Hendrick Holds On for Truck Series Win

Ricky Hendrick became the youngest driver to win a NASCAR truck series race, leading the final 32 laps Saturday to take the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City.

At 21 years 3 months 5 days, Hendrick is more than seven months younger than Kurt Busch was when he won on July 1, 2000, at The Milwaukee Mile.

The son of Rick Hendrick, whose cars have claimed four Winston Cup championships, defeated Ted Musgrave by 2.841 seconds in the inaugural race at Kansas.

“This was big, real big,” said an excited Hendrick. “This is the first win, but we have to prove we can win more. You have to be able to win week in and week out. I’m just trying to progress myself as fast as possible.”

Among Hendrick’s many well-wishers was three-time Winston Cup champion and fellow Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon, who called from Daytona International Speedway, where he was preparing for the Pepsi 400.

Musgrave, driving a Dodge with engine problems much of the afternoon, still came within two dozen lengths of his fifth victory in the year’s 12 races. Pole sitter Dennis Setzer was third in his Chevy, followed by rookies Jon Wood in a Ford and Billy Bigley in a Chevy.

Wood and Bigley, among eight drivers who exchanged the lead 14 times on a 100-degree afternoon, posted career-best finishes.

Travis Kvapil, the sixth-place finisher, was the only other competitor to complete 167 laps.

Scott Sharp, who crashed on the first lap after starting from the pole in the Indianapolis 500, turned a fast lap of 216.175 mph to top qualifying for today’s Ameristar Casino Indy 200 at Kansas City, Kan.

Eddie Cheever Jr., whose Infiniti 35A engine was one of two that exceeded 216 mph in Friday’s practice, was second to Sharp at 213.226.

Eliseo Salazar was third, followed by Robbie Buhl.

Led by former sports car champion Scott Pruett, road-course aces took the first four positions in qualifying for the GNC Live Well 200 at Watkins Glen International in New York.

Pruett ran just one lap but it was enough to get his Ford on the pole for today’s NASCAR Busch series race with a fast lap of 121.052 mph on the 2.45-mile track. He edged Canadian Ron Fellows, the two-time and defending champion of the race, whose Chevrolet got around the 11-turn circuit at 121.016.

Third-fastest was Robby Gordon, like Pruett a former Winston Cup and CART series regular, whose Chivy went 120.993. Boris Said was fourth in another Chevy at 120.149.

Defending champion Greg Voigt needed every ounce of speed from his Chevrolet Monte Carlo to hold off Brent Reynolds and win the Food 4 Less Super Late Model’s Miller Lite 75 main event before 4,381 at Irwindale Speedway.

Voigt, who took over the lead from Rip Michels on lap 43, led for 31 of the last 32 laps and held off Reynolds by 0.135 seconds.

In the 50-lap Ultra Wheel Super Truck main event, Joe Herold narrowly held off Dave Blankenship for the victory. Dean Kuhn’s eight-race win streak in the Grand American Modified class ended as Roger Carufel took the 35-lap main event for his first career victory.