Pressley wins Craftsman Truck opener

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Robert Pressley proved he can still win races in one of NASCAR's top division.

He did just that by claiming victory in his first Craftsman Truck Series race for Bobby Hamilton Racing in the Florida Dodge Dealers 250 at Daytona International Speedway on Friday.

Pressley, a former Busch Series winner and Winston Cup Series competitor, was picked up by Bobby Hamilton Racing after being let go from the Jasper Motorsports team in Winston Cup last year.

Following Pressley 0.113 seconds across the line on the green-white-checkers finish was another former Winston Cup regular -- Ted Musgrave. Newcomer Brian Rose was third.

Pressley becomes the second driver in Craftsman Truck Series history to win a race in his first try. Mike Skinner was the other when he won the first race when the series was formed in 1995.

"I'll tell you what, winning at Daytona is something," Pressley said in Victory Lane. "But, to come into my first truck race and have no idea what to expect is something. It's easy for Bobby and Debbie Hamilton (owners) because they won this last year. All they changed was the paint job and the driver and I all I had to do was live up to it.

			Ted Musgrave Credit: Michael Romano

"We couldn't have done it by ourselves on those last few laps when I got beside the No. 6 (Rick Carelli) truck. When I saw Ted drop down, I knew that it was clear sailing from there."

Bobby Hamilton Racing won this event last year with driver Joe Ruttman.

Musgrave started on the Bud Pole and led once for three laps. As much as he would have liked to make the move to win, the racing action didn't dictate that happening.

"It was pretty exciting," Musgrave said. "We started out loose like I thought we would. I just laid back for a little bit there and let the Mopar crew fix it on pit stops to get it right.

"I could run up there in front, but I saw a lot of things going on up there I didn't like. We had a really strong truck at the end but I didn't want to get side-by-side with Robert and let the next pack catch up."

Some of the things Musgrave saw ahead of him he didn't like came to fruition during the last 10 laps when two cautions slowed the pace and changed the face of the race.

With 10 laps left, Jon Wood brushed the wall in the No. 50 Navy Ford coming out of Turn 2 leaving debris on the track. This came during some spirited action with two and three-wide racing amongst the large lead pack of trucks. However, it was four laps later when it went to heck in a handbasket for some of the contenders.

			Travis Kvapil Credit: Michael Romano

The lead pack exited Turn 2 and Travis Kvapil got turned by Jason Leffler. Kvapil’s No. 60 Cat Chevrolet went left, then right and smacked into the wall. He bounced back into traffic and collected five other trucks in the wreck.

There were no injuries.

The big loser on the deal was Rick Carelli. Poised to earn his fifth career victory, Carelli was leading on the lap 98 restart in the No. 6 RE/MAX Chevrolet owned by Kevin Harvick of the Winston Cup Series ranks.

On the restart, Pressley got by and Carelli ended up finishing fifth behind Lance Hooper, who started 25th. Rounding out the top-10 finishers was Jason Small, Bobby Dotter, Bill Lester and Rick Crawford.

The third series event on the 2.5-mile, high banked oval here had 26 lead changes among 12 drivers with an average speed of 140.121 mph that lasted one hour, 47 minutes and three seconds. Yellow flags flew six times for 21 laps during the race.