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Author: Briar Starr

  • Breaking News: M&M’s 200 winner disqualified after failing post-race inspection

    Breaking News: M&M’s 200 winner disqualified after failing post-race inspection

    Ross Chastain, driver the No. 44 Niece Motorsports truck and former winner of the M&M’s 200, failed post-race inspection.

    As a result, Chastain’s win was taken away and Brett Moffitt is the new winner of Sunday’s Truck Series race at Iowa. The Niece Motorsports team can appeal the decision.

    Updated post-race news to follow!

    Gander Outdoors Truck Series Race Number 10
    Race Results for the 11th Annual M&M’S® 200 presented by Casey’s General Store – Sunday, June 16, Iowa Speedway – Newton, IA – 0.875 – Mile Paved
    Total Race Length – 200 Laps – 175. Miles

    Fin Str No Driver Team Laps S1Pos S2Pos Pts Status
    1 6 24 Brett Moffitt Destiny Homes Smart Series Chevrolet 200 6 2 54 Running
    2 7 99 Ben Rhodes Carolina Nut Ford 200 4 1 52 Running
    3 10 18 Harrison Burton # Morton Buildings Toyota 200 8 5 43 Running
    4 2 98 Grant Enfinger ProtectTheHarvest.com Ford 200 2 3 50 Running
    5 3 52 Stewart Friesen Halmar International Chevrolet 200 10 6 38 Running
    6 12 2 Sheldon Creed # Chevrolet Accessories Chevrolet 200 5 9 39 Running
    7 4 88 Matt Crafton Menards/Conagra Ford 200 1 7 44 Running
    8 1 51 Chandler Smith Safelite AutoGlass Toyota 200 0 4 36 Running
    9 13 17 Raphael Lessard ReseauDynamique.com/FRLExpress Toyota 200 0 0 28 Running
    10 11 4 Todd Gilliland JBL/SiriusXM Toyota 200 0 0 27 Running
    11 15 30 Brennan Poole Bad Boy Mowers Toyota 200 0 0 26 Running
    12 9 16 Austin Hill ARCO National Construction Toyota 200 7 8 32 Running
    13 5 45 Kyle Benjamin Kanga Chevrolet 199 0 0 24 Running
    14 16 22 Austin Wayne Self GOTEXAN/ICEBOX HelmetCoolers Chevrolet 199 0 0 23 Running
    15 26 46 Riley Herbst Monster Energy/Advance Auto Parts Toyota 199 0 0 22 Running
    16 18 20 Spencer Boyd TRQ Auto Parts Chevrolet 198 0 0 21 Running
    17 23 54 Natalie Decker # N29 Technologies LLC Toyota 198 0 0 20 Running
    18 17 3 Jordan Anderson Lucas Oil Chevrolet 198 0 0 19 Running
    19 14 2 Tyler Dippel # Jersry Filmmaker Chevrolet 197 0 0 18 Running
    20 22 12 Gus Dean # OverkillRV.com Chevrolet 197 0 0 17 Running
    21 24 34 Mason Massey Hicklin Garage Doors Chevrolet 196 0 0 16 Running
    22 25 97 Jesse Little Skuttle Tight Ford 194 9 0 17 Running
    23 21 33 CJ McLaughlin Sci Aps Chevrolet 189 0 0 14 Running
    24 29 6 Norm Benning H & H Transport Chevrolet 186 0 0 13 Running
    25 32 0 Jennifer Jo Cobb Driven2Honor.org Chevrolet 183 0 0 12 Running
    26 30 56 Tyler Hill Southern Freight Services Chevrolet 179 0 0 11 Running
    27 8 13 Johnny Sauter Tenda Products Ford 137 3 10 19 Parked
    28 27 42 Chad Finley AutoValue/Strutmasters/XLTEngineering Chevrolet 68 0 0 9 Rear End
    29 20 8 Trey Hutchens III Chevrolet 61 0 0 8 Brakes
    30 28 10 Juan Ma Gonzalez Illux Chevrolet 40 0 0 7 Accident
    31 31 87 Tyler Ankrum Nemco Chevrolet 17 0 0 6 Brakes
    32 19 44 Ross Chastain TruNorth/Paul Jr Designs Chevrolet 200 0 0 5 Running
  • Chastain Earns Big Win At Iowa

    Chastain Earns Big Win At Iowa

    Editors note: Ross Chastain, driver the No. 44 Niece Motorsports truck and former winner of the MMS 200, failed post race inspection. As a result, Chastain’s win was taken away and Brett Moffitt is the new winner of Sunday’s Truck Series race at Iowa. The Niece Motorsports team can appeal the decision. Updated post race news to follow!

    Ross Chastain won the 11th Annual M&M’S® 200 presented by Casey’s General Store at Iowa Speedway. This was his second victory in 69 Gander Outdoors Truck Series races and the 10th top-10 finish in 2019.

    “Man, it was incredible,” Chastain said in his post race interview with MRN Radio. “The truck, it’s absolutely incredible that race trucks can go this fast, it’s all to a testament to Niece Motorsports and how far they came, and the people behind the scenes. We all started with GMS fabrication and they give us good baselines, we took it from there and we just go because we’re racers. We’ve had a lot thrown out us this year, but at the end of the day, it’s just a bunch of racers racing and I get to come out here, and live my dream, be competitive in NASCAR. Thanks to TruNorth and Al Niece, he’s (Al Niece) is not even here this weekend, they couldn’t make it. Awesome, I hate I’m going to miss the Xfinity race in a couple of hours, but I will be in the booth (MRN Radio) with you guys.”

    After being postponed due to weather from Saturday night, the MMS 200 started a day later and it was well worth the wait.

    Since qualifying was also rained out, rising star Chandler Smith started on the pole for his first Truck Series race and current championship points leader Grant Enfinger, started outside pole.

    Stage 1 went 60 laps and it remained green without any incidents for the most part.

    The first came on lap 15 for Chandler Smith who reported they were having radio issues. Smth’s team could hear him, but Smith could not hear the pit crew. Smith continued to ride it out until a caution late in the stage. The next incident occurred two laps for Juan Manuel Gonzalez who had a right front tire go down. There would be no cautions for either incidents.

    Smith continued to put a beating on the field leading most of the stage despite not receiving any radio communication from the spotter or crew chief.

    The first caution came out on lap 52 of 60 for Stage 1 and it was for Manuel Gonzalez, who had another tire go down and wound up hitting the wall off Turn 4.

    This allowed Smith to come down pit road to fix the radio problem, which he did, but nearly took one of his crew members with him when he tried leaving his pit box. Brennan Poole was penalized for too fast entering.

    With the late yellow in the first stage, this would set up a two lap shoot out for the stage finish and it was quite something.

    Thorsport had most of its trucks in the top five for the two lap shoot out, but failed to get the stage win as Ross Chastain took the top groove and made a three wide pass on Matt Crafton and Grant Enfinger for the win. Smith would end up finishing 16th after fixing his radio issue.

    The race restarted for Stage 2 and was back underway on lap 66, and it saw a 54 lap green flag run with out any yellows.

    The only biggest mover of the stage was Chandler Smith, who moved his way up to fifth in the famed No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports truck.

    Chastain would continue his domination and end up winning the stage again.

    Stage 3 would be one of the most interesting stages of the season as far as Truck Series competition goes.

    Another caution broke out on lap 137 for the two-time champion Johnny Sauter, as his truck would wind up hitting the Turn 4 wall. However, replays showed it was Austin Hill who wrecked him on purpose to bring out the caution. It appeared the two had been running each other hard a couple of laps earlier, prior to the incident taking place.

    After the incident, Sauter was upset with what took place and retaliated against Hill, and tried to wreck Hill back under caution. Due to Sauter’s action, NASCAR officials would end up parking him for the remainder of the race. With the finish of 28th, it would continue Sauter’s mid-season frustration with his fourth finish outside the top-10.

    Well then… pic.twitter.com/vfRBzPvgQA— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) June 16, 2019

    When the action was said and done, surprisingly the last restart of the race would take place on lap 144 and Chastain led the rest of the way to pick up his second win of the season.

    With the win in the Triple Truck Challenge, Chastain and his Niece Motorsports team will pick up an additional $50,000. However, the money will not be a personal gain for the Florida native, rather it will go toward the teams finances.

    “It’s going to Al (Niece, Team Owner), we’re not funded for the whole year,” Chastain added in his post race interview with MRN Radio. “This money will be spent on race trucks and able to go get another chassis, so we have another bullet later in the year.”

    Chastain led one time for 141 laps and won all two stages. Despite the win and the selection of getting Truck Series points, he continues to be outside the top-20 in driver standings.

    There were four cautions for 25 laps with four lead changes among three lead changes.

    Up Next: The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series continues their Midwest swing by visiting the World Wide Technology Raceway in St. Louis, Missouri (formerly known as Gateway Motorsports Park) on Saturday night June 22.

  • ARCA drivers share post-race reactions after the Shore Lunch 200 at Madison

    ARCA drivers share post-race reactions after the Shore Lunch 200 at Madison

    The ARCA Menards Series continued their summer stretch Friday by visiting the short track of Madison International Speedway.

    Chandler Smith returned to the series after being away for a short while, due to ARCA’s age restriction limit rule. Smith is just 16-years-old and is only allowed to compete on short tracks which means he will have to wait a couple of years before he can race at tracks like Daytona, Talladega and Michigan.

    With Smith returning to the ARCA field and being a previous Madison winner, there was plenty of speculation as to whether he could recapture the magic from last years race. But, Smith did just that, leading three times for 166 laps. In last year’s race at Madison, he only led 102 of the scheduled 200 laps.

    The rising star has been making a name for himself as of late. He has even been mentioned as a future Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series star if he continues his winning ways. Smith is one of the few drivers that is taking the ARCA route to the NASCAR big leagues, race by race, series by series.

    The Talking Rock, Georgia native born in 2002 has had a dominating season so far in the ARCA Menards Series earning two wins; his first was at Toledo. He won twice last year as well, at Madison and Salem.

    Smith rarely crashes and almost has a perfect score in the ARCA Series with only one wreck that came at the first Salem race last year. Still, he finished 10th in that race. Since his first ARCA start at Nashville, Smith has never finished outside the top-10.

    You could possibly say that Smith is the next Kyle Busch or Jimmie Johnson, or maybe a Kevin Harvick. However, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves and let the young racer progress before being rushed into an Xfinity or Cup car.

    Other drivers like Michael Self, Sam Mayer, Travis Braden, Bret Holmes, Carson Hocevar, Christian Eckes and Ty Gibbs all had a decent outing at the paved half-mile track in Oregon, Wisconsin.

    Several drivers took to Twitter after the race and gave their thoughts on their performance, including Smith, who is competing in a Kyle Busch Motorsports truck for the first time ever at Iowa this weekend.

    Going 2 for 2! 1 down got more business though!!! https://t.co/NaAmAXcDxj— Chandler Smith (@CSmithDrive) June 15, 2019

    General Manager and Team Owner Billy Venturini even chimed in to speak about Smith’s success.

    Finally getting to twitter. Great night by my entire @VenturiniMotor team. All cars were good and contended. At end of the night @CSmithDrive closed the deal when he needed to and we #FlytheV. #TeamToyota . Congrats to him and my 20 team but great job across the board by all— Billy Venturini (@BillyVenturini) June 15, 2019

    Despite winning last week’s race at Michigan, Smith’s teammate, Self had to settle for a top-five finish with second place after leading 20 laps.

    Solid night at @MISRacing for our @SinclairOilCorp team last night! Took me way too long to figure that track out, but had a lot of fun once I did. We were awesome on long runs but struggled on restarts and couldn’t hang on at the end for the ?.— Michael Self (@michaelself) June 15, 2019

    Another future prospect who is also making a name for himself in the 2019 season is Sam Mayer. Mayer is a GMS Racing developmental driver who is getting all the track time he can this season by also competing in the K&N Pro Series. Mayer has four starts in ARCA this season with a best finish of second at Salem.

    Madison International Speedway is sort of a home racetrack for the Franklin, Wisconsin native. Franklin is just one hour and 25 minutes to the west of the racetrack. Mayer had high hopes for a win and was excited to be back in the ARCA Series this weekend at the track. Unfortunately, he will have to wait another year but he still had a strong showing of third in front of his hometown fans.

    Last nights race was intense. That is all.— Sam Mayer (@sam_mayer_) June 15, 2019

    Carson Hocevar, along with Smith and Mayer, is also making limited starts due to age restrictions. He returned in his usual No. 28 KBR Development machine. Hocevar was last seen at Toledo, where he finished sixth. The ARCA driver has three other starts with finishes of 17th at Pensacola, third after starting on the pole at Salem and fourth at Nashville.

    Hocevar qualified fourth and was seen up front at times, but was facing tight conditions throughout the race and was even caught a lap down at times. However, a lucky break came with a caution and he received the free pass on Lap 127. Still, Hocevar couldn’t quite do much with the car, even with the late race restart that came with ten to go. He earned a somewhat disappointing sixth place finish.

    Got stuck on the high side during the last restart and lost a few spots. @CarsonHocevar battled back from one lap down and is scored sixth at the checkered flag.#ARCA #ShoreLunch200— KBR Development (@KBRdevelopment) June 15, 2019

    Christian Eckes had a disappointing night finishing in the seventh position after qualifying on the outside pole. He was up front late in the going battling with his two other Venturini Motorsports teammates, Self and Smith. Unfortunately, the Middletown, New York native accidentally got turned around late on the frontstretch. Eckes never rebounded and ended up seventh. He looks forward heading to Gateway next weekend.

    Super strong @JBLaudio Camry tonight. Spun after contact while passing for the leading with 18 to go. My fault! Sucks but we will move on. Proud of my @VenturiniMotor team, we’re ready for Gateway ?— Christian Eckes (@christianeckes) June 15, 2019

    Like others, Ty Gibbs returned to action after a short hiatus and was strong from the get-go. Gibbs took his No. 18 Monster Energy machine and qualified it in the third position. After Smith led the first 150 laps, Gibbs finally became the first lead change of the night on Lap 151 and held on for the next 14. The rain came on Lap 156 while Gibbs was leading and he was hoping for a little bit of extra luck in hopes to secure his first ARCA win of the season.

    However, it wasn’t meant to be as the light shower quickly passed over the track and the race went back under caution. When coming down to pit road, Gibbs failed to obey the stop sign at the end of the pit road, was penalized, and sent to the back to serve his penalty.

    Despite the penalty, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver was having a solid run up front before another caution took place for Hailie Deegan’s car. With a late race restart that came with five to go, Gibbs jumped too early and changed lanes before the restart and was penalized again. He had to serve a drive-through penalty with just three laps to go. This ultimately ruined his chances of winning and he wound up with a frustrating eighth-place finish after being dominant early on.

    Yesterday was rough. One of the fastest cars I’ve ever drove. We led a couple laps and had shots to win the race. Just got on the bad side of the last restart, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. We will be back at gateway next weekend, see you there! #teamtg pic.twitter.com/Vb0GkeqcPm— Ty Gibbs (@TyGibbs_) June 15, 2019

    Corey Heim had a frustrating night as well, finishing 10th, five laps down to the race winner, after starting seventh. He was involved in the first caution of the night that came out on Lap 111 as Mayer accidentally made contact with Heim and sent him into the entry of Turn 3. Afterward, handling issues would plague the No. 22 machine. It was disappointing after being dominant as of late, winning at Charlotte and Pocono. Heim couldn’t keep the results and momentum going due to the accident, and finished in 10th place.

    Last night was rough. We had a good car but couldn’t show for it. I need to qualify better if we’re going to get good finishes. Still learning every race.— Corey Heim (@CoreyHeim3) June 15, 2019

    The ARCA Menards Series will continue their championship run to Kansas in October at World Wide Technology Raceway on Saturday, June 22.

  • NASCAR Truck Series M&M’s 200 at Iowa postponed to Sunday

    NASCAR Truck Series M&M’s 200 at Iowa postponed to Sunday

    After persistent rain showers and a thunderstorm earlier in the day Saturday, NASCAR officials postponed the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series M&M’s 200 at Iowa Speedway. The race has been rescheduled for Sunday, June 16, at noon ET.

    This will set up a doubleheader with the NASCAR Xfinity Series CircuitCity.com 250 which will follow the Truck Series race at 5:30 p.m. Xfinity Series qualifying is scheduled for 2:35 p.m. on FS2. Both races will be broadcast live on FS1 with radio coverage by MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

    Sunday’s race is the second event in the Triple Truck Challenge where the winner will receive a $50,000 bonus. Kyle Busch Motorsports driver Chandler Smith will lead the field to green after qualifying was canceled due to rain and the lineup was set by owner points.

    Starting Lineup for M&M’s 200:

    1. Chandler Smith
    2. Grant Enfinger
    3. Stewart Friesen
    4. Matt Crafton
    5. Kyle Benjamin
    6. Brett Moffitt
    7. Ben Rhodes
    8. Johnny Sauter
    9. Austin Hill
    10. Harrison Burton
    11. Todd Gilliland
    12. Sheldon Creed
    13. Raphael Lessard
    14. Tyler Dippel
    15. Brennan Poole
    16. Austin Wayne Self
    17. Jordan Anderson
    18. Spencer Boyd
    19. Ross Chastain
    20. Trey Hutchens III
    21. CJ McLaughlin
    22. Gus Dean
    23. Natalie Decker
    24. Mason Massey
    25. Jesse Little
    26. Riley Herbst
    27. Chad Finley
    28. Juan Ma Gonzalez
    29. Norm Benning
    30. Tyler Hill
    31. Tyler Ankrum
    32. Jennifer Jo Cobb
  • Chandler Smith dominates to earn ARCA win at Madison

    Chandler Smith dominates to earn ARCA win at Madison

    Future Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series prospect Chandler Smith completely dominated the Shore Lunch 200 at Madison International Speedway located in Oregon, Wisconsin. Smith started on the pole and never looked back, winning his second straight victory in the ARCA Menards Series.

    “Ah yeah, man,” Smith told MAVTV in his post-race interview. “I can’t thank these Venturini Motorsports guys enough, Craftsman, A2A Logistics. These guys behind me (pit crew) put on a heck of a job today. I had to put it all together there at the end of the race and it came to the final restart, guys were spinning tires and that’s why we’re sitting in victory lane right now. Hats off to all these guys, they needed this, we’re going to party hard tonight!”

    It wasn’t as easy as it looked for Smith and his No. 20 Venturini Motorsports team.

    The first caution of the night came out on Lap 112 when Sam Mayer and Corey Heim made contact with each other. Heim, unfortunately, got the worst of it as he went up into the entry of Turn 3, taking him out of contention for the win.

    Another incident arose on Lap 124 for Heim’s teammate, Joe Graf Jr. had a left front and right front tire go down courtesy of Mayer again, due to reports. Graf Jr. would end up bringing out the caution once more.

    Smith led all the way until Lap 151 when Ty Gibbs took the lead for the first lead change of the night. As Gibbs passed Smith, the sky opened up and a light shower passed over the track. ARCA officials red-flagged the race on Lap 162 for approximately 17 minutes.

    Before the red flag, Smith, who had completely dominated the first half of the race, pitted and fell back in the running order in a change of strategy. If the race had continued under green the other lead lap cars would have to come down pit road to make their pit stops and it would have put Smith out front again.

    When the race restarted the rest of the field, including Gibbs, Christian Eckes, Carson Hocevar, Michael Self, Hailie Deegan, Bret Holmes and Travis Braden all had to pit.

    Right before the restart, ARCA officials penalized the 18 of Gibbs, the 15 of Eckes, the 55 of Deegan and the 23 of Holmes for running the stop sign at the end of pit road. They would have to restart in the back of the pack to serve the penalty.

    After the restart, last week’s winner at Michigan, Self, took the lead from his teammate Smith on Lap 169.

    There were intense short track racing battles going on for the top spot as Self, Smith and Eckes, as well as Gibbs, were all trying to hang on to and keep their cars from wrecking. Unfortunately, Eckes got the short end and wound up spinning out on the frontstretch while battling for the lead with Self and brought out the caution once more on Lap 181.

    Another incident took place for Deegan whose motor expired with 10 laps to go. This would be a major turning in the point in the race, as Smith would regain the lead.

    The ARCA officials would fly the red flag again due to track clean up from the oil that was laid down by Deegan’s car and to make sure the race had a green flag finish.

    The final restart came with five laps to go with Smith on the front row. Before Smith would go on to take his second checkered flag of the year, Gibbs received a black flag for changing lanes on the restart and had to serve a drive-through penalty.

    Smith went on to win for the second consecutive time at Madison.

    “Yeah, we just over adjusted a little bit on our first initial pit stop when we came and got four tires,” Smith added in his post race interview with MAVTV. “So, we went in and we got two tires, and it went back to how we were, and that’s why we’re sitting back in victory lane.”

    While Smith would win for the second time this year, last week’s Michigan winner and his teammate Michael Self had to settle for a second place finish after leading a few laps.

    “It’s kind of how he’s (Chandler Smith) been this year,” Self said in his post-race interview with MAVTV in regards to the pass for the lead late. “You know what, Chandler is a good racer man, he’s really fast. I’m actually really excited to watch him go run that truck in Iowa tomorrow, that’s going to be really cool for him. Like, a little bit more respect maybe, blasting me into the corner. I tell guys all the time, I respect the guy who wins, I still am that guy sometimes.”

    “Today was going to be a horrible day for me, I thought. We were no good in practice, didn’t qualify great, fell outside the top-10 in the early stages of the race. Props to Shannon (Rursch, Crew Chief) and all these guys on the No. 25 Sinclair Lubricants Toyota. We were a really good long run car. I mean we probably had the best car here after 50 or 75 laps, but unfortunately we had that one long green flag stint and we didn’t get many after that. Too much tight racing there at the end. The reason I like racing big tracks is because we get single file, there’s no one around you, I’m kind of old and that’s kind of stressful. I like to be single file out there, do my own thing, not tight racing like this.”

    GMS Racing developmental driver and breakout star Sam Mayer rounded out the top three finishers with third place after starting sixth.

    “Early on, we were really really free, everywhere really,” Mayer said in his post race interview with MAVTV. “We came in, tightened it up and that seemed to help the car a little bit. We were just waiting patiently about mid-pack. Waiting for something like this to happen, where we had a late race caution with short ten laps to go, we were able to somehow fight in to the top three, which is pretty awesome! Everyone at Driver’s Edge Development Chevrolet, Chevrolet Accessories, GMS Racing especially, helping me out by giving me the best car possible and glad we could get a top three out of it.”

    Smith started on the pole and finished first, and led three times for 166 laps. This is Smith’s third ARCA win of his young career and Venturini Motorsports’ seventh win of the season as a team.

    The Shore Lunch 200 saw five cautions flags and two red flags (one for rain, the other for clean up from Hailie Deegan’s car).

    Official Results

    1. Chandler Smith
    2. Michael Self, 1.422 seconds
    3. Sam Mayer, 2.408 seconds
    4. Travis Braden, 2.66 seconds
    5. Bret Holmes, 2.726 seconds
    6. Carson Hocevar, 3.895 seconds
    7. Christian Eckes, 12.771 seconds
    8. Ty Gibbs, 16.313 seconds
    9. Joe Graf Jr, Two laps down
    10. Corey Heim, Five laps down
    11. Tommy Vigh Jr, Seven laps down
    12. Hailie Deegan, OUT
    13. Eric Caudell, 13 laps down
    14. Tim Richmond, 17 laps down
    15. Brad Smith, OUT
    16. Dick Karth, OUT
    17. Dick Doheny, OUT
    18. Dale Shearer, OUT

    Up Next: The ARCA Menards Series continues their weekly racing by heading south to St. Louis, Missouri next week for race No. 11 at the newly named World Wide Technology Raceway, formerly known as Gateway Motorsports Park.

  • NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Preview- Iowa

    NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Preview- Iowa

    Continuing their exciting run through the summer stretch and the run to the Playoffs, the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series stays in the Midwest as they head to Iowa Speedway for a rare Saturday night race.

    Currently, there are 33 drivers on the preliminary entry list. There were 34 but the No. 32 of Daniel Sasnett for Reaume Racing withdrew from the event.

    Iowa Speedway located in Newton, Iowa, is still relatively new to the Truck Series. The series first came to the track in 2009 and has hosted 12 races since then.

    The speedway will host the second round of The Triple Truck Challenge. Greg Biffle won last weekend earning himself $50,000. However, despite a valiant effort, Biffle will not be competing this weekend to continue his run toward the money as he missed the entry deadline date. Also, Kyle Busch Motorsports already has four trucks entered and it would be tough to add a fifth truck to the field.

    With that said, here are five drivers to keep an eye on in Saturday’s M&M’s 200.

    1. Matt Crafton – After having a strong run in last week’s race at Texas, finishing second to Biffle, Crafton looks to carry that momentum forward in hopes of finally snapping his two-year winless streak dating back to Eldora of 2017. Iowa could be the place to do it. The No. 88 driver has 12 starts at the Newton facility earning one win in 2011. Other career stats include five top fives and 10 top-10 finishes, 109 laps led, two DNFs and 96.6% laps completed. Up until the 2017 race, Crafton finished inside the top-10 in every race. The last two years, however, he’s had disappointing finishes, crashing out in two consecutive races that left him with finishes of 19th and 26th. Before wrecking out last year, Crafton finished second in Stage 1 and 10th in Stage 2. Keep an eye on the No. 88 ThorSport Racing team as they’ll try to break that winless drought.

    2. Brett Moffitt – Moffitt has a perfect track record of a 100% success rate, but that’s because he only has one start at the .875 mile racetrack in Iowa. His win came last year in exciting fashion. In a last-ditch effort by now Xfinity Series driver Noah Gragson, made a dive bomb move in Turns 3 and 4 in hopes of making a last lap pass on Moffitt. Gragson’s effort failed as he would take the lead for a split second, but he wound up hitting the wall and Moffitt went by him with a margin of victory by .333 seconds. This year, however, has been a bit of a challenge for the 2018 Truck Series champion who drives the No. 24 GMS Racing Chevrolet. He still has no wins but has four top fives and five top-10 finishes with one pole. Iowa could be the place where a winning streak could start up again. After all, it is his hometown racetrack as Moffitt is from Grimes, Iowa, just 48 minutes east of the track.

    3. Stewart Friesen – Friesen, driver of the No. 52 for Halmar Racing, is hoping to get the monkey off his back, especially after crashing last week. He has one start which came last year with a ninth-place finish after leading 48 laps. Friesen finished fourth in Stage 1 and won Stage 2. Friesen is looking to finally get that win that has eluded him for so long.

    4. Johnny Sauter – When looking at statistics, race fans may be surprised when they see Sauter does not have any wins at Iowa. Like Crafton, he has made every start since the track held its first Truck Series race back in 2009. Over the 12 races at Iowa, Sauter has eight top fives and nine top-10 finishes with 110 laps led and an average finish of 7.2. In the last two races, he has finishes of fifth and second. His best finish with ThorSport racing is second back in 2010, nine years ago. It will be interesting to see if Sauter and the No. 13 team can finally get a win and cross Iowa Speedway off the win checklist.

    5. Ross Chastain – Chastain continues his fight to make the Playoffs this week at Iowa. He has five starts with only one top-five finish back in 2013 driving for Brad Keselowski after starting on the pole and leading 116 laps. His other finishes include a finish of 16th in 2012, 11th in the fall race of 2012 and 13th in 2013 before he finished second later in the year and 30th last year. But, Chastain is with Niece Motorsports and has finished inside the top-10 in every Truck Series race this season including a win at Kansas last month. Chastain’s playoff run will be an interesting story to watch throughout the summer.

    There are some different names on the entry list this week. Juan Manuel Gonzalez returns to Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing to drive the No. 10. Gonzalez has no Truck starts as he attempted the Martinsville race with the same team but failed to qualify. Raphael Lessard also returns to the series to pilot the No. 17 DGR-Crosley Toyota. C.J. McLaughlin will be in the No. 33 for Reaume Racing and Mason Massey will attempt to make his first NASCAR debut. Chad Finley is back racing for his family-owned team in the No. 42. Future upcoming star Chandler Smith will be making his NASCAR debut for Kyle Busch Motorsports driving the famed No. 51. Tyler Hill returns in the No. 56 for Hill Motorsports. Lou Goss will try to make his first NASCAR attempt in the No. 74 and team owner Josh Reaume will pilot the No. 87 Nemco Motorsports Chevrolet.

    With the Truck Series having a span of 12 races at Iowa dating back to 2009, the winner’s list includes Mike Skinner, Austin Dillon, Matt Crafton, Timothy Peters, Ryan Blaney, James Buescher, Erik Jones, William Byron, John Hunter Nemechek and Brett Moffit.

    Qualifying is important at Iowa with most of the winners coming from the top 10 starting positions. Only two winners have started outside the top 10, Matt Crafton who started 11th in 2011, and Moffitt who started 16th in last year’s race.

    Only two drivers have won twice at the track. Timothy Peters did it in 2012 and 2013. Erik Jones is the only driver that has won two consecutive races, in 2014 and 2015.

    The race winner has come from the pole four times, in 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2015.

    The Truck Series will hit the track Saturday morning for the first practice at 9:30 a.m. ET. The final practice is set for 11:30 a.m. ET. Qualifying is slated for 5:35 p.m. ET live on Fox Sports 2.

    The M&M’s 200 race is scheduled to start shortly after 8:30 p.m. ET live on Fox Sports 1 and MRN Radio. It will consist of three stages that will be broken into 60/120/200 laps to make up the 175-mile race distance.

  • ARCA Menards Series Preview- Madison

    ARCA Menards Series Preview- Madison

    While the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is taking the weekend off, the ARCA Menards Series will take center stage Friday night at Madison International Speedway, the short track located in Oregon, Wisconsin.

    It will mark the halfway point in the ARCA Series for the 2019 season, which has seen a slew of winners and repeat winners. They include Harriosn Burton winning at Daytona, Michael Self winning two races at Pensacola and Salem, Todd Gilliland in Talladega, Christian Eckes in Nashville, the upcoming star Chandler Smith, Ty Majeski winning at Charlotte and Pocono. Self finally got back to victory lane last week at Michigan in a last-lap pass on Majeski in the last corner of the race when Majeski ran out of gas off Turn 4. It was his third win this season.

    With his win last week, Self finally saw the end of some frustrating finishes. He’s looking forward to carry his momentum from last week to Madison on Friday night. However, despite having 28 starts in over a five-year span in the ARCA Series, Madison will be new to Self as he will be making his track debut this weekend.

    “Madison is going to be totally new for me,” says Self. “I’ve never made a lap there, so I’m relying on the video I’ve watched and information from my teammates and people around the VMS shop to prepare and try and be ready to hit the ground running for practice on Friday. The track definitely looks unique and challenging, and hopefully I can pick it up and figure out by Friday night.”

    So far this season, Self has earned three wins, six top fives and top-10 finishes, along with three poles. He currently leads the ARCA Menards Series standings over Bret Holmes by 15 points.

    Self’s teammate, Hailie Deegan, will be returning to the ARCA Series this week. Deegan has been in the headlines a lot this week after a last-lap effort to win the K&N Pro Series West race at Colorado this past weekend, which took her teammate Derek Kraus out for the win.

    Madison will also be new to the rising star power of Deegan.

    “I’m excited to get back in the ARCA car this weekend with Venturini Motorsports at Madison,” said the native of Temecula, California. “I feel confident in my team and my abilities going into the weekend for my next short track start. But my goals are realistic. ARCA is a new series and there’s still a lot to learn. Our first race at Toledo ended early after getting wrecked so I’m going back with similar goals – log laps, learn as much as I can and shoot for top-five finishes.”

    It will be her first ARCA start since Pocono a couple of weeks ago, where Deegan finished seventh after starting fourth. Her previous start was at Toledo last month where she was taken out and left with a disappointing last-place finish.

    Also making his ARCA return, but already having an impressive season with three top fives and four top-10 finishes, is the grandson of Joe Gibbs, Ty Gibbs.

    Gibbs has been making a lot of noise on the track this year and looks to continue to do that at Madison where he has no starts.

    “I’m so ready to get to Madison,” said Gibbs. “I’ve been really excited for Madison since I left Toledo. It’s just a real short track that takes a lot of tires. You’ll definitely have to conserve too so you can have enough brakes to be around at the end, but I’m ready to move on to Madison and hopefully get our first win of the season.”

    Despite having early season success and not being able to compete at all the racetracks due to the age limit, Gibbs is looking to start clicking off wins this weekend.

    “We’ve got a lot of second-place finishes this season which is good in some ways and bad in some ways,” said Gibbs. “I want to win so bad but finishing second has proven that we have the equipment to run up front and compete for wins, we just need all the pieces to fall in to place and work perfectly to get to victory lane.”

    Gibbs has tons of short track experience racing the short tracks across the country in the CARS Late Model Stock Tour. So far this season in the ARCA Series, however, the grandson of Joe Gibbs has a pretty stellar record of finishing second in his first ARCA start at Pensacola, sixth at Salem and a pair of second place finishes at Nashville and Toledo, the last time Gibbs competed in an ARCA car.

    Even though the drivers mentioned above have no ARCA starts at the racetrack located in Wisconsin, Venturini Motorsports driver Christian Eckes has two starts there with a best finish of fifth coming two years ago in 2017. His other finish the year prior in 2016, resulted in a DNF due to a drive train issue and saw him finish 14th in his first track start.

    Speaking of challenges, the Middletown, New York driver has faced challenges this season after missing a race due to sickness earlier this season.

    “It’s been a rough couple of months but we’re looking to turn it around this weekend at Madison,” said the Toyota Racing Development driver. “It’s a track that I have loved in the past but haven’t been to in two years, so I’m really looking to get back there. The Venturini organization has shown a ton of success over the past decade at this place and I’m ready to keep it going. Our JBL Audio team has brought awesome race cars so far this year and we’re ready to go make it happen.”

    While other drivers will be making their first starts at Madison this weekends, one driver, Sam Mayer, is eager to get back on track in his home state. Mayer, who is apart of the GMS Racing development program, has been competing across several different racing series. In 2019, the Wisconsin native has finishes of 21st at Pensacola, second at Salem and a fifth at Toledo.

    Mayer is excited to be racing at his home track Friday night at Madison.

    “Getting the chance to race at home is really cool,” Mayer said. “Having all my family and friends come out to watch and support me is going to be really exciting and I hope we can pull out a win for all of them.”

    Sitting second in the ARCA point standings is Bret Holmes who drives the family-owned team No. 23. Holmes has amassed three top fives and seven top-10 finishes. He’ll look forward to carrying his season momentum through to Friday night.

    Madison is a tough track,” he said. “It’s almost like a banked Martinsville Speedway. The corners are really tight, you use a lot of brakes and the front tires wear quickly. I think that’s the difference maker there. You don’t want to get your front tires too hot. On long green-flag runs, that’s where you’ll beat everyone. I’m excited to get back on a short track after these few weeks at speedways. I think our intermediate track program is a little better than our short track, but we’re working on some things at the shop that we’re going to test out to see how they work. We’ve had solid top-five runs here lately, and we’re looking to continue that in Madison this week.”

    Currently, there are 18 drivers entered on the preliminary entry list for this week’s race. They include Joe Graf Jr., Tim Richmond, Eric Caudell, Dale Shearer, Brad Smith, Carson Hocevar, Travis Braden, Corey Heim, Chandler Smith, Dick Karth, Tommy Vigh Jr. and Dick Doheny, who will round out the remaining participants for the race this weekend.

    It will be an all-day show for the ARCA Menards Series drivers. The only practice session begins at 2:15 p.m. ET. The General Tire Pole qualifying is slated for 6 p.m. ET There will be two laps for every driver.

    The Shore Lunch 200 is scheduled to get underway shortly after 9 p.m. CT. The event will see 200 laps that will make up the 100-mile race distance. The race can be seen on MAVTV.

  • Four Takeaways from the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Race at Texas

    Four Takeaways from the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Race at Texas

    The 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway hosted the ninth race of the 2019 Truck Series season last Friday night and it did not disappoint.

    It was quite possibly the most exciting race from the NASCAR weekend. There were comers and goers throughout the race, and you really didn’t know who was going to win until the checkered flag flew.

    The race featured 13 cautions, a new track record. It was previously 10. There were 12 lead changes with a margin of victory of .963 seconds. In fact, 37.7 percent of the race was run under caution, while there were only 7.4 green flag laps.

    With that in mind, here are this week’s Four Takeaways from the Speedycash.com 400 at Texas.

    1. Greg Biffle Gets Popular Win – When the race was all said and done, there was quite the social media buzz across the NASCAR universe talking about Biffle’s win. Marcus Lemonis, CEO and Owner of Camping World & Gander Outdoors even chimed in on Twitter stating, “Congrats to @gbiffle on race one of #TheTrip @GanderOutdoors @GanderRV #winner hey @KyleBusch let’s get him in the truck again, nice finish to all.” As if that wasn’t enough, Biffle tweeted his thoughts about the win, “Words can’t express what this felt like. Thanks, @marcuslemonis @GanderOutdoors @NASCAR_Trucks for the support of this great series @KBMteam. #TheTrip.” Lemonis chimed back in response to Biffle and said, “I’m going to see what I can do to help.” It will be interesting to see what he has in mind as it has created a very exciting time in the Truck Series right now.

    2. ThorSport Racing Continues Season Dominance – If you looked in the top five running order, you would see that at least two ThorSport Trucks finished in the top five, Matt Crafton, who was trying to chase down Biffle, and Grant Enfinger who finished fifth. Although he did not finish in the top-10, he probably would have except for a transmission failure. Rhodes wound up 21st after winning Stage 2. The same can be said for Johnny Sauter who won Stage 1 but finished 13th after being in a wreck. However, the ThorSport team has four of their Trucks sitting in the top six in the points standings currently, with Enfinger continuing and extending his points lead by 37 points. If they keep it up and make it to the Playoffs, the ThorSport team has a really good chance of winning the championship this year despite not having any race wins, aside from Sauter who won at Dover earlier this season.

    3. Inconsistency Of Calling Cautions – Another week and more inconsistent race calls. A caution came out with about 15 to go Friday night for Austin Wayne Self who stalled on the bottom, which set up a 10-lap restart to the finish. It eventually helped Biffle win the race as he was close on gas, and more than likely wouldn’t have made it if there wasn’t a caution. However, we saw another Truck spun after the restart on the bottom of Turn 4 and no caution flag was flown. Of course, this did happen behind the pack. But when you call a caution for a Truck that is stalled on the bottom but do not call a caution for a Truck that is spinning, that’s really inconsistent. We saw it again in Monday’s FireKeepers Casino 400, when Erik Jones spun in the middle of Turns 1 and 2, got “stuck” and NASCAR threw the caution setting up an overtime finish. Again that’s inconsistent. Maybe I’m overthinking it, but I would like to see a little more consistency from NASCAR.


    4. Not Promoting The Other Two Series – When Fox Sports 1 signed off the air as the Cup Series race ended and the off week started, fans heard Mike Joy say, “We’ll see you in two weeks at Sonoma.” Yes, we will see them in two weeks at Sonoma, but what’s going on in the Xfinity and Truck Series? Did they forget the other two series were racing this week? As much as they talk about the up and coming racers hoping to be future Cup stars, it’s hard to notice these racers if you don’t promote their series. Of course, fans are smart enough to know that the Xfinity and Truck Series are racing while Cup is not, but NASCAR could do a better job of promoting them. It’s easy to sit back and critique every little thing, but the Xfinity and Truck Series are the other top two divisions in NASCAR. And right now, they are putting on better races then the Cup Series. Sure there are some races that are not great but 95% of the time they are more exciting. I’m sure it wasn’t Mike Joy’s intent to ignore the other series, but maybe the next time, please include the Xfinity and Truck Series.
  • NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Power Rankings- Texas II

    NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Power Rankings- Texas II

    The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series visited Texas Motor Speedway this past weekend for race number nine of the 2019 season. It also marked the beginning of The Triple Truck Challenge, where racers can win $50,000 over the next three races should they win. Win all three and they have a shot to win half a million dollars.

    Regarding The Triple Truck Challenge, it started off with a bang last Friday night when former series champion Greg Biffle returned to the field and won the race. It was Biffle’s first win in the Truck Series since Phoenix of 2001 and his first Truck Series win at Texas since 2000. It was a popular win across the NASCAR world Friday night and created a social media buzz. Marcos Lemonis (CEO of Camping World and Gander Outdoors) even weighed in on social media as well.

    The win was so popular that fans and people inside the NASCAR industry wanted to see Biffle back in the truck again for the upcoming race at Iowa Speedway. Unfortunately, the Washington State native will be ineligible to compete as he did not submit an entry blank in time before the deadline hit last week.

    Kyle Busch Motorsports already has four trucks entered in the race at Iowa, so it would have been hard for them to include a fifth entry for Biffle. However, Biffle is eligible to compete at the conclusion of The Triple Truck Challenge at Gateway, should KBM decide to offer Biffle a ride.

    While Biffle’s win was popular throughout the NASCAR garage, there were some familiar faces found inside the top five at the end of the night, including driver Tyler Ankrum who had his best career finish in his young career thus far.

    Without further ado, here is a look at this week’s power rankings.

    1. Matt Crafton – The two-time Truck Series champion came out of nowhere at the end of the race, lining up at the front on a late race restart with 10 to go. Crafton had a solid qualifying effort of 10th earlier that day. However, it was probably not what he was looking for after starting on the pole for two consecutive weeks in a row. He finished fifth and eighth, in the first two stages. The No. 88 Menards ThorSport driver also managed to miss all the chaos that happened around him during the race, which allowed him to have a shot at snapping his long winless streak that dates back two years. Crafton tried all he could to catch Greg Biffle for the late race charge but had to settle for another second-place finish. It was his sixth top five this season and he now sits third in the points standings, 41 points behind his teammate Grant Enfinger.

      Previous Week Ranking: 2nd

    2. Grant Enfinger – Enfinger is back in the power rankings this week. He had a solid outing at Texas, finishing in the fourth position and earning his fifth top-five finish of the 2019 season. He started third and stayed there for most of the night, finishing third in Stage 1 and fourth in Stage 2. What hurt the No. 98 team the most was when there was an incident late in the going when a truck spun off Turn 4. Enfinger noted in his post-race interview that he saw the yellow flag start to come out, but then it was put back away after he had slowed. This allowed a few more drivers go on by him, which kept him from having a more solid finish. Regardless, it was still a good points night as Enfinger still leads the Truck Series points standings over Stewart Friesen by 37 points.

      Previous Week Ranking- Not Ranked

    3. Harrison Burton – While his teammate Todd Gilliland had a rough night, crashing out and finishing 27th, Burton placed fifth, rounding out the top five finishers. Burton started 11th, finished 10th in Stage 1 and third in Stage 2. It was his third top five of the season and tied his fifth-place finish earlier this season at Las Vegas.

      Previous Week Ranking- Not Ranked

    4. Ross Chastain – Chastain was in the news again this week, but in a big way, as the Niece Motorsports driver elected to receive points in the Gander Outdoors Truck Series. It was big midweek news after having early season success with the team, finishing inside the top-10 in all the races and earning a big win at Kansas. However, per NASCAR rules, the win at Kansas does not count toward Chastain’s run for the championship and he had to start all over at Texas this past weekend. Niece already had three trucks in the field with Angela Ruch piloting the No. 44, Kyle Benjamin in a return to the Truck Series in the No. 45, and T.J. Bell in the No. 38. Niece was able to work a deal out with Chastain to place him in the No. 38 to compete at Texas. Chastain qualified 15th, certainly not the best qualifying effort, but he finished 10th, earning another top-10 in the 2019 Truck Series season. The Niece Motorsports driver finished fourth in Stage 1 and seventh in Stage 2. Chastain currently is nowhere to be seen in the top 20 points standings, so he will have a lot of ground to make up with just eight races remaining.

      Previous Week Ranking- 4th

    5. Sheldon Creed – Creed matched his best finish of sixth Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway after starting in the seventh position driving the No. 2 GMS Racing Chevy. He finished eighth in Stage 1 and 10th in Stage 2. It was Creed’s best finish since Las Vegas earlier this season in March, where he finished sixth. This earned him his second top-10 finish of the season.

      Fell Out

      1. Ben Rhodes – When people looked at the final results from Friday night’s SpeedyCash.com 400, they were probably left scratching their heads when they didn’t see the ThorSport driver in the top-10 running order. But his finish was a result of a transmission failure late in the going, which took Rhodes out of contention to win the race. The No. 99 Carolina Nut Company team tried to get back to the front but the damage was too severe and Rhodes had to suffer a disappointing 21st place finish after winning Stage 2.

      Previous Week Ranking- 1st

      2. Todd Gilliland – The hits keep on coming for the Kyle Busch Motorsports driver. Gilliland and Burton received more critical comments from their team owner in a media press conference Friday, where Busch stated, “If you can’t get it done in a KBM truck, might as well go home.” Despite those comments, Gilliland was having a decent race going for him after he started on the pole. He finished seventh in Stage 1 and led 31 laps before a crash on Lap 70 took him out of the race which put him 27th in the final running order. It will be interesting to see how much longer this can happen this season before Busch finally drops the hammer down.

      Previous Week Ranking- 1st

  • Graham Rahal Believes Last Restart Should Be Checked

    Graham Rahal Believes Last Restart Should Be Checked

    While one team was happy in the end at the DXC Technology 600, one driver Graham Rahal, thinks Indycar should have checked the last restart with 12 laps to go.

    Simon Pagenaud was also a victim of the last restart that resulted in brake checking.

    “Yeah, he did, no doubt,” Rahal said. “The brake checking from the leader (Josef Newgarden) was obscene. We were well past the start zone and yet the brake checking persisted. We would go and then bam, everyone was on the brakes. There’s no doubt I did touch him. Luckily, it was nose straight to the right rear, which didn’t cut his tire or anything, I don’t think. There’s nothing you could do, I mean that needs to be addressed in my opinion by the stewards. We had issues with this before, but it was clear. Acceleration, brake, acceleration, brake. It was ridiculous! It’s dangerous on these things.”

    “If I’m not mistaken, it was the only time he (Josef Newgarden) was leading too. (Ryan) Hunter-Reay’s restart was great. Good consistent flow, you know good speed. You know, it was nice and clean. The last one I thought was ridiculous.”

    While Rahal thought the last restart was not to his liking, race winner Newgarden didn’t think the restart was not wrong.

    “It’s the leaders discretion on when he can go whenever he wants,” Newgarden said. “I thought I was in a fine enough position to start where I did. I mean, I don’t know what to tell him (Graham Rahal), I went when I needed to go. It’s your discretion, that’s the rule. I haven’t seen it (restart). I don’t know what happen to those guys in the back, but I went when I wanted to go. I mean, I went when I was (Turn) 4, which you’re supposed to go out of the last corner.”

    Newgarden took the lead on lap 203 and led the last 46 laps, and even held on to the lead with a late race restart that came with 12 to go.

    Graham Rahal finished third, rounding out the top podium finishers, while Simon Pagenaud finished sixth.