Leader Benson keeps focus on winning, not cruising

Johnny Benson has the largest points lead of the season, 119 over Ron Hornaday, going into Saturday's Craftsman Truck Series Camping World 200 at Gateway International Raceway.

It's a nice advantage to have, but Benson knows that with nine races remaining, it's too early to start driving conservatively and it will be business as usual at the 1.25-mile track located in Madison, Ill., across the Mississippi River from St. Louis.

Fast Facts

What	Camping World 200
When	2:30 p.m. ET Saturday
TV	SPEED, 2 p.m. ET
Radio	MRN (Sirius Ch. 28), 2:30 ET

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"I think we have to win more races to win the championship," Benson said. "We're not going to change anything we've been doing."

Although Benson had his CTS record-tying three-race winning streak snapped in the previous race at Bristol, his fourth-place finish more than doubled his lead over Hornaday, who was involved in a late multi-truck crash and finished 24th.

Benson won at Gateway last season, passing Hornaday for the lead with 13 laps remaining. Hornaday finished second.

"We had a good day at Gateway last year," Hornaday said. "We started and finished second and led the most laps. We need to do the same thing this year but finish one position higher."

Matt Crafton arrived and departed Bristol third in points, but he also lost considerable ground to Benson by finishing 21st. Crafton is 156 points back.

"There's a lot of racing left this season, and we'll stay focused and do the best we can each week," Crafton said. "As far as the championship is concerned, we'll keep our focus on each race and we'll look up with a couple of races to go and see where we are.

"We've always had real good trucks [at Gateway]. Last year, we had a great truck, but we had a couple of flat tires and fell a lap down for most of the race. We ended up running down the leader to get our lap back and finished in the top 10 [ninth]. We always feel confident at Gateway."

Marc Davis will make his CTS debut at Gateway with Randy Moss Motorsports. Davis, 18, will become the first black driver to compete in any of NASCAR's three national series this year. He has raced in the Camping World East Series the past two seasons and is a Joe Gibbs Racing development driver.

"This is a big day for me," Davis said. "I have been preparing for it all my life a chance to race in NASCAR on a national level."

Gateway also will be the first race under the new engine specifications NASCAR issued Wednesday. The change impacts only the Toyota trucks, which will lose an estimated 15 to 20 horsepower. Toyota drivers have won nine of 16 races this season.

Entry List
• Camping World 200