Kvapil wins closest NCTS championship

Accident, black-flag lead to wild finish; Hamilton wins race

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) -- Controversy clouded the finish of the closest championship in the history of the NASCAR truck series, with Travis Kvapil winning the title and Ted Musgrave winding up angry and frustrated in third.

	Bobby Hamilton celebrates his win in Friday's Ford 300 at Homestead. Credit: AP

The fifth caution flag of the day forced a restart two laps from the end of the Ford 200 on Homestead-Miami Speedway's reconfigured 1.5-mile oval.

Musgrave and Kvapil -- racing for seventh place with Dennis Setzer, the third title contender -- were tied for the points lead with the tiebreaker going to Musgrave approaching the restart.

As the trucks neared the flagstand, Musgrave darted out of line and pulled alongside Setzer before they reached the starting line. NASCAR rules prohibit passing on the left before the line and Musgrave was immediately black-flagged, costing him any chance to beat Kvapil in the points.

The Dodge of Bobby Hamilton held off the Ford of Rick Crawford by 0.186-seconds -- about 4 truck-lengths -- for his second win of the season and the fourth of his truck career. Meanwhile, confusion reigned behind them.

"We're coming to the green and I don't know if he spun his wheels or hit the brakes, but I was on the gas and I had to turn left to avoid him, knowing it's going to draw a penalty," the irate Musgrave said.

"All I can say is next year you're going to see a whole new Ted Musgrave. He's going to be the dirtiest son of a gun going out there on the racetrack and you might as well throw that rulebook away. I ain't going by it no more."

FORD 200 Kvapil wins the championship by eight points Play video Bobby Hamilton celebrates his second win of '03. Play video Gaughan loses the points lead after hitting the wall Play video Gaughan is visibly upset after the wreck Play video Musgrave is angry after losing the championship Play video  •  Results  •  Standings  •  Tools of the Trade

Kvapil, who waited in his Chevrolet truck for nearly 10 minutes before NASCAR confirmed he had won the championship, saw it differently.

"This is crazy," Kvapil said. "I know if that caution hadn't come out, we'd have had it in our hands for sure. We were going to finish two spots ahead of Ted. Things just went our way.

"Ted was desperate. He had to make up two spots to beat me. It wasn't going to happen. He took a chance and it just didn't pay off for him."

The electronic scoring at the finish initially showed Musgrave in sixth, just ahead of Kvapil and Setzer. That would have given Musgrave the title by 16 points over Kvapil and 21 over Setzer.

Instead, Musgrave was penalized to the end of the lead lap, leaving him 13th. That gave the Craftsman series title to Kvapil, who moved up to sixth, by nine points over seventh-place finisher Setzer, and 18 over Musgrave.

Mike Bliss won the championship last year in the same truck, owned by Steve Coulter.

Brendan Gaughan, who came into the race leading the standings with the top four drivers separated by only 39 points, also ended the day in frustration.

	Brendan Gaughan's truck hits the wall on lap 101. Credit: AP

After starting near the rear of the field because of an engine change on Thursday, Gaughan moved up among the leaders. The trucks were slowing for a caution on lap 101 of 134 when Marty Houston hit the wall and ricocheted into Gaughan's truck, which was then slammed hard by Bryan Reffner.

"We won't cry over spilled milk," said Gaughan, who wound up fourth, 40 points behind Kvapil. "Nobody could touch us today unless something stupid happened.

"We're going to rebuild our Dodges and come back stronger and nobody is going to touch us next year."

David Starr wound up third in Chevy, followed the Dodge of Andy Houston and the Chevy of three-time series champion Jack Sprague.