Kevin Harvick Wins the Kroger 250 with a Nudge

Kevin Harvick won the rain-delayed Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway, leading the final 11 laps and claiming his fourth career win in trucks.

Harvick would use his bumper to nudge Kyle Busch out of his way, just stay out of the clutches of his hard charging teammate Ron Hornaday Jr. in second, and hold on for the win under a green-white-checkers finish.

He ran 185 laps, including one lap of a green-white-checkers on one tank of fuel and helped by 11 caution flags.

Rick Crawford starts on the pole in the No. 14 Circle Bar/International Truck Engine Ford with a speed of 94.737 mph.

Shane Sieg starts from the outside pole position in the No. 15 Woodward Pools Toyota with a speed of 94.326 mph.

Johnny Benson starts third in the No. 1 Un-sponsored Red Horse Racing Toyota. Ron Hornaday Jr. starts fourth in the No. 33 Longhorn Chevrolet.

Colin Braun starts fifth in the No. 6 Con-Way Freight Ford.

For the third time in the history of the Camping World Truck Series, the trucks race on a Monday and has a race with rubber already on the track.

Interestingly enough, all three races have happened at Martinsville Speedway, in 1993, 2000 and 2009.

Last spring, Dennis Setzer just stopped for fuel, never took tires and won. But with a new right-side tires doubt we'll see anybody do it today.

Pit window is 140 to 150 laps, be interesting to see how the new pit rule plays out with teams having to make to stops.

On the Lap 1 green flag start, Crawford would pull away from Sieg, who misses a gear and Benson would also pass for second.

When Sieg missed the gear on the start, Hornaday would bounce his truck off of him and have damage to the front end.

On Lap 2, Crawford has opened up a three-truck length lead on Benson. Hornaday is all over the bumper of Sieg for third.

On Lap 3, Kevin Harvick in the No. 2 Bounty Chevrolet has worked his way to fifth, by getting his bumper under and passing Braun.

On Lap 5, Ron Hornaday after trying the high side the previous lap, gets his bumper under Sieg and passes him for third.

On Lap 6, Sieg starts to feel pressure from Harvick for fourth and they start battling it out side by side.

On Lap 9, after battling for close to three laps, Harvick would pass Sieg for fourth. Benson in second caught Crawford and they start battling for the lead.

On Lap 10, Hornaday in third has caught up to Crawford and Benson who are battling for the lead.

On Lap 12, Sieg falls back as trucks bump him out of the way and he falls back to 17th.

On Lap 14, the first caution comes out for Johnny Sauter in the No. 13 Funsand/Rodney Adkins Chevrolet truck has a oil line get loose and would end up being 11 laps down when he came back from the pits.

After 19 Laps, the top five was Crawford leading, Benson second, Hornaday third, Happy fourth and Matt Crafton in the No. 88 Menards Chevrolet runs fifth.

Both Hornaday's 33 and Harvick's 2 trucks have front end damage and both involve contact with Sieg.

Doesn't look like a problem, since neither have overheated or had other problems resulting from it.

On the Lap 24 restart, Crawford takes the green holds his own with Benson and Hornaday tries to pass Benson on the high side.

But the second caution flag comes out for Braun, who tries to avoid Mike Skinner in the No. 5 Bad Boy Mowers Toyota, loses it and hits the inside wall coming into turn three.

Braun goes behind the pit wall, has extensive damage to the front of his truck, with the bumper on the front tires and loses the radiator.

During the commercial, Speed's Krista Voda comments on crew chief Rick Ren telling his driver Hornaday not to run in anybody else today.

Under caution on Lap 33, the top five was Crawford leading, Benson in second, Hornaday in third, Harvick in fourth and Crafton in fifth.

On the Lap 35 restart, Crawford took the green quickly coming in to turn one puts the lapped truck of Sauter between himself and Benson in second.

On Lap 36, Crawford has opened a nice lead, Benson along with a long line of trucks are trying to deal with the lapped truck of Sauter.

On Lap 37, Benson can't get past Sauter, who's 11 laps down, and he won't mess around long trying to pass him.

On Lap 38, Benson still all over Sauter's bumper, who's just holding up the entire field and the top 15 are all right there in a freight train.

On Lap 40, Benson still trying to pass Sauter, but he has Hornaday third and Harvick fourth start to pressure him for second.

On Lap 42, Crawford leads with a 0.780 seconds over Benson who's still right on Sauter's bumper but can't pass him and feeling pressure from the two KHI trucks behind him.

On Lap 44, Crawford stretches the lead to close to a second over Benson and the lapped truck of Sauter looks like he catching Crawford to get a lap back.

On Lap 45, Crawford still leads, but now has the lapped truck of Sauter to contend with on his rear bumper.

On Lap 46, Sauter would bump Crawford a little, move him out of his way, and let's all cheer; he's 10 laps down to him now.

Hornaday would try to pass for second on the high side, but can't make it stick and just gets back in line in front of the boss.

After 47 laps, the top five was: Crawford leading, Benson second, Hornaday third, Harvick fourth, and Crafton fifth.

On Lap 48, Benson in second, has Hornaday in third all over his bumper trying to pass both Harvick and Crafton are right their as well.

On Lap 49, Hornaday goes for second in turn one, gets his nose under Benson. Horn bounces off of the curb in the turn, bumps into Benson and spins him out coming out of turn two.

Results in the second caution of the race, Benson doesn't hit anything spins and loses six positions to eighth.

Benson left Hornaday no room for error, really a racing deal since he pinched him down and could have left room.

Horn would have hit the No. 1 or scraped it trying to pass, had he not got in the curbing. It's similar to what a few Cup guys do to great success each week. Just pinch who's low or too high.

Todd Bodine in the No. 30 Whelen Toyota, along with David Starr in the No. 24 Zachry Toyota and a few others would make two stops for tires and fuel.

On the Lap 53 restart, Crawford didn't start well, Sauter the lapped truck passes him. Hornaday would just to the bottom to follow Sauter but can't pass Crawford for the lead.

Coming out of turn two Crawford gets a good run and pulls away from Hornaday. He also was one of the few trucks that ran well on the high side.

Also on the restart, both Benson and Terry Cook in the No. 25 Harris Trucking Toyota make contact but both save it and no caution comes from it.

On Lap 55, Crawford pulls a couple of truck lengths away from Hornaday in second.

On Lap 56, Kyle Busch in the No. 51 Miccosukee Resorts Toyota cracks the top ten by passing Cook.

On Lap 58, Busch has worked his way up to sixth and starts to pressure Crafton.

On Lap 59, Crawford leading with Hornaday on his bumper have caught the lapped truck of Sauter.

On Lap 60, Crawford with Hornaday on his bumper battle past Sauter.

On Lap 61, Both Busch and Timothy Peters in the No. 17 Hayes Metal/EZ Strut Toyota, pass Crafton for fifth and sixth respectively.

Cook would try to pass Benson on the high side, but can't make it stick and loses eighth to Skinner.

On Lap 63, it's been great racing between both Crawford leading and Hornaday in second, right on his bumper going high than low to pass and can't rattle him to make a mistake.

On Lap 64, the third caution comes out for Brent Raymer in the No. 85 BuyGeorgiaCabins.com Ford spins, but keeps it off the wall.

Once pit road is open, Brian Scott in the No. 16 Alberstson Toyota, along with Busch, Harvick and a majority of the field make pit stops. But both Crawford and Hornaday stay out.

On Lap 69, under caution the top five was; Crawford leading, Hornaday second, Peters third, Benson fourth and Crafton fifth.

Chad McCumbee in the No. 07 Unsponsored Chevrolet leaks a bunch of steam, prolongs the yellow and came to pit road.

Because of it both Peters and Benson make late pit stops under the caution.

On the Lap 71 restart, again on this restart Crawford starts slow, Sauter passes Crawford and Hornaday tries to follow him, but can't pass him.

On Lap 73, Crawford still leads is on Sauter's bumper, has both Hornaday and Crafton right on each others bumpers.

On Lap 75, Crawford and Hornaday have pulled away from Crafton in third.

On Lap 76, Crawford leads, Hornaday makes a move to the high side to try and pass Crawford, but can't make the pass stick.

On Lap 77, Hornaday tries it again on the high side and can't make it stick. Crawford just too tough in the outside groove.

On Lap 78, Crawford and Hornaday work together passing the lapped truck of Sauter and put him between them and Crafton in third.

On Lap 79, Hornaday would pass Crawford for the lead going into turn one and makes it stick coming out of turn two.

On Lap 80, Hornaday starts to pull away from Crawford in second by several truck lengths.

On Lap 83, Hornaday leads by 0.893 seconds over Crawford in second.

On Lap 85, Hornaday leads by over a second on Crawford in second. Dennis Setzer in the No. 8 Malcolmson Construction Chevrolet in fifth is all over Cook's bumper in fourth.

On Lap 86, Setzer takes fourth from Cook and running like he always does at Martinsville and it couldn't happen to a better team.

On Lap 87, Hornaday still leads, Setzer would pass Crafton for third.

After 89 Laps, the top five was; Hornaday leading, Crawford second, Setzer third, Crafton fourth and Cook fifth.

On Lap 92, the fifth caution comes out Ricky Carmichael in the No. 4 Oakley Chevrolet who wheel hops and spins.He had contact with J.R. Fitzpatrick in the No. 7 TRG Motorsports Chevrolet.

All the leaders hit pit road, Crawford would make two stops for tires and fuel, while Hornaday makes on stop for fuel and the strategy various up and down pit road with those that pitted.

On Lap 99 under caution the top five was; Jason White in the No. 23 GunBroker.com Dodge leads, Busch is second, Buescher in the No. 10 International Maxx Force Diesel Ford is third, Stacy Compton in the No. 60 Wyler.com/Safe Auto Insurance Toyota and Hornaday in fifth.

On the Lap 100 restart, White would battle the lead lap traffic, with Busch on his bumper, but would hang on to the lead.

On Lap 101, Busch would pass White after getting his bumper under him and Buescher would also pass him for second.

On Lap 104, Hornaday would pass Compton for fourth. Fitzpatrick would hit the curb, has contact with T.J. Bell in the No. 11 Red Horse Racing Toyota and blows his left front tire.

Fitzpatrick would make it to pit road ok, and results in no caution.

On Lap 106, Hornaday passes White for third, starts to battle Buescher for second.

On Lap 108, Hornaday tries to pass Buescher on the high side but can't make it stick for a pass.

On Lap 110, the top five was; Busch leads, Buescher second, Hornaday third, White fourth and Compton fifth.

On Lap 114, the sixth caution comes out for Brent Raymer spinning after contact with Benson in turn two.

Both Bodine and Harvick have been working their way to the front running in sixth and seventh respectively.

On Lap 118, after pit stops the top five was; Busch leads, Buescher is second, Hornaday is third, Compton is fourth and Bodine is fifth.

On the Lap 119 restart, Busch takes the green, pulls away from Buescher by a truck length and Hornaday runs all over his bumper.

Starr would lose a right front tire on the restart, makes it to pit road and results in no caution flag.

On Lap 121, Busch still leads Buescher, but the Kid would get past the lapped truck of Sauter and has a cushion on Hornaday in third now.

On Lap 125, Busch still leads by a second, Buescher in second has a long line of trucks stuck behind him.

On Lap 127, the seventh caution comes out for debris. Once pit road opens, Hornaday would pit for tires, make one stop and restart 29th position.

Speeds comments on how all these cautions will help both Busch and Harvick who have made their only stops and need caution laps to add their fuel mileage.

On the Lap 131 restart, Busch starts good, powers past Sauter and puts the lapped truck between himself and Buescher in second.

On Lap 133, briefly Bodine, Compton and Buescher get three wide, but Buescher backs out at the last minute. They were battling for second, third and fourth.

On Lap 135, Buescher falls back to eighth, on the high side and can't get an opening to make it back to the bottom.

After 137 Laps, the top five was; Busch leading, Bodine second, Harvick third, Compton fourth and Benson fifth.

On Lap 138, Crawford gets back to the top 10, passing his teammate Buescher.

On Lap 141, Hornaday who had pitted for fresh tires on the last caution and has made it back to 20th.

On Lap 143, Benson would pass Compton, they had slight contact and Compton falls to seventh. As both Peters passes him for fifth and Crawford for sixth.

On Lap 146, the top five was; Busch leading, Bodine is second, Harvick is third, Benson is fourth and Peters is running fifth.

On Lap 148, Bodine and Harvick start battling for second and Busch leads by 0.891 seconds.

On Lap 150, Bodine and Harvick work together, rather than battle each other and try to reel in Busch.

On Lap 153, the eighth caution flag came out for Norm Benning in the No. 57 Unsponsored Benning Motorsports Chevrolet spinning.

Hornaday at the time of caution made it to 13th and should pick up some spots if any drivers pit. Compton the only truck that would, enabling Hornaday to pick up a position and on the restart he was 12th.

It definitely will be exciting to see if Horn can get back up front and battle for the win.

All these cautions are helping Busch and Harvick saving fuel, but also several other teams are also aided. Last fall the race turned in to a fuel mileage, both Hornaday, Harvick and several others ran out of fuel.

On the Lap 157 restart, Busch on the restart takes the green, has to battle Sauter but passes him coming out of turn two and puts the lapped truck between himself and Bodine in second.

On Lap 158, Harvick in third starts too pressure Bodine in second and is all over his bumper.

On Lap 159, Busch leading starts to pull away, due to Bodine and Harvick racing each other.

After 160 Laps, the top five was; Busch leading, Bodine second, Harvick third, Benson fourth and Skinner fifth.

On Lap 161, the ninth caution comes out for debris. looks like it's off of Skinner's truck as he had contact with Peters and runs him into the wall.

Hornaday at the time of caution was running in ninth.

On the Lap 166 restart, Busch takes the green races Sauter in to turn one, passes him and has a cushion over Bodine in second who has Sauter in front of him.

On Lap 168, Busch leads by almost half a second over Bodine, who manages to pass Sauter. Skinner passes Benson for fourth.

On Lap 171, Hornaday does a three wide pass of both Buescher and Peters for sixth.

On Lap 172, Bodine and Harvick battle for second, briefly Skinner makes it three wide and wisely backs out.

On Lap 174, Harvick gets a run on the inside of Bodine who loses it gets damage hitting the wall to the right front and Skinner would also pass him for third.

On Lap 176, Hornaday takes fifth by bumping Bodine out of his way and has Crawford right on his bumper in sixth.

On Lap 178, Bodine continues to drop back running in ninth. The top five was Busch leading, Harvick second, Skinner third, Benson fourth and Hornaday fifth.

On Lap 180, Bodine continues to drop back, looking for a caution and doesn't want to pit under green.

On Lap 181, Hornaday would get his bumper under Benson and passes him for fourth.

On Lap 182, White and Crafton make contact while racing for position, White would spin and result in no caution.

On Lap 184, Busch leads, but Harvick has been reeling him in and cutting his lead to about half a second.

On Lap 186, the 10th caution comes out for Carmichael and Chris Fontaine in the No. 84 Glenden Enterprises Chevrolet.

Carmichael damages the front end in to the outside wall. Hermie Sadler in the No. 48 Slip In Food Marts/TNA Wrestling Chevrolet tries to stop and gets some minor damage clipping Carmichael.

Under caution, the top five was; Busch leads, Harvick second, Skinner third, Hornaday fourth and Crawford fifth.

On the Lap 191 restart, Busch would take the green pass the lap truck of Sauter and has the lap truck between himself and Harvick. Hornaday would pass Skinner for third.

On Lap 192, Hornaday starts to pressure the his boss Harvick for second and is all over his bumper.

On Lap 193, Harvick put a couple of truck lengths between himself and Horn in third.

On Lap 194, Busch leads by almost a second, over Harvick in second and 1.163 seconds over Horn in third.

On Lap 195, Harvick in second, pulled away from Hornaday in third by half a second.

On Lap 197, Harvick runs his fastest lap and catches Busch, starts to pressure him for the lead.

After 199 Laps, the top five was; Busch leading, Harvick second, Hornaday third, Skinner fourth and Benson fifth.

The last four laps have had so me of the best racing between Busch, Harvick, Horn and Skinner as they have caught each other and started racing each other for positions.

On Lap 204, the 11th caution comes out when Max Papis No. 9 Geico Toyota and White make contact and results with White ending up damaged.

Bodine passed his teammate Papis for position. Papis who is on the high side, moves to the bottom and White with no where to go runs into to the back of his truck.

Looks like both Busch and Harvick should be okay now on gas mileage.

On the Lap 211 restart, Busch takes the green, Harvick gets a nose under him, but is unable make the pass stick.

But the 12th caution comes out, T.J. Bell gets wrecked after contact with Bodine and gets dumped trying to block him.

After 218 Laps, under caution the top five was; Busch leading, Harvick second, Hornaday third, Skinner fourth, and Benson fifth.

On the Lap 220 restart, Busch takes the green gets a truck length lead and all the top five get past the lapped traffic as Starr starts poorly.

On Lap 223, the action gets four wide coming out of turn three back in 14th to 18th position and it works as no one wrecks.

Busch leads, but as DW dubbed Harvick "the Bounty Hunter" is right their on his bumper and waiting for a mistake. Sorry here's the other part that Hornaday will be ready to horn them out of the way.

On Lap 224, Busch feels the pressure from Harvick in second and Hornaday in third is right there waiting for a mistake.

On Lap 225, Harvick in second is all over the bumper of Busch the leader and something tells me this is going to a great ending.

On Lap 227, Harvick ever so slightly moves Busch up half a groove and gets below. For the next three laps they are side by side battling around the track for the lead.

Surprisingly they leave each other room while racing and have minimal contact with each other.

On Lap 231, they are still battling it out, with Horn on their bumpers in third and Skinner in fourth has caught the top three trucks.

On Lap 234, both Busch and Harvick are still battling it out, with Horn and Skinner right their to challenge for the win. Crawford in fifth starts to catch the top four.

On Lap 235, Busch leads but has Harvick all over the his bumper and definitely is the faster truck.

On Lap 237, Busch has Happy all over his bumper. Horn is right their in third along with Skinner in fourth.

On Lap 239, Busch who's been hanging on by blocking the last few laps, gets a nudge from Harvick moves him half a groove and starts to pass with Horn right behind him pushing him.

Coming out of turn four back to the line, Harvick takes the lead and pulls away.

On Lap 240, Harvick takes the lead has about a four truck length lead. Busch on the high side still comes down has contact with Horn on the low side and keeps second.

On Lap 241, the 13th caution flag comes out, when White gets loose has contact with Sadler who spins.

Peters runs out of fuel makes it to pit road and White pits with the hood up and both are the only ones on pit road.

On Lap 244, under caution Busch makes a pit road commitment violation. When he tries to rub his truck on the wall to get body damage off of his left rear tire.

But he does it on the back stretch, drives over the commitment line and pulls back in line. Had he done this on the front stretch he's okay.

NASCAR lets his team know, he has too come in and pit.

After 245 Laps, the top five was; Harvick leading, Hornaday second, Skinner third, Benson fourth and Crawford fifth.

On Lap 246, Busch comes in pits, for the violation gets two left side tires and pull on the bumper. He heads back out, Speed comments on he would have been better getting four.

Crew chief Doug George lets him know the tires off of the 51 had cords showing, the restart is waved off and Busch comes back in for right side tires.

We'll have a green-white-checkers finish today and they'll make one attempt at a finish.

On the Lap 249 restart, Harvick takes the green, pulls away from Hornaday in second but coming out of turn four Horn is reeling him in and catching him.

On Lap 250, Harvick barely takes the white flag, when the 14th caution flag waves comes out for Bodine wrecking, after Scott and Cook make contact and spins Cook.

Since Harvick has taken the white flag, the race is over ends under caution and he's declared the winner.

At the time of the caution flag, Harvick was leading by .609 seconds based on data from the last scoring pylon the leaders past prior to the yellow flag.

Harvick wins his first race in truck race out side of Phoenix. Were he's won three times races at Phoenix International Raceway.

It was Harvick's 97 career truck race, like usually he's exciting too watch when he races in trucks and the couple thousand fans cheered like the "Paper Clip" was a sell out .

Post race, Busch parks on pit road, throws his helmet and gloves into his truck. Starts running down pit road, jumps over the pit wall, runs across the track and hops over the wall to the booing and jeering of the fans.

As Busch heads to Motor Home hill were the drivers stay, it's rumored by the fans hanging over the wall jeering him. Say he had a snotty nose and was crying like a baby. (But it hasn't been confirm.)

But the moral of this finish is. You win by using your bumper and sometimes, someone else uses their bumper to pay you back and steal a win.

Hornaday would finish second, claim his first top five, led 16 laps today and used pit strategy for the finish.

Mike Skinner ran an excellent race, was their at the end and it's great to see Randy Moss Motorsports claim it's first ever top five.

Post race Skinner told the following to Hornaday. "I was waiting for (Harvick and Busch) to wreck each other and than you and I were going to have old times," Skinner told Horn after the race.

"We were going to have some fun".

Johnny Benson would have a great finish, get his first top five of the year and it's nice to see the Champ start to have some good runs with Red Horse Racing.

Rick Crawford for the first part of the race, he was the truck to beat and either on the high or low side he was untouchable. He started on the pole, led 78 laps and picked up his first top five.

Compton was sixth, Setzer was seventh, Scott was eighth, Crafton was ninth and Schrader was tenth.

Buescher would be the Raybestos Rookie of the race, with a 11th place finish and ran real well today.

Busch would end up finishing 17th, led 139 laps and retains his points lead by 38 now over Bodine.

Post race Harvick said the following quotes.

"I was able to get his bumper there and just kind of get him up about half a groove and got up under him," said Harvick who ran 185 laps, including one extra lap because of a green-white-checkered flag finish, on one tank of fuel".

The race had 14 cautions for a total of 80 laps and 11 cautions happened after Harvick pitted on Lap 185.

"I got him up there once before and he was able to get back by me on the outside," Harvick said.

"I didn't want to wreck him, but I know it was time to start applying the pressure pretty heavily if I was going to get by in case a caution or something would come out. It just takes a while to complete a pass over another fast vehicle".

"There are a lot of fans that come to our shop, a lot of people from the community that work at our shop from around this area," said Harvick.

"We have some people that work for us from Martinsville and to come here and win...this is our home track. We're 35 minutes from here and it's fun when you can have all of your family and friends come here and watch."

"I knew in that situation he knew he wasn't losing anything," Harvick said of the truck series regular.

"Obviously he wants to win, but he wasn't losing anything by having me in front of him. He had all the competitors points wise that he needed behind him."

Hornaday had the following quotes.

"I had to go down and apologize to Johnny Benson," Hornaday said. "I got under there and hit the curve and spun him out, but I hated to see it happen."

" I knew the boss wasn't going to do nothing to mix up things on the (last) restart," said Hornaday.

"But one more lap and I might have had to move him (out of the way) for the win."

On the finally restart Horn was looking in the mirror to see were Skinner and that gave Harvick the jump.

I'm 99.9% sure that he probably would have used his bumper to win one of those Grandfather clocks and it doesn't matter it's the boss.

" The biggest fun was when you walk down the hill from the motor home and see all the big haulers leave with all the souvenirs and still see these fans sitting in the stands to watch us race," Hornaday said.

"If it wasn't for the fans, we wouldn't be able to do this."

But when you have the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series putting on races continuously like the exciting Kroger 250.

It's not surprising that fans support the series and why fans like myself use B/R to support the series by writing about all the great stuff the trucks do racing.

The next race is the, O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas Speedway on April 25th.

Sources for the quotes, I used are as follows: sports.yahoo.com, martinsvillespeedway.com, truckseries.com, & scenedaily.com.

Photo Credit: sports.yahoo.com

To the Editors, please don't change my tags. Thank You