Martinsville, VA (Sports Network) - Bobby Labonte won Saturday's Kroger 250 Craftsman Truck Series event at the Martinsville Speedway and is the first driver to win a truck, Busch and Nextel Cup race at the Virginia short track.
The No.47 Chevrolet crossed the finish line 0.257 ahead of runner-up Ricky Craven.
The victory was the first of Labonte's five-race Craftsman career and he became the 12th driver to win in all three of NASCAR's national series'.
"The guys in the Chevrolet Silverado truck did a great job," said Labonte. "I've got to run twice this year and finished second and first, that's awesome."
As usual, the race on the tight oval was filled with bumping and banging. With so many cars on the tiny circuit, track position was everything and that as much as a fast race car won it for Labonte.
Labonte pitted for the final time just past the halfway point of the 250-lap event (lap 137). He was just outside the top-10 on the restart at lap 144.
But the top four cars had not yet stopped and were on old tires. Labonte swiftly moved his way through the field and was fifth with 50 laps to go. His car was working perfectly and he moved underneath Chad Chaffin in turn three for the lead with 30 laps remaining.
There after it was a matter of holding of Craven and Ron Hornaday Jr. When the final caution appeared on lap 240 for a Bobby Hamilton spin, it meant one last restart to hold off his competitors.
That is particularly dangerous when Hornaday Jr. is involved because he is known as the "king of restarts."
The green flag waved with five laps to go and Labonte got off to a solid start. Meanwhile, Hornaday Jr. jumped to the outside of Craven and pulled along side. The two competitor fought side-by-side for two laps and Craven managed to hold onto the inside line and second place. But the battle allowed Labonte to expand his lead and Craven could not make it up over the final two laps.
"We got a flat left-rear (tire) with a couple to go and that killed any chance of catching Bobby," said Craven.
Hornaday Jr., Todd Bodine and Chaffin completed the top-five.
On the cool-down lap there were a couple of incidents involving Ted Musgrave and Shane Hmiel and one between Hamilton and Robert Huffman.
Despite a mediocre day, Hamilton, who finished 20th, remains the series leader with 633 points. He is 19 markers ahead of Craven (614) and 27 in front of Ted Musgrave (606). Hornaday Jr. and Jimmy Spencer round out the top-five.
The next race in the championship is scheduled for Saturday, April 30th at the Gateway International Raceway.