Fourth Victory Of 2007 Renews Hope For Championship Run

LAS VEGAS — Travis Kvapil found an outside groove that hooked up with his Roush Fenway Ford late and made two passes that carried him to victory Saturday night in the Smith’s Las Vegas 350 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Kvapil, who started from the pole, was running third behind Jon Wood and Johnny Benson on a restart with 29 laps remaining.
“I didn’t think I had much for them because we were all running the same lap times,” Kvapil said. “I knew I had to try something different. I’d been running the outside in (Turns) one and two and decided to test the waters in three and four. I had clean air out there, it stuck good for me, I had momentum, and I was able to make the passes.”
Kvapil went around Benson exiting Turn 4 to take second 11 laps later and made the same maneuver on Wood four laps later to take the lead on lap 133 of 146 on the 1.5-mile superspeedway.
Benson passed Wood for second following the final restart on lap 139 and challenged Kvapil, edging him for the lead with four to go, but Kvapil was too strong and won by .718 second.
“Travis got that outside groove working,” Benson said. “He had a great truck and we had a great truck and we finished one-two. I’m pretty happy.”
Wood was third, followed by Terry Cook and Erik Darnell. It was the best finish of the year for both Wood, who has run only six NCTS races, and Cook, who has run the entire schedule.
Mike Skinner regained the point lead despite a lackluster 13th-place run because Ron Hornaday, Jr. blew a tire on lap 135. Hornaday was fourth when his right-front went down in turn three, forcing him to pit. He was able to rejoin the race and finished a lap down in 22nd.
Skinner has a three-point lead over Hornaday with six races remaining. Kvapil’s victory, his fourth of the season, rekindled his hopes of a second NCTS championship. He’s 181 points behind.
Jacques Villeneuve became the first Formula One world champion to drive in a NASCAR race in nearly 40 years and the second ever. The Canadian started seventh, fell to 15th in two laps and then began holding his position. Villeneuve damaged the front of his truck by making contact with Brian Scott on lap 47, but managed to bring it home one-lap down in 21st.
Buddy Lazier, the 1996 Indianapolis 500 winner, also made his NASCAR debut and finished 24th.