The first two came on rural short tracks in Virginia. The third was a shocker — Friday night’s improbable victory in the NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona International Speedway.

It took three attempts at a green-white-checkered-flag finish for King to win his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race in his eighth start in the series and his first on a superspeedway.

King was in the lead in the third overtime when Joey Coulter’s Chevrolet flew into the catch fence on the frontstretch after James Buescher’s Chevy turned sideways from contact with the truck of Ron Hornaday Jr. Coulter walked away from the wreck.

The resulting caution froze the field and made a winner of King, who still seemed amazed at his accomplishment when he talked to reporters after the race.

“This is feature win No. 3 for me — in my whole career,” King said. “It’s unbelievable. I couldn’t imagine being here, and we’re here.”

A hard crash on Lap 104 — four laps into overtime at the 2.5-mile track — took out race leader Johnny Sauter, who turned into the outside wall in the tri-oval off the bumper of King, igniting a multicar melee behind them.

“Golly, I flat freakin’ wrecked him,” King lamented on his radio after NASCAR red-flagged the race to clean up debris from the wreck.

Five laps and an 11-minute stoppage later, after a torrent of reassuring words from crew chief Chad Kendrick, King was in victory lane. Timothy Peters, King’s Red Horse Racing teammate came home second. Justin Lofton was credited with a third-place finish, followed by Travis Kvapil and Jason White.

“All I know was, the closing rate was real fast, and I couldn’t get off of him,” King said of the contact with Sauter’s car. “I’m a rookie, and I’ve never pushed (another car in the draft) in my life, and this is my first time at Daytona Speedway or any superspeedway.

“I apologize to him from the bottom of my heart. It wasn’t my intention at all.”

A caution on Lap 61 for a crash involving John King, Cale Gale and Mike Skinner provided a window for drivers to make their final pit stops. The trip down pit road failed to break up the dominant combination of Turner Motorsports drivers Buescher and polesitter Miguel Paludo.

Nelson Piquet Jr., the third of the Turner drivers, took the lead soon after a restart on Lap 69, and the Turner Chevrolets ran 1-2-3 as the race closed in on the 75-lap mark. To that point, Turner drivers had led every green-flag lap.

Lap after lap they maintained that order, Piquet leading Paludo and Buescher, all three trucks hugging the yellow line at the bottom of the track until White led a surge in the outside lane and grabbed the lead from Paludo on Lap 84.

As the trucks approached the stripe on that circuit, Paludo’s Chevy turned sideways and slammed nose-first into the inside wall, bring an abrupt end to the Turner triumvirate.

White led the field to the subsequent restart on Lap 91, with Piquet in second, Sauter third and Buescher fourth. White stayed out front until Parker Kilgerman’s Dodge spun sideways on Lap 95, scattering the back half of the field and damaging the trucks of David Starr, Ross Chastain, Dusty Davis and Bryan Silas.

Notes: Ward Burton finished eighth in his first start in any of NASCAR’s top three series since 2007… Paulie Harraka, who triggered an early wreck, got five straight “lucky dogs” (free passes to regain lost laps) as the highest-scored lapped car. He finished 19th in his first start in the series.

AdvoCare will also sponsor Starr in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 200 Camping World Truck Series race and in the Food City 250 Nationwide Series race, which are both at Bristol.

Starr has made two starts for the team. He finished 38th in the Samsung Mobile 500 at Texas. He finished 36th in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. He also attempted to qualify for the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky, but he did not make the show.

LVR is owned by Texas natives, Lance Fenton and Bob Leavine. The team will field Fords from Roush Fenway Racing with engines from Roush Yates Engines. Wally Rodgers will serve as Starr’s crew chief.

Starr will enter both Charlotte Motor Speedway races;  both Texas Motor Speedway races; the Kentucky Speedway race; and the Chicagoland Speedway race.

The team hopes to expand to 12 races in 2012, with an end goal of competing in the entire season in 2013.

In 2010, David Starr drove the No. 81 SS-Green Light Racing Toyota in the Camping World Truck Series. He posted nine top 10s and never finished worse than 23rd. He finished ninth in points.

Starr has four career truck series wins to his credit.

He’s also made 16 career starts in the Nationwide Series, with his first start coming in the 2000 Touchstone Energy 300 at Talladega Superspeedway. He finished 42nd.

In 2010, he drove the No. 05 Chevy for Day Enterprise Racing in seven races, with an average finish of 26.7.

He went on to stretch his fuel — running the entire 206 laps on one pit stop — and survive a green-white-checkered finish to win his third Camping World Truck Series victory in his Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota.

Afterwards he said:

I wasn’t 100 percent aggressive on saving fuel, but I was 92 percent. There was concerns all around.

Top 5: Busch, Aric Almirola, Ron Hornaday, Skinner, and Justin Lofton.

Todd Bodine, Brad Keselowski, Timothy Peters, Miguel Paludo, and Matt Crafton rounded out the top 10.

Notables: Johnny Sauter (11th), Dennis Setzer (12th), Bobby Hamilton Jr (13th), Max Papis (14th), Austin Dillon (17th), Ricky Carmichael (19th), David Starr (23rd), and Elliott Sadler (26th).

Elliott Sadler and Timothy Peters were batting for second in the closing laps when Sadler hooked Peters into the wall. Peters headed to pit road for repairs. He recovered to finish 8th.

Sadler assumed second place for a moment, but hit the wall several laps later when his tire — presumably cut during his contact with Peters — gave way. He finished 26th.

Ron Hornaday spun and lost a lap but managed to recover, finishing third.

Austin Dillon had a rough night, getting together with Donny Lia 20 laps into the race and clay Greenfield 24 laps later. The damage knocked him out of contention. He finished 17th.

With two laps to go, Justin Lofton brushed the wall, then got into David Starr, sending him down the track on the frontstretch and into the inside wall. He bounced off the wall and headed back up the track into the racing line. As he slid towards the outside wall, Ken Schrader slammed hard into his passenger-side door.

As those two trucks hit the outside wall, Miguel Paludo made contact with Dennis Setzer causing Setzer to spin. Starr bounced off the outside wall and made contact with Ricky Carmichael and then Setzer. All drivers walked away uninjured, though Schrader appeared to limp as he exited his truck.

The race was red flagged for cleanup. Paludo finished ninth, Setzer finished 12th, Carmichael finished 19th, Starr finished 23rd, and Schrader finished 24th.

Busch dropped back on the final restart, but once his truck got going, he passed leader Todd Bodine with four laps to go. He later held off a hard-charging Kevin Harvick. Harvick had a slow pit stop that cost him a chance at victory, but he managed to finish second.

Top 5: Busch, Harvick, Bodine, Mike Skinner, and Terry Cook.

Chad McCumbee, Ron Hornaday, Mike Bliss, Johnny Benson, and Brian Scott rounded out the top 10.

Notables: Matt Crafton (11th), Rick Crawford (16th), David Starr (17th), Johnny Sauter (18th), Stacey Compton (19th), and Dennis Setzer (28th).

Chad McCumbee, David Starr, and TJ Bell finished third through fifth, respectively.

Ron Hornaday, Matt Crafton, Ricky Carmichael, Timothy Peters, and Max Papis rounded out the top 10.

Notables: Mike Skinner (11th), Johnny Benson (12th), Rick Crawford (14th), Stacy Compton (15th), Mike Bliss (18th), Colin Braun (20th), Terry Cook (25th), and Dennis Setzer (26th).

The win was said to be an emotional one for Bodine, who recently lost his sponsor. Winning the race may help the team secure a sponsor or investor.

Top 5: Bodine, Busch, Terry Cook, JR Fitzpatrick, and Ron Hornaday.

Timothy Peters, Mike Skinner, Matt Crafton, Colin Braun, and Tayler Malsam rounded out the top 10.

Notables: Stacey Compton (14th), David Starr (17th), Dennis Setzer (18th), Rick Crawford (21st), Johnny Benson (26th), Johnny Sauter (27th), and Mike Bliss (33rd.)

Benson got caught up in a nine-truck pile up that effectively ended his night.

The win is his fifth of the season, but second place finisher Johnny Benson maintained his points lead.

Top 5: Hornaday, Benson, Travis Kvapil, Erik Darnell, and Rick Crawford.

Kyle Busch, David Starr, Brian Scott, Jack Sprague, and TJ Bell rounded out the top 10.

Notables: Matt Crafton (12th), David Reutimann (13th), Mike Skinner (15th), Dennis Setzer (16th), and Todd Bodine (19th).

With seven laps to go David Starr spun out Bodine. After the race ended, Bodine bumped Starr, then pulled next to him. On pit road, tempers flared and the two crews mixed it up. Bodine, stepped back and seemed to stay out of it.

Bodine said:

[Starr] just doesn’t know when to choke down the reins and slow down a bit.

Starr said:

I don’t have a problem with a driver coming over and wanting to come over and talk to me. But a crew member coming over and putting a finger in my face? That’s a totally different deal. I don’t play that way. To have a crew member come and put my window net down and put a finger in my face, I don’t play that game.

Watch: The spin. The fight.

He passed Erik Darnell with three laps left and pulled away, never looking back.

Top 5: Benson, Darnell, Todd Bodine, Jack Sprague, and Ron Hornaday.

Colin Braun, Stacy Compton, Ted Musgrave, David Starr, and Chad McCumbee finished sixth through 10th, respectively.

Notables: Matt Crafton (11th), David Stremme (13th), Mike Skinner (17th), Dennis Setzer (18th), Rick Crawford (23rd), and Brendan Gaughan (24th).

Top 5: Benson, Annett, Crafton, Dennis Setzer, and David Starr.

Kyle Busch, Mike Skinner, Terry Cook, Marc Mitchell and Ron Hornaday finished sixth through 10th respectively.

Notables: Stacy Compton (12th), Ted Musgrave (13th), Rick Crawford (14th), Jack Sprague (22nd), and Todd Bodine (27th).