Martin Truex Jr. motors past Kasey Kahne on his way to victory Saturday. Credit: Autostock

Truex wins, builds points lead over Busch to 152

DOVER, Del. -- Martin Truex Jr. took a big step toward capturing the 2004 Busch Series championship Saturday at Dover International Speedway.

After taking the checkered flag at the Stacker 2 Hundred, Truex's lead in the series standings over second-place Kyle Busch ballooned to 152 points.

Stacker 2 Hundred •   Results •   Standings

Still, Truex isn't exactly popping the cork on the champagne just yet.

"It ain't over yet," Truex said of the championship fight. The No. 5 (Busch's) car is strong every week.

"(One hundred and fifty-two) points sounds like a lot, but one bad race and one 30-something place finish and it could be back down to zero.

"We just need to do the things we've done all year long and I think we're focused on that."

Kyle Busch never was able to get his No. 5 Chevrolet to the front. Credit: Autostock

Truex led a modest 47 of the 200 laps run Saturday, but took advantage of Kenny Wallace's empty gas tank to get the win.

"We kind of thought he was going to (run out of fuel), so I was kind of taking my time getting to him.

"If he was still going with five laps to go, I probably would have started going a little bit harder to catch him, but I was taking my time."

Busch's day was signifcantly different. He failed to lead a lap and finished ninth.

"It was a frustrating day," Busch said. "I thought we had a decent enough car where we could run up front and finish in the top five but it just didn't end up that way.

VIDEO Victory Lane Martin Truex Jr. celebrates his fifth win of the season Out of Gas K. Wallace runs dry with 11 laps to go, losing the lead to Truex Jr. Monster Bites J.J. Yeley gets in the wall midway through the Stacker 200

"We were just as good as everybody else, pretty much, same lap times. We just didn't have the track position everyone else did so it was kind of hard for us to pick up spots.

"It's just a struggle to get around this racetrack for me," he said. "I can't really seem to get a hold of it the way that I need to."

Still, Busch, like Truex, says the championship battle is far from over.

"These guys will never give up and neither will I and we'll just keep digging at 'em and see what we can do," he said.

The rookie driver says the schedule may play in his favor.

"We're coming up to some racetracks that we feel we can excel on such as Kansas and Lowe's and Atlanta and Homestead. We'll see what we can do there."

While Busch is clawing to get to the top, Truex is looking to maintain status quo.

"We're kind of controlling our own destiny now," Truex said. "If we have smooth races from here on out, there's nobody that's gonna catch us."