Milwaukee right stop for Benson to keep points lead

Erik Darnell may have slipped by Johnny Benson for the victory at Michigan International Speedway last week, but Benson slid into the Craftsman Truck Series points lead after finishing second.

It's the first time this season the veteran driver from Grand Rapids, Mich., has been in the lead for the Truck championship, and he's heading to a racetrack that favors him retaining it. Benson has won the past two Truck races at the 1-mile Milwaukee Mile, driving for Bill Davis Racing. He will try for three in a row with the No. 23 Toyota Tundra at Friday's Camping World RV Sales 200 (8:30 p.m. ET, SPEED).

Fast Facts

What	Camping World RV Sales 200
When	Green, 9 p.m. ET Friday
TV	SPEED, 8:30 p.m. ET
Radio	MRN (Sirius Ch. 28), 9 ET

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• By the Numbers: Milwaukee

Benson still doesn't have a win this season after finishing just .005 of a second behind Darnell at Michigan but has parlayed five top-five finishes and seven top-10s in the season's first 10 races into a 15-point lead over Todd Bodine and a 21-point lead over Ron Hornaday. Matt Crafton (-47), Rick Crawford (-61) and Mike Skinner (-73) are within striking range. Even Chad McCumbee (-108), Jack Sprague (-118) and Terry Cook (-119) are mathematically within one race of leading.

This season shapes up as one of the deepest competitive fields in the series' 14 seasons. Eight different drivers (Bodine, Kyle Busch, Crafton, Darnell, Hornaday, Donny Lia, Scott Speed and Dennis Setzer) each have one victory. Busch and Hornday have two.

Busch isn't entered at Milwaukee. Mike Bliss, the 2002 Truck champion who has 13 wins and 194 starts in the series, replaces Busch in the No. 51 Billy Ballew Motorsports Toyota. Shane Sieg drove the No. 51 at Kansas and Mansfield.

Bodine has five top-fives this season, including a win at Daytona in Germain Racing's No. 30 Toyota. He was third at Milwaukee last year.

"The Milwaukee Mile is really a lot of fun to race, especially if you get a good truck or car," Bodine said. "The long straightaways give you a little break to think about the next corner and a driver can make a huge difference in how fast he or she goes."

Hornaday's 50th birthday is Friday and he undoubtedly would like to celebrate it with a trip to Victory Lane. He won on his 40th birthday a decade ago at Bristol, Tenn. The Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet driver was second at Milwaukee last season.

"Milwaukee has been a really good track for me," Hornaday said. "My racing career started on flat tracks like Milwaukee and I think that is why I have been so successful on the shorter flat tracks. I won there in 1997 and finished in the top-five in every race there but one. Last year, we started 14th and finished second. It's definitely a track I know how to get around and we'll be looking at making another good run."

Chrissy Wallace, the 20-year-old daughter of Nationwide Series regular Mike Wallace, will make her second Truck Series start in the No. 03 Toyota for Germain Racing. She finished 18th at Martinsville on March 29 after starting 35th.

Speed is sitting out Milwaukee, and Michael Annett will make his series debut in the No. 22 Bill Davis Racing Toyota. Paul Poulter will drive in his first Truck race, in Key Motorsports' Chevrolet.