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AVONDALE, Ariz. - David Starr won the NASCAR Craftsman Truck race after dominant Ted Musgrave fell out of contention with a flat tire Friday at Phoenix International Raceway.
Musgrave appeared to be working his way back into the series championship battle before his right front tire let him down in the Chevy Silverado 150.
"I think Jack had the strongest truck out there today," said Starr, who inherited the lead when Musgrave suddenly slowed on the 123rd of 150 laps. "But my guys kept making all the right adjustments all day and we were able to hold off my teammate, Jack Sprague, at the end."
Starr held off Sprague in a 10-lap sprint following the last caution, beating him by 0.297 seconds.
It is Starr's third career victory and second of the season.
Zephyrhills native David Reutimann was in seventh place with seven laps remaining when he suffered a flat tire and fell off the pace. He finished 21st.
CHAMP CAR: Bruno Junqueira used new springs and soft tires to run the fastest lap on the first day of qualifying for the series finale. His fastest lap was 114.539 mph, compared to 114.204 for Newman/Haas teammate Sebastien Bourdais.
Junqueira earned a point that raised his total to 314 - 21 behind series leader Bourdais - and guaranteed him a front-row start for Sunday's Telmex-Tecate Grand Prix.
Bourdais, last year's rookie of the year who lives in Tampa, still needs a ninth-place finish to win the championship. He said earlier in the week he'd like to go to the front early to avoid dangerous battling in the pack.
NO CONCLUSION: A preliminary report issued by the National Transportation Safety Board offered no conclusions into the cause of the Oct.24 crash that killed all 10 aboard a Hendrick Motorsports Beech 200 King Air outside of Martinsville, Va.
According to the report, the plane failed to follow proper procedure after missing its approach at Blue Ridge Regional Airport by climbing to 2,600 feet and instead descended to 2,450 before crashing into the southeast slope of Bull Mountain.
The crash killed team owner Rick Hendrick's 24-year-old son, Ricky, brother and team president, John, two of his nieces and several other employees.
Times staff writer Brant James contributed to this report.