SPARTA, Ky. — His face bandaged and bruised from a softball injury, Mike Bliss still set a NASCAR Craftsman Truck series record for margin of victory Saturday night in the Kroger 225 at Kentucky Speedway.
Bliss and his red and yellow Chevy crossed the finish line 18.197 seconds ahead of second-place Dennis Setzer — the most lopsided win in the circuit's history by more than five seconds.
The previous record was 13.186 seconds, set by Jack Sprague at Phoenix in 1997.
Bliss qualified second on Friday, less than 24 hours after he slammed into a pole and an outfield wall trying to field a flyball in a softball game.
"I'll run into a pole every time if this is what happens," said Bliss, who won for the second straight week and third time this season.
Bliss wore bandages on his forehead and across his nose during the race. They didn't seem to bother him.
He ducked inside and passed pole sitter Jason Leffler at the start of the 10th lap around the 1.5-mile tri-oval. Bliss had a 5-second cushion by lap 40.
"When you've got a truck that flawless, it makes all the aches and pains go away pretty fast. If I'd had a turtle truck, I'd have felt every pain in me," he said.
The first of three cautions came out on lap 45, when Bryan Reffner's No. 7 Chevy started leaking fluid along the backstretch.
Bliss and Leffler pitted, and Leffler got out quicker, retaking the lead on lap 47.
Aaron Daniel and Eric Jones bumped and spun out in turn 2 on lap 52, forcing the second yellow flag.
Bliss repeated his earlier inside move on lap 57, darting past Leffler again on the homestretch.
A fast pit under the second caution enabled Rick Crawford, who started 12th, to surge past Leffler into second on the 60th lap.
A blown tire on Carl Edwards' Ford brought out another caution on lap 69.
Crawford catapulted past Bliss off the restart on lap 75, but Bliss sneaked back in front on lap 79.
Bliss built the lead to nearly six seconds by the 100th lap, but pitted on lap 109, conceding the lead to Leffler and starting a flurry of pit stops and lead changes.
When Bliss rejoined the race, he had 13 trucks in front of him.
"That could've stung us," Bliss said of the pit stop. "But it played out and played right into our hands. Everything went our way."
Bliss had climbed to third by the time leader Dennis Setzer pitted on lap 130. He reached second when David Starr pitted on lap 133, giving up the lead to Coy Gibbs.
Gibbs, the son of former NFL coach Joe Gibbs, pitted on 140. Bliss cruised past with a nearly 16-second edge over the second-place Setzer.
He cruised from there to his 10th career victory — something he hardly expected seconds after suffering his injury on Thursday.
"When I was laying on the ground seeing stars, and blood was running down my face, I was like, 'Oh, boy,"' said Bliss, second to Ted Musgrave in the season points standings. "I like to do things full-bore and I get myself in trouble when I do it.
"But I guess that's what I'm racing. It's safer."
Setzer and his ACXIOM Chevy finished second for the second straight week.
"I'm excited to be with this team. We had a pretty good truck all night," said Setzer.
Robert Pressley was third, Crawford finished fourth and Leffler was fifth.
The 26-year-old Leffler and his red, white and blue Team ASE Dodge earned their sixth pole of the season on Friday, tying the circuit record for most poles without a victory. He finished in the top-5 for the sixth time this year.