Motor sports: Bizarre finish results in Kvapil taking truck title

Race fans can only hope the Ford 300 will top the Ford 200 for drama. Both are preliminaries to Sunday's Ford 400, the final NASCAR event to be run under the 33-year Winston sponsorship.

But first things first.

Bobby Hamilton won Friday's truck race ahead of Rick Crawford and third-place David Starr.

However, the real newsmakers were Travis Kvapil, Ted Musgrave and Brendan Gaughan.

Kvapil, a one-time winner this season, wound up the season champion. But he had to sit in his truck for 10 minutes or so after the race before NASCAR officials could resolve a less-than-storybook ending.

After a caution flag on lap 130 of the 134-lap race, the field got the green flag restart with three laps to go. It was what went on behind Hamilton, Crawford and Starr that stirred the pot.

Musgrave, who stood to win the title as well, was black-flagged on the restart for pulling out of line to the left and up alongside Dennis Setzer near the start-finish line. Musgrave didn't actually make the pass, but said he had to shift lanes in order to keep from running into the back of Setzer, who was following the sixth-place Kvapil.

Musgrave ultimately completed the pass of Setzer as the trucks moved through the south end of the track.

Getting out of line to the left during a restart is against NASCAR rules.

Musgrave claimed Kvapil "checked up" with his brakes during the restart, causing the field to bunch up.

When officials reviewed the videotape of the finish, their initial ruling stood, with Musgrave being relegated to a 13th-place finish as the last truck on the lead lap.

Kvapil said he would have to review the tape himself, but insisted he didn't brake during the last restart.

"Ted was desperate," said Kvapil, who will not return to his championship team next year, but instead, will move into a Toyota ride. "He needed to make up two spots, so he did what he thought he had to do. He took a chance and it didn't pay off for him."

Musgrave entered the race eight points ahead of Kvapil.

"I don't know what to say, really," a disgruntled Musgrave said. "You've got a restart there, and Travis must not be good at restarts or he's the smartest (expletive) in the world," Musgrave said. "He nailed the brakes and I had to turn left to avoid him, knowing it's going to draw a penalty.

"All I can say is next year you're going to see a whole new Ted Musgrave," he added. "He's going to be the dirtiest sonofagun out there on the racetrack, and you might as well throw that rulebook away. I ain't going by it no more."

Gaughan entered the race as the points leader, but saw his title vanish when he was caught up in an accident triggered by a spinning Marty Houston with 40 laps remaining.

Houston lost control exiting Turn Four and made contact with Gaughan, who smashed head-on into the outside of the front-stretch wall. Gaughan's damaged truck went back across the track toward the inside wall and was T-boned by the machine driven by Bryan Reffner.

His title hopes ruined, Gaughan, a six-time winner this season, bowed to the crowd and waved his hat.

Slippery slope

Arnold Motorsports driver Derrike Cope wasn't the only entry who thought track conditions grew slick as the afternoon Cup qualifying went on Friday.

Jeff Gordon was the fastest during the morning practice, but going out for qualifying 19th in line (Cope was 33rd but went 34th after he couldn't get his engine started), the No. 24 car ran two miles per hour slower and qualified fifth.

"It was just grip," Gordon said. "The sun came out and the track temperature went up. My car was still balanced real well like it was this morning ... But I just couldn't drive as aggressively as I did this morning when it was sticking so good."

Rusty Wallace had a similar experience in qualifying.

"It was real slick getting into Turn One, he said.

Robby Gordon said his car got sideways in Turn One as well.

History lesson

Winston's 33 years of NASCAR sponsorship ends on Sunday. Do you know who won the first pole of the first official Winston Cup race back in 1971? It was Richard Petty and the track was in Riverside, Calif.

Behind Kenseth

While Matt Kenseth wrapped up the Winston Cup title by a wide margin last week at Rockingham, just 137 points separate second through fifth in the standings.

Sunday's action could result in the third closest finish between those positions since the implementation of the current points system in 1975.

Back in the hauler

In addition to Cope, those failing to make Sunday's field were Ken Schrader, Kyle Petty, Mike Wallace and Rich Bickle.