Hornaday leads points with Truck Series history on line

Reigning Craftsman Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday might have come in second to Todd Bodine at Talladega, but that runner-up finish sent the veteran driver to the top of the championship standings.

While Talladega is known for its unpredictability on the track, a shakeup in the standings is almost just as predictable. Hornaday swiped the lead from Johnny Benson, who went into the weekend with a single-point lead over his rival. Benson now trails Hornaday by 39 points.

Official Standings

Pos.	+/-	Driver	Behind
1.	+1	Ron Hornaday	--
2.	-1	Johnny Benson	-39
3.	--	Matt Crafton	-218
4.	+3	Todd Bodine	-236
5.	-1	Erik Darnell	-256
6.	-1	Mike Skinner	-258
7.	-1	Rick Crawford	-336
8.	--	Jack Sprague	-489
9.	--	Dennis Setzer	-503
10.	--	Terry Cook	-567

• Standings | Race | Series

Here's what two wins and six top-five finishes in the past seven races will produce: The points lead and the top spot in every key Loop Data statistical category.

Hornaday leads the series in Driver Rating (115.2), Average Running Position (7.1), Fastest Laps Run (410) and Laps in the Top 15 (2,869 for a percentage of 86.5).

Seems Hornaday and crew chief Rick Ren know how to get it done. They also could make history should the team hold off the competition. If the No. 33 is on top after the last race, Hornaday will be the first back-to-back champion in the series and the first four-time series champion.

In this final stretch, he is heading to tracks where he and his team have had success. While he hasn't visited Victory Lane at Martinsville, in 12 starts he's amassed four top-five and seven top-10 finishes.

Hornaday also has wins at Atlanta, Texas, Phoenix and Homestead-Miami..

A good omen for the team -- the leader following the 20th race of the season has gone on to win the championship in three of the past four seasons and nine times overall in the 13-year history of the series.

Last year, Hornaday was the leader after a seventh-place finish put him 14 points ahead of Mike Skinner.

Not only did Hornaday take away the points lead from Benson, but the guys behind him played a round of musical points swap.

While Matt Crafton holds on to his third-place spot 179 points out of second, he has his eye on the drivers behind him.

Bodine's win helped him leap from seventh to fourth in the standings. Bodine has a season Driver Rating of 102.6, an Average Running Position of 8.1 and 152 Fastest Laps Run. He also has a series-best Pass Differential (passes minus times passed) of 243. Bodine has 683 passes, compared to being passed only 440 times.

Erik Darnell, who started from the pole, dropped to fifth in points. He dominated the majority of the race at Talladega, leading the most laps with 48. However, he ended his day with a 12th-place finish after losing some positions during the final stop on Lap 68.

The jump in standings has Bodine only 18 points behind Crafton, yet just 20 over Darnell.

Skinner brought his No. 5 Toyota home among the top 10 but slipped from fifth to sixth. Chances are he and Darnell will swap spots again. A mere two points separate the two.

The series will return to action at the .526-mile track of Martinsville Speedway for the Kroger 200 on Oct. 18 (2:30 p.m. ET, SPEED). Dennis Setzer took his No. 18 Dodge to Victory Lane there in March.

Kroger 200
• Martinsville: Tickets | Travel