NASCAR.COM - By the Numbers: Truck

By the Numbers: Truck

By Josh Pate, NASCAR.COM
November 24, 2006
12:19 AM EST (05:19 GMT)

No matter how many people tried to convince Todd Bodine he had the 2006 Truck Series championship in the bag, he never believed it.

Bodine entered the season finale needing to finish 28th or better to clinch the title, and when Johnny Benson had early problems with a spin, Bodine shifted to cruise.

He had his second-worst finish of the season at Homestead, but it was plenty enough to allow him to take home the first championship of his NASCAR career.

What you didn't know

3 -- Races that Todd Bodine finished outside the top 20 in the 2006 season. Bodine's two worst finishes came in the final four races. He was 25th at Atlanta, two laps down, and 21st in the season finale at Homestead, one lap down. Bodine only failed to complete four laps all season.

Driver Rating: Craftsman Truck Series

104.9 -- Mike Skinner, No. 5 Bill Davis Racing Toyota. Skinner finished 10th in the standings and had 13 top-10 finishes. But among drivers who raced all 25 events, he led more laps than anybody with 596.

NASCAR's driver rating combines the following categories: wins, finishes, top-15s, average lead-lap running position, average speed under green, fastest lap, led most laps and lead-lap finish. Statistics based on current and past year at track. Maximum rating: 150 points.

Numerology

Todd Bodine became the ninth Craftsman Truck Series champion, but the title was the first for Bodine in his NASCAR career. Bodine has 228 Cup starts, 315 Busch starts and 65 starts in the Truck Series, and prior to this season, his best finish in any standings was second in the 1997 Busch Series. He finished third in last year's Truck Series points race.

0 -- Victories for Dodge in 2006. Toyotas collected 12 wins, while Ford had eight and Chevrolet had five.

1 -- Race that David Reutimann did not finish on the lead lap. He crashed at O'Reilly Raceway Park and finished 34th, 55 laps down.

3 -- Drivers who made more than $500,000 in earnings: Todd Bodine ($604,310), Johnny Benson ($574,975) and Mark Martin ($522,000).

4 -- Drivers with an average running position inside the top 10: Todd Bodine (9.557), David Reutimann (9.922), Johnny Benson (10.055) and Mike Skinner (10.324).

4 -- Drivers who were running at the finish at the end of all 25 races: Todd Bodine, David Starr, Terry Cook and Mike Bliss.

5.4 -- Average starting position for Mike Skinner, the best among drivers who started all 25 races. Skinner collected eight pole positions on the year. His average finish was 14.1.

12 -- Different drivers won a race in 2006, with five drivers winning multiple races: Mark Martin (six), Johnny Benson (five), Todd Bodine (three), Jack Sprague (two) and Ron Hornaday (two).

42.9 -- Winning percentage of Mark Martin in 2006. Martin had six victories in his 14 starts and never went more than four races without finding Victory Lane. He had two finishes outside the top 10: Lowe's Motor Speedway (13th) and Atlanta (36th).

88 -- Drivers who started at least one Truck Series race in 2006.

95.93 -- Percent of laps Todd Bodine ran on the lead lap in 2006, or 3,913 of 4,079 laps.

127 -- Points that Todd Bodine won the 2006 Truck Series title over Johnny Benson, the third-largest margin in series history.

160 -- Laps David Reutimann led in 2006, the most among drivers who did not win a race. Mark Martin led more than anybody with 661 despite competing in only 14 races.

290 -- Laps that Mike Skinner had the fastest truck in 2006, more than any other driver. Skinner also led the series with 82.2 percent of his laps run inside the top 15, or 3,352 of 3,739 laps.

1,100 -- Green-flag passes for Brendan Gaughan in 2006. Gaughan had an average starting position of 19.7 with an average finish of 16.5. He finished the season ranked 15th in the standings.

Although he had won a Busch Series championship, prior to this season Johnny Benson had four career victories in NASCAR -- one in Cup and three in Busch. That changed this season, as Benson rolled off five victories in the Truck Series, including back-to-back races at Michigan and Milwaukee in June.

Craftsman Truck Series

Statistics for the top 10 in the standings

Pos.	Driver	Wins	T5	T10	Avg.
1.	Todd Bodine	3	12	16	8.4
2.	Johnny Benson	5	13	17	10.2
3.	David Reutimann	0	7	19	9.1
4.	David Starr	1	6	12	11.0
5.	Jack Sprague	2	10	14	12.1
6.	Ted Musgrave	0	10	13	12.2
7.	Ron Hornaday	2	8	12	12.0
8.	Terry Cook	1	3	12	12.0
9.	Rick Crawford	1	5	13	12.6
10.	Mike Skinner	1	8	13	14.1

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