Pole winner Jason Leffler (white car in front left corner) leads the pack for the first lap at the Kentucky Speedway. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        SPARTA, Ky. — Mike Bliss said he felt as if he'd been beaten up by 10 people. Apparently, none were NASCAR Craftsman Truck drivers, who can't catch Bliss lately.

        Bliss, a former Winston Cup driver, broke his nose in a charity softball game Thursday that pitted truck drivers vs. ESPN personnel. Saturday, driving with a black eye and four stitches in his forehead, Bliss won the Kroger 225 by 18.197 seconds — a huge margin in racing — over Dennis Setzer at Kentucky Speedway.

        “It makes the pain go away when something like this happens,” said Bliss, who drove with a white bandage on his forehead. “Our truck was awesome from the minute we unloaded it.”

        The previous top truck victory margin was 13.186 seconds on April 20, 1997, when Jack Sprague beat Joe Ruttman in Phoenix.

        A crowd of 41,722 watched on a clear, mild night as Bliss and Setzer (both in Chevrolets) finished 1-2 for the second straight week.

        Bliss, from Milwaukie, Ore., has now won a series-high three races this year and closed within 14 points of Ted Musgrave — another former Winston Cup driver — for the 2002 series lead.

        Bliss, 37, broke his nose in two places when he ran into an outfield pole Thursday at Northern Kentucky University. He was chasing a softball that cleared the wall for a home run, and he paid for his hustle with a fractured nose and stitches. Bliss, fighting a persistent headache, qualified in the No. 2 position Friday.

        “I'm laying there on the ground the other night, my nose is broken, and blood's running down,” Bliss said. “I'm the kind of person, I like doing things full-bore and I get myself in trouble doing it. I love playing competitive sports, and I guess that's why I'm racing.”

        Bliss spent 2000 on the Winston Cup Series, with one top-10 finish. He has spent most of the past decade in the Truck Series.

        Saturday, Bliss started second but led 94 of 150 laps.

Mike Bliss raises the winner's trophy in victory lane. (Greg Ruffing photo) | ZOOM |

        “I told the guys I never had a race car this good in my life,” Bliss said. “We unloaded with the same truck we had last week (at Kansas) and it was perfect.”

        Polesitter Jason Leffler, another former Winston Cup regular, finished fifth. Bliss overtook Leffler on the 10th lap and was mostly in control during a race that had only three cautions and no major accidents.

        In the late stages, the lead changed hands several times as the leaders made their final stops for fuel. With 10 laps to go, Bliss emerged from the pit-stop shuffle and took the lead for good, as he ran away from Setzer.

        Bliss won $75,800 of the purse of $720,393, which ranks second on the circuit to Daytona's $764,063.

        There were 11 lead changes involving seven drivers — Bliss, Leffler (led 20 laps), Setzer (18), Coy Gibbs (10), Rick Crawford (6), Robert Pressley (1) and Terry Cook (1).

        Setzer, who won a race earlier this season, had nothing for Bliss at the end. But he did win $52,500 for finishing second.

        “This team is on an upswing,” Setzer said. “You go through up and down cycles in racing, and hopefully we stay up.”

        The Dodge Ram teams continued to complain about a NASCAR rule dating to 2001. After Dodge dominated the early 2001 season, NASCAR made a change and took away the wickers — an aerodynamic device that helps create downforce — off the front end of Dodges, but not Fords or Chevrolets.

        “It's just killing us,” said Brendan Gaughan, who drove his Dodge to 11th place. “Anybody driving a Dodge right now, my hat is off to them.”

        In any event, the average speed of 143.515 was a Kentucky truck record.

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