Crafton takes Trucks race

CONCORD - The Craftsman Truck Series has held six races this year. Kyle Busch's No. 51 Toyota has been in five of them. The Education Lottery 200, at Lowe's Motor Speedway Friday night, should've been Busch's third victory.

In lieu of Busch, 31-year-old Matt Crafton drove a Chevrolet to the first victory of a 178-race career, holding Chad McCumbee and Brendan Gaughan at bay.

"Finally, I can shut my critics up," said Crafton, from Tulare, Calif. "Now they can talk about when I'm going to win my second."

Busch, 23, didn't win. He dominated, though. Then disaster struck on the 104th lap.

Following a debris caution, Busch's Toyota, buried in the pack, tangled with Ron Hornaday's Chevy. Hornaday's teammate, Jack Sprague, and the trucks of Colin Braun and Scott Speed were also involved. The apparent mistake was Hornaday's. His truck appeared to lose traction and spin into Busch's.

Up to that point, Busch might as well have been Sir Edmund Hilary atop Mt. Everest. He was a magnificent man in a flying machine.

Once Busch was out of the mix, no one else seemed to know how to win. Erik Darnell spun his tires on a restart. Johnny Benson jumped a restart on a controversial call by officials. Hornaday crashed again and was so upset that he bumped Todd Bodine's Toyota under the yellow flag.

If utter domination wasn't your bag, perhaps you would've enjoyed the seven laps under caution for debris that ensued at lap 22. Seven laps is a long time to gather shredded rubber.

For most of the night, the rear of Busch's black Toyota wasn't visible to the naked eye of the drivers trying to track it.

Telecasters are prone to calling NASCAR's current man of mastery "Rowdy" Busch, in part because the number on the sides of his truck mimics the "51" from the movie "Days of Thunder." Others call him "Shrubbie" because his name is phonetically the same as the unpopular president's and, like the Bushes who have served in the White House, there are also two Busches serving the great speedways of the land.

Only a lap-eight trading of licks - between the trucks of Donny Lia and Brian Scott - stemmed the tide of Busch's early domination. The pole winner had powered away at the start and would do so again.

If the race had been a football game, someone would've called it "men against boys." In this case, it was an odd observation since the "man" was 23 years old and most of the closest boys were in their 40s and 50s.

And one of "the boys" would've won.

After 40 laps, Busch crossed the finish line with his Toyota about 30 car lengths ahead of Darnell's Ford. When Busch was exiting turn two, third-place Mike Skinner was entering turn one.

A four-truck crash on the 115th lap - involving Justin Marks, Dennis Setzer, John Mickel and Ted Musgrave - framed the finish.