Kasey Kahne did it again.
Kahne led 95 laps and held off Ron Hornaday and Todd Bodine on a late restart to win the Too Tough to Tame 200 on Saturday at Darlington Raceway.
It was Kahne’s second truck series win at Darlington – the other came in 2004 – and third in his four career Camping Truck Series starts.
“It has been a good four races. I have been lucky enough to drive four solid trucks,” Kahne said. “I enjoy winning and I don’t win near enough. I think it will benefit me and give me momentum for the next month or so.”
Kahne, a Sprint Cup regular, decided to race on an off week for Kyle Busch, who was vacationing in Mexico. He joked that he would pay for another vacation if he could run another race for Kyle Busch Motorsports.
The race tied a Darlington truck series record for cautions with 10, the last coming with eight laps to go. Kahne was leading at that point with veterans Bodine, the defending race champion, and Hornaday lurking close back.
Bodine made a run in Turn 1 and 2 before sliding back, and Hornaday couldn’t make up the ground.
“That last restart was exciting,” Kahne said. “I spun the tires a little bit but I managed just to stay in and keep the momentum off of Turn 2 and drive away after that.”
Hornaday finished second, followed by Bodine, Matt Crafton and James Buescher.
“I’ll take it,” Hornaday said. “I had a good truck and I proceeded to run it into the fence on lap five and ran into somebody on pit road. Then I lost a splitter and wanted to know why I was tight and loose. But it was fun racing all night.”
Crafton, who notched his 75th consecutive top-10 finish, leads the points by six over Cole Whitt heading to Martinsville on April 12. Whitt finished eighth, despite dealing with several mechanical issues, and moved up to second in points.
Whitt led 30 laps in his first Darlington appearance.
“Getting the pole was huge for this team,” Whitt said. “Our team is taking steps in the right direction, and hopefully we can continue to build on it going forward.”
Whitt was one of 12 rookies racing on the Lady in Black for the first time, but he was only the fourth one to finish in the top 10.
Notes
The estimated attendance for Saturday’s race was 20,000. … The Darlington boys basketball team gave start engines command. The Falcons also spent time with and posed pictures before the race with Titans receiver Randy Moss, who fields two teams in the series. … Darlington Raceway president Chris Browning said he hopes for the trucks to return next season, but it probably won’t be in March because the off week will be eliminated with the Daytona 500 taking place a week later.
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