By Sheena Baker
Production Editor
CONCORD, N.C. — Erik Darnell, who won his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway April 28, did not win his second straight Friday night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
Darnell’s problems began when a tire rolled away from his pit on lap 41, sending him to the back of the pack.
His troubles continued when he was involved in an incident with rookie Joey Clanton on lap 100.
“The 09 truck [of Clanton], I got on the outside of him a couple of times,” Darnell said. “He just drove me right up into the wall.
“It’s pretty unfortunate for this whole team. We had a lot of momentum coming here after Kansas.”
“I just moved up on him. I didn’t know he was there,” Clanton said. “He rolled to the outside of me, and I just didn’t know he was out there.”

—  Johnny Benson’s bad roll of luck continued here when he crashed late in the race, finished 27th and fell to 10th in the standings.
Earlier in the week, Benson and his Bill Davis Racing team were docked 50 driver and owner points by
NASCAR because they allowed an unlicensed driver, supermodified ace Mike Lichty, to try out their truck during a test at LMS. Lichty promptly crashed Benson’s Toyota and the team was escorted off the LMS property.
Crew chief Trip Bruce was fined $10,000 and suspended for two races.
 
— A.J. Allmendinger was the class of the Nextel Cup regulars in Friday’s truck race. A two-tire pit stop with 44 to go put Allmendinger’s No. 00 Toyota owned by Darrell Waltrip in position to take the lead.
Allmendinger led seven laps and finished second.
Mark Martin, driving the Bubba Burgers Ford entered by the Wood Brothers, drove to a fourth-place finish. Kyle Busch, with ‘Rowdy Busch’ scrolled on his No. 6, finished 11th, and Ken Schrader scored a 12th-place finish.
Engine woes crippled Kevin Harvick’s No. 2 on lap 111, relegating him to 28th place.
However, he was the winning car owner, as his regular driver, Ron Hornaday, Jr. dominated the race.
 
—  A third-place finish allowed defending series champion Todd Bodine to close the gap between he and point-leader Mike Skinner to 87 points.
“We were doing the things we needed to do to win a championship. We didn’t have the truck to win the race,” Bodine said.
“To win championships, you have to be consistent in all areas of a race. We got it done last year, and we’re trying not to mess it up by changing things. To be consistent, to get top 10s every race, we’re pretty pleased with that. To be consistent every week is definitely the key.”
Bodine’s Germain Racing team fielded a third truck here with former Goody’s Dash Series driver Justin Hobgood at the wheel. Hobgood was involved in an early crash and finished last.
(Mike Kerchner contributed to this report.)