Bodine a Trucks winner

TALLADEGA, Ala. - Rick Crawford had a Macaulay Culkin moment as he tried to pass Todd Bodine for the win in Saturday's Mountain Dew 250 at Talladega Superspeedway.

"My Ford was `Home Alone' in the top five today," Crawford said after coming up just short in a three-wide finish with the Toyotas of Bodine and Johnny Benson.

Bodine knew Crawford's last-lap move was coming.

"I knew Rick was out there," Bodine said, "but I could see his hood, so I knew I had won. Rick timed it just a little too late."

On an afternoon when the lead in the NASCAR Truck Series points changed for the third time in four races, Bodine passed Mike Skinner after a restart on Lap83 of 94 and held on.

Skinner came in with a three-point lead over Ron Hornaday, and late in the race seemed poised to pad that a little.

But as he ran behind the leaders during the final laps, one of the pins holding the hood in place worked loose on Skinner's No.5 Toyota. Eventually, the sheet metal began to fold over and NASCAR order Skinner to pit road for repairs.

Before he came in, however, Mike Wallace got turned in traffic on Lap89 and the caution came out. That allowed Skinner to pit without losing a lap.

He restarted 17th for a two-lap run to the checkered flag and finished 13th. But Hornaday, whose truck was damaged in a six-truck wreck on Lap74, was seventh.

That leaves Hornaday with a 14-point lead over Skinner.

Crawford said he would have loved to win in his home state.

"I thought I made the right move," he said. "But looking back I would have done it the same way. I was getting a really good run off Turn4, but I knew Johnny was going to help his teammate and try to win the race itself. If I had pulled out earlier I would have finished about fifth to 10th."

Benson did what Crawford thought he'd do. Benson didn't follow Crawford to the outside, but he also didn't tuck in behind Bodine and settle for second. Benson dove to the low side and finished a close third.

"If Rick would have had another Ford behind him he would have gone on by," Benson said.