Cook, who went to the emergency room with flu symptoms on Wednesday, recovered sufficiently to bring his Ford F-150 from the eighth starting position to the lead by the 91st of 160 laps.

The Ohio native gave up the advantage on the 106th lap in making his final of two pit stops. Cook took over for good when leader Jason Leffler pitted his Dodge 11 laps later.

Cook held a 7.5-second lead over Leffler after the pit stop cycle, a margin that grew to 8.564 seconds at the checkered flag. More