GLADEVILLE, Tenn. — Travis Kvapil was in control for the final third of the Toyota Tundra 200 at Nashville Superspeedway Saturday and earned his third victory of the season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
Kvapil passed Mike Skinner for the lead on lap 103 of 150 on the outside in turn four on the 1.33-mile track and led virtually the rest of the way to finish 2.403 seconds in front of runner-up Ron Hornaday.
The 31 year old led 47 of the final 48 laps. Ted Musgrave was credited with leading lap 111, when the leaders pitted under caution for the final time and his Toyota was pitted across the timing line and Kvapil’s wasn’t.
Kvapil held off Hornaday on the final restart on lap 125 and was never threatened.
“It took us half the race to get track position and get the truck adjusted,” Kvapil said. “We made a big adjustment on the first pit stop (on lap 43) and it really woke the truck up. After the pit stop, we got to racing on longer runs and I knew we were where we needed to be. We didn’t slow down and were really consistent.”
Kvapil had started 11th and was sixth following his first pit stop. He began climbing during an extended green-flag run that began on lap 67. He passed Musgrave for second on lap 101 and Skinner two laps later.
Skinner had started on pole and led the opening 102 laps. He finished third and, because he led the most laps and Hornaday didn’t lead any, added five points to his championship lead. Skinner is ahead of Hornaday by 82 with 10 races remaining.
“When we started out, we knew having clean air was huge,” Skinner said. “Our truck was tight all night and we lost some of the balance on our second set of tires. Travis had us. His truck was extremely strong.”
Hornaday got out in front of Skinner following their last pit stops and Skinner wasn’t able to pass him.
“Our trucks were pretty even,” Skinner said.
Hornaday came out third behind Kvapil and David Starr’s Circle Bar Racing Ford, which took two right-side tires to jump several positions.
Hornaday passed Starr on the apron on the front straightaway to take second on lap 116.
“Second place is fine, a good points night,” Hornaday said.
Starr finished fourth, his best finish of the year, and Todd Bodine’s Germain Racing Toyota was fifth.
Musgrave ran a close second to Skinner during the middle stages and was third following the second round of pit stops. But Musgrave was penalized for letting a tire get loose on pit road and having too many people over the wall. Musgrave had to go to the back of the longest line and drove up to eighth at the finish.