Auto Racing

TALLADEGA — After a relatively tame 240 miles at Talladega Superspeedway, the final 10 were wild. With a last-lap pass for the lead, Todd Bodine became the first repeat winner in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Talladega.

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Slideshow: Saturday at Talladega View photos from Saturday's action at Talladega Superspeedway.

Bodine bumped leader Kyle Busch out of the way and held off everyone else to go back
to Victory Lane in the Mountain Dew 250 on Saturday. While trucks spun out behind the leaders on the final lap, the race stayed green, allowing the frontrunners to battle to the finish line.

"I didn't know what to think," Bodine said of the last lap. "Coming down the back straightaway I'm thinking that I would just finish second here and push Kyle (Busch) down there and try to get him the win, get a good finish and get a good points race."

Bodine got a big push to the front from Hornaday, who finished second.

"I am sure glad I wasn't sitting where Kyle (Busch) was because I know Bodine was getting anxious," Hornaday said. "He was really holding back on the last lap. I was beating his bumper off on the back straightaway. It looked like Todd had him picked up a little bit coming off of four. I was trying to get out of the wreck because it looked like they were going to wreck. Then Todd kind of straightened up and got in front of me somehow.

"I don't know how he did it. Carelli was telling me that Colin Braun was coming. I didn't know if I was going to get outside, but he was coming so fast that if I would have done it, it would have been a bigger wreck."

Hornaday was on the receiving end of a push himself when Mike Wallace sent him toward the front. Wallace ended up finishing fifth.

"I knew we had a fast truck," Hornaday said. "We got three-wide there. I've got to apologize to Mike Wallace. He pushed me to the front there and Rick Carelli (spotter) cleared me and I thought he was clear with us to go down there so I hate to leave Mike out there. He definitely pushed us."

Busch ended up finishing third, while rookie Colin Braun finished in fourth place. Braun ran up front for most of the day, but blew a tire on lap 85 to put him back in the pack for the restart on lap 88.

"It definitely was an exciting race for me," Braun said. "I definitely learned a lot racing up there with Todd and Ron."

Alabama native Rick Crawford got caught up in a wreck and finished 28th.

The first wreck of the day brought out the day's third caution flag. Jack Sprague's No. 2 truck slammed into the wall after going three-wide in Turn 4 to bring out caution on lap 68.

"Apparently Kyle (Busch) got under me and I didn't know he was under me," Sprague said. "The American Commercial Lines Chevrolet was good at the start then we lost a cylinder. We have been running there on seven cylinders trying to hang on, it was missing. I don't know. I didn't get the word Kyle was under me.

"I hate it for these guys. It has been an absolutely horrible year. We had another good shot, somewhat of a chance to win, but a good shot at a great finish until it started sputtering. It is frustrating."

The first two cautions came as a result of debris on the racetrack.

As the laps were winding down, the racing started heating up. The fourth caution of the day came out on lap 85 when Braun's No. 6 Ford blew a rear tire in Turn 4 collecting the No. 15 of John Andretti and the No. 60 of Terry Cook. Andretti and Cook finished 14th and 23rd respectively.

Hornaday moved into the points lead over Johnny Benson, who finished 11th at Talladega.

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series returns to action on Oct. 18 at Martinsville Speedway.