Starr Capitalizes on Musgrave's Misfortune

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Starr wins after Musgrave is felled by tire

AP Photo/Rick Hossman

David Starr holds his trophy after winning the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Chevy Silverado 150 Friday, Nov. 5, 2004, at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Ariz

November 5, 2004
08:49 PM EST (01:49 GMT)

David Starr, in the right place when leader Ted Musgrave’s tire shredded within sight of the finish, held off Bud Pole starter Jack Sprague to win Friday’s Chevy Silverado 150 at Phoenix International Raceway.

The victory was Starr’s second of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series campaign while Musgrave, who finished a lap off the pace in 19th place, lost a golden opportunity to turn the championship battle into a tight, three-way battle with two races remaining.

Starr, running in the top five throughout the late afternoon event, took second from Todd Bodine during an exchange of pit stops under caution on lap 110.

It turned out to be the winning move as Musgrave’s Mopar Dodge – its right front tire shredded – slowed and headed for pit road with 28 laps remaining. Sprague, who moved past Bodine at lap 146, pulled to within a length of the tailgate of the leader’s Spears Manufacturing Chevrolet but could go no further.

Starr’s winning margin was .297 second. The victory was worth $49,690.

“He had us covered but he had misfortune,” Starr said of Musgrave. “My crew had done an excellent job of getting me in the right place to take advantage of it.”

Matt Crafton and Shane Hmiel followed Starr and Sprague to the checkers to give Chevrolet trucks a sweep of the top four positions. Johnny Benson dove under Steve Park on the final lap to finish fifth. Park, Bobby Hamilton, P.J. Jones, Dennis Setzer and Carl Edwards completed the top 10 of 18 lead lap finishers.

Hamilton, who started the day a point behind Setzer in the standings, passed his rival on a lap 141 restart. By picking up two more spots, Hamilton holds a lead of seven points entering Friday’s Craftsman 200 at Darlington Raceway. Musgrave – within 30 points of the lead at one point – is 120 back in third with Edwards another 13 off the pace. Hamilton has won both Darlington races in which he has competed.

Starr moved into the sixth position but also became the highest ranked driver to be mathematically eliminated from the championship.

Four drivers – Starr, Sprague, Musgrave and Sean Murphy – traded the lead four times. Six cautions consumed 36 laps resulting in the third-slowest series race at Phoenix. Starr averaged 90.765 mph.

Sprague’s Chevy Trucks Chevrolet started from the No. 1 spot after winning his 26th career pole, fifth at Phoenix and sixth of the season. He stayed there until lap 44 when all but Murphy pitted after Chase Montgomery’s Turn 3 accident. Musgrave, who started seventh but immediately moved to second, took over at lap 50 followed by Sprague, Bodine, Starr, Hmiel and Crafton.

Mike Skinner and Tracy Hines collided at the entrance to Turn 3 on lap 109 to close up the field and allow teams to make their final stops. Starr and Bodine exited virtually side-by-side with the pit out camera giving the edge to Starr. Sprague got off his marks in fourth just ahead of Park’s Orleans Dodge.

Despite the flat tire, Musgrave nearly saved his lap – quickly leaving pit road when Ken Weaver, Robert Huffman and several others were involved in an accident between turns one and two. Musgrave, running on the rim, couldn’t maintain enough speed to re-enter the pits and change the flat before the leaders completed their next lap.

“You can’t go far when it starts coming apart, knocking the bodies off,” Musgrave said.

The restart lasted just three laps when Chad Chaffin, unable to avoid a Turn 4 tangle between Terry Cook and Jon Wood, demolished the front end of his Dickies Dodge.

That left Sprague with 11 laps to overhaul Bodine and Starr. He took second – aided by a loose wheel which sent Bodine’s Toyota behind the wall – but didn’t have enough to pass Starr.

“Track position is everything,” said Sprague. “When we got the green it took my truck just a few laps too many laps to come in. I could stay with David but I couldn’t gain enough on him to get by.”

Sprague finished second in his fourth consecutive race and fifth time out of six at Phoenix, a track on which he also has won three times.

Bodine thought he had a shot a his third victory of the season.

“Our truck was definitely better on short runs,” he said. “We really shined on old tires.”