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Author: Briar Starr

  • Johnny Sauter Continues Mid-Season Dominance

    Johnny Sauter Continues Mid-Season Dominance

    The 2016 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion came to Gateway Motorsports Park this past weekend for their 18th race at the track, just outside of St. Louis, Missouri.

    Having competed here since 2009, Sauter has never won at the 1.250-mile racetrack. While he has four victories this season, Sauter was looking to cross Gateway off the list of tracks he has never won at and score win number five of 2018.

    During three practice sessions the No. 21 GMS Racing team battled to get the truck to Sauter’s liking. He placed 12th fastest in the first practice, third in the second session and 10th in the final practice session.

    The team struggled just a little bit during qualifying and started the race in the 13th position. Sauter finished ninth and second, respectively in both stages. But, after several cautions late in the going, Sauter found himself competing and challenging for the win alongside his teammate and the eventual race winner, Justin Haley.

    He fell one spot short of securing his first track win and his fifth win of the season. However, not all was lost, as he continues to lead the standings over second place Noah Gragson by 73 points.

    “We struggled early in the race with being tight and the later into the night we got, it started to loosen up,” Sauter said.  “The No. 21 guys worked hard the last two days and we really improved on what we had in practice. I think Justin did a great job on the restarts there at the end and I wish we had something for him, but it’s really cool to see someone put everything they’ve got out there and finally get rewarded for it. This is a big night for GMS and GMS Fabrication, locking a second truck into The Playoffs.”

    The Truck Series heads to Chicagoland Speedway this Friday night and Sauter is the defending race winner.

  • Justin Haley Earns First Truck Series Win In Dramatic Finish

    Justin Haley Earns First Truck Series Win In Dramatic Finish

    After a dramatic finish in Saturday night’s running of the Eaton 200 at Gateway Motorsports Park, Justin Haley captured his first win in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in just the 37th start of his career.

    Grant Enfinger and Christian Eckes set the front row in qualifying earlier in the day. Three stages of 35/35/90 made up the 160 lap race. There was already action before the race started, however, as Ben Rhodes had a right front flat tire that put him a lap down for most of the race.

    The race was clean and green in Stage 1 until the first caution on Lap 22 for Jordan Anderson who slowed on the track. Another caution occurred with three to go, as Dalton Sargeant cut down a left front tire after contact was made with Todd Gilliland.

    With the late caution, this saw Stage 1 come to an end and pole sitter Enfinger collected the win.

    The race resumed for Stage 2 on Lap 41 and went to Lap 70. Eckes was able to take the lead and hold on to win the stage, as it once again finished under yellow due to Matt Crafton who stopped on the track to enter pit road. Under yellow, the No. 88 Thorsport team made a battery change and was sent back. The team finally diagnosed the issue and it was an alternator problem.

    The action picked up in the third and final stage. Kansas race winner, Noah Gragson, took the lead on the restart but on the same lap, Stage 2 winner Christian Eckes was spun out by Stewart Friesen and hit the wall ending the night for the 17-year-old.

    After spending the whole race one lap down, Ben Rhodes was able to get his lap back and was finally back on the lead lap.

    Several more cautions throughout the stage including one red flag that stopped the race. On Lap 98, Friesen was spun by Johnny Sauter on the backstretch. With 47 to go, a piece of debris cut through the oil pan of John Hunter Nemechek and had the No. 8 Truck leaving oil all the way around the track, ending his night. This also saw a hard accident between drivers Justin Fontaine and Tate Fogleman who collided with each other in Turns 1 and 2. This eventually put the red flag out.

    After the clean up was made, the race resumed with 36 to go. Three more cautions in the remaining final laps slowed the pace once more. With 28 to go, Iowa winner Brett Moffitt, got loose and made contact with Ben Rhodes. Stage 1 winner and pole sitter, Grant Enfinger, had a left rear flat and left debris on the track causing a caution with 12 to go. The final caution came out after a restart with seven to go for debris. Race leader, Noah Gragson, had to come down pit road due to a flat tire and surrendered the race lead to Justin Haley.

    With just two laps remaining, Haley was able to hold off his GMS Racing teammate Johnny Sauter for his first ever Truck Series victory.

    There were nine cautions for 53 laps and one red flag during the race with seven lead changes among eight different leaders. Race-winner Haley led once for seven laps.

     

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Gateway-Motorsports-Park-NCWTS-race-results-6-24-18.pdf” title=”Gateway Motorsports Park NCWTS race results 6-24-18″]

  • NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Preview-Gateway

    NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Preview-Gateway

    The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series continues their midwest swing this weekend by visiting Gateway Motorsports Park located in Madison, Illinois just outside of St. Louis, MO.

    Currently, there are 34 trucks on the preliminary entry list.

    Of those 34, there are 11 drivers who have never made a start at Gateway. Those drivers include Myatt Snider, Bobby Reuse, Brett Moffitt, Dalton Sargeant, Justin Fontaine, Christian Eckes, Riley Herbst, Chad Finley, Stewart Friesen, Zane Smith and Jesse Little.

    Two of those drivers, Riley Herbst and Zane Smith will be making their Truck Series debut.

    Here’s a look at who just might be contending for the win in the Villa Lighting Delivers the Eaton 200.

      1. John Hunter Nemechek – Nemechek will once again be piloting the No. 8 Chevy for Nemco Motorsports. He is the previous race winner at Gateway after scoring an emotional win in last year’s race. In four starts, he has one win, two top five and three top-10 finishes, along with 99 laps led. In last year’s race, Nemechek led just 46 laps en route to victory after starting in the second position. He won Stage 1 and finished third in the second stage. If he does get to victory lane, it shouldn’t be surprising as Nemechek has an average start of 7.5 and an average finish of 6.5. Look for the young Mooresville, North Carolina driver to be challenging for the win in Saturday night’s race.
      2. Noah Gragson – Gragson might be a little bit of a wildcard this weekend at Gateway, considering he only has one start here which came in last year’s race. He started seventh and finished ninth, but after almost collecting win number two last week in Iowa after a dive bomb move, Gragson will be hungry to go to victory lane for the second time this year. He’ll have tons of track time with three practice sessions scheduled to take place, but as seen this year, Gragson should be a prime contender for the win.
      3. Brett Moffitt – Moffitt is coming off a momentum win at Iowa last weekend. It was his second win of 2018 and with the team still fighting to secure sponsorship for the rest of the season, the No. 16 Hattori Racing team will be wanting more and be up front challenging for the win. If he wins on Saturday night, it’ll be win number three and it could help him get more sponsorship for the season. In last year’s race, the No. 16 raced with Ryan Truex, who now competes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. They started 11th, finished fifth and ninth, respectively, in both stages.
      4. Johnny Sauter – It’s hard to ever count out Sauter who is a four-time winner this year. At Gateway, he has competed in six races earning a best finish of second in 2009. Since then, Sauter has had finishes of third, fourth, third, fourth, and third in last year’s race. In addition, he has an average finish of 3.2 and has led 33 laps in total, including six top fives and six top-10 finishes. While he doesn’t have a win here at the 1.250-mile track, it will give him that much more motivation to get this track crossed off the list and continue his dominant season.
      5. Ben Rhodes – While Rhodes has had trouble as of late in terms of performance, Gateway could be the site of his first win and get him into the Playoffs this year. He only has two starts coming in 2017 and 2016, both for Thorsport. Both of those races have been solid races for him. In 2016, he started first and finished second. In last year’s race, Rhodes started 12th and finished eighth, giving him one top five and two top-10 finishes with an average finish of 5.0.

    There have been 17 races in total at Gateway Motorsports Park. Former Truck Series driver, Ted Musgrave, has been the only repeat winner, with victories coming in 2001 and 2005. In the past five races, there have been five different winners including John Hunter Nemechek, Christopher Bell, Cole Custer, Bubba Wallace, and Kevin Harvick in 2010.

    The lowest a race winner has ever started was 14th which came back in 2004 and David Starr was the winner of that race. Qualifying will be important as the last five winners have started second, ninth, second, second, and first, respectively.

    Three practices are on tap Friday afternoon with the first practice scheduled for 3:35 p.m. ET. The second practice is at 5:35 p.m. ET, while final practice will be aired on FS2 at 7:35 p.m. ET.

    Qualifying is slated to take place at 5:25 p.m. ET and will be tape delayed on Fox Sports 1 at 7 p.m. ET.

    Race coverage begins at 8:30 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1 and MRN Radio, with the approximate green flag taking place at 8:48 p.m. ET.

  • Four Takeaways From The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race At Iowa

    Four Takeaways From The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race At Iowa

    The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series visited Iowa Speedway this past weekend located in Newton, Iowa. As always, the trucks put on quite the show no matter where they race and the M&M’s 200 certainly didn’t disappoint.

    Here are four takeaways from the ninth race of the season.

    1. Trucks Put On A Stellar Show At Iowa: As almost all races in the Truck Series, the NASCAR Truck Series put on another great showing at the .875-mile racetrack. There was quite a bit of action throughout the race that had people talking. But the one that had people talking the most was Noah Gragson’s dive-bomb move coming to the checkered flag. Social Media lit up after the Las Vegas, Nevada driver tried making the move coming to the checkered but unfortunately ended up bouncing off the wall, and had to settle for a second-place finish. The 19-year-old referenced the dive-bomb, like a “video game style” move. Despite falling .333 seconds short and only taking the lead for a split second, Gragson was happy about the outcome and thanked ‘NASCAR: Inside Line video game’ for trying that pass.
    2. DGR-Crosley Brand Shines With Top Five Finish: Another race, another solid finish for the No. 54 team who is owned by former NASCAR Cup Series driver, David Gilliland. Originally, Bo Lemastus was supposed to be the driver of the truck this past weekend, before the team made the swap on Thursday afternoon. Gilliland placed ninth in the second stage and was even up front for a restart late in the going, but ultimately wound up with a fourth-place finish. This was the team’s third top-five finish of the season.
    3. Myatt Snider Quietly Earns Top-10 Finish: After a rough outing at Texas Motor Speedway last weekend, Snider placed the No. 13 Carolina Nut Company Ford in the top-10. It was his first top-10 of the year since earning a sixth at Martinsville in April. Since then, Snider has finished outside the top-10 and had somewhat struggled due to other circumstances. This was his third top-10 finish of the season for the Thorsport Racing driver. He currently sits ninth in the point standings.
    4. Matt Crafton Continues To Struggle: The 2018 season has been one to forget so far for the two-time Truck Series champion. While it’s not bad by no means, they certainly can be better and have been better in years past. So far, Crafton has only notched three top fives and four top-10 finishes. But a stat that stands out the most is no wins, two DNF’s and an average finish of 13.7. The best finish the No. 88 driver has this year is second at Dover. Crafton’s last win came at Eldora Speedway and we are four races away from the dirt race. If they don’t get a win soon, it will have been one year since he has won.
  • NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Power Rankings-Iowa

    NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Power Rankings-Iowa

    The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series continued their mid-west swing this past weekend by visiting the .875-mile track located in Newton, Iowa.

    It was the ninth race of the 22-race season and with the season getting into the hot summer months, the M&M’s 200 sure didn’t disappoint in a thriller finish with the Truck Series regulars continuing to put on a great show.

    Here’s a look at this weeks power rankings.

    1. Brett Moffitt – Moffitt earned another huge victory this past weekend in the corn state of Iowa. It a hometown victory for the Grimes, Iowa native. While winning in your hometown is sweet, the No. 16 Hattori Racing team continues to search for sponsorship for the rest of the season. Nothing would be sweeter to see the team who has worked hard this season secure a full-time sponsorship for the rest of the 2018 season to compete for the Truck Series championship. After starting 16th, he worked his way up to eighth in the first stage. Moffitt continued to work his way up in the second stage by finishing third. After a late race caution and strategy being played, he took the lead on lap 125 and held on for the final 76 laps to collect the third win of his career and the second of 2018.
      • Previous Week Ranking: Not ranked
    2. Johnny Sauter – Sauter slips back one spot in this week’s rankings by finishing fifth. He still remains win-less at Iowa Speedway after 12 starts. While it wasn’t a bad night by any means, he was able to battle for the lead multiple times but never quite got the hang of the No. 21 GMS Racing Chevy and he never led a lap. However, he finished fifth and eighth in both stages, respectively. Sauter still remains a powerhouse in the series and the one to beat every week. He leads the series standings over Noah Gragson by 71 points.
      • Previous Week Ranking: 1st
    3. Noah Gragson – Gragson will be the talk of the week after his thrilling move late in the M&M’s 200. After fighting hard all night and finishing sixth, and fourth respectively in both stages, he found himself contending and challenging for the win with five laps to go. Gragson continued to rally and get to the back bumper of eventual race winner Brett Moffitt. In fact, he made a dive bomb move or a “video game style” as Gragson referenced going into Turns 3 and 4 on the final lap. Gragson almost made it stick, but ended up bouncing off the wall yards before the finish line and ended up .333 seconds short for his second win of the career. An A for effort in the continuously growing popularity of the 19-year-old.
      • Previous Week Ranking: Not Ranked
    4. Jesse Little – For everything that went on last night and this season, it’s hard to overlook a team who continues to impress people quietly. This season Little had only competed in three races prior to Iowa. In two of those races, he earned two top-10 finishes at Atlanta and Dover by finishing eighth and ninth. He upped that finish and earned the best finish of his career so far by finishing in the sixth position, earning his third top-10 of the year in the limited schedule that he has been running. But as seen in the series, under the right circumstances and situations, Little could provide to be an upset winner whenever the trucks race. And whenever the race team gets that victory, it will be a huge win for the small underfunded No. 97 team.
      • Previous Week Ranking: Not Ranked
    5. Harrison Burton – Burton rounds out the power rankings this week after a strong showing at Iowa. The 17-year-old proved his talents once more this past weekend. He topped the practice charts in the final practice and continued that momentum by earning his first ever Truck Series pole. Burton led early in Stage 1 by leading the first 30 laps and that would be the only 30 laps he led for the rest of the night. In the first stage, Burton wounded up finishing third. However, problems with the ECU unit mounted after the first stage and resulted in putting him deep in the field for the second stage. That didn’t stop him, however, as he worked his way up to finish sixth in the second stage. Just like his teammate, Gragson, Burton found himself competing for the win late in the going. Ultimately after some issues early on, he found himself third at the scoring pylon earning his career-best Truck Series finish. Burton continues to shine early in his career.
      • Previous Week Ranking: Not Ranked

    Fell Out

    1. Matt Crafton – An accident on lap 135 saw Crafton’s left front tire blow out and resulted in him finishing in the 26th position. The No. 88 Menards team continues to struggle to find that first win of the season.
    2. Grant Enfinger – Enfinger was involved in the first wreck and had a bit of damage, thus relegating him to an 11th place finish.
    3. Justin Haley – Haley wasn’t quite as sporty this week as he finished 16th, four laps down.
    4. Stewart Friesen- Friesen was also involved in the same incident as Crafton, but managed a ninth-place finish.
  • Christian Eckes Rebounds From Early Wreck In Series Debut at Iowa

    Christian Eckes Rebounds From Early Wreck In Series Debut at Iowa

    Up and coming NASCAR star, Christian Eckes made his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut Saturday night driving the No. 46 Kyle Busch Motorsports Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra at Iowa Speedway.

    On Lap 32, the second caution of the night was brought out due to an incident on the backstretch involving Austin Hill, Grant Enfinger, and Christian Eckes. The Mobil 1 driver had slight damage from the wreckage, but that didn’t stop the talented breakout star from making his way forward.

    In the last thirty laps in Stage 1, he managed to fight his way to the 10th position after the early incident. Some pit strategy was played by the 46 team and others. Eckes was on older tires than the rest of the field but salvaged a 14th place finishing position in the second stage.

    With some track position and strategy that continued to play out, he fought his way up as high as fifth in the final stage. At the end of the night, he brought home the KBM machine in the eighth position for his first ever top-10 finish in the series. Not bad for the 17-year-old rookie who made his national series debut.

    “It started out a little rough,” Eckes said.  “Not sure what happened on the backstretch there but we got in a wreck and had to fight back all day. Everybody on this 46 Mobil 1 team did a great job today getting me where I needed to be. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the finish that I really wanted at the end, but a top-10 finish in my debut is definitely a positive.”

  • Brett Moffitt Wins In A Thriller At Iowa

    Brett Moffitt Wins In A Thriller At Iowa

    Hometown hero Brett Moffitt was able to collect win number two of the 2018 season after a last lap thriller Saturday night at Iowa Speedway.

    “We had to fight all day,” Moffitt said after the race. “Qualified where we didn’t want to and first stop, we had a lug nut get caught between the wheel and the hub. And so we went all the way back there. The guys worked hard. They executed at the end and to have this Destiny Homes Toyota in victory lane is unreal. You know, it was certainly faster at the end and I was just fortunate enough to hold them off.”

    Harrison Burton and Matt Crafton set the front row early on in the day after qualifying for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series M&M’s 200. Sixty laps in Stages 1 and 2 and 80 laps in the final stage made up the 200 lap running of the event.

    Burton started off Stage 1 strong leading most of the way. The very first caution slowed the race on Lap 24, where Todd Gilliland scrapped the wall in Turn 2. After the restart on Lap 30, another caution came out when Grant Enfinger, Christian Eckes, Austin Hill and Ben Rhodes were involved in a melee on the backstretch slowing the pace once more.

    As the stage was winding down, there was a five-way battle for the lead which included Crafton, John Hunter Nemechek, Stewart Friesen, Burton, and Johnny Sauter. However, Nemechek was able to take the lead and held on to win the first stage.

    Stage 2 began on Lap 68 and went to Lap 120. Kansas race winner, Noah Gragson, took the lead on the restart and held on for a short while as there was once again multiple battles for the lead. The fourth caution came out just past the halfway mark for Gilliland, who once again bounced off the wall ultimately ending his day.

    “A mistake by me,” Gilliland said. “We were really free and just got into (Turn) 1 a little too deep and I was running up, and got a little too free and wrecked. We blew a right front. Something was messed up. I don’t know, I’m not sure if I just hit something, caught a part or what, but just hate it. That was my fault, should have been running top five right now and I guess there’s nothing else you can do, except learn from it.”

    This was the only incident in Stage 2 and Friesen ran away with the stage win.

    The final stage went back to green with 71 laps to go and Atlanta race winner, Brett Moffitt took the lead. One caution slowed the final stage, as Matt Crafton’s left front tire went down and was unable to turn going into the Turn 1, taking out several others. Crafton and Nemechek’s night was done as they suffered the most damage from the wreck.

    A restart came with 56 laps to go and Moffitt was able to take off like a rocket ship leading almost of the stage. With less than 30 to go, Gragson was starting to reel in the race leader.

    As the race came to an end with less than five laps to go, a three-way battle for the win heated up with Moffitt, Gragson, and Burton. On the last lap, Gragson tried making a dive bomb move on Moffitt and took the lead for a split second but ended up bouncing off the wall coming to the line, allowing Moffitt to collect his second win of the season in a last-lap thriller.

    There were six cautions for 44 laps and eight leaders among eight lead changes. Moffitt led once for 76 laps for the third win of his career.

    The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series continues their mid-west swing by visiting Gateway Motorsports Park next Saturday night.

     

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  • Matt Crafton’s Blown Tire Causes Mulit-Car Wreck in Stage 3 at Iowa

    Matt Crafton’s Blown Tire Causes Mulit-Car Wreck in Stage 3 at Iowa

    On Lap 135, Matt Crafton’s left front tire cut down going into Turn 1 causing a multi-vehicle incident during Stage 3 of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series M&M’s 200 at Iowa Speedway. Drivers involved in the accident included Stewart Friesen, Ben Rhodes, previous race winner John Hunter Nemechek, and Dalton Sargeant.

    Prior to the incident taking place, Crafton’s No. 88 Menards Ford and the No. 52 Halmar Racing machine made slight contact with each other, thus giving Crafton a left front tire rub. Laps later, the tire finally let go causing a major accident.

    “I blew a left front tire,” Crafton said. “Just got caught back with the 52 (Friesen) and blew a left front tire.”

    John Hunter Nemechek was also taken out of the race after leading the race twice for 15 laps.

    “I don’t know how Crafton ended up with a left front rub,” Nemechek said. “I had no idea. We could tell who was rubbing to the outside getting in to (turn) 1, put us four wide and I tried backing out of the situation and it just wasn’t enough. I hate it for all my guys. He (Crafton) came up and blew a left front, kept coming up and put us in the fence. So overall, disappointed. But have another shot at tomorrow. We were fast and I was driving my butt off. That was a lot of fun.”

    Crafton finished 26th and Nemechek 27th.

  • NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Preview-Iowa

    NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Preview-Iowa

    The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series heads to the midwest again this weekend, as the series regulars head to Iowa Speedway. This is the second standalone event of the season for the series.

    Currently, there are 35 trucks on the preliminary entry list this weekend for the annual M&Ms 200.

    Fifteen drivers will be making their first track debut. These include Camden Murphy, Austin Hill, Cory Roper, Todd Gilliland, Reid Wilson, Myatt Snider, Bobby Reuse, Brett Moffitt, Tanner Thorson, Dalton Sargeant, Justin Fontaine, Christian Eckes, Stewart Friesen, Bo LeMastus and Bayley Currey.

    Note: Christian Eckes will be making his Truck Series debut driving the No. 46 Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra for Kyle Busch Motorsports.

    Here’s a look at who might be challenging for the win this weekend at the small .875-mile track.

    1. Johnny Sauter – It should be no surprise that Sauter, once again, tops the chart this week but it’s hard to overlook someone who has done so much in a sport that’s called, ‘What Have You Done for Me Lately?’ Lately, he has earned season win number four last week at Texas Motor Speedway. It’s also hard to stop someone who has been on a roll and carrying so much momentum this season. However, Iowa will be a little challenge and a curve-ball this week for the No. 21 GMS Racing. Sauter has no wins in 11 races, but he does have seven top fives and eight top-10 finishes, along with an average start of 9.8 and an average finish of 7.4. His last five finishes have been second, 10th, 17th, 18th, and fourth, respectively. But if he does pull out the win this Saturday night, it shouldn’t be surprising due to the fact that he’s been the Kevin Harvick of the Truck Series.
    2. John Hunter Nemechek – John Hunter Nemechek returns to pilot the No. 8 Nemco Motorsports Chevy. He is high on the list this week because Nemechek is the recent race winner of the event. In last year’s race, he started fifth and led just six laps. He also finished seventh and third, respectively in both stages. Nemechek has also led 59 laps in total at the track, including obtaining a 5.5 average start and an average finish of 11.5. Other finishes include 12th, 23rd (DNF), and 10th in his four starts at the track. He also has one top-five finish and two top-10 finishes. Nemechek will certainly be a challenger for the win this week at Iowa.
    3. Stewart Friesen – After last week’s performance, it’s hard to not count Friesen out to contend for the win. He and his No. 52 Halmar Racing is slowly but surely, becoming more and more of a contender each week in challenging for race wins. Friesen came up .092 seconds short of his first win to Johnny Sauter. This will be his first-ever start at Iowa Speedway this weekend.
    4. Todd Gilliland – Gilliland will be making his first ever Truck Series start at Iowa, but he does have previous starts and experience at the racetrack. His starts came in the NASCAR K&N Series as well as the ARCA Racing Series. In last year’s race, Gilliland started fourth and won after dominating the whole race by leading 147 laps. He has also made one start in the ARCA Racing Series driving for Venturini Motorsports starting 11th and finishing ninth. Gilliland has already proven himself as a contender for the win and if the opportunity strikes, he could end up in victory lane this weekend. What a win that would be for the recent high school graduate.
    5. Matt Crafton – Crafton will be making his 12th career start at Iowa this weekend and is still searching for the first win of the 2018 season. At Iowa, he has made 11 career starts and posted one win which came in 2011, seven years ago. He also has five top-five finishes and along with 10 top-1os. Crafton has also led 89 laps throughout his career at this place and has an average start of 9.7 and an average finish of 6.3. However, in the recent outing, he did not finish after getting involved in a late-race crash and salvaged a 19th place finish. While it seems as though the No. 88 Menards Ford F-150 is still searching for speed this season if they play their cards right and right calls happen, Crafton will earn his first win of the season and lock himself into the Playoffs.

    Iowa Speedway has seen 11 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series ever since the series went there in 2009. Erik Jones and Timothy Peters have been the only repeat winners. Other winners include Mike Skinner, Austin Dillon, Matt Crafton, James Buescher, William Byron and defending race winner, John Hunter Nemechek. Qualifying will be important if you want to collect a race win as previous race winners have started, fifth twice, first, second, and third.

    Stages will be broken up into 60/120/200.

    The Truck Series will have a one day show with first practice beginning at 9:35 a.m. ET on Fox Sports 1 and final practice at 11:00 a.m. ET on Fox Sports 2. Qualifying is slated for Saturday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. ET on FS2.

    Race coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1 and MRN Radio, with the green flag scheduled to drop at 7:19 p.m. ET, approximately.

  • Four Takeaways from the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Event at Texas

    Four Takeaways from the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Event at Texas

    Texas Motor Speedway was the host for the eighth race of the 2018 season for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. While there were some notables that placed in the top 10, there were also some of the same familiar faces at the top.

    Here are this week’s four takeaways from the PPG 400.

    1. Johnny Sauter Continues To Dominate – There’s no stopping the four-time winner, Johnny Sauter, this season. He now has four wins, seven top fives and seven top 10 finishes. While he did not dominate as he did in previous races, Sauter still found a way to work his way up to the front and win at Texas for his fifth win at the track. If this was in November, he would have had already clinched his spot in the championship 4 as he did last November. However, it wouldn’t be surprising if Sauter does collect another win at Texas later in the year. He’s currently on track to becoming a three-time champion.
    2. Tyler Young Shines In The Top 10 – Young had a great, but quiet Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway. While he didn’t finish inside the top 10 at all in either stage, he rallied toward the front to finish seventh at the end of the night. This was a strong finish, almost a win, for the underdog Young Motorsports team. It was his first top 10 finish of the year and his sixth of his career. A decent showing by the No. 20 of Young Motorsports.
    3. Todd Gilliland Is The Highest Kyle Busch Motorsports Driver – Having no previous race experiences at Texas Motor Speedway, Gilliland scored a sixth-place and was the highest KBM driver in the final results. Not bad for the recent high school graduate, who will now be able to compete on a full-time schedule for the rest of the year. It will be interesting to see how he does and it wouldn’t be surprising if he collects a couple of wins before the season is all said and done. Spencer Davis finished ninth while  Noah Gragson claimed 10th and rounded out the Kyle Busch Motorsports trio.
    4. Cody Coughlin Has A Solid Top 10 Night – Coughlin continues to quietly finish inside the top 10 this season. He finished fifth in the first stage but fell outside the top 10 due to falling a lap down. With a late caution, Coughlin and his No. 2 JEGS Chevy made adjustments and he worked his way back into the top 10 late in the race. At the end of the day, he found himself in the seventh position in the final rundown for his fourth top 10 of the year.