Hornaday's error, Benson's malaise has CTS near even

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- In his 30th NASCAR national series start at Phoenix International Raceway, Ron Hornaday on Friday night made a critical mistake on the first lap of the Lucas Oil 150 that looked like it would cost him a shot at his record fourth Craftsman Truck Series title.

But when points leader Johnny Benson was involved in a tornado of wrecks and cautions, in an event that mixed equal parts bizarre, benevolence and bravado, it ensured that the Truck Series' championship battle would be the tightest ever going to next weekend's finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Race Video

• Tough day for leaders
• Bad start for Hornaday
• Benson wrecks, too
• Watch all the highlights

While Hornaday's team owner, Kevin Harvick, and Kyle Busch and Todd Bodine had a classic race for the win, Hornaday finishing 25th and Benson 26th was the most unlikely outcome imaginable, and it created a three-point edge for Benson over defending series champion Hornaday.

It certainly got people's attention, and if there was an imaginary 1-10 scale for weirdness, Friday night's 150-lapper on the Phoenix mile might take the cake.

"It definitely ranks up there pretty high -- probably an eight," third-place finisher and former series champion Bodine said. "You wouldn't figure one of the points guys [Hornaday] to be sitting on the pole and spin out on the first lap.

"Then it goes up to probably an 11 or 12 because you wouldn't figure the other guy would get in a wreck and they come out of here three points apart. That usually doesn't happen [in one race]. Three points separating them is going to be one hell of a race [at Homestead] to watch."

The fact that Harvick won the race, his third Truck score at Phoenix, was the proverbial icing on this racing confection.

"I saw [Benson's points lead] was like 40 points up on the [Sprint Vision video] monitor," Harvick said. "The cautions were a killer [because] I had time to watch the monitors and think about what was going on. This deal is just never over until it's over. It's racing and just glad that Ron drives as hard as he does.

"I know he'll be flustered that it turned out that way but that's what makes Ron Hornaday fun to watch."

So heading to Homestead, Hornaday, at least, has a great perspective on comebacks. Only three times in the Truck Series' first 13 years has the points leader been overtaken in the finale and Hornaday did it last year at Homestead when he erased Mike Skinner's 29-point advantage.

Harvick, whose trucks have won the past three series races with Ryan Newman at Atlanta, Hornaday at Texas and now himself at Phoenix, had already planned to enter trucks for he, Newman and Hornaday at Homestead.

"I feel good about their chances," Harvick said of Hornaday's team. "I'm just glad they both pulled a bonehead on the same night -- that's pretty much what it boils down to. They both could have had opportunities to put daggers in each other -- so luckily [Friday] they synchronized their bad nights.

"I told them there's got to be a lot easier way to shave three points off the lead than that, because from the driver's seat watching your truck wreck that's racing for a championship on Lap 1 and the other truck still running around the racetrack is not good. Luckily, it worked out the way that it did." (Continued)