Trucks quietly take lead as landscape gets interesting

It's no secret the Craftsman Truck Series has some of the best racing in NASCAR, so it's not surprising that year after year, NASCAR's youngest national series has the best championship battle.

You can't write it off to the length of the schedule, because the last few years in Cup, different people have dominated through August, and of course with the Chase for the Cup format, that creates a whole different scenario. And the point system doesn't make the difference, because that's the same as we've always had in the other two series.

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Even in the face of the onslaught of young talent hitting all three national tours, it's in the trucks where the veterans' skill and guile projects them to the top year after year, despite the best the youngsters can throw at 'em.

If that's just the way it is, oh well -- but it's great to see guys the caliber of Todd Bodine, Ted Musgrave and the late, great Bobby Hamilton achieve the ultimate in trucks -- after laboring long and hard for relatively little reward in other series.

That's part of the reason why this year's championship landscape, actually across all three series, is so fascinating -- particularly heading to Phoenix this weekend.

This year's Truck battle is no different than it's ever been, as the prototype wily veteran, defending and three-time Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday sits just six points behind another veteran, Johnny Benson, with two races remaining.

You've got to think Hornaday's the favorite, just because he's been there and done that more often than Benson. And crew chief Rick Ren is a pretty potent ace up the ol' sleeve.

But there's just no way you can short sell Benson, who's been a distinct force in the Truck Series since getting together with owners Bill and Gail Davis and crew chief Trip Bruce.

Just when you thought it couldn't get any better than the wondrous display of emotion from Hornaday and his team owner, Kevin Harvick, last year, after Mike Skinner's Bill Davis Racing team wilted at Homestead and Hornaday's KHI bunch prevailed, it looks like a repeat of the table setting, with Phoenix being a track where Hornaday has thousands of laps, but where Benson's also excelled. And given how both men performed last weekend at Texas, Homestead could be anybody's ballpark. (Continued)