Mr. Consistency, Chad Chaffin notched another top-10 finish as he wrestled back from one lap down in the Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway to finish the event on the lead lap.  The Dickies driver was penalized early in the race and earned his lap back by racing with the leaders before a caution came out late in the event.  Chaffin finished the race in 10th position and moved up two spots in the NASCAR Championship points battle to eighth position.   

The Dickies driver started the race on the outside pole.  His truck became loose in the first 20 laps and Chaffin fought to preserve his brakes.  On lap 80, Andy Petree bumped into David Starr coming off turn four.  Starr was knocked loose and hit Chaffin who spun around on the track bringing out the fourth caution of the day.  Crew Chief Kip McCord called Chaffin into the pits for a routine pit stop giving them a chance to double check the Dickies Dodge for damage.

On lap 82 Chaffin pitted and the team took advantage of the time by raising up the hood and pouring water on the brake calipers to cool them off.  The team changed four tires, added Sunoco fuel and tried to pull the back bumper off that was hanging loose from the wreck.  Then the jack dropped just before the leaders crossed the start/finish line and Chaffin sped out of the pit stall.  The bumper was still hanging from the back of the Dickies Dodge.  NASCAR called the driver back in to fix the sheet metal before the race restarted. 

He came back in on lap 88 still under caution and the team fixed the rear fender.  As Chaffin was exiting pit road, the NASCAR official holding the paddle, which allows drivers to go or stop, was showing stop which is supposed to hold Chaffin on pit lane.  Trying to stay on the lead lap, Chaffin drove onto the .526 mile oval and disregarded the command.  As a result he was penalized one lap.  The race restarted on lap 94 and Chaffin was in 27th position.

By the sixth caution on lap 109, Chaffin was complaining he was losing his brakes on the Dickies Dodge.  He was located behind the leader Jack Sprague therefore situating himself as the next “lucky dog candidate” to get his lap back under the next caution.  Sure enough on lap 144, the seventh caution came out which granted Chaffin the “lucky dog beneficiary.”  The team pitted out of sequence on lap 148 trying to get an advantage on the rest of the field.   

By lap 169, the pit strategy worked for the Dickies Racing Team.  During the eighth caution, the leaders pitted which moved Chaffin up to fifth position.  In the final 100 laps Chaffin fought a loose race track while preserving his brakes to finish the event in 10th place. 
 
“It was a hard top 10,” Chaffin said.  “We had a real good truck.  Bobby and his engineers designed some stuff that’s awesome.  After about 20 laps it started getting loose on me.  Then we got spun, and my brakes started fading which was my fault.  When I pitted and ran the stop sign, I did it on purpose to stay on the lead lap. Somehow it was a one lap penalty and we figured it should be a stop and go on pit road.  Overall, my guys did a great job. We were able to keep racing until the end. We gave up some rubber to all those guys that passed us at the end, but we were trying to stay on the lead lap.  I had trouble hanging on there at the end.  I’m proud of the top 10.  We’re here to win, and we’re going to win.”
 
Rick Crawford won the Kroger 250.  Dennis Setzer, Jack Sprague, Jon Wood and Mike Skinner followed in the top five.