| | Associated Press
MONROE, Wash. -- Jack Sprague, helped by a caution period he had a role in, came from a lap behind to win the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Sears 200 on Saturday night.
A lap behind in 16th-place after pitting to replace a cut tire
on the 128th of 200 scheduled laps, Sprague methodically worked his
way back into contention as the race ran without caution.
Third place, however, appeared as far as the defending series
champion would get until contact with Brendan Gaughan's lapped
truck sent Gaughan crashing into a concrete barrier to bring out
the caution flag.
The race's fifth yellow extended the scheduled distance and sent
leaders Randy Tolsma, Joe Ruttman and Dennis Setzer to pit road for
new right side tires. That gave Sprague the lead when competition
resumed for two final laps on the 206th circuit.
Tolsma, who had led from the 96th lap, drove his Dodge from
fourth to second in the space of 100 yards, but couldn't overhaul
Sprague's Chevrolet. Sprague won by 0.221 seconds.
The victory was Sprague's third in the past four races and
extended his championship lead to 97 points over Greg Biffle. The
winner averaged 70.415 mph.
"When we got to third (and the caution came out) we discussed
whether to pit or not and I said, 'I can't win if we pit,'" Sprague
said. "I wasn't graveyard dead, but I was out of tires. I got a
good restart and didn't spin the tires too much. I saw Tolsma get
into second on the white flag lap.
"I thought I had enough distance to hold them. It was just
fortunate everything worked out."
The finish, his ninth top-five in succession, set a series
record.
Tolsma failed to break a 64-race losing streak, but posted his
best finish of the season. Ruttman, who started from the pole, led
just one lap in finishing third in his Dodge. Biffle took fourth
ahead of Roush Racing teammate Kurt Busch, the race's top finishing
rookie.
Setzer and Rick Carelli finished sixth and seventh, the final
drivers to complete all 207 laps on the 0.646-mile Evergreen
Speedway. Andy Houston, Scott Riggs and Bryan Reffner completed the
top 10.
Sprague, Tolsma and Ruttman exchanged the lead three times. The
race's five caution flags consumed 35 laps.
Gaughan, the current NASCAR Winston West Series point leader,
escaped injury in one of two serious accidents. Earlier, Ryan
McGlynn walked away from his demolished Chevrolet, which spun on
the backstretch, hit a tire barrier and flipped over, landing on
its wheels.
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ALSO SEE
Craftsman Truck Sears 200 results
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Jack Sprague comes from behind for the victory.
avi: 1125 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
A Brendan Gaughan crash brings out the caution with two laps to go.
avi: 1122 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
 The dramatic win comes as a surprise for Jack Sprague.
wav: 346 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Two new tires may have cost Randy Tolsma the race.
wav: 346 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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