In previous years at Dover, Harrison Burton has driven the No. 18 Kyle Busch Motorsports Truck to finishes of 13th in his first outing in 2017 and fifth in last year’s outing.
Burton was looking to improve upon those results coming into the 2019 race and hoping that perhaps a win could solidify those finishes.
“I love Bristol and Dover and fast, high-banked tracks —
they fit my style very well,” he said before the race. “I enjoy it
and hopefully we can continue that success and build on that. Last year, we
didn’t have the best truck at the beginning, but we kept working on it and made
it pretty good. We just need to start the weekend of better than we did last
time, get a good qualifying spot and we’ll be there for the win — hopefully.”
Burton qualified ninth and when it was all said and done, he came up three spots short, but it wasn’t for lack of trying.
After finishing fifth in Stage 1 and sixth in Stage 2, Burton made everyone hold their breath, as he made a heart-stopping move for the lead after the restart with 83 to go. He couldn’t make it stick and had to fall back to third.
Evidently, the No. 18 Team had to work their way back up after some various strategies on the late-race pit stop. In the end, the scoring pylon showed Burton and the No. 18 Safelite Autoglass Toyota Tundra winding up third for his second top five of the year.
“It was a lot of fun,” Burton said to MRN Radio. “The truck came in for the second half of the race. We had a shot at it and then we got clear of everyone, except for Ben Rhodes. I got trapped in the idea of running the bottom. I don’t know, I got tight behind him. That’s when we lost the race. I’m upset with myself about that, but we had a good day. I learned a lot and had a lot of fun, and had some big moments. We were able to rebound from that and had a good points day, and we’ll go win the next one.”
Grant Enfinger and Matt Crafton each had to settle for a top-five finish as their teammate Johnny Sauter went on to win Saturday’s Jegs 200 at Dover International Speedway.
For Enfinger and the No. 98 team, he would quietly end up finishing fourth after also finishing fourth in both stages.
“Overall a great day for ThorSport racing and for Duke and Rhonda Thorson to be able to come out here and do this,” Enfinger told MRN Radio. “Locked in the Playoffs, so that’s good. Overall, we had a solid Champion Power Equipment F-150 all weekend really. Just not a race winning truck, but I think if we could have had some track position, we could have held him off. That’s about all we had.”
Matt Crafton, who is also a two-time champion, had a difficult day having to deal with a plug wire issue that came off after Stage 2 was done. However, the No. 88 Menards team was able to rebound to fifth. It was Crafton’s fourth top-five of the season but he was looking for a little more and was not satisfied with a top five.
“No not at all,” Crafton told MRN Radio describing his finish. “Just very aggravated with it, to be honest. It’s a damn shame that a plug wire came off, motor problems two races in a row in these things. Just keep digging us out of a hole. It’s good for these guys who work so hard, but I know this Menards Ford F-150 is better than that. I’m super excited for Johnny Sauter and everybody there, everybody at ThorSport. But at the end of the day, I know we could have been racing for the win.”
Two-time Truck Series champion Johnny Sauter finally scored a win in the 2019 Truck Series season after starting second and taking the lead with 31 to go. However, it didn’t quite look that way earlier in the race as the Wisconsin driver had an ignition issue after trying to save fuel.
“Well I was trying to figure out why it (truck) wouldn’t start,” Sauter told MRN Radio. “I looked at the ignition switch right away and it was up, I just couldn’t get it to fire. I played with the switch on the steering wheel, killswitch and that didn’t do anything, so I thought what the hell? We’ll try to get it running. I just can’t thank all of these guys enough at ThorSport Racing. Our Ford F-150 was awesome. Tenda Heel, Joe and all of these guys at ThorSport, this was a big win. Three in a row at a place like this, that’s saying something. I can remember being in the lounge yesterday before the start of practice and I saw the victory lane hat bag, and I thought, hell, why not? Just can’t thank Duke and Rhonda (Thorson) enough. A couple of months ago didn’t know if we’d be here racing, so it’s pretty special.”
The race sure didn’t start out that way. Moffitt sat on the pole and completly dominated Stage 1 with very little incident. It was Moffitt’s first stage win of the year and there were only 17 trucks on the lead lap.
During the pit stops, however, there were some penalties handed out. Tyler Ankrum (uncontrolled tire), Todd Gilliland (too fast), Derek Kraus (safety violation), and Joe Nemechek (too fast).
Stage 2 was when we saw Sauter out front, as he took the lead on Lap 81 after Moffitt encountered lap traffic which allowed Sauter to go on by.
Not much else happened in that stage and Sauter went on to win Stage 2. However, his ThorSport teammate Matt Crafton had a different story, as he was a facing a plug wire that fell off but it was eventually fixed. The ignition issue came into play for Sauter as well.
With 102 to go for the restart in Stage 3, ARCA champion, Sheldon Creed, took the lead. There were some incidents that took place in this stage.
Jesse Little had a flat right rear tire off Turn 4 and barely lost it. A caution flew on lap 110 with 90 to go for Korbin Forrister who wrecked on the frontstretch.
There was a breathtaking moment with 83 to go on the restart, as Moffitt, Creed and Harrison Burton made it three wide for first. However, Creed came out on top and retained his lead.
Jesse Little’s day went from bad to worse, as he suffered a broken track bar and was done for the day.
With many drivers short on fuel should a caution not come out for the rest of the race, the drivers were able to catch a break when the caution came out with 47 to go for Austin Wayne Self who wrecked off Turn 4.
On the restart with 41 to go, another caution broke out when Sheldon Creed wrecked on the backstretch after getting loose and collecting Todd Gilliland who got through, but suffered damage.
A late race caution came with 10 to go for Brennan Poole, but even with the late caution, nobody could touch Sauter and he went on to win his third consecutive race at Dover, thus becoming the first driver to do so.
Despite his ignition issue early on, the No. 13 ThorSport Racing driver explained how special this win was for him.
“Well I knew after Atlanta we were going to be able to race for wins,” Sauter continued in his post-race interview with MRN Radio. “At Martinsville, we had the truck to beat and it went away from us. People like Duke and Rhonda (Thorson) are gold. You don’t encounter too many people like that throughout your life. You know when we first had the conservation, I didn’t know how it was going to go, honestly. Like I said, you don’t encounter people like that very often. All of these guys, I worked with a lot of these guys with ThorSport in the past, some of them are new, youthful a lot of them and got some experience on the team as well. Just hats off to everyone at ThorSport Racing, fab shop, finish fab, it’s a team effort. These races are won during the week, not during the weekend and that showed today.”
Sauter led twice for 43 laps and became the first driver in the Truck Series to win three in a row at Dover.
There were 12 lead changes among six drivers.
Up next: The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series heads to Kansas Speedway next Friday, May 11 for the Digital Ally 250.
Gander Outdoors Truck Series Race Number 6 Race Results for the 20th Annual JEGS 200 – Friday, May 3, 2019 Dover International Speedway – Dover, DE – 1. – Mile Concrete Total Race Length – 200 Laps – 200. Miles
Could’ve, would’ve, should’ve for Brett Moffitt and the No. 24 GMS Racing Team.
Moffitt and company got off on the right foot Friday afternoon, as the No. 24 Team sat on the pole. He completely dominated Stage 1 and won his first stage of the year. Moffitt lost the lead in Stage 2, but still had a great stage as he finished third.
He was back up front with 83 to go, as a hold your breath moment took place on the restart as Moffitt, Harrison Burton and teammate Sheldon Creed went three wide for the top spot.
Unfournately, Moffitt didn’t come out on the top spot, but was still running near the front.
He remained strong throughout the race running in the top-10. Late in the going, he tried everything he could to catch eventual race winner Johnny Sauter, but had to settle for a second place finish.
“Track position,” Moffitt said to MRN Radio when describing how tough it was to catch Sauter. “You’re not going to beat the guy on the top, restarting on the bottom there and you are in a vulnerable position. I was lucky to hang on to second. I saw the 98 (Grant Enfinger) get a bad restart and I was able to get in line and try to go after Johnny (Sauter), but clean air here is big at Dover. We weren’t catching a big group of lap cars or anything, just a clean air thing.
Dirty air came into effect when it came to Moffitt’s chances of catching Johnny Sauter for the race win and Moffitt describes why it was so key to be out front.
“When this place rubbers in, it gets pretty slick,” Moffitt continued. “And then you’re within five car lengths of somebody, it magnifies that. All in all, I’m disappointed since we’ve had really good trucks all year and I thought today was going to be our day, but it just wasn’t. A stage win and second is good for our ISM Connect Chevy Silverado, and we’ll go on to Kansas to try and win.”
Just when you think someone else in the Truck Series has a great shot to win, Kyle Busch comes through and wins again for the fourth consecutive time this season. It was his first win at Texas since 2014 and Busch didn’t miss a beat.
The three stages were 35/35/71 laps for the Vankor 350, making up the 147 total laps.
It was a wild race from the get go in the first stage that was 35 laps. Stage 1 saw four cautions and a thrilling finish at the end of all 35.
The night didn’t start out so well for the Kyle Busch Motorsports team. Todd Gilliland brought out the first caution on lap three after bouncing off the wall and teammate Harrison Burton wrecked in Turn 2 on lap 11 thus ending his night early due to extensive damage.
Turn 2 was the trouble spot again as Lap 18 saw Angela Ruch wreck off of Turn 2 and Gus Dean was involved to bring out the caution again. Dean was in an incident all by himself on the frontstretch, where he cut a right-rear tire down on Lap 26.
Kyle Busch pitted under the Lap 26 caution, falling behind the leaders. This saw Thorsport teammates Grant Enfinger and Ben Rhodes battle it out for the stage win. Enfinger barely edge Rhodes at the line to win Stage 1.
Unfortunately, issues arose for Enfinger and the No. 98 team, as their pit crew was over the wall too soon, which saw them get a penalty and lose any track position gained.
Since Kyle Busch made a pit stop in Stage 1, he was able to stay out during the stage caution and claim the lead.
Like Stage 1, Stage 2 was off to another wild start. On Lap 48, DGR-Crosley driver Anthony Alfredo, wrecked in Turn 2 after getting loose. When Alfredo hit the wall, his truck caught fire. However, he climbed out of his truck unscathed with no injuries.
The red flag was flown on Lap 52 in an attempt to let safety workers clean up the accident and fluid that was put down by Alfredo. The red flag lasted for 15 minutes.
Daytona winner Austin Hill started to have problems with his truck. Rising water temperatures were the issue as it rose to 270 degrees. The team came down pit road to pull the tape off, but went one lap down as a result.
Kyle Busch went on to win Stage 2. It was his sixth stage win of the season.
The race only got more wilder when the race restarted with 71 to go for the final stage.
Busch retook the lead with 66 to go after a fierce battle with Brett Moffitt. Moffitt was able to close in 10 laps later, but the battle was built by yet another caution with 45 to go. This saw Korbin Forrister spin off Turn 2.
Another incident and the caution flag was flown with 31 to go for Codie Rohrbaugh who wrecked in Turn 2.
The final restart of the night came with 25 to go. It saw Busch, Moffitt, Sauter, among others battling for the race win. However, with 20 to go, Moffitt cut a right-rear tire ending any chances at a shot to win. This saw Stewart Friesen go to second.
For the last 15 laps of the race, Friesen and Busch battled hard with each other for the race win. Unfortunately, with less than 10 to go, Friesen’s truck got loose and started to go away, and he began falling back. He ran out of time and was unable to catch Busch.
Busch was able to fend off Stewart Friesen for his fourth consecutive Truck Series win of the season.
“Yeah, it was a pretty good night for us,” Busch told MRN Radio. “Obviously, the Cessna Beechcraft Tundra was fast. I wish we were faster. I thought we were pretty good. Not as good as we wanted to be though when we stacked up against the field. The 24 (Brett Moffitt) was really fast, the 52 (Stewart Friesen) was really fast. They made me work for it. They certainly got my money’s worth tonight.”
“You know, I want to say thanks to TRD, Rowdy Manufacturing, all the fans, the Truck Series fans,” Busch continued to MRN Radio. “The Truck Series fans are the thorough bread of our sport. Coming out here on a Friday night to support the truck guys is what makes all this go round. I appreciate them. Gander Outdoors and Black Clover, DEX sunglasses, Adidas, Incredible Bank. It takes a lot of us to go get all of this to go, so it’s fun.”
Busch led seven times for 97 laps. There were six leaders among 16 lead changes and nine cautions for 47 laps.
Stewart Friesen continues to lead the standings by six points over Grant Enfinger.
The Truck Series takes a month off and will return to action at the Dover International Speedway on Friday, May 3.
For the first time since Las Vegas in mid-March, all three of NASCAR’s main series will be together and in action as the Gander Outdoors Truck Series, XFinity Series and the Monster Energy Cup Series will be taking to the fast 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. Here is how you can watch all of the action unfold.
Note: All times are ET
Thursday, March 28th 4:05 p.m. – 4:55 p.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series first practice (NO TV) 6:05 p.m. – 6:55 p.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series final practice (NO TV)
Friday, March 29th 3:05 p.m. – 3:55 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series first practice, FS1 4:05 p.m. – 4:55 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series first practice, FS1 5:10 p.m. Gander Outdoors Truck Series Pole Qualifying (Single Vehicle/Two Rounds), FS1 6:35 p.m. – 7:25 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series final practice, FS1 7:40 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Pole Qualifying, FS1 9 p.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series Vankor 350 (Stages 35/70/147 Laps = 220.5 MILES), FS1
Saturday, March 30th 9:05 a.m. – 9:55 a.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, FS1 10:10 a.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series qualifying, FS1 11:30 a.m. – 12:20 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice, FS1 1 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series My Bariatric Solutions 300 (STAGES 45/90/200 laps, 300 miles), FS1, PRN
Sunday, April 8 3 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 (85/170/334 laps, 501 miles), FOX, PRN
If you were thinking that Kyle Busch was going to slow down, you thought wrong.
Busch started on the outside pole in Saturday’s 21st Annual TruNorth Global 250 NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series (NGOTS) race at Martinsville Speedway and dominated the race by winning Stage 1 and leading 174 of the 250 laps en route to his 38th win for Kyle Busch Motorsports and his 54th victory in 148 NGOTS races. It was also his 201st national series win.
However it didn’t come easy for Busch with late race restarts and he also had to hold off Ben Rhodes. Nonetheless, after all was said and done, Busch continue his winning ways at Martinsville.
“It was a case of being patient,” Busch told MRN Radio. “You know, obviously going 150 laps on one set of tires is a long way to go. We just kind of wanted to bide our time and take it easy, and not push too hard. We didn’t need to go up there and get any stage points. The opportunity to ride was kind of given to us and we knew the 52 (Stewart Friesen) was going to pit and I let the 99 (Ben Rhodes) go, and I inherit third on the restart.”
The race got underway with the first stage being 70 laps. And surprisingly enough, it was caution free for the most part, which is unheard of at Martinsville. It wasn’t until seven laps to go when Gus Dean’s truck caught fire and brought out the first caution. With the limited amount of laps left for a restart, the stage ended under caution and Busch won Stage 1. Johnny Sauter also had issues with his truck that possibly saw a cylinder going down.
Stage 2 was green on Lap 79 and was pretty much the same as the first stage. Ross Chastain went to second on Lap 91 and another caution flew on Lap 117 for Daniel Sasnett, who spun around. Busch pitted with a few others under caution, while Stewart Friesen and Ross Chastain stayed out.
Chastain took the lead with 10 to go in the stage and on Lap 140 and won stage two.
With 99 to go, the green flag was back out for the third and final stage. Chastain led until 65 to go when the eventual race winner, Busch retook the lead.
But it wasn’t easy for him for the rest of the way. Sauter had a left-rear tire go down with 63 to go and Sasnett spun again one lap later.
Another incident took place with 40 to go, as Cory Roper spun in Turn 2 setting up another restart. Rhodes moved into second place and spent his time trying to catch the No. 51 of Busch.
It looked liked Rhodes had his chance with eight to go, when Tyler Dippel spun, bringing out the caution and setting up a late race restart with three to go.
Rhodes gave it all he could, but his truck wasn’t enough for Busch as he went on to win his second career Truck Series race at Martinsville under caution.
“Awesome day,” Busch said to MRN Radio. “These guys gave me a great Cessna Beechcraft Tundra it was awesome to drive. Wasn’t so awesome yesterday, we worked really hard to make this thing better and improve this truck, and our program. All the other trucks too with the three teammates that were out here today.”
“It’s cool to be able to put KBM in victory lane, Toyota in victory lane, thank TRD for their support and Rowdy Manufacturing, Incredible Bank, Monster Energy, Adidas, DVX Sunglasses, Black Clover, Gander Outdoors. It’s cool to have Gander folks on this year and being a part of this series and of course the fans. All the fans here at Martinsville, it’s pretty cool to come out here. It’s cool to win at Martinsville and cool to get to take home a clock. Rowdy Nation is out there loud and proud.”
Busch has now won three consecutive Truck Series races this year. He will have two more left at Texas and Charlotte.
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.
LAS VEGAS – Kyle Busch obliterates the field for the Strat 200 win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series.
This was Kyle Busch’s 196th career win across all three top series, so naturally the conversation quickly turned to when and where he would earn his 200th win.
“It doesn’t matter where it’s at. I don’t need that extra pressure,” Busch shared when asked if he had a preference as to which track he wanted that win.
Busch led 110 of 134 laps, and really only fell behind on some various pit strategies after the first stage. This win is also the first of three that he needs to complete the triple sweep.
“We fought it in practice a little bit. We worked on it an awful lot to make it better. Rudy [Fugle, crew chief] and these guys did an amazing job on this Cessna Tundra. It was really, really fast. Just kept working on it all night long – every pit stop. It’s cool to win here in your hometown, being in Las Vegas, starting off a triple weekend. Hopefully, we can keep it going.”
Brett Moffitt finished second and was clearly the only other truck capable of running with Busch, but just wasn’t able to get a way around him.
“It’s frustrating because we were the only ones able to run with him,” Moffitt said dejectedly on pit road after the race. “I think if we were able to run up front and not use up all our stuff coming from the back, we would have had a better shot and I could have played around with a few different runs and try to learn how to pass him. No one else could run with us speed-wise.”
Hattori Racing Enterprises announced in December that they were letting go of Moffitt due to a lack of funding. The 2018 Truck Series champion didn’t miss a beat. He quickly joined with GMS racing, and starts the 2019 season strong with consecutive top five finishes.
“My confidence is at an all-time high. I guess it’s kinda fun being upset with a second place finish to Kyle Busch. Jerry Baxter [crew chief] and everyone at GMS, they work so damn hard and Maury Gallagher and the Gallagher family, they want to be the best out there, week in and week out. We qualified sixth at Daytona and they were upset with that, so that just speaks to how good they want to be. As a driver, that’s all you can ask for.”
Matt Crafton rallied from early rear end damage during the first and only yellow flag incident to run third. Stewart Friesen led 20 laps during the second stage, and finished fourth. Harrison Burton was the last truck in the top five. Sheldon Creed, Todd Gilliland, Johnny Sauter, Ryan Reed and Ross Chastain completed the top 10.
Busch Leads Opening 30 Laps
Kyle Busch chose the inside line for the initial start. As the field was finishing Lap six, Sheldon Creed chased the truck up the hill on the exit of Turn 4 to keep off another truck. He turned hard left and spun into the grass to bring out the first caution. Matt Crafton also had some rear-end damage along with Cory Roper getting some front end damage.
“I just caught that group and I was three-wide in the middle,” Creed shared with some optimism. “I tried to give the No. 4 [Todd Gilliland] space because he popped out on the bottom, just slid up into the No. 17 [Ryan Reed] and he wasn’t gonna give me room because he was just holding his ground. It just pulled the side air off the truck and making me real loose. One of those learning deals where you’d just back out of it; if I were in that situation again, I’d just let the two of them have it and then get them back. I caught that group in two laps.”
Brett Moffitt had a brief battle for second with Harrison Burton, but once he cleared his truck, the defending series champion powered his way within a few tenths of a second behind the leader. Busch’s late-run setup allowed him to gap Moffitt, and won the first stage by leading the first 30 laps.
Most pit stops went smoothly, but Moffitt’s team called for four tires. As the right side tires were finished, the hose for the lug nut gun was pinched under the right rear tire, adding a tremendous amount of time to their pit stop. Moffitt visited pit road a second time under caution for a vibration. Four penalties were handed out. Tyler Dippel’s crew had an uncontrolled tire, Austin Wayne Self had a crew member over the wall too soon before he turned into his pit stall, Angela Ruch was too fast on pit road in one section and the pit crew of Jennifer Jo Cobb was penalized for improper fueling.
Kyle Busch Sweeps Both Stages
Stewart Friesen and Sheldon Creed restarted the race from the front row to start off the second stage. Grant Enfinger, who started from the rear, battled his way into the top five.
The entire stage was under the green flag. Friesen led most of the laps until Busch was able to get by and win the second stage.
Three penalties were handed out during pit stops. Dippel, Self and Ruch all received their second penalty of the night. The only truck retired from the race was Scott Stenzel
Final Stage and Race Belonged to Kyle Busch
Racing started wild at the restart with many instances of four-wide racing. Drivers like Ross Chastain and Grant Enfinger took advantage of passing three trucks in one move.
Tire smoke surrounds Kyle Busch as he celebrates in front of the fans on the front stretch at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Photo by Rachel Schuoler.
Around 30 laps to go, some drivers got pit road penalties during green flag pit stops, including Brennan Poole and Tyler Dippel, who was penalized during each of his three stops of the race. Ross Chastain stalled his truck during his final pit stop, losing valuable time. Jesse Iwuji was caught speeding on pit road, and Ben Rhodes had too many crew members over the wall.
Out front, it was a similar battle to the first stage. Once Moffitt was able to clear some trucks and put himself into the second position, he started to hunt down Busch. And again, as he got within a few tenths of a second behind Busch, the No. 51 Toyota Tundra found another gear and pulled out to a comfortable lead to win the Strat 200 by 1.211 seconds.
All trucks officially cleared NASCAR’s post race inspection, and no trucks went to the R&D center. Three trucks were taken to the wind tunnel (Nos. 18, 13, and 2).
Gander Outdoors Truck Series Race Number 3 Race Results for the 2nd Annual Strat 200 – Friday, March 1, 2019 Las Vegas Motor Speedway – Las Vegas, NV – 1.5 – Mile Paved Total Race Length – 134 Laps – 201. Miles
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.
