Johnny Benson won the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Championship on Friday, November 14.  With the Truck Championship, Benson became the second driver in history to win Championship titles in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and the Truck Series.  Benson's first Championship came in the Nationwide Series in 1995. 

The Craftsman Truck Championship came down to the final lap of the season in the Ford 200 at Homestead.  Benson needed to finish ahead of second place Ron Hornaday.  During the race, Benson fell behind his closest competitor but when the checkers fell, he finished in sixth.  The sixth place finish won the title for Benson by seven points. 

"Words can’t describe this," said Benson, "I was kind of crying down the backstretch, it's fairly emotional, obviously. Trip (Bruce, crew chief) told me early on that if we weren't the fastest, we'll definitely do what we have to do to be the smartest. It was only fun at the end of tonight's race — it wasn't fun at the beginning or the middle. I knew Trip was going to make some pretty gutsy calls, and that's what we had to do. Ron had a great truck tonight but we just ended up beating them on a little bit of strategy work."

Congratulations to Johnny Benson on a great 2008 season and his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Championship.