At last year's Nashville Craftsman Truck race, Mike Skinner looked like he had the race won when he brushed the wall and lost to David Reutimann. Skinner has had that kind of luck all season but was looking to change it at Saturday's Toyota Tundra 200. Rookies Erik Darnell & Chad McCumbee were on the front row.
Jack Sprague-#60 Con-Way Freight led the start of the race Mike Skinner-#5 Toyota took the lead for a while and then Australian rookie Marcos Ambrose-#20 Team Australia Ford led for a while too. Skinner got the lead back after pit stops.
Several teams had tire problems. Dennis Setzer-#85 Flex Fuel Chevy, Ron Hornaday-#33 Chevy, David Starr-#11 Toyota Forklift Toyota all crashed after flat tires. Hornaday may have had the fastest truck in the race.
A flat tire crashed Rick Crawford-#14 Circle Bar Truck Stop Ford and set up a green/white/checker finish. Mike Skinner was leading and points leader Todd Bodine-#30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota was second. On the restart, Bodine bumped Skinner out of the groove and took the lead. On the front straightaway of the final lap, Skinner did more than that. He got the nose of his truck under Bodine's rear end and pushed them both into the wall. Johnny Benson-#23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Toyota was right there. He only led one lap but it was the right lap. Jack Sprague was second and Marcos Ambrose was third. Bodine was eighth & Skinner was 17th. That was a hell of a finish.
Bodine & Skinner blamed each other but it's pretty clear that Skinner let his frustration get the best of him and spun them both out. He was mad but crashing both guys was a dumb thing to do. And Bodine said that he & Skinner and their wives are going on holidays together in a couple of weeks. Then the trucks are at Bristol on Aug. 23. That should be good.
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