One Title Down - Two to Go
Bobby Hamilton, at 47, became the oldest champion of the Craftsman Truck series and gave Dodge its first NASCAR title since Richard Petty won the stock car championship in 1975. Added to Dodge’s Homestead success was Kasey Kahne’s drive to his second straight victory.
Kahne, the top rookie in the Nextel Cup series, also became the first driver to win his first two starts in the truck series
“To go two-for-two, that’s pretty awesome,” Kahne said after leading a race-high 54 of 134 laps and beating Ultra Motorsports teammate Ted Musgrave to the finish line by 1.016-seconds _ about five car-lengths.“It’s really surprising,” added Kahne, who has five runner-up finishes in the Cup series. “It’s tough to win these races. We’ve been trying all year and come up short (in Cup).”
Hamilton came into the season-ending race knowing he needed to finish 14th or better to wrap up the title even if runner-up Dennis Setzer won. Setzer, finishing second in the points for the second straight year, wound up 10th in the race.
The champion wound up 16th and won the title by 46 points. Musgrave finished third in the standings, 70 points behind. Like all drivers on the verge of winning a big race or close to wearing a championship crown the sound of “strange noises” intruded during the late stages of the race:
“I finally just decided not to listen to that anymore and just keep an eye on Dennis and stay focused on winning this championship,” he said. “Man, it was tough. I can’t imagine what those guys are going to go through Sunday.”
The race, slowed by nine cautions for a total of 32 laps, started about 30 minutes late because of the length of Cup qualifying and ended as darkness settled in over the unlit track.
