Wood denies Setzer another short track win

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Jon Wood held off Roush Racing teammate Carl Edwards to score an emotional victory in Saturday's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Advance Auto Parts 200 at Martinsville Speedway.

Wood, who started his Ford F-150 alongside Bud Pole winner Edwards, survived two, tense restarts over the final 15 laps of the 105.2-mile contest -- second of the season at the .526-mile short track. Edwards poked his truck's nose under his teammate's flank on lap 186 and 198 but was unable to dislodge the 21-year-old Wood from the top spot.

Wood carried a one-length lead at the checkered flag as caution, for Andy Petree's spin in Turn 4, froze the finishing order at lap 200. The victory was the second of the season for Wood, a resident of Stuart, Va., who figured virtually everyone among the announced crowd of 38,000 was cheering him on.

Wood and Edwards also finished one-two on July 5 when Wood scored his first victory at Kansas Speedway. Wood took the lead at lap 176 from Dennis Setzer, who was gunning for a third straight Martinsville Speedway victory. Setzer's Chevrolet settled for third.

Rick Crawford finished fourth with Bobby Hamilton fifth. Jimmy Spencer, Darrell Waltrip, Ken Schrader, David Starr and Ted Musgrave took the next five positions as the first 17 finishers among a starting field of 36 completed all 200 laps.

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship leader Brendan Gaughan finished 11th but increased his advantage over Travis Kvapil from 30 to 45 points as Kvapil took 16th. Kvapil's next-to-worst finish of the season also ended a streak of 18 top-10 performances one short of Ron Hornaday Jr.'s single-season record.

Just 72 points, however, span the top four drivers in the standings -- Gaughan, Kvapil, Musgrave and Setzer -- in the closest four-way race, with two events remaining, in series history.

The 23rd of 25 races saw three drivers exchange the lead five times. There were six caution flags for 32 laps, giving Wood a winning average speed of 72.069 mph.