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Race Central NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series news and information

  • Friesen survives, wins his first career race at Eldora

    Friesen survives, wins his first career race at Eldora

    It took 437 laps led and 63 starts but finally, Stewart Friesen is a winner in the Gander Outdoors Truck Series. Friesen had to hold off Sheldon Creed and company to win the Dirt Derby at Eldora Speedway.

    “Thank you to all the race fans that stuck with us, that kept pulling for us,” Friesen said after he got out of his truck in Victory Lane. “Everybody that came to my hauler and thought that this is the week. Today, this is the day. This is part of it!”

    “Just thanks to all these race fans. This was meant to be.”

    Friesen was on the last spot in the Truck championship but with the win, he is locked into the field of eight for the Truck Series Playoffs that will start in Bristol.

    Sheldon Creed came home with a career-best finish of second followed by Grant Enfinger and Mike Marlar, a dirt regular, who came home fourth. Kyle Bisch Motorsports driver Todd Gilliland came home in fifth.

    Chase Briscoe and Matt Crafton started on the front row and they are no strangers to being up front on the dirt. Briscoe won this race last year with Crafton winning the year before. Briscoe led from wire to wire even though the stage was slowed by two quick cautions. Landon Huffman who is subbing for Spencer Boyd spun it around. Then Jake Griffin spun it around as well right after the green flag waved from the Huffman spin. When it was all said and done it was Briscoe winning the stage followed by Gilliland, Brett Moffitt, Creed and Crafton to round out the top five.

    Stage 2:

    Most of the leaders decided to stay out after the stage break with the exception of Gilliland and Moffitt while Briscoe continued to dominate as he did in the first stage. Also like the first stage, some yellows disrupted the flow of the action. Harrison Burton spun his truck around on Lap 57 and the dirt version of “The Big One” happened on Lap 65 which involved Austin Hill, Burton, Christian Eckes, Carson Hocevar, Colt Gilliam and more. Many were able to continue but for Hill and Gilliam, their nights were over.

    The action and the yellows did not stop though as the No. 34 of Mason Massey spun it around on Lap 76 when he got a cut tire. Creed spun it after they went back to green after the Massey spin but there was no yellow waved.

    Like the first stage though it was all Briscoe as he went wire to wire to win the stage.

    Final Stage:

    Friesen stayed out while Briscoe and Crafton, among others, went in to pit after the stage ended. With going in to pit Briscoe restarted 12th while Friesen led the field to green to start the final stage. Friesen started to pull away but it was all for nothing due to the No. 45 of Chastain spinning right in front of the field. But somehow, someway, all of the field escaped without hitting Chastain’s truck.

    There were a few more incidents after this one including a yellow that featured three wrecks in one. First, the No. 54 of Kyle Strickler spun trying to navigate the high side and before that the No. 32 of Devin Dodson and the No. 10 of Jennifer Jo Cobb. Last but not least Johnny Sauter and Briscoe got connected after the Strickler spin. Norm Benning spun with 31 laps to go after they went back to green following the multiple trucks that spun in the previous caution. The fun didn’t stop there as Dodson spun it around again with 17 laps to go.

    Briscoe was a man on a mission but he tried a little bit too hard and spun out with nine laps to go while battling Creed for fifth. Briscoe went on to finish seventh.

    There is only one race left to make the field of eight for the Gander Outdoors Truck Series Championship and that will be determined by the race in Michigan, a week from Saturday (August 3), on FS1.

  • Tyler Ankrum scores first career win at Kentucky

    Tyler Ankrum scores first career win at Kentucky

    Former NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Series champion Tyler Ankrum earned his first career Gander Outdoors Truck Series win at Kentucky Speedway after passing Brett Moffitt with two laps to go.

    “I can’t even describe it,” Ankrum explained to MRN Radio in his post-race interview about the last laps. “I don’t know if anything was going through my head honestly, I was just trying to drive as hard as I could. This DGR-Crosley Railblaza/Academy Toyota, it was on fire. I just can’t believe that we did this!

    Coming into the Buckle Up in Your Truck 225, Grant Enfinger won the pole earlier in the day, his second of the season. Stages were broken up into 35/35/80 laps to make up the 150-lap race.

    It was clean and green without any major incidents in the first stage. As a matter of fact, the stage would remain caution free. There were some notable incidents, however, as Austin Hill came down pit road on Lap 28 with possible engine issues. Just a few laps later on Lap 33, he went behind the wall for the rest of the night and wound up with a disappointing 31st place finish.

    Sheldon Creed and the No.2 GMS Racing team took home the first stage after leading all 35 laps.

    The action picked up, especially on pit road when Johnny Sauter and Matt Crafton were each caught with a commitment line violation and had to serve a penalty.

    Stage 2 began on Lap 41 and saw a lot of incidents ramp up. The first incident took place right after the restart when Spencer Boyd and Natalie Decker made contact with each other and were sent viciously into the wall, destroying both trucks. The incident also collected Jordan Anderson and a little bit of Sauter’s truck as well.

    On Lap 56, the third caution was brought out for the No. 42 of Chad Finley, when his truck just snapped loose and wound up hitting the wall off Turn 4. Finley would wind up 26th after starting 12th.

    More action occurred under caution when the No. 4 of Todd Gilliland come down pit road with the hood up. It appeared there were engine issues, possibly a plug wire or it was down a cylinder. But there was no confirmation from the team on the issues for the No. 4 truck.

    The next caution flew on Lap 60 when Harrison Burton got loose in Turns 1 and 2, eventually going sideways. Burton brought two other trucks with him in the incident, Gus Dean and Josh Bilicki. Sauter once again barely escaped the wreck without any major damage.

    Five laps later, the No. 98 of Grant Enfinger hit a bump in Turn 4 with Brandon Jones to his outside. The two would make hard contact with each other, slamming Jones in the wall with his truck eventually catching on fire. Both Jones and Enfinger would be done for the night.

    With the wreck taking place so close to the end of Stage 2, the second stage ended under caution and with the No. 88 of Matt Crafton taking the stage win and earning 10 Playoff points.

    The third and final stage began on Lap 76 and saw a long green flag run toward the finish line.

    A few notable incidents occurred in the stage as well. Stage 1 winner, Sheldon Creed, wound up having a flat right front tire shortly after the stage restarted.

    Later on, as the stage began to wind down, Tyler Ankrum took the lead on Lap 73. Despite a hard-charge from Ben Rhodes, he could not take the lead from Ankrum and Chicago winner Brett Moffitt took second place.

    Pit stops began to take place shortly after lap 100. Even with the pit stops, it appeared most drivers did not have enough to make it on fuel to the end, which saw the race become a fuel mileage game.

    Moffitt tried outsmarting Ankrum on his pit stop, while Ankrum had a somewhat longer stop. Moffitt would still be the leader after his final round of pit stops.

    With about 20 to go, Rhodes and Brennan Poole made contact with each other. This left Rhodes with a left rear tire to go down, while Pool had a right front tire go down late in the going.

    Just 10 laps later with 10 to go, the race leaders, including Moffitt, were told to start saving a little bit of fuel in case of caution. During that run, other drivers like Matt Crafton and Todd Gilliland fell short and ran out of gas. Moffitt continued running thinking he had enough to make it on fuel. Unfortunately, he ran out of gas just half a lap away from taking the white flag. Ankrum, who just turned 18-years-old, went on by to take the lead and eventually his first ever career win.

    “I accidentally put a ice bag down my chest, ripped my right side ear mold out,” Ankrum told MRN Radio. “So half the time, all I could understand was inside or outside. I honestly did not hear a whole lot, so I’m so proud. Man, that’s all I got, I don’t know. This goes to show that youngsters and underdogs can still win. You know, I don’t think DGR has been viewed as a GMS, KBM, or ThorSport team but they will be now. I’m honestly so proud of that, that’s what I’ve been wanting to do. I’m all about improvement, improving every single week trying to get better and that’s what we did, we finished it!”

    It was Ankrum’s first Truck Series win in just 12 starts. His previous best finish was third at Texas in June. Ankrum led three times for 40 laps and has currently earned a spot in the Playoffs.

    There were five cautions for 33 laps, with 10 lead changes among seven drivers.

    Playoff Watch
    1. Brett Moffitt, Two wins
    2. Ross Chastain, One win, Clinched playoff spot
    3. Johnny Sauter, One win
    4. Austin Hill, One win
    5. Tyler Ankrum, One win
    6. Grant Enfinger, +73
    7. Stewart Friesen, +61
    8. Matt Crafton, +40
    Below the cut line
    9. Harrison Burton, -40
    10. Ben Rhodes, -60
    11. Todd Gilliland, -110

    Up Next: The Truck Series will take another week off before heading to “The Tricky Triangle” of Pocono Raceway on Saturday, July 27.

  • Ross Chastain gets big win and redemption at Gateway

    Ross Chastain gets big win and redemption at Gateway

    After a whirlwind of a week, Chastain and his No. 45 Niece Motorsports team found redemption in Madison, Illinois Saturday night with a victory at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

    Chastain and his pit crew took a late race gamble by taking gas only with no tires, while everyone else took tires. He was able to cycle back out as the leader, but an unfortunate caution came out with 15 to go. This would set up a late race restart with seven to go. However, Chastain was able to hold everyone off and proved that, in the end, track position mattered most, to earn a big win at Gateway.

    “Of course, we thought we could,” Chastain said in his post-race interview with MRN Radio about his chances of winning. “If you don’t come to a racetrack expecting to win with an operation like this and people like this…man, you don’t need to be coming here. This is what racecar drivers live for with opportunities like this, you can’t let them slip away.”

    “We’re very fortunate tonight,” he added. “We did not have the fastest truck at times, we executed, Phil (Gould, Crew Chief), (Shannon) Rush and the whole brain trust behind me, Al Niece (Team Owner) he’s not here, ah he missed another one, but look at that splitter. That thing is off the ground tonight.”

    In what started as a gloomy and rainy day for the Truck Series, with rain showers being persistent across the St. Louis area, qualifying was once again canceled and set by owner points. The teams, however, were given one practice session to get their trucks ready for the race once the rain cleared away.

    It was a caution free race for the most part with barely any incidents.

    Stewart Friesen broke away early and Led for 19 laps until championship points leader Grant Enfinger took over the lead on Lap 22 in the first stage and never looked back. Enfinger would go on to win Stages 1 and 2, having a dominant truck early on in the race.

    There were a couple of minor incidents, as the No. 0 of Gregory Rayl brushed the wall and the No. 1 of Cody McMahan hit the wall off the backstretch on the final lap of Stage 1.

    Friesen somehow received back bumper damage to his truck after the restart for Stage 2. Last week’s winner Brett Moffitt experienced issues with his engine but got it fixed in the long run.

    After a couple of quiet stages, the intensity and action picked up for the third and final stage that began with 83 to go. It was where Chastain would first be seen battling up front for the lead along with, Harrison Burton and Enfinger as well.

    Chastain really began reeling in the race leader and pole sitter Christian Eckes for the top spot with 45 to go, although, everyone had to stop one more time to make it the rest of the way.

    The No. 45 crew placed their bet after a short-lived battle with Burton, pitting with 28 to go Eckes also pitted. Then, Chastain recycled back into the race lead with 20 laps to go hoping for no caution, as the team did not take tires, while everyone else did.

    However, an unfortunate caution came with 15 to go for Burton and Sheldon Creed who made contact with each other in Turn 4. This would eventually set up a late race restart with seven to go.

    Despite all the circumstances and challenges, Chastain and his fan favorite No. 45 Niece Motorsports team earned a popular victory tonight at the 1.250-mile paved track located near St. Louis, Missouri.

    “Yeah, I mean, less tires and less fuel, screaming at me to save fuel while I’m out running away from the leaders,” the Florida native described to MRN Radio. “When it’s your time, it’s your time, everything happens for a reason. If last weekend happened for a reason, I’m okay with it, the good Lord is good I believe and he came through for us tonight. My dad is here, came with my girlfriend, my Aunt and Uncle. We normally don’t have much family here. Got my late model crew chief here, man, we came a long way since those days, loving every minute.”

    This is Chastain’s second win of the season, his first since Kansas back in May. He also picks up the winning bonus from The Triple Truck Challenge of $50,000.

    Chastain led three times for 21 laps and currently sits 38 points outside the top 20. There were five cautions for 30 laps along with eight leaders among 14 lead changes.

    Grant Enfinger still holds the championship points standings over Stewart Friesen by 54 points.

    Up Next: The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series will head north to Chicagoland Speedway on Friday, June 28.

  • Moffitt Wins at Iowa after Chastain fails post-race inspection

    Moffitt Wins at Iowa after Chastain fails post-race inspection

    When racing fans watched the 11th Annual M&M’S® 200 presented by Casey’s General Store live, they saw Florida native Ross Chastain take the checkered flag at Iowa Speedway for his second win of the season. However, about an hour after the race concluded, NASCAR officials made the announcement that race winner Chastain failed post-race inspection after finding the ride heights being too low.

    With that said, Grimes, Iowa native Brett Moffitt was declared the winner instead after previously finishing second when Chastain crossed the line first originally.

    “I’ll take a win anyway I can get,” Moffit said in his post race press conference. “I would rather take the checkered flag first and inspection penalties like this, are good for the integrity of the sport.”

    This is Moffitt’s eighth victory in 46 Gander Outdoors Truck Series and his first victory and sixth top-10 finish in 2019.

    Moffitt started his day in the sixth position after qualifying was rained out. He was quiet for most of the day, but shined in the final stage where he followed Chastain closely behind in second. When the original race was over, Moffitt crossed the second but later declared the winner after inspection.

    Even if Moffitt was declared the winner, he described track position was important when he originally finished second.

    “Track position, really,” the Grimes, Iowa native told in his post race interview with MRN Radio. “Really tough to pass and we kept getting stuck on the bottom on restarts, and tough to get your momentum going down there. All in all, we had a good day but it’s my home track and wins are all that matters here. We had a good Chevy Silverado, just needed a little more.”

    It is Moffitt’s first win of the 2019 season, his first since winning the championship last season at Homestead. Moffitt is awarded ten points and a spot in the playoffs should he stay in the top eight.

    The Niece Motorsports team, however, are allowed until noon eastern Monday to appeal the decision.

    Chastain, on the other hand, was relegated to a 32nd place finish and his two stage wins were taken away. He will only earn five points for the race.

    Johnny Sauter was parked by NASCAR after an incident with Austin Hill and is credited with only completing 137 laps. He wound up finishing 28th. The altercation began when Hill got into the back of Sauter’s truck on Lap 137. Sauter slid into the outside wall and during the caution, he ran into the rear of Hill’s truck in retaliation.

    Update: It is determined that Niece Motorsports will appeal NASCAR’s decision. Niece Motorsports originally had until noon eastern on Monday to appeal the penalty.

    Stay tuned with Speedway Media throughout the week following Niece’s appeal.

    Up Next: The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series continue their Midwest swing by visiting World Wide Technology Raceway, formerly known as Gateway Motorsports Park on Saturday, June 22.

    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
  • Greg Biffle wins Truck Series race at Texas in return to NASCAR

    Greg Biffle wins Truck Series race at Texas in return to NASCAR

    Greg Biffle raced his way into victory lane at Texas Motor Speedway Friday night after winning the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race. It has been 15 years since the 2000 Truck Series champion was last seen in a Truck Series race.

    His last start in the series came in 2004 at the season finale in Homestead where Biffle started 24th and drove to an eighth-place finish. However, the last time NASCAR nation saw Biffle in victory lane in the series was in 2001 at ISM Raceway, formerly named Phoenix International Raceway.

    And now, 18 years later, Biffle returned to Texas Motor Speedway in hopes of getting a win for the famed No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports team who has been on fire this year. And he did just that.

    It looked like Biffle had not missed a beat as he qualified sixth for the race. Stage 1 saw him finish 16th, but Stage 2 had a better outcome as he wound up sixth.

    After a long green flag run, a caution came out with 15 to go when Austin Wayne Self stalled on the bottom of the race track. This saw Biffle restart on the front row with a 10 lap shootout. He had two-time champion, Matt Crafton, chasing him down, but in the end, Biffle saved enough fuel and was able to run away with the checkered flag.

    “I don’t know if it was that easy,” Biffle told MRN Radio in a post-race interview. “I had my work cut out for me at the beginning of the race. So much odd stuff happened. I had a bunch of people wrecking in front of me and behind me. I was just trying to keep myself clean. You know beat the fenders in a little bit, but Mobil 1 Toyota ran really good tonight. I thank those guys for coming on board and helping us. You know Kyle Busch assembled a great group of guys. Pit stops were phenomenal, Rudy (Fugel, Crew Chief) did a great job calling the race on top of the box. It’s not easy to win these, but I can see how Kyle (Busch, Team Owner) has done very well.”

    The SpeedyCash.com 400 was broken up into three stages that saw 40 laps in Stage 1 and Stage 2, and 87 laps in the final stage.

    There’s an old joke that goes around every once in a while and that’s, “Everything Is Bigger In Texas.” Well so were the cautions. There were four cautions in the first stage along with one red flag.

    The first occurred on Lap 12 for Gus Dean who wrecked on the backstretch. The second was on Lap 21 when Niece Motorsports driver Kyle Benjamin got loose off Turn 4 and smacked the wall. On Lap 27, the third caution flew and this time it was for the No. 9 of Codie Rohrbaugh. And the final caution for the first stage came on Lap 34, as Angela Ruch spun off Turn 2 and wrecked.

    After four cautions and one red flag in Stage 1, Johnny Sauter, who has been to victory lane at Texas numerous times, survived the carnage and won Stage 1.

    Stage 2 saw the green flag fly on Lap 46 and saw tons of cautions again.

    This time, it was Stage 1 winner Sauter, who received heavy damage to his truck as he and Austin Hill made slight contact with each other, which sent Sauter into the wall with major rear end damage to the truck. This would eventually take Sauter out of contention to win the race.

    On Lap 63, Texas native Cory Roper spun off Turn 2 to bring out another caution. Just a few laps later after having a strong night, Todd Gilliland spun in Turn 2 after his truck got loose on the restart which ended his night as well.

    Coming to Lap 75, the new high school graduate Tyler Ankrum made a spectacular save sliding onto pit road without hitting anything. There was no caution for the incident. Turn 2 seemed to be the trouble spot again as Jordan Anderson spun there on the final lap of Stage 2 which ended the stage under caution.

    Sauter’s Thorsport teammate and Kentucky native Ben Rhodes wound up wining the stage.

    The third and final stage finally came with 80 to go. Young’s Motorsports drivers Sheldon Creed and Tyler Dippel were on the front row for the restart. However, troubles rose again, as they made contact with each other with Dippel wrecking on Lap 89 after having a flat tire go down.

    There were more problems on the restart with 73 to go, as Stage 2 winner Rhodes, had to pull out of the lead when his truck started to go south. As that happened, another incident broke loose as Spencer Boyd, Natalie Decker and Trey Hutchens all made contact with each other on the backstretch to bring out another caution.

    Rhodes issue was later diagnosed as a transmission failure. The No. 99 Carolina Nut Ford F-150 did not return to the track and wound up finishing a disappointing 21st.

    With 64 to go for the restart, Biffle was up front and took the lead for the first time since 2001. However as we had seen throughout the night, the caution came out again with 60 to go. After having numerous cautions in the first half of the race, the field finally settled down a little bit and got into a long green flag run.

    Teams began making pit stops with 30 to go as they could not make it the rest of the way. It began with Anthony Alfredo who was having a solid night in the top-10, then Ross Chastain with 27 to go and race leader Austin Hill with 21 to go.

    Another caution with 15 to go changed everything as Biffle, along with others, chose not to make a pit stop. A late race restart was set up with 10 to go and Biffle had to hold off Crafton, Ankrum, Enfinger, Burton and Creed, who were all looking for their first win of the season.

    By not pitting, Biffle could have been the only one to run out of gas. But luck was on his side as he was able to fend off the two-time champion of Matt Crafton and drive into victory lane for his first Truck Series win since 2001.

    “I probably wasn’t as nervous as Rudy (Fugel, Crew Chief) was,” Biffle said to MRN Radio in his post-race interview describing the fuel situation. “But I knew it was close, it was a good call by Rudy to keep us out there. We had no tires and a little bit of gas wasn’t going to do anything, we were all ready for it. So, I figured we would stay out.”

    With this win, the Washington State native claimed the first victory of The Triple Truck Challenge and won $50,000. Several people wondered if Biffle would continue the three-race span in hopes of collecting half a million by the time Gateway ended.

    “You know, I don’t know,” Biffle added. “I think they (Kyle Busch Motorsports) already have a plan put together for all three trucks to win, but we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”

    This was Biffle’s first win at Texas since 2000, a whopping 19 years ago. He led twice for 18 laps. This was Kyle Busch Motorsports’ sixth win of the season.

    There were 13 cautions for 63 laps along with 12 lead changes among nine drivers.

    The No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports truck continues to lead in the owner points over the No. 98 Thorsport Racing team by 32 points.

    Up Next: The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series continues their exciting season and The Triple Truck Challenge by continuing their Midwest swing visiting Iowa Speedway Saturday, June 15.

  • Weekend schedule for Michigan and Texas

    Weekend schedule for Michigan and Texas

    The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and the Xfinity Series head to Michigan International Speedway this weekend along with the ARCA Menards Series while the Gander Outdoors Truck Series will run a standalone race at Texas Motor Speedway.

    All times are Eastern.

    Texas:

    Thursday, June 6

    3:05 p.m. – 3:55 p.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series First Practice – Results
    5:05 p.m. – 5:55 p.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series Second Practice – Results
    7 p.m. – 7:45 p.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series Final Practice – Results

    Friday, June 7

    5:35 p.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series Qualifying – NASCAR.com/MRN
    9 p.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series SpeedyCash.com 400 – 250.5 miles (167 Laps) – Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 40), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 80), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 167) FS1/MRN

    Michigan:

    Friday, June 7

    8:30 a.m. – 10 a.m.: Arca Menards Series Final Practice
    Noon: ARCA Series Group Qualifying
    1:05 p.m. – 1:55 p.m.: Xfinity Series First Practice – MRN/NASCAR.com/live
    2:05 p.m. – 2:55 p.m.: Monster Energy Cup Series First Practice – MRN/NASCAR.com/live
    3:05 p.m. – 3:55 p.m.: Xfinity Series Final Practice – FS2 (Airing tape delayed at 4 p.m.)
    4:05 p.m. – 4:55 p.m.: Monster Energy Cup Series Final Practice – FS2/MRN (Airing tape delayed on at 5 p.m.)
    6 p.m.: ARCA VizCom 200 – (100 laps – 200 miles) – FS1

    Saturday, June 8

    10:30 a.m.: Xfinity Series Qualifying – FS2 – Qualifying Impound (Single Vehicle/One Lap All Positions)
    12:05 p.m.: Monster Energy Cup Series Qualifying – Qualifying Impound (Single Vehicle/One Lap All Positions) – FS1/MRN
    1:30 p.m.: Xfinity Series Lti Printing 250 – 250 miles (125 Laps) –  Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 30), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 60), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 125) – FS1/MRN Defending Race Winner: Austin Dillon

    Sunday, June 9

    2 p.m.: Monster Energy Cup Series FireKeepers Casino 400 – 400 miles (200 laps) –  Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 60), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 120), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 200) – FS1/MRN Defending Race Winner: Clint Bowyer

    Follow @angiecampbell_ for the latest NASCAR news and feature stories.

  • The Kyle Busch Show reigns supreme at Charlotte

    The Kyle Busch Show reigns supreme at Charlotte

    Kyle Busch returned to the Truck Series after a short hiatus to race in the fifth and final event in which he is allowed to compete and went straight to victory lane at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It wasn’t easy for Busch, however, as he had to hold off the field in a late race restart with three to go including a hard-charging Brennan Poole for the 56th win of his career.

    “Our truck was really, really good,” Busch told MRN Radio. “These guys prepared such a fast Tundra for me and I wanna thank Cessna Beechcraft, Toyota TRD, Rowdy Manufacturing. You know, it takes a whole group effort. Rudy (Fugle) and these guys are awesome at what they do, give me great pieces each and every time we come out here. We have not ever this year not unloaded great, but we really work on our stuff and improved it through practice and even into the race. You know there at the end, I didn’t want to have that last restart at the end. I knew being on older tires were going to be a handful for me. It looked liked it was for a couple of the other guys. Not a very good restart, but I was still able to hold them off thankfully.”

    The North Carolina Education Lottery 200 got underway shortly after 8:30 p.m./ET. Matt Crafton qualified on the pole for the second straight week in a row and the 15th of his career.

    There were three stages of 30/30/74 laps to equal the 134 lap race. Todd Gilliland took the lead after the start, but Ben Rhodes took the lead from Gilliland on Lap 2.

    The first incident of the night happened early with Natalie Decker who had right side damage after making contact with the wall. Matters only got worse for the No. 54 DGR-Crosley team as they would bring out the first caution of the night on Lap 23 when Decker wrecked off Turn 2. During the pit stops, Angela Ruch was penalized a lap for pitting outside the box.

    The restart for Stage 1 came with two to go and featured a thrilling finish. Pole sitter, Crafton, was able to rocket back to the front and pass Todd Gilliland off Turn 2 to win Stage 1.

    Stage 2 began on lap 36 and went to lap 60. It was a relatively clean stage and saw no cautions. Eventual race winner, Busch took the lead on Lap 40.

    There was a minor incident that involved Dover winner Johnny Sauter, as he barely wrecked off Turn 4. However, there were no issues for the all-time wins leader Busch, as he would go on to win Stage 2 which ended on Lap 60.

    There was an issue with Chad Finley who slowed and was way off the pace. It was later reported that Finley was out of gas at the end of the stage, which eventually cost him a top-10 stage finish. Grant Enfinger also stalled on pit road as well during pit stops.

    Stage 3 was restarted with 67 to go with two Truck Series veterans Kyle Busch and Matt Crafton.

    With 62 to go, Codie Rohrbaugh smacked the wall off Turn 2 to bring out the fourth caution. Another caution took place with 57 to go, as rookie Gus Dean hit the wall off Turn 2 as well. Korbin Forrister and Ruch were also involved. During the caution, Ross Chastain, Enfinger and Gilliland, among others, went in to pit while Busch and the front half of the field stayed out.

    The sixth caution came out for the No. 49 of Stefan Parsons who hit the wall. Parsons would wind up 24th.

    After the restart with 44 to go, there was a wide variety of leaders. Sauter, who had issues earlier with his truck found himself in the lead for a short while before Busch would take the lead once again with 39 to go.

    The North Carolina Education Lottery 200 would go on a long green flag run of 37 laps until the final caution broke out with eight to go for last year’s champion Brett Moffitt, who had a right rear tire come apart.

    This would eventually set up a late race restart with three to go. Two-time champion, Sauter could not get going on the restart and jacked up the field who was behind him. Busch did not get a great restart either as he found Poole chasing him down for the upset win. However, Busch would continue his winning streak by going five for five this year.

    “No, no I don’t think so,” Busch told MRN in regards to having such a dominating streak in 2019. “You know, a couple of years ago, I shot for it and wanted to have it, but only got two or three (races). Overall, I wish I could do more. It’s frustrating that you’re limited because you’re too good at what you do. I would love to be able to come out here some more and be able to win with this team, and all my guys at Kyle Busch Motorsports and for our partners here at Toyota, Cessna Beechcraft and everybody else.”

    There were seven cautions for 31 laps with nine leaders among 19 lead changes during the race. Busch led five times for 102 laps and collected his eighth Truck Series win at Charlotte Motor Speedway and his fifth of 2019.

    This will be Busch’s last Truck Series race of the 2019 season.

    Up Next: The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series will take two-weeks off before returning to on-track action on Friday, June 7.

    Gander Outdoors Truck Series Race Number 8
    Race Results for the 17th Annual North Carolina Education Lottery 200 – Friday, May 17, 2019
    Charlotte Motor Speedway – Concord, NC – 1.5 – Mile Paved
    Total Race Length – 134 Laps – 201. Miles

    Fin Str No Driver Team Laps S1Pos S2Pos Pts Status
    1 8 51 Kyle Busch(i) Cessna Toyota 134 7 1 0 Running
    2 17 30 Brennan Poole Madvapes Toyota 134 0 0 35 Running
    3 2 52 Stewart Friesen Halmar International Chevrolet 134 6 6 44 Running
    4 5 99 Ben Rhodes Carolina Nut Ford 134 4 8 43 Running
    5 1 88 Matt Crafton Ideal Door/Menards Ford 134 1 4 49 Running
    6 20 16 Austin Hill United Rentals Toyota 134 0 0 31 Running
    7 3 4 Todd Gilliland Mobil 1 Toyota 134 2 10 40 Running
    8 15 15 Anthony Alfredo # STEELSMITH/Friends of Jacelyn Toyota 134 0 0 29 Running
    9 9 98 Grant Enfinger Protect the Harvest/Curb Records Ford 134 3 3 44 Running
    10 13 45 Ross Chastain(i) TruNorth/Paul Jr. Designs Chevrolet 134 5 2 0 Running
    11 4 18 Harrison Burton # Safelite AutoGlass Toyota 134 9 9 30 Running
    12 10 2 Sheldon Creed # Chevrolet Accessories Chevrolet 134 8 7 32 Running
    13 25 2 Tyler Dippel # Jersey Filmmaker Chevrolet 134 0 0 24 Running
    14 22 97 Jesse Little JJL Motorsports Ford 134 0 0 23 Running
    15 28 3 Jordan Anderson Bommarito Automotive Group Chevrolet 134 0 0 22 Running
    16 23 56 Timmy Hill(i) Southern Freight Services Chevrolet 134 0 0 0 Running
    17 12 13 Johnny Sauter Tenda Heal Ford 134 10 0 21 Running
    18 18 42 Chad Finley Strutmasters.com/Air Lift Chevrolet 134 0 0 19 Running
    19 6 24 Brett Moffitt JuniorJohnsonMidnightMoonMoonshine Chev 133 0 5 24 Running
    20 7 4 Cory Roper Preferred industrial Contractors Inc Ford 133 0 0 17 Running
    21 29 22 Austin Wayne Self GO TEXAN/AM Technical Solutions Chevrolet 133 0 0 16 Running
    22 30 20 Spencer Boyd 1A Auto Chevrolet 133 0 0 15 Running
    23 31 44 Angela Ruch FOX Nation/The Ruch Life Chevrolet 132 0 0 14 Running
    24 16 49 Stefan Parsons Charlotte Strong Chevrolet 132 0 0 13 Running
    25 27 7 Korbin Forrister All Out Toyota 129 0 0 12 Running
    26 19 12 Gus Dean # LG Air Conditioning Technologies Chevrolet 123 0 0 11 Running
    27 11 17 Tyler Ankrum # May’s Hawaii Toyota 111 0 0 10 Vibration
    28 32 33 Josh Reaume HertzKompressoren/P&BCompressor Chev 98 0 0 9 Running
    29 14 9 Codie Rohrbaugh Grant County Mulch Chevrolet 72 0 0 8 Accident
    30 26 8 Camden Murphy Chevrolet 40 0 0 7 Suspension
    31 21 54 Natalie Decker # N29 Technologies LLC Toyota 32 0 0 6 Accident
    32 24 87 Joe Nemechek ROMCO/TMS Titanium Chevrolet 19 0 0 5 Rear Gear
  • Full schedule for Charlotte All-Star weekend

    Full schedule for Charlotte All-Star weekend

    For one night a year, throw the points out the window as the Monster Energy All-Star teams take to their hometown track for the Annual All-Star Race. The Xfinity teams have one final week off before Charlotte but the Truck Series is back in action Friday night under the lights. Here is how you can watch all of the action.

    All times are Eastern.

    Friday, May 17

    9:05 a.m. – 9:55 a.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series first practice – NASCAR.com/live

    10:35 a.m. – 11:25 a.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series final practice – NASCAR.com/live

    11:35 a.m. – 12:25 p.m: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series first practice COMBINED Open and All-Star – NASCAR.com/live

    1:05 p.m. – 1:55 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series OPEN final practice – NASCAR.com/live

    2:05 p.m. – 2:25 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series All-Star final practice – NASCAR.com/live , FS1 (Delayed)

    2:35 p.m.: Pit road speed practice (All-Star Group 1) NASCAR.com/live

    2:45 p.m.: Pit road speed practice (All-Star Group 2) NASCAR.com/live

    4:35 p.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series Pole Qualifying (Single Vehicle/One Laps All Positions) – FS1

    6:00 p.m.: NASCAR Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying OPEN teams – (Single Vehicle/Two Laps) – FS1

    7:00 p.m.: NASCAR Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying All-Star teams – (Single Vehicle/Three Laps All Positions, Mandatory Pitstop) – FS1/PRN

    8:30 p.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series North Carolina Educational Lottery 200 (Stages 30/60/134 Laps = 201 MILES) – FS1/MRN

    Saturday, May 18

    6 p.m.: Monster Energy Open Race (Stages 20/20/10 laps) – FS1/PRN

    8 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race (Stages 30/20/20/15 laps) – FS1/PRN

    All-Star Race – Rules, Format, Eligibility

  • Ross Chastain wins in late race thriller at Kansas

    Ross Chastain wins in late race thriller at Kansas

    KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series visited the Midwest Friday night at the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway, as usual, it didn’t disappoint.

    Ross Chastain passed Stewart Friesen with three laps to go, as Friesen ran out of gas and went on by to score his first career Truck Series win.

    “Every win is huge,” Chastain said. “These guys, Al’s (Niece) first Trucks Series win. We each have won a Xfinity Series race, but you can’t rank one above the other. It is so hard to win in NASCAR. I know Kyle Busch has won, winning 200. Like that is incredible, I won two NASCAR races now. I can’t even put it in to words. I know Kyle (Busch) is like, gets up here and he’s mopy and oh well, I only won a Trucks race, but this means so much to all of us. There are so many people in this world that are working toward this goal and I know that, because we went through it. So yeah, I don’t rank one above the other, they all have their place, it only fuels us to win more.”

    The Digital Ally 250 saw Matt Crafton on the pole and he led laps early.

    The first stage was 40 laps and there were some major incidents. On Lap 23, last week’s Dover winner Johnny Sauter suffered a mechanical issue which saw the truck fall off the pace. He eventually had to take it to the garage for a short while. On Lap 25, Brandon Jones spun out off Turn 4.

    After that caution, however, there were no major incidents but some thrilling battles for the lead with Brett Moffitt and Stewart Friesen on Lap 28 with Friesen eventually taking the lead for good on lap 32 and winning the first stage.

    Stage 2 began with Moffitt and Sheldon Creed on the front row for the restart. The next caution came out on Lap 52 for Natalie Decker who went sliding coming off Turn 4, getting all four tires off the ground and into the grass. Decker was not injured but her night was done early.

    After the incident, there were six laps of racing and Friesen went on to win the second stage.

    The fifth caution came out with 24 to go, as Moffitt and Grant Enfinger made contact with each other off the exit of Turn 2. The final incident of the day came with 20 to go for Josh Reaume’s No. 33 Truck, which stalled off the exit of Turn 4.

    When the race started to wind down, the battle for the lead started to heat up with Chastain, Austin Hill and Todd Gilliland.

    While some were questioning Friesen’s fuel mileage, his crew chief thought they would have enough gas to make it to the finish. But Chastain began to close in and eventually caught him as Friesen ran out of gas with three to go. Chastain went on by and captured the first Truck Series win of his career.

    “You always want to win, but you saw Johnny (Sauter) won last week, drove away from Brett (Moffitt) at the end and had perfect handling truck and tonight, I never saw him. I don’t know if something happened to Johnny. Oh did it? I was gonna say, I never saw him. Different trucks come and go each week, and last week we had a terrible week and still finished 10th. I got out of the truck and stretched my back out because it was locking up, and my arms were jello. This week my arms were jello because I was fist bumping so hard. I dented in the roof because I was jumping up and down on it on the frontstretch.”

    “Yeah, I mean you just show up each week. This Truck Series is so fun and any racing is fun when you have a team like this, and you show up and have speed. We showed up with this exact race truck in Texas. We walked in that morning of the garage for practice and our chest was out, and we walked out that night our tails were tucked in-between our legs because we were so bad. He (crew chief) was about to cut the dang cross bend out of it, raise it up and cut the frame apart. I wished he (crew chief) would have. You know, it’s like the highest of highs tonight and the lowest of lows in the same truck at Texas, where Al (Niece) had so much invested in that race and we were gonna fifth and we ended up finishing seventh, as the right rear tire ended up going flat at the end, but still a good night saw some promise. Just show up every week, get through practice, try not to have some big moments like I had, you know getting loose and show up and fight.”

    Chastain led twice for five laps.

    Ben Rhodes, Todd Gilliland, Austin Hill, Brandon Jones, Matt Crafton, Grant Enfinger, Brett Moffitt, Riley Herbst and Harrison Burton rounded out the top-10.

    Enfinger still leads the points standings by 13 points over Brett Moffitt.

    There were six cautions for 29 laps with 22 lead changes and a margin of Victory of .483 seconds.

    Up Next: The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series heads east next weekend to Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday, May 17.

  • Weekend Schedule for Kansas

    Weekend Schedule for Kansas

    With the Xfinity teams off this week, the NASCAR Gander Outdoor Truck Series and the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams head to the Midwest for a two day show at Kansas Motor Speedway. Here is how you can keep up on all of the action.

    Note: All times are ET

    Friday, May 10
    9:35 a.m. – 10:25 a.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series first practice – NASCAR.com/live
    11:35 a.m. – 12:25 p.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series final practice – NASCAR.com/live
    12:35 p.m. – 1:25 p.m: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series first practice – NASCAR.com/live
    2:35 p.m. – 3:25 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice – FS1/MRN
    5:05 p.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series Pole Qualifying (Single Vehicle/Two Laps All Positions) – FS1
    7:05 p.m.: NASCAR Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying – (Single Vehicle/Two Laps All Positions) – FS1/MRN 
    8:30 p.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series Digital Ally 250 (Stages 40/80/167 Laps = 250.5 MILES) – FS1/MRN

    Saturday, May 11
    7:30 p.m.: NASCAR Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Digital Ally 400 (Stages 80/160/267 laps, 400.5 miles) – FS1/MRN