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Does NASCAR need a 10-race playoff to make a championship race close and exciting?If you ask the newly-crowned Craftsman Truck Series champion Johnny Benson, he'd probably tell you no.
After all, Benson won the title -- his second career NASCAR championship to follow up his Nationwide Series title in 1995 -- by just a mere seven points over Ron Hornaday Jr.
By comparison, Carl Edwards trails Jimmie Johnson by 141 points in the Sprint Cup Series standings with the season-finale scheduled for Sunday afternoon at the same Homestead-Miami Speedway Benson scored his huge season win at Friday night. What's also notable is that the Sprint Cup Series had a near-total points reset just ten races ago among the Top 12 drivers.
While I won't profess to have followed the 2008 Craftsman Truck Series as close as I could have -- hey, I went to see the character-rich series when they visited O'Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis back in July -- I've got to say that Benson's win is one of those "feel good" stories of the year.
Not to slight Hornaday by any margin, but Benson is truly one of the good guys in racing and has always been quite approachable for both fans and media.
Benson's championship Friday night happened only because his team decided to keep the No. 23 Bill Davis Racing Toyota on the track during a late caution while Hornaday pitted for four tires. Hornaday was clawing his way back to Benson until a caution near the checkered flag slowed his charge and when the race went to a green-white-checkered finish, he was unable to get around Benson.
Benson's run to his first-career Truck Series championship over the 25-race season saw the Grand Rapids, Mich.-driver score 18 Top-10s and 14 Top-5s with 5 wins and 5 poles.
Interestingly enough, Benson announced earlier this season he won't be returning to Bill Davis Racing in 2009.
Regardless, here's to you Mr. Benson, congratulations on the 2008 Craftsman Truck Series championship.
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