Bodine bests Musgrave for first truck win

FONTANA, California (Ticker) -- Todd Bodine's first NASCAR Craftsman Truck series victory prevented Ted Musgrave from making history Saturday night.

In just Bodine's fourth race in the series, he narrowly edged Musgrave to capture the American Racing Wheels 200 at California Speedway.

As the two drivers were heading out of the fourth turn to the checkered flag, Kelly Sutton's Chevrolet spun in front of the leaders. Both went high against the wall to avoid the spinning vehicle and Bodine was able to beat Musgrave to the line by just 0.049 seconds.

"All I saw was an opportunity to try to pass him but it was the white-flag lap and if I had passed him it wouldn't have mattered because of the caution freezing the field," Musgrave said.

Bodine passed Musgrave for the lead with seven laps to go but Musgrave pulled his Dodge back around to try to regain the lead. The two drivers would battle for the remainder of the race.

At the white flag, Bodine had begun to pull away from Musgrave's Dodge, who was trying to reel in the driver with less than a mile to go.

"This Toyota Tundra was incredible to drive," Bodine said. "I'm happy for this team who have worked a lot of long nights to get to victory lane. I loved this. The Toyota people were fantastic to work with. We're going to be up late tonight celebrating."

Shane Hmiel was the pole-sitter but had to drop to the rear of the field when he was forced to a backup truck after crashing in Friday's final practice session. That didn't keep Hmiel from mounting a forward charge as he took the lead by lap 16.

But Hmiel's tenure at the front ended in a thud when he crashed in the wall on lap 55. The green flag waved on lap 57 with Musgrave leading Steve Park. Musgrave would keep his Dodge in front until seven laps were left when Bodine took the lead.

Jack Sprague was third in a Chevrolet followed by David Starr's Chevy and Bobby Hamilton's Dodge.

Hamilton ran his lead over Dennis Setzer in the points standings to 56. Carl Edwards is third, 146 back with Musgrave 150 points out of first.

"We both took risks because Todd and I both know on a speedway like this, the spinning truck will drift down the banking," Musgrave said. "But the fans got to see something pretty awesome."

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