornaday was plowing through the field, coming as close as two spots away from Benson, when the caution came out with three laps to go when the #24 spun on the back stretch, leading to a green-white-checkard finish.
On the restart, Hornaday was held up by Scott Speed, who appeared to slow Hornaday down on purpose by hitting the brakes on the restart, but he made quick work of the trucks in front of him. As Todd Bodine, who said he didn’t have a truck to win, took the win, it simply wasn’t enough time for Hornaday to get in front of Benson. Finishing one spot behind Benson sealed Hornaday’s fate, giving Benson the championship trophy.
