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Author: Briar Starr

NASCAR Gander Outdoor Truck Series Power Rankings- Spring race- Las Vegas
The NASCAR Gander Outdoor Truck Series visited Sin City this past Friday night for the third race of the 2019 season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

While a familiar foe ended up in victory lane once again for the second week in a row, a few drivers rebounded for a top five finish, while other’s were disappointed with their finishing results following the Strat 200.

Here’s a look at who topped this weeks power rankings.
1. Brett Moffitt – Moffitt followed up from last weeks top five finish with another one this past weekend by finishing second, one spot short of victory. He had a great start to his Friday afternoon, as Moffitt started outside pole. Moffitt finished second in Stage 1, but problems arose early as a air hose got stuck underneath his truck and cost him a lot of positions. He had to work his way up after losing so many positions. Moffitt for to Kyle Busch’s back bumper, but Busch threw a block and made Moffitt check up. Moffitt could never rebound and challenge for the win, but it was a hard fought second for the No. 24 GMS Racing team.
Previous Week Ranking – 3rd

2. Stewart Friesen – After troubles last week in Atlanta and a crash at Daytona, it has been a rough start to the season for the Ontario, Canada native. Friesen came to Vegas hoping to have a great run and he did just that by finishing fourth, his first top five of the season. He led twice for 19 laps and finished seventh in Stage 1, while he finished second in Stage 2. The No. 52 Halmar Racing team salvaged a top five finish.

Previous Week Ranking – Not Ranked

3. Harrison Burton – Burton had a quiet, but strong night at Las Vegas where he finished fifth. For his first outing, that’s not bad for the 18-year old. It was Burton’s fifth top five of the his career young career. He finished fourth and sixth in both stages. Burton will now focus for Martinsville in two weeks, where he made his first career start in 2016, finishing 22nd.

Previous Week Ranking – Not Ranked

4. Grant Enfinger – While it was a finish outside the top-10, Enfinger has to earn it and saved himself from a disastrous finish, as the engine had issues midway through the race. It all began late in Stage 2, where Enfinger almost lost it off of Turn 2 but saved it from spinning. Enfinger then started to report some more problems to his truck, as he reported the engine was “sounded flat and getting progressively worse.” This saw him make a pit stop to check on it. The report was a “plug wire” issue to the No. 98 truck. All was fixed and Enfinger got back going to the race until more issues came about, where he reported a “right-rear tire going soft going soft.” Fortunately, Enfinger made it to the checkers P11.

Previous Week Ranking – 1st

5. Sheldon Creed – Speaking of rebounds, a tip of the cap to Sheldon Creed who rebounded to sixth after spinning early and bringing out the first caution. After the spin, Creed finished 18th in Stage 1. He had a great Stage 2, where Creed finished seventh earning some playoff points. At the end of the night, the No. 2 GMS Racing team wound up sixth. A great rebound for Creed.

Previous Week Ranking – Not Ranked

Fell Out
1. Johnny Sauter -Sauter struggled throughout the night and didn’t even finish in the top-10 in either stage. He did eventually came back to finish eighth, but Sauter was not pleased with the result and is already looking forward to Martinsville.
Previous Week Ranking – 2nd

2. Austin Hill – The Daytona winner has overheating problems and was out of the race on lap 82. Not all was lost, however, as he finished third and eighth in both stages.

Previous Week Ranking – 5th

3. Ross Chastain – After having a couple of strong weeks in the No. 45 team, there were high expectations for Chastain to do well. He managed a tenth place finish, but his truck stalled when he made his final pit stop and finished one lap down. Chastain had great runs in both stages finishing fifth and third.

Previous Week Ranking – 4th
March 2, 2019
Johnny Sauter disappointed with top 10 finish at Las Vegas

Johnny Sauter has not visited victory lane at Las Vegas Motor Speedway since 2009, his first NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series start at the track.

Friday night he was looking to add to that lone win and get his second victory at the track. Unfortunately, Sauter had handling issues with his No. 13 ThorSport Ford truck and as a result, he wound up eighth. It was the 159th top-10 finish of his career.

“We just struggled with our Tenda Ford tonight,” Sauter told FOX Sports 1. “You know after yesterday’s practice, I would have never dreamed we would be that far off today. So, we will have to go back and look at it and see what’s up.”

“We started off sideways and made some pretty substantial changes and just got too tight, and just got on the splitter,” the 2016 Truck Series Champion said.

“I don’t know what is going on, but obviously not the night we wanted. I hate it for all the guys at ThorSport, busting their tails and to come out here to run like that is not cool.”

“We salvaged a decent night out of it, but we got some work to do for sure.” Sauter finished 17th in the first stage, 11th in the second stage and now sits sixth in the standings, 15 points behind leader, Grant Enfinger

“We just struggled with our Tenda Ford tonight,” Sauter told Fox Sports 1. “You know after yesterday’s practice, I would have never dreamed we would be that far off today. So, we will have to go back and look at it and see what’s up.”

“We started off sideways and made some pretty substantial changes and just got too tight, and just got on the splitter,” the 2016 Truck Series Champion said to Fox Sports 1. “I don’t know what is going on, but obviously not the night we wanted. I hate it for all the guys at Thorsport, busting their tails and to come out here to run like that is not cool.”

“We salvaged a decent night out of it, but we got some work to do for sure.”

SSauter finished 17th in the first stage, 11th in the second stage and now sits sixth in the standings, 15 points behind leader, Grant Enfinger.

March 2, 2019
Moffitt and Crafton settle for top three finishes after crazy night in Las Vegas

Brett Moffitt and Matt Crafton both collected top-five finishes in Friday night’s NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Strat 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Moffitt has not been to victory lane since his championship winning race at Homestead-Miami Speedway last November. It looked like he had a good shot to win Friday night after starting on the outside pole.

He ran strong throughout Stage 1, where he finished second. However, troubles came early for the No. 24 GMS Racing team during the pit stop when an air hose got stuck underneath his truck, which cost them a lot of positions.

This saw Moffitt and company restart in the 25th position for Stage 2. It didn’t take them long to move through the field and he was up to 14th with 10 laps to go in Stage 2. Eventually, Moffitt was able to earn one stage point by finishing 10th.

After pitting for four tires and adjustments, Moffitt went to third with 59 to go and then to second with 47 to go. He made his final pit stop of the night with 24 to go. He got close to race leader Kyle Busch, in fact right at his back bumper, but Busch made a block on Moffitt causing him to fall back.

Ultimately, that’s all she wrote for Moffitt and the No. 24 GMS Racing team as they came up 1.21 seconds short of winning.

“I was just trying to back air on him (Kyle Busch),” Moffitt told MRN Radio. “That was going to be my one chance of getting to his bumper. Only taking two tires there, they would fall off after about five or six laps and get tight. So, when I had a run, I knew (Turns) 3 and 4 would be a one groove track, but I was trying to pack some air and get him loose off the bottom. I felt like that was my only shot and went for it, and I felt like that was going to be a make or break move.”

“Unfortunately, it was break,” last year’s defending champion said.

Moffitt finished second and 10th in Stage 1 and 2, respectively.

For Matt Crafton, it was a similar night as he rebounded to a third place finish in Friday night’s Strat 200 after barely missing a wreck off Turn 4 and receiving damage to the left rear.

But he will have to wait at least one more race to snap his long winless streak. His top-five finish, however, didn’t come without effort.

“That was hard fought for sure,” Crafton told MRN Radio. “Earlier, we had a great truck in the first few laps and then, the 2 (Sheldon Creed) spun and I checked up to miss him, and the 4 (Cory Roper) ran in to the back of me.”

The driver of the ThorSport Racing No. 88 truck, continued, saying, “We fought all night. We had great restarts, got shuffled back at one point and drove back inside the top 10 and top eight there at the end. It was amazing on how fast it was with the left-rear quarter panel as bad as it was. So, I would say the No. 88 is back.”

Crafton finished 13th in Stage 1 and ninth in Stage 2. He scored the 111th top five finish of his career at Las Vegas.

March 2, 2019
Stewart Friesen and Harrison Burton earn top-five finishes at Las Vegas

Stewart Friesen and Harrison Burton claimed top-five finishes in Friday night’s NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Strat 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

After a decent qualifying run of seventh, Friesen was looking for his first win Friday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway especially after having so many strong runs last year only to come short.

Friesen was quiet in Stage 1 as he finished in the seventh position, but when Stage 2 began Friesen made some noise.

He took the lead on Lap 39 from Kyle Busch and led until Lap 54 for 16 laps. Friesen held Busch up the best he could, but it wasn’t enough as Busch took the lead away and Friesen finished second in Stage 2.

He restarted fourth for Stage 3 and had a battle with Ross Chastain, Matt Crafton, and Brett Moffitt for second. Friesen made his pit stop with 25 to go, but it was too much ground to make up and finished fourth for the 12th top-five of his career.

“We just got mixed up on tires, mixed-match sets there after the 04 (Cory Roper) drive on the side of us,” Friesen told MRN Radio. “Gotta be aggressive, but too aggressive on the start. Probably should have given him more room, but solid run for us tonight. We’ll take it. We raced with the best of the best there for a while.”

“So it was pretty cool, but just lost a little bit of handling at the end of the night,” the No. 52 Halmar Friesen Racing driver explained to MRN Radio. “Just happy to be here.”

Friesen will be looking to carrying this momentum to Martinsville, where he may collect his first win of his career.

Harrison Burton, driver of the Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass Toyota Tundra made his first Las Vegas start tonight at the 1.5-mile speedway. Needless to say it was a great night for the No. 18 team, after who finishing fifth.

“We were a little bit too tight, center off and both ends of the corner,” Burton told MRN Radio. “(Turns) 3 and 4 were a little worse, then 1 and 2. I’m still learning, some of its me and I’m still trying to get myself better as well. So, came out here with a good night and a good finish, so had some good stage points all the way through I feel like.”

“So, we will build on that and have a good night, move on and work on our truck for Martinsville.”

Burton finished fourth and sixth in both stages, respectively.

March 2, 2019
NASCAR Gander Outdoor Truck Series Las Vegas – spring preview
The NASCAR Gander Outdoor Truck Series makes the trip west this week to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for it’s first outing of two races this season.

It’ll be somewhat of a learning weekend, as the second Las Vegas race will be in the Playoffs and racing at night as well.

Last fall saw a thrilling finish take place late in the closing laps on a restart as Grant Enfinger took the checkers, and advanced on to the next round.

So who will take the checkers this time around?

Here’s a look at who could end up in victory lane this weekend in Sin City.

Currently, there was 34 trucks on the preliminary entry list, but due to an incident last week at Atlanta after the race, Chad Finley’s hauler driver went to the wrong tunnel and accidentally damaged the Las Vegas truck. As a result, the team withdrew from the Vegas race. Ray Ciccarelli has also withdrawn from the event.
1. Johnny Sauter – It’s hard to imagine counting Sauter out at any given race, especially when he has the second most starts among active drivers, with 11. However, his only win at Vegas came in 2009, his first start at he track, driving for ThorSport Racing. Since then, Sauter has not visited victory lane, but has finished second the past two times. Overall, he has four second place finishes, along with six top fives and eight top-10 finishes. Sauter has led 121 laps with an average finish of 7.0. He also finished second last weekend at Atlanta and looks to go back to victory lane.
2. Grant Enfinger – Enfinger won the last time the Truck Series visited Las Vegas. In the fall race, he led 40 laps and finished seventh in Stage 1 and won Stage 2. Enfinger has only one finish outside the top-10 that came in his first start there in 2012. In total, he has two top fives and four top-10 finishes, along with 45 laps led, and an average finish of 7.2. His driver rating was 91.5 percent in the 2018 fall race. Enfinger has 73 green flag passes and 66 quality passes equaling 90.4 percent. Look for Enfinger to contend for the win Friday night at Vegas.
3. Kyle Busch – Kyle is back in the No. 51 this week for his second of five Truck Series starts. He is coming off a historic win at Atlanta and he’ll be looking to continue his winning ways Friday night. He only has two starts, but his first start was all the way back in 2001 driving for Jack Roush, where he finished ninth. It wasn’t until the spring race of last year, where Busch was finally back in a truck at Vegas. To no one’s surprise, he went to victory lane after leading 55 laps and starting on the pole. He finished third in both stages. It’ll be hard to count out the winningest driver in the Truck Series.
4. Ben Rhodes – Rhodes has four starts at Vegas and won in 2017. In the 2017 race, he led 20 laps and finished sixth in Stage 1 and won Stage 2. Overall, Rhodes has two top fives and three top-10 finishes with an average finish of 6.0, and 24 laps led. His driver rating is 90.2 percent and he has made 65 quality passes. When Rhodes won in 2017, he had 27 quality passes and a driver rating of 124.4.
5. Ross Chastain – Chastain only has three starts at Vegas in the Truck Series. To many, he may not look like a threat to win, but he is certainly someone to keep an eye on as he is a sleeper. Last fall, he won the Xfinity race and finished seventh in the Truck Series race. Chastain has been on a strong roll as of late. He finished third at Daytona and sixth last week at Atlanta. At Vegas, Chastain has just 11 laps led. He may not win, but look for him to be inside the top-10 when the night is over.
Other Notables

Angela Ruch is back in the No. 8 truck for Nemco Motorsports. Her previous start came in Daytona a few weeks ago, where she finished eighth.

Stefan Parsons returns to the series this weekend for Tracy Lowe in the No. 1 machine. This will be Parson’s first truck race since Phoenix last fall where he finished 20th.

Ryan Reed is back driving the No. 17 DGR-CROSLEY truck. It’ll be his first start since 2012, where he also competed at Las Vegas for Wauters Motorsports. Reed finished 17th that day.

Jesse Iwuji will drive Josh Reaume’s No. 34 entry and Scott Stenzel is set to pilot D.J. Copp’s No. 63 machine.

Two practices are scheduled for Thursday afternoon. The first will begin at 5:05 p.m. ET wth the final practice at 7:05 p.m. ET but there will be no live TV coverage. Friday afternoon, it’s qualifying at 5:10 p.m. ET, live on FOX Sports 1. The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Strat 200 is slated for 9 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1 and MRN Radio.
February 28, 2019
Shoutout of the week

In this week’s shout out of the week, we will highlight Tyler Dippel, driver of the No. 02 for Young’s Motorsports in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series.

Dippel had a quiet outing at Atlanta Motor Speedway, but it was a solid run as he finished 11th.

It was Dipple’s seventh race of his career and his first track debut at Atlanta. Dippel made his first Truck debut this past summer at Eldora, where he finished 13th.

During 2016-2018, Dippel competed in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East where he had two wins, nine top fives and 21 top-10s in 40 starts.

He signed with Young’s Motorsports during the off-season hoping for a great season. Dippel had his first start at Daytona and it was a miserable 29th place finish and he was out on lap 23. It was not the debut he was looking for with his new team.

Dippel, however, turned it around this past weekend at Atlanta to finish 11th.

February 27, 2019
Four takeaways from the NASCAR Gander Outdoor Truck Series at Atlanta
1. Kyle Busch Finally Breaks Ron Hornaday’s Record – After waiting since victory lane of Pocono last summer, Kyle Busch finally broke the illustrious record of Hornaday’s all-time wins. It took Busch 145 starts to get to win number 52. He’s had a lot of victories and memorable moments, such as winning the Truck Series owners championship two times. Busch catches a lot of flack but he could be one of the greatest drivers to race in today’s generation. Busch is only 33-years-old and he will more than likely have at least 10 to 15 more years in the sport to capture more victories and possibly break more records as well.
2. Unhappy Fans – Five to 10 years ago, we had Cup Series drivers racing in almost every Xfinity and Truck Series race. However, some fans were outraged by them winning all the time. With that, the fans pushed and pushed in an attempt to ban veteran drivers from racing in lower tier series. Eventually NASCAR put a limit on Cup Series drivers competing in other series. This weekend at Atlanta, there were no Cup Series drivers in the Xfinity race and only one in the Truck race. Low and behold, once Kyle Busch took the checkered flag, many fans were complaining about this issue. However, when I looked in the stands, there was hardly anyone there for either race that day. Sure the weather forecast looked gloomy but that crowd was pathetic. When FOX showed a flashback to Kevin Harvick winning the Xfinity race at Atlanta in 2009, those grandstands were packed. I know times are different and that was 10 years ago. But, I watched a 2001 NASCAR Busch Series race the other night that was held in Colorado at Pikes Peak and the crowd was packed. This particular Busch Series race has only one Cup Series driver in it and that was Harvick, who at the time, was racing in both series. Yet, there was no outrage then. If the fans want to see only Xfinity and Truck Series drivers compete in their respective series, then I need to see more support than what I saw on Saturday.
3. NASCAR Restarting The Race – I think we all won on this one. Kudos to NASCAR for waiting out the rains and heavy fog instead of calling the race nine laps early. We got to see an entertaining finish and Busch had to work hard for that win. Now if NASCAR can continue this consistency throughout the year, then this would be great.
4. NASCAR.com Streaming Service – In today’s day and age, you see a lot of streaming services offered like Netflix, MLB Network, NFL Network, Fox Sports Go, NBC Sports App and NBC Sports Gold (a premium package for race fans that is offered). This past Friday, we saw a new era when it comes to streaming in NASCAR. Most practice sessions were steamed on the website before Fox Sports took over at 2 p.m. on live TV. This will take place every Friday when Fox Sports has coverage through June. It’s unknown if NBC will follow suit when they over coverage of the races. Like many of you, I was skeptical about how this would turn out. I have watched some Formula E practices on Facebook and YouTube, and it wasn’t that great. So I was leery. So at 10:30 a.m. I logged on to my phone to stream practice. When I logged on, I had to submit my email to access the stream. Not only that, but I had to agree to subscribe to NASCAR’s newsletter, which is a smart marketing move by NASCAR. However, my excitement was drained when I heard no sounds from the racecars but eventually, sound was added on and all was right in the world. I had to get the quality right a couple of times for the video, as it kept going back to 240p instead of 720p. The radio announcers brought a unique twist and covered almost everyone. Not just the top drivers, which was refreshing. Seeing the whole practice without commercial breaks was also a plus. Now if this could change but it seems that NASCAR is testing the waters to possibly have a streaming service offered somewhere down the road once the TV contract expires in 2024. Already, Fans Choice TV will be broadcasting every regional NASCAR race. Dirtvision has an option to pay for a weekend pass to watch their coverage of the World of Outlaws. NHRA also has their own network where you can watch races live, instead of tape delay on FOX Sports 1. CARS-Short Track Tour also has premium service options as well for their live coverage at the track. It’ll be interesting to see if NASCAR follows suit on this in the coming years. As the old saying goes, “the times, they are a changing.”
February 27, 2019
NASCAR Gander Outdoor Truck Series power rankings – Atlanta
The NASCAR Gander Outdoor Truck Series headed north of Daytona this past weekend as they went to the typically sunny Atlanta Motor Speedway.

But it wasn’t so sunny on Saturday for the Truck Series, as fog, mist and even rain interfered during the Ultimate Tailgaiting 200 by delaying the race with nine to go.

However, as the race resumed, history was seen as Kyle Busch was back to his winning ways when he went to victory lane for career win No. 52 breaking Ron Hornaday’s former record for the most all-time Truck Series wins.

But who topped this weeks power rankings?
1. Grant Enfinger – After coming oh so close last weekend at Daytona, Enfinger finished third this weekend for the 20th top-five finish of his career. After qualifying was canceled, he lined up fifth. Enfinger carried his momentum throughout the race by finishing third in Stage 1 and eighth in Stage 2. A late restart was seen, but it wasn’t enough for Enfinger and the No. 98 Thorsport team as they wound up third.
Previous Week Ranking- First

2. Johnny Sauter – Sauter was looking to finally capture that Atlanta win this past weekend as he has no wins in his starts there. He lined up 12th when qualifying was rained out early Saturday morning, but it didn’t take him long to get to the front. Sauter finished fourth in both stages. He led twice for nine laps and had a shot to win late on a restart with five to go, but had to settle for a second place. Sauter might be a little disappointed with second, but it was much better than his Daytona outing. Sauter sits fourth, 18 points behind.

Previous Week Ranking- Not Ranked

3. Brett Moffitt – After being wrecked out last weekend, not of his doing, Moffitt rebounded for a solid but quiet fourth place finish even after an early pit road penalty early on. Moffitt didn’t contend much for the lead but came home fourth as he finished fifth in Stage 2. The No. 24 GMS team will look to put the past two weekends behind them and look forward to Las Vegas this weekend.

Previous Week Ranking- Not Ranked

4. Ross Chastain – Chastain and the small team of Niece Motorsports that could, followed up last week with another top-10 finish at Atlanta finishing sixth. He worked himself up to 10th in Stage 1 and seventh in Stage 2. Like others, Chastain had a shot to win late but his truck wasn’t enough and had to be content with a sixth-place.

Previous Week Ranking- 3rd

5. Austin Hill – The No. 16 Hattori Team was looking to carry their momentum over to Atlanta after winning at Daytona last week. The weekend got off to a rocky start, as the transmission and clutch broke in first practice, causing him to miss the entire practice. However, his day got somewhat better Saturday morning when heavy fog washed out qualifying and placed the team on the pole. While Hill finished fifth and sixth, respectively in both stages, he didn’t contend much for the win and settled for a seventh place finish after a quiet day.

Previous Week Ranking- Fourth

Fell Out
1. Matt Crafton – Crafton was running just great until that last caution, where a loose wheel caused him to make an extra pit stop and preventing him from having a shot at the win. Crafton finished 14th and his winless streak is still intact. Previous Week Ranking – 2nd
2. Spencer Boyd- Boyd was caught up in a wreck late with nine laps to go and was pretty much done for the day. After a strong finish at Daytona last week, Boyd wound up 25th. Previous Week Ranking – 5th
February 25, 2019
Ben Rhodes settles for top-five finish

After a strong run in both stages of the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway Ben Rhodes had to settle for a fifth place finish.

“I checked up between Harrison Burton on the restart,” Rhodes said to MRN Radio. “The inside lane obviously has the grip at the racetrack, I knew on the outside it was going to be an issue, Kyle (Busch) was really good on making everyone unexpected and catch them off guard.”

“So he (Kyle Busch) did a good job on the restart, I just got held up behind the No. 18,” Rhodes explained to MRN Radio. I thought the Ford F-150 had a ton of speed tonight, but we got some stuff we need to work on overall as a team and also some stuff on the truck. We got some good areas to work in on Las Vegas and missed it a little bit. I just needed a better restart there at the end.”

Rhodes finished sixth and second, respectively in both stages.

His top five finish was Rhodes’ 18th of his career.

February 24, 2019
Johnny Sauter comes up short for first win of the season

Johnny Sauter was eagered to get back in to victory lane this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway after having a strong 2018 season.

After placing fifth in both NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series practice sessions, it appeared Sauter would have the truck to contend for the win. When qualifying was canceled, he started in the 12th position based on the rule book.

As the race started, Sauter had a strong truck and remained in the top five for Stage 1 by finishing fourth. Stage 2 saw the same finishing position as well.

After the Stage 3 restart with 43 to go, Sauter led for 15 laps before being passed by eventual race winner, Kyle Busch.

Sauter was trying all he could to catch Busch, but it wasn’t enough. However, a timely caution came for Sauter and he had another chance. But the rains came, the fog got heavy and seeing the race go back to green did not look promising.

However, NASCAR got the track dried and Sauter was ecstatic for another shot. He gave it all he could but fell .932 seconds short of the win, finishing in second place.

“I was trying my damnest,” Sauter told MRN Radio. “I honestly was hoping he (Kyle Busch) was going to spin out off the nose of my truck and he did a great job of blocking there. If I went to the top, I wouldn’t have had enough momentum.”

“In hindsight, when I go watch the replay, I might think differently but so proud of everyone of Thorsport, I can’t thank them enough.”

With a second place finish, it was Sauter’s 103rd top five finish of his career.

“I really wanted to deliver a win tonight,” Sauter told MRN Radio. “We just didn’t get it done. I might feel differently of what I could have done at the end there. We had a shot. NASCAR did the right thing there to go back green.”

February 24, 2019