Trucks: Michigan's last five races

As fields thin in the Truck series, finding consistent top-10 finishers is not that difficult, but it's also not that simple. Luck continues to play an important role in who will finish up front. Ron Hornaday Jr. has had one of the trucks to beat the last two weeks after starting on the front row each time, but mishaps sent him home 26th at Dover and 19th at Texas. Worse still, this has not been one of his favorite tracks with an average finish of 17.5 that puts him well down the grid.

On the other hand, Todd Bodine has a little momentum on his side after winning last week at Texas—and Michigan has been among his preferred tracks. He's yet to win there, but with a four-race streak of top-10s, he deserves a spot on the roster for consistency alone.

Mike Skinner has a slightly lower average finish of 6.2, but he's been nearly as consistent with four top-10s and a worst of 11th in his last five races on this two-mile track. He and Bodine should be the marquee regulars who anchor your roster.

"Rowdy" Kyle Busch is back on the lineup this week after taking Texas off and he's looking to improve on two runner-up finishes from 2005 and 2007. Last year he finished seventh, which gives him even more to prove.

Notably, only one winner from the last five years is on the lineup this week. Dennis Setzer found victory lane in 2005, but his results have been eroding ever since. He was eighth in 2006, 24th in 2007 and 16th last year, so fantasy owners can reasonably expect a different winner this year.

Average finish, last five races

Driver	Pwer Avg	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004
Travis Kvapil	1.00		1			1
Scott Speed	3.00	3
Kyle Busch	3.67	7	2		2
Bobby Hamilton Sr	4.00				3	5
Todd Bodine	6.00	4	7	4	9
Colin Braun	6.00	6
Kevin Harvick	6.00		8		4
Carl Edwards	6.00					6
Mike Skinner	6.20	8	4	11	5	3
Johnny Benson Jr	8.00	2	9	1	24	4
Shane Hmiel	8.00					8
Brendan Gaughan	8.75	5	3	16	11
Terry Cook	10.00	10	11	9	13	7
Dennis Setzer	11.80	16	24	8	1	10
Donny Lia	12.00	12
Rick Crawford	12.20	11	6	6	6	32
Erik Darnell	13.00	1	26	12
Justin Marks	13.00	13
J J Yeley	13.00					13
Mike Bliss	14.00			14
Jimmy Spencer Sr	14.00				14
Randy LaJoie	14.00					14
Robert Huffman	14.00				19	9
Chad Chaffin	15.00	27			7	11
Todd Kluever	15.00				15
Chad McCumbee	15.33	9	19	18
David Reutimann	15.67			15	8	24
Ryan Matthews	16.00		16
Ted Musgrave Sr	16.40	24	5	23	28	2
Stacy Compton	16.50	21	12
Regan Smith	17.00	17
David Starr	17.00	26	13	13	12	21
Aaron Fike	17.00		17
Robert Pressley	17.00				17
Ron Hornaday Jr	17.50	23	10	7	30
Mark Martin	17.50		33	2
Chase Montgomery	17.50				20	15
Matt Crafton	17.60	15	34	5	22	12
Bobby Labonte	17.67		18	3	32
Kraig Kinser	18.00		14	22
Sean Murphy	18.00				18
Shelby Howard	19.00	19
T J Bell	20.00	20	20
Joey Miller	20.00			20
Lance Hooper	20.00					20
Bill Lester	20.50		15	33	16	18
Blake Bjorkland	21.00		21
Johnny Chapman	21.00				23	19
Jack Sprague	21.20	30	29	10	10	27
Deborah Renshaw	21.50				21	22
Jon Wood	22.00	14				30
Marc Mitchell	22.00	22
Willie Allen	22.00		22
Tim Sauter	23.00		23
Andy Houston	23.00					23
Bobby East	24.00	18		30
Erin Crocker	24.00			24
Brian Scott	25.00	25
David Ragan	25.00			19		31
Clay Rogers	25.50		25		26
Boston Reid	26.00		35	17
Tracy Hines	26.00				36	16
Marcos Ambrose	26.00			26
Shane Sieg	26.00					26
Steve Park	26.33			31	31	17
Ryan Moore	27.00			27
Shigeaki Hattori	27.00				27
Jason White	27.50	28	27
Travis Kittleson	28.00		28
Bobby Hamilton Jr	28.00			28
Kevin Lepage	28.50		36	21
Mario Gosselin	29.00	29
Kelly Sutton	29.00			25	37	25
Hank Parker Jr	29.00					29
Kerry Earnhardt	29.00			29
Ken Schrader	29.50		30		29
Timothy Peters	30.00			35	25
Nick Tucker	31.00	31
Brandon Whitt	31.00				34	28
J C Stout	31.50	32	31
A J Allmendinger	32.00		32
Kyle Krisiloff	32.00			32
Rick Markle	33.00	33
Ricky Craven	33.00				33
Phil Bonifield	33.00					33
Chris Jones	34.00	34
Martin Truex Jr	34.00			34
Loni Richardson	34.00					34
Brad Keselowski	35.00				35
Aric Almirola	36.00			36
Bryan Silas	37.00		37
Robert Richardson	37.00			37
Blake Mallory	38.00				38

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Trucks: Texas results, with avg. finish

Todd Bodine made history at Texas Motor Speedway Friday night. He became the first driver to win five races on the same track in the Camping World Truck Series. This was his 10th victory on the 1.5-mile tracks and it came at a good time. Bodine has struggled through four consecutive results of 18th or worse. Two of these disappointments were caused by crash damage, however, and it was only a matter of time before he got back in the swing. Prior to his four poor results, he was riding a nine-race streak of top-fives.

Matt Crafton was not happy with his second-place finish and compared it to "kissing his sister." He might feel different about that on Saturday morning when he realizes that he took the point lead after Ron Hornaday Jr. 19th with an oil pressure problem.

Results, with average finish

Finish	Start	Driver	Laps	Status	Avg Fin
1	9	Todd Bodine	167	Running	7.40
2	3	Matt Crafton	167	Running	11.76
3	14	Colin Braun	167	Running	10.00
4	15	Johnny Benson Jr	167	Running	11.90
5	6	Rick Crawford	167	Running	11.35
6	1	Johnny Sauter	167	Running	8.50
7	13	David Starr	167	Running	13.05
8	18	Jason White	167	Running	23.33
9	24	Tayler Malsam	167	Running	9.00
10	11	Mike Skinner	166	Running	5.91
11	8	Ricky Carmichael	166	Running	11.00
12	10	Timothy Peters	166	Running	21.33
13	7	Chad McCumbee	166	Running	12.83
14	16	T J Bell	166	Running	24.00
15	17	Brian Scott	165	Running	14.50
16	12	Aric Almirola	165	Running	23.80
17	5	Dennis Setzer	164	Running	11.14
18	20	James Buescher	164	Running	18.00
19	2	Ron Hornaday Jr	163	Running	11.31
20	22	Terry Cook	162	Running	15.57
21	19	Stacy Compton	161	Out of Gas	14.71
22	4	Brian Ickler	161	Running	22.00
23	23	J J Yeley	111	Vibration	23.00
24	32	Wayne Edwards	26	Ignition	29.83
25	25	Ryan Matthews	22	Vibration	26.33
26	27	Butch Miller	22	Overheating	24.00
27	28	Ryan Hackett	18	Transmission	27.00
28	29	John Jackson	14	Ignition	28.00
29	21	Mario Gosselin	13	Rear End	29.00
30	33	Nick Tucker	12	Too Slow	31.50
31	26	Marc Mitchell	11	Quit	21.50
32	31	Brandon Knupp	9	Quit	33.00
33	30	Norm Benning	3	Quit	30.50

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Trucks: Bodine's gets fifth Texas win

Matt Crafton was chasing Todd Bodine down at Texas, but he couldn't quite close the distance. Running low on fuel, Bodine made it all the way to the checkers and won his fifth race on this track and his 10th on a 1.5-mile course.

Our View: This snapped a four-race streak of results 18th or worse this season and it may be time to start thinking about the No. 30 for your roster once more.

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Trucks: Texas' last five races

Last week, Ron Hornaday Jr.'s race ended early with crash damage, but he managed to retain the points' lead in the topsy-turvy Camping World Truck Series season. He should be able to put that disappointment behind him immediately, because he enters the weekend as the defending winner of this race. In fact, he swept both events on this track last year.

The second-place finisher in both of those events won't repeat, however; Kyle Busch is not making the long commute from Pocono Raceway this week and that opens the door for the driver who was third in both races. Yes—the first-, second- and third-place drivers had perfect symmetry as Johnny Benson stepped on the final step of the podium in the spring and again in the fall.

The perfection ends there—but not by much. Todd Bodine was fifth in this race last year and fourth in the fall.

Average finish, last five races

Driver	Avg Finish	2008.2	2008.1	2007.2	2007.1	2006.2
Clint Bowyer	1.00					1
Mike Skinner	5.00	8	9	3	2	3
Ron Hornaday Jr	5.80	1	1	18	4	5
David Ragan	6.00					6
David Reutimann	7.00					7
Todd Bodine	8.00	4	5	16	1	14
Ken Schrader	8.00				8
Kyle Busch	8.75	2	2	29		2
Jason Leffler	9.00			9
Marcos Ambrose	10.00					10
Terry Cook	10.80	6	16	12	12	8
Jack Sprague	11.00	15	4	6	26	4
Matt Crafton	11.00	19	7	7	7	15
Aaron Fike	11.00				11
Marc Mitchell	12.00		12
Tim Sauter	12.00			10	14
Bobby Hamilton Jr	12.00					12
Ted Musgrave Sr	12.25		28	1	9	11
Travis Kvapil	13.00	7		26	6
Josh Wise	13.00				13
Colin Braun	13.50	5	22
Chad McCumbee	13.75	23	6	13		13
Brian Scott	14.33	9	13	21
Rick Crawford	14.60	11	21	5	3	33
Brendan Gaughan	14.80	16	15	2	24	17
Bobby East	15.00		8			22
Kraig Kinser	15.00				15
Mike Bliss	15.50			4		27
David Starr	15.80	12	27	19	5	16
Jon Wood	16.33	31	10	8
Donny Lia	16.50	14	19
Dennis Setzer	17.40	13	11	15	16	32
Scott Speed	18.00	10	26
Damon Lusk	18.00					18
Shelby Howard	18.50	17	20
Justin Marks	18.50		14	23
Aric Almirola	18.50		17			20
Johnny Benson Jr	18.60	3	3	27	29	31
Blake Bjorkland	19.00				19
Erik Darnell	19.40	18	24	14	32	9
Bill Lester	19.50				18	21
Willie Allen	19.50			11	28
Paul Tracy	20.00	20
Ryan Lawler	20.00	22	18
Stacy Compton	20.00		30		10
J R Norris	20.00			20
Eric Norris	20.00				20
Jack Smith (ASA)	21.00	21
Andy Lally	22.00			22
Chad Chaffin	22.67		25	24		19
P J Jones	23.00		23
Justin Labonte	23.00					23
Jeff Green	24.00	24
Michel Jourdain Jr	24.00					24
Joey Clanton	24.50			32	17
Jacques Villeneuve	25.00			25
John Mickel	25.00					25
T J Bell	25.75	32	31	17	23
Shane Huffman	26.00					26
Ryan Matthews	27.00	33			21
Joe Ruttman	27.00				27
Jason White	27.50	25	29	34	22
Norm Benning	28.00	28
Scott Lynch	28.00			28
Robert Richardson	28.00					28
Max Papis	29.00	29
Clay Rogers	29.00			33	25
Kerry Earnhardt	29.00					29
Butch Miller	29.50	27	32
J C Stout	30.00	26	34
Cale Gale	30.00	30
Chase Miller	30.00					30
Regan Smith	30.00			30
Peyton Sellers	31.00			31
Derrike Cope	31.00				31
Chris Wimmer	32.00				30	34
Nick Tucker	33.00		33
Kelly Sutton	33.00				33
Mike Harmon	34.00	34
Brandon Knupp	34.00				34
Larry Gunselman	35.00		35
Johnny Chapman	35.00					35
Kevin Lepage	35.00			35
Blake Mallory	35.00				35
Erin Crocker	36.00					36
Travis Kittleson	36.00			36
Wayne Edwards	37.00			37

More Camping World Truck Series Newsbreakers

Trucks: Scott records first win at Dover

Brian Scott and crew chief Jeff Hensley made a gutsy call to stay out on old tires and held off Dennis Setzer and the field to win his career first Camping World Truck Series race.

Our View: This race has been full of surprises—and it's been hard on Truck regulars. Ron Hornaday and Todd Bodine had big problems early, which made this anyone's race.

Mayfield also withdrawn

Jeremy Mayfield has withdrawn his entry for J.J. Yeley from the Dover race, according to ESPN.com.

Our View: Along with Todd Bodine's withdrawal, this makes the entry list 47 cars. That should make it a little easier for your favorite "go-or-go-home" driver make the show.

Gunselman withdraws from Dover, seeks driver

Todd Bodine has decided to step down as driver of the No. 64 Larry Gunselman Toyota, which has caused them to withdraw their Dover effort and seek a new driver, according to the team.

Our View: Fans of dark horses have to pull for every independent team, but the chances of the No. 64 making the show in the next few months are slim with any driver behind the wheel.