Benson holds on to win his fourth truck race

Johnny Benson got past Kyle Busch an instant before a caution flag froze the field Saturday and never relinquished the top spot, racing away to a win in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon N.H.

It was the fourth victory of the season for Benson, who had not won a truck race before this year.

Nextel Cup star Busch, making only his fourth truck start of the season, took the lead on lap 121 on a pit stop during one of the 12 caution flags in the 200-lap race and was battling to hold off Benson on lap 167 when Mike Bliss hit the wall. That brought out another yellow flag and NASCAR’s scoring showed Benson had the nose of his Bill Davis Racing Toyota just ahead of Busch’s Chevrolet.

Benson, who led four times for 145 laps, pulled away on the ensuing restart and stayed in front as pole-winner Mike Skinner got past Busch to take second place, finishing 0.691 seconds – about six truck-lengths – behind the winner.

Series points leader Todd Bodine finished fourth, followed by David Starr, Ron Hornaday Jr. and Rick Crawford.

Benson gained 30 points on Bodine and trails by 124.

Benson teammate A.J. Allmendinger, the Champ Car World Series star making his truck debut, finished 13th.

NHRA

Rain washed the NHRA Nationals again in Mohnton, Pa., forcing NHRA officials to postpone the event until next weekend.

“The rain is scheduled to last until 3 p.m. today and the parking lots would not dry out in time for Sunday racing,” said Graham Light, the sanctioning body’s senior vice president of racing operations.

Rain Friday wiped out qualifying sessions at Maple Grove Raceway. The $1.5 million competition is the 19th of 23 events on the POWERade Drag Racing Series.