| | Results
FORT WORTH, Texas -- Jay Sauter won the O'Reilly 300 at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday night, his second straight NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory, while runner-up Greg Biffle took a tenuous lead in the series championship.
Sauter, who started from the pole position, fell back early but
came to the front with six laps remaining, passing Biffle on the
backstretch of the 1.5-mile superspeedway.
The pair touched in Turn 3 with Sauter's Chevrolet sliding sideways, but he recovered to beat Biffle to the checkered flag in a two-lap shootout that followed the $500,000 event's sixth caution flag.
Sauter, the second-place finisher when the series visited the
Fort Worth track in June, averaged 132.430 mph for the 186 miles.
His fourth career victory was worth $60,300.
Biffle, however, vaulted past Jack Sprague to take a 21-point
championship lead with one race remaining on the 1999 schedule.
Sprague, who finished 11th, had entered the season's 24th race with
a 24-point lead.
Just 25 points cover the top three point leaders entering the
Oct. 30 NAPA Auto Parts 200 at California Speedway. Dennis Setzer,
who finished third in a Dodge, is four points behind Sprague.
Mike Wallace finished fourth in a Ford with Randy Tolsma fifth
in a Dodge. Terry Cook, Joe Ruttman, Andy Houston, Bob Keselowski
and Ron Hornaday completed the top 10 as 13 drivers completed all
125 laps.
Nine drivers exchanged the lead 14 times. Hornaday, however, was
the dominant driver, leading twice for 80 laps before a late race
accident under caution with a slower truck.
Setzer and Biffle then came to the front with Biffle, a
nine-time winner, passing his rival on the 118th lap. Sauter, with
newer tires, easily drove around Biffle on the 120th lap, just as
the yellow flag flew for Mike Bliss' accident in Turn 4.
Biffle was no match for Sauter on the lap 124 restart and
Setzer, his truck mishandling, barely beat Wallace to the finish
line.
Sauter's winning margin was 0.267 seconds.
Twenty-six of the race's 125 laps were run under caution.
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