Hornaday's win overshadowed

A crew member from Todd Bodine's truck team got the jump on driver David Starr during a postrace skirmish after the race. (Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff)

LOUDON, N.H. - So, did Ron Hornaday take a victory lap around New Hampshire Motor Speedway yesterday after winning the Craftsman Truck Series Camping World RV Rental 200?

If he did, there weren't many witnesses. All eyes were focused on the pit road ruckus.

"I didn't see nothing," said Hornaday. "I was more excited about the fans, doing burnouts, and seeing what they were doing. I hoped they were [cheering] for me, but I found out they're not. Oh well."

The postrace roar came when the teams of David Starr and Todd Bodine clashed on pit road, the spillover from an on-race incident. On Lap 195, Starr and Bodine were racing side by side. Starr, driving the inside line, clanged into Bodine, who held the outside line. Bodine's No. 30 Toyota spun and tagged the wall.

After Hornaday crossed the finish line, Bodine hustled around the track, caught Starr on the front straightaway, and gave the No. 11 Toyota a bump. As they hit pit road, Starr parked his Tundra next to the No. 30 and was quickly confronted by a member of Bodine's team.

According to Starr, the unidentified crewman yanked down his window net, an act that brought members from both teams together on pit road, where punches and shoves were exchanged.

"I don't have a problem with a driver coming over wanting to talk to me," said Starr, who explained that Bodine turned into him. "But a crew member coming over and putting a finger in my face? That's totally different. I don't play that."

It was the third time Starr was involved in a wreck. Earlier in the race, he tangled with Donny Lia, sending the truck owned by Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss into the wall. Then on Lap 182, Starr bumped David Reutimann. All three incidents took place coming off Turn 1.

"I gave him the bottom lane, but he wasn't smart enough to slow down," Bodine said. "I slowed down a little bit and he pushed up into me. He got the Lumber Liquidators Toyota tore up pretty good.

"The bad part is he didn't do it just to me. He did the same thing to my teammate David Reutimann. Just totally ridiculous. David's a great guy and a great person. He just needs to know when to slow down and choke down on the reins. Especially at Loudon.

"When you're getting up under somebody going into a corner, especially dive-bombing like he did, you know you're going to push up. If you go in there that hard, you know you have to slow down."

The scrap (penalties are expected tomorrow or Tuesday) overshadowed a dominant Hornaday run. The No. 33 Chevrolet was strong on restarts, including the six in the final 50 laps. Hornaday faced challenges from Johnny Benson and Travis Kvapil, but he had too much horsepower under his hood.

"The cautions played into our hands," said crew chief Rick Wren.

Red lights
Before the Whelen Modified Series vehicles recorded a single lap yesterday, there was an indication that the New England 100 would be anything but ordinary.

Moments after the drop of the green flag, the No. 77 of Rick Fuller stalled on the front straightaway. As expected, the field plowed into Fuller, drop-kicking him into the inside wall. Fuller then bounced off the outside wall to trigger a pileup that brought out the red flag.

The stoppage was the first of three. On Lap 53, the No. 58 of Kevin Goodale spun coming out of Turn 2. The race remained green, but as Goodale fired up his vehicle and steered it into Turn 3, he looped the car again. Chuck Hossfeld, the leader and winner of the June Modified race at NHMS, charged into Goodale, bringing out the second red flag.

Five laps later, the red waved again. On the back straightaway, Anthony Sesely lost control of his No. 11 Dodge and damaged the wall. The cars were brought onto pit road as workers attempted to repair the damage. Because the delay was expected to run through the scheduled start of the truck race, NASCAR officials postponed the Modified event until after the trucks completed their 200-lap run.

When they came back, the Modifieds avoided further carnage, as veteran Ted Christopher held off Jimmy Blewett to score the victory.

"Worth the wait," Christopher said.

Deep in the field
Because Friday's qualifying was rained out, rookie Joey Logano will start today's Sylvania 300 in 40th place. Logano's No. 96 Toyota will start one slot behind the No. 10 Dodge of Patrick Carpentier, the pole-sitter in July's Lenox Industrial Tools 301 . . . The checkered for yesterday's Camping World East Heluva Good! 125 was there for the taking for Brad Leighton. But in the final five laps, Leighton's No. 55 Chevrolet suddenly slowed, felled by an empty gas tank. Steve Park took over the lead and sprinted away. But on the final lap, Eddie MacDonald tracked down Park, edged to the outside, and pulled past Park. With Park in his rearview mirror, MacDonald and his No. 71 Chevrolet took off for the victory for his second checkered at NHMS this season.