The 2004 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season has barely begun but, already, it’s taken on a veteran look in spite of a near-record crop of rookie drivers.

Last month’s inaugural race in Atlanta, where Bobby Hamilton (No. 4 Square D Dodge) passed 1995 series champion Mike Skinner (No. 42 Toyota Tundra Toyota) for the win on the final lap, may have been a harbinger of a trend that continued April 17 at Martinsville Speedway.

NASCAR Craftsman Truck iron man Rick Crawford (No. 14 Circle Bar Motel & RV Park Ford) – whose 176 starts are the most by any driver – held off the last-ditch charge of two-time Martinsville winner Dennis Setzer (No. 46 Chevrolet Silverado Chevrolet) by just over a third of a second in the .526-mile track’s closest series finish.

Finishing third – for the fourth time, after winning his first Martinsville Bud Pole – was three-time series champion Jack Sprague (No. 16 Chevy Trucks Chevrolet). Sprague led the most laps of any driver, 118, marking the first time the 39-year-old Spring Lake, Mich., competitor has headed the field in eight starts at the Virginia track.

How dominant were the veterans at Martinsville?

Consider this: the only four competitors to lead the Kroger 250 – Crawford, Hamilton, Skinner and Sprague – have a combined 460 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series starts and 47 total victories.

Crawford becomes the 10th different Martinsville winner while Sprague is the 10th different No. 1 starter who failed to reach the track’s Victory Lane. The win was redemptive for the 45-year-old Crawford, whose left foot was broken in an incident March 13 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Crawford had gone winless in 26 starts since capturing the 2003 Florida Dodge Dealers 250 at Daytona International Speedway.

“Yeah, I was in a little bit of pain,” said Crawford to his crew chief, Gene Nead, following an earlier test session. “I told him the best medicine to make my foot feel better was to bring a fast truck to Martinsville.”

The Kroger 250 also underscores the depth of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series field in 2004, regardless of the driver’s age or experience. A series record 34 teams (of 36) took the checkered flag, 24 of them on the lead lap. The latter number matched the all-time mark for lead lap finishers, set in September 1998 at Richmond International Raceway.

It would be unfair to say the veterans were the only drivers to taste success at Martinsville. Jon Wood (No. 50 Roush Racing Ford), winner of last October’s race three days shy of his 22nd birthday, backed up that victory with a fourth-place finish.

And Raybestos Rookie of the Year contender David Reutimann (No. 17 NTN Bearings Toyota) fashioned his third consecutive top-10 finish. By finishing eighth, Reutimann is one top 10 shy of Kurt Busch’s all-time rookie mark of four to begin the 2000 season.

In fact, 12 Raybestos Rookie candidates qualified for the Kroger 250, the largest group since 1997, when 14 started the New Hampshire 200 at New Hampshire International Speedway. The current crop of 16 Raybestos Rookie of the Year hopefuls is the third-largest in NASCAR Craftsman Truck history.

Those newcomers, however, should feel a little better about their chances in the May 16 Ohio 250 at Mansfield Motorsports Speedway. Everyone on the entry list will be a rookie at the .42-mile oval which brings a NASCAR national touring series to the Buckeye state for the first time since 1954.