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Points-leader Johnny Benson is the defending winner at Gateway. In three starts he has two top-fives and has never finished worse than 11th.By the Numbers: Truck
Top 10 and then some for Gateway Int'l Raceway
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The Craftsman Truck Series resumes this week with Race No. 17 from Gateway International Raceway, a track where series champions have won six of the 10 races held at the 1.25-mile, egg-shaped layout.
The most notable of those is Ted Musgrave, the only two-time winner at Gateway, both from the pole. He's the only driver to win a race there from the pole, but the other winners haven't started far behind.
The track has yet to produce a first-time series winner, and two drivers in particular would like to make history in the Camping World 200 (2 p.m. ET Sat. on SPEED). Chrissy Wallace, she of the famous St. Louis Wallaces, will become the fifth member of the family to race at the track in nearby Madison, Ill. Marc Davis, the teen development driver from Joe Gibbs Racing, will make his series debut for Randy Moss Motorsports. Davis, at 18 years, 2 months and 14 days, will become the second-youngest driver to compete in the series since the age minimum of 18 was established in 2002.
But now to the drivers who have a history at Gateway:
1Laps led by David Starr in winning the 2004 race at Gateway. He won on a fourth green-white-checkered restart, the last time a NASCAR national series used multiple green-white-checkered finishes. The race went 14 laps past the scheduled distance. It's the only lap Starr has led in eight starts at the track.
2Runner-up finishes at Gateway for Ron Hornaday, which represent his only top-10s in five starts there including last year when he led a race-high 94 laps. He has led 114 laps total, third-most of any driver. Hornaday's first runner-up at Gateway was in 1998 in the No. 16 Chevrolet of Dale Earnhardt Inc.
3Drivers who have made all 10 starts at Gateway: Terry Cook, Rick Crawford and Dennis Setzer. Cook is the only one of the three with a win, but he also has the fewest top-fives (two) and top-10s (five) of the group. Crawford has four top-fives, one more than Setzer, and the most lead-lap finishes (seven). Setzer is the only driver to finish all 10 races and has been runner-up three times.
4Average place of finish at Gateway for Todd Bodine in three career starts. Bodine finished fourth there last year after winning in 2006. He finished seventh in his first start at Gateway, in 2005, in the No. 66 Toyota of Fiddle Back Racing before moving later that year to his current ride in the No. 30 Toyota of Germain Racing.
5Starts at Gateway for Mike Skinner, who has only one top-10 finish: fourth in 2005. Three times Skinner has finished 28th or worse including the past two years. His average finish is 21.4, worst of any track where he has raced more than once.
6Most top-10s at Gateway, shared by three drivers: Rick Crawford, Ted Musgrave and Dennis Setzer. Neither Crawford nor Setzer have a top-10 finish in each of the past two years, however. Crawford has crashed out in two of his past four starts at the track while Setzer has finished 23rd and 19th in the past two years, his worst finishes there. Musgrave, meanwhile, have five consecutive top-10s including second and third the past two years.
7Starts at Gateway for Ted Musgrave, who leads all drivers with five top-fives there including four in a row. He won his first start there in 2001 and again in his championship year of 2005, when he led 158 of the 160 laps. His worst finish there is 12th. Musgrave has led the most laps at Gateway with 382.
8Starts at Gateway for Jack Sprague, who has five top-10s there but only one in the past four races. Sprague had one win, three top-fives and four top-10s in his first four starts at Gateway, all in the No. 24 Chevrolet of Hendrick Motorsports, from 1998-2001. Since 2004, he has finished 20th or higher three times with two DNFs including last year. Sprague has led 266 laps at Gateway, second-most, but only 14 in the past four races and none in the past three, the only times he has failed to lead a lap in a race there.
9Races at Gateway won from top-10 starting position including eight from the top five. Terry Cook won from the eighth starting position in 2002 and David Starr won the only race outside the top 10 when he started 14th in 2004.
10Top-10 finishes in the past two races at Gateway for Toyota drivers including the manufacturer's first wins, by Todd Bodine (2006) and Johnny Benson (2007). Toyota swept the top five in '06 and had three of the top four finishers in '07.
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Craftsman Truck Series
Gateway International Raceway
| Year | Winner | Make | St. | Led | Pole |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | R. Carelli | Chevy | 4 | 72 | G. Biffle |
| 1999 | G. Biffle | Ford | 5 | 30 | S. Compton |
| 2000 | J. Sprague | Chevy | 2 | 145 | G. Biffle |
| 2001 | T. Musgrave | Dodge | 1 | 140 | T. Musgrave |
| 2002 | T. Cook | Ford | 8 | 59 | M. Bliss |
| 2003 | B. Gaughan | Dodge | 4 | 112 | T. Kvapil |
| 2004 | D. Starr | Chevy | 14 | 1 | J. Sprague |
| 2005 | T. Musgrave | Dodge | 1 | 158 | T. Musgrave |
| 2006 | T. Bodine | Toyota | 3 | 66 | D. Ragan |
| 2007 | J. Benson | Toyota | 4 | 32 | M. Skinner |
Official Standings
| Pos. | +/- | Driver | Points | Behind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | -- | Johnny Benson | 2426 | Leader |
| 2. | -- | Ron Hornaday | 2307 | -119 |
| 3. | -- | Matt Crafton | 2270 | -156 |
| 4. | +2 | Todd Bodine | 2187 | -239 |
| 5. | -1 | Mike Skinner | 2172 | -254 |
| 6. | +1 | Rick Crawford | 2165 | -261 |
| 7. | -2 | Erik Darnell | 2139 | -287 |
| 8. | -- | Jack Sprague | 2073 | -353 |
| 9. | -- | Terry Cook | 2046 | -380 |
| 10. | +1 | Dennis Setzer | 1990 | -436 |
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