FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) – Jack Sprague led the final nine laps Friday night for his 25th career NASCAR truck series victory, but first in more than a year.

Sprague, who beat Johnny Benson by 1.3 seconds, hadn’t won since May 2004 in Mansfield, Ohio.

After taking four tires on his last pit stop with about 30 laps left, Sprague stayed with the front pack. He pulled his Chevrolet ahead on the 159th lap when David Reutimann pitted for the last time.

“It feels great to win again and not have any drama like we’ve been having,” said Sprague, the first to win a truck race in eight seasons. “We’ve been struggling, been getting run over. Maybe this is the turnaround.”

Sprague had finished outside the top 10 in six of the first eight races this year. He led only one other time in the Chex 400K at Texas Motor Speedway, for three laps during a caution period early in the race.

Ron Hornaday Jr., who led 15 laps and finished sixth, holds the record with 27 career truck victories. Ted Musgrave and Mike Skinner have 16 each.

Benson, a former Nextel Cup driver who hasn’t won in the truck series, had his second runner-up finish in two Texas truck races. Dennis Setzer was third, and polesitter Skinner fourth.

Sprague won with an average speed of 144.847 mph. It was his fifth straight top-10 finish at Texas, where he also won in 2001.

Skinner, whose last truck victory was in 1999, led 116 of 167 laps on the 1-mile, high-banked track. Skinner has gone 34 races without winning since returning to the truck series full-time.

Chase Montgomery’s hard crash led to a red flag that stopped the race for about six minutes just past the halfway point. Montgomery’s truck came to rest in the middle of the track going into the first turn.

Montgomery got sandwiched between two other trucks, driven by Robert Huffman and Bobby Hamilton, his truck owner, on the frontstretch. There was contact, which sent Montgomery sliding and slamming broadside into the inside wall before ricocheting across the track.

NASCAR officials said Montgomery was awake and alert when he was transported by ambulance to a hospital.

On the restart, on the 99th lap, Skinner held off a challenge for the lead from Hornaday. Skinner wasn’t as lucky 22 laps later after going high into the second turn, allowing Hornaday to slip under him.

Until Hornaday went ahead, Skinner had led all but four laps during two caution periods. Skinner led by the end of the first lap after both restarts.

Ricky Craven finished 13th, but remained second in the points race, 17 points behind Ted Musgrave, who was 14th.

Deborah Renshaw started ninth, the first top-10 female qualifier in the truck series since 1997. She dropped to 18th in the first 35 laps, and that is where she finished.

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