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Category: RC Truck Series

Race Central NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series news and information

  • Updated Schedule for Martinsville – Races Moved to Monday

    Updated Schedule for Martinsville – Races Moved to Monday

  • Busch One Step Closer to Tying Hornaday’s Record with Truck Series Win at Las Vegas

    Busch One Step Closer to Tying Hornaday’s Record with Truck Series Win at Las Vegas

    The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series headed out west to the desert Friday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the third race of the season. A familiar face was on top of the scoring pylon at the end of the night. Busch earned his 50th Truck Series career win. It was the first time he competed in a truck since the 2001 season driving for Jack Roush.

    Kyle Busch and Stewart Friesen set the front row in qualifying mid-afternoon on Friday. It was Busch’s 20th career pole in the series.

    The race got out to a great start before an early caution on Lap 16 was brought out by Justin Marks in the No. 54, spinning off Turn 4. Friesen regained the lead and led for five laps until Noah Gragson took the lead on Lap 21 and went on to win the first stage which ended on lap 32. Spencer Davis, Busch, Friesen, Myatt Snider, Ben Rhodes, Johnny Sauter, Brett Moffit, Cody Coughlin and Matt Crafton rounded out the top 10 positions in Stage 1.

    The green flag came back out on lap 37 for Stage 2. Stage 2 saw no incidents but some exciting action taking place. Busch, Grant Enfinger and Friesen swapped the lead multiple times before Friesen ultimately took the lead on Lap 43 and held on to the top spot for the remainder of the stage to collect 10 Playoff points. Crafton, however, went to the garage on Lap 40 due to brake problems, which left him with a 29th place finish, leaving the two-time champion winless in 18 starts at the 1.5-mile speedway.

    The final stage got back underway on lap 68 with Moffit in the lead. It didn’t take long for a caution to come out as three trucks were involved in an accident in Turn 2. The drivers involved included Justin Haley, Stage 1 winner Gragson and Snider. They finished 28th, 15th and 12th, respectively.

    The race resumed on Lap 78 and was green until the final caution of the race which took place on Lap 120 for Michael Disdier spinning in Turn 4. Before the caution, the lead swapped four times before Busch regained the top spot after the restart on lap 120 and held on to win his 50th career truck series win.

    Busch led six times for  55 of 134 laps. There were five cautions for 25 laps. This was Busch’s 50th career truck series win. He is now one win away from tying NASCAR Hall of Famer Ron Hornaday Jr.

    He spoke about the significance of the victory.

    “It means a lot,” Busch said. “We’ve had some great runs in the races that we’ve had at Kyle Busch Motorsports. We’ve raced and won all across the country, but I’ve just never been able to get back to Las Vegas to run a race.

    “This one’s pretty cool to be able to win in my hometown and finish my list of Truck Series facilities that I’ve raced at and I’ve won at. I couldn’t be prouder to do it with this Cessna Beechcraft Toyota Tundra – just a phenomenal race truck.”

    Johnny Sauter finished second, followed by Moffitt, Enfinger and Friesen to round out the top five. Sauter retains the lead in the series standings, 39 points ahead of Moffitt.

    Next Up: The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will take a couple of weeks off before heading to the “Half-Mile Mayhem” of Martinsville Speedway on March 24.

     

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Truck-Series-Las-Vegas-Unofficial-Results.pdf” title=”Truck Series Las Vegas Unofficial Results”]

  • Full Weekend Schedule for Las Vegas

    Full Weekend Schedule for Las Vegas

  • Pair of No. 4 Teams, Others Facing Post-Atlanta Penalties

    Pair of No. 4 Teams, Others Facing Post-Atlanta Penalties

    The action and on-track drama at Atlanta Motor Speedway caused some teams to face post-race penalties across all three major NASCAR touring series.

    In the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, the race-winning team of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford driven by veteran Kevin Harvick had one unsecured lug nut in post-race inspection. Crew chief Rodney Childers was fined $10,000 for the safety violation. No further fines or suspensions were placed on the team.

    Childers stated on Twitter his focus was on the win. While he knew his pit crew missed one lug nut, he understood what was on the line with that final pit stop.

    In the NASCAR Xfinity Series, two teams faced penalties for the same actions as Harvick’s team. The No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet and the No. 52 Means Motorsports Chevrolet were caught with one unsecured lug nut during post-race inspection on Saturday. Crew chiefs for both teams, Mike Shiplett and Tim Brown respectively, were each fined $5,000 with no further penalties. John Hunter Nemechek made his Xfinity series debut in the No. 42, finishing in the fourth position, while David Starr drove the No. 52 car to a 28th place result.

    However, it seems Kyle Busch received the most attention from the weekend. In the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, his No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota received the biggest penalty across all three series.

    With six laps to go in the Active Pest Control 200 at Atlanta, Josh Reaume hit the wall, bringing out the yellow flag and sending the leaders to pit road in preparation for a two-lap overtime. Busch’s pit crew had trouble on the right-front tire, causing a delay with the pit stop. The rear tire changer came around to the left side and loosened the lug nuts already, as the team had already prepared to change all four tires. However, once the issue was corrected on the right front and the jack dropped, Busch and his crew chief called an audible for just right-side tires, leaving his pit box to keep his lead. He pulled away before the crew could place lug nuts back on the left rear tire. Ultimately, the tire came off while Busch was on the apron of turns 1 and 2, and had to back up onto pit row with sparks flying from underneath the truck. Busch ended the race in the 21st position, one lap down.

    Busch’s misfortune resulted in Brett Moffitt’s improbable win Saturday.

    According to the NASCAR Camping World Truck series, the rulebook states: “Any loss or separation of an improperly installed tire(s)/wheel(s) from the vehicle after exiting the team’s assigned pit box will result in a three-race suspension of the crew chief, tire changer of the lost wheel(s), and the jack man.”

    While Busch’s crew chief, Marcus Richmond, is an employee of Kyle Busch Motorsports, the jackman and rear tire changer were both from Stewart-Haas Racing. Coleman Dollarhide is a rear tire changer on Cole Custer’s Xfinity team and Kurt Busch’s Cup team. Jackman Ernie Pierce services Clint Bowyer’s Cup car at SHR. The main concern was how the penalty would affect Dollarhide and Pierce for their responsibilities to the other teams in the other NASCAR series.

    To Dollarhide’s and Pierce’s relief, NASCAR announced Wednesday morning that they both would still be eligible to perform their duties in both the Xfinity and Cup series and that their penalty would only affect the Truck series.

    When asked about the penalties issued to the various crew members, Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR’s chief racing development officer, shared in an interview on Monday the process they took to reach this conclusion.

    “I think that’s really the discussion, not so much will they be penalized; it’s should it just apply to the Camping World Truck Series. I think that’s where we’re leaning but (series officials) wanted to take the time to get through the weekend and have that dialogue internally.

    “We want to be as fair as we can. We want the penalty obviously to have some teeth into it. We think it does in terms of the suspension. We want to make sure it possibly just applies to that series and who is working on that race.’’

    Marcus Richmond, who was also suspended and faced fines, shared his disappointment in himself in a tweet on Wednesday morning.

    All three major touring series return to racing action this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Tickets are still available and can be purchased through the speedway’s website at http://www.lvms.com/tickets/pennzoil_400/.

  • NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Power Rankings-Atlanta Motor Speedway

    NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Power Rankings-Atlanta Motor Speedway

    The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series came to Atlanta Motor Speedway this past weekend following the NASCAR Xfinity Series, the only doubleheader of the season. The Active Pest Control 200 sure didn’t disappoint as it came down to the wire and the last restart of the race.

    Here’s a look at this weeks power rankings.

    1. Brett Moffit – Moffit surprised the field Saturday night by taking home his second career Truck Series victory. A late race caution came out on Lap 126 when Dalton Sargeant and Josh Reaume got collected to send the race into overtime. Moffit led the most important two laps of the race and won for the first time since 2016 at Michigan. With this win, Hattori Racing and Moffit are now locked into the Playoffs.
    2. Johnny Sauter – Sauter came into a track where he had no wins in the previous seven races. It looked like that streak could have ended Saturday, but he scored another third-place finish. This was Sauter’s second consecutive third-place finish at Atlanta. He will have to wait another year to check this track off. Sauter started ninth and finished seventh and second respectively in both stages, along with leading three times for 12 laps.
    3. Noah Gragson – Gragson scored his career-best track finish this past weekend. In last year’s race, he finished 14th after starting 10th. This year, Gragson started third, won the first stage and finished fifth in Stage 2. Gragson only led 43 laps before ultimately finishing second after restarting ninth with two laps to go.
    4. Matt Crafton – Crafton headed to one of his favorite tracks on the truck series circuit, Atlanta, in hopes of locking himself into the Playoffs early. After starting second, he took the lead on lap 44 and led for seven laps. This would be the only time Crafton led in the race. He finished second in Stage 1 and fourth in Stage 2. However, the No. 88 Menards driver ultimately finished fifth at the end of the day. Crafton sits second in the point standings, 31 points behind Daytona winner Johnny Sauter.
    5. Jesse Little – Little competed in his first race of the 2018 season this past Saturday. The last time the No. 97 driver raced was at Phoenix where he started 24th and finished 18th due to a crash on lap 134. Atlanta saw Little make his track debut. After starting 12th, he finished fifth in Stage 1 and eighth in Stage 2. After a late race restart, the scoring pylon showed the No. 97 team eighth. It was a solid outing for Little’s first start at Atlanta.
  • Brett Moffitt Active Pest Control 200 Benefiting Children’s Healthcare Of Atlanta In Wild Finish

    Brett Moffitt Active Pest Control 200 Benefiting Children’s Healthcare Of Atlanta In Wild Finish

    HAMPTON, Ga. (Feb. 24, 2018) – Brett Moffitt slid down to the bottom groove, surged to the lead in overtime and won the Active Pest Control 200 benefiting Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Saturday night at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

    Moffitt got a chance to claim just his second Camping World Truck Series win after pole-sitter Kyle Busch had a pit miscommunication under caution late.

    The field pitted with six laps to go, and Busch, who led 67 laps, left his pit box before the lugs on his left rear tire were secure. Busch made it off pit road and the tire fell off. He reverse to get it fixed, but a win was no longer in the cards.

    Moffitt powered away from defending series champion Johnny Sauter and Noah Gragson to win in the two-lap overtime shootout.

    “I knew I needed to get a good jump and get to the inside,” Moffitt said. “Then I was just watching my mirror, holding it wide open for two laps straight there. Luckily they were getting smaller in the mirror.

    “It’s unreal to be in Victory Lane this early with such a new group. I love this place — and I love it even more now.”

    Gragson, who won Stage 1, finished second. Sauter jumped to the lead after a shuffle at the top to start Stage 2 and led 12 laps before Busch took control in the final stage. Only Sauter was in striking distance of Busch when Josh Reaume wrecked with six laps to go.

    Under caution, teams were able to pit and that’s when the door opened for Moffitt.

    “I had a good launch,” Sauter said. “I felt like I did it right grabbing gears. I’d love to be able to tell you I could do something different, I just don’t think I could have. Wide open is wide open.

    “All in a all, a decent night for our Allegiant Sunseeker Chevy. I’m proud of the guys. It’s far and away the best run I’ve ever had here. I felt like we were in the right position and it just didn’t work out. That’s racing. But my pit crew was phenomenal.”

    Ben Rhodes struggled with his engine all night, but slogged through the difficulties to finish fourth.

    “There were times during the race where I would go a second and a half without power in the corner,” Rhodes said. “I mean, the motor was just completely out. I would go down to 5,000 rpm, which is absurd. Then going down the straightaways, I felt like I was on six or seven cylinders at times. For the whole race it plagued us and we could never figure out what it was. I’m really disappointed. We have a championship team and we’re making championship runs.”

    Two-time truck champion Matt Crafton was fifth. Stewart Friesen, rookie Myatt Snider, Jesse Little, Grant Enfinger and Austin Dillon rounded out the top 10.

    Snider was up front at the restart, but only got there by opting to get two tires instead of four.

    “This is unbelievable to even be in a race car, much less in victory lane,” Moffitt said. “We had a really good truck all night and right here I knew (Snider) was a sitting duck. I just wanted to get a good restart and hopefully they got into a battle behind me, which they did. It’s pretty surreal.”

    The 2018 Atlanta NASCAR Weekend wraps up tomorrow afternoon with the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race beginning at 1 p.m. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.atlantamotorspeedway.com or call the AMS ticket office at 877-9-AMS-TIX.

  • Full Weekend Schedule for Atlanta

    Full Weekend Schedule for Atlanta

    By Staff Report – NASCAR.com

    After taking on the high banks of Daytona to kick off the season, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series are off to Atlanta Motor Speedway for a tripleheader weekend. Check out the tentative full schedule below, subject to change.

    Note: All times are ET

    Friday, Feb. 23

    ON-TRACK
    11:35 a.m.-12:55 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series first practice, FS1 (Follow live)
    1:05 p.m.-1:55 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series first practice, FS1 (Follow live)
    2:05 p.m.-2:55 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series first practice, FS1 (Follow live)
    3:05 p.m.-3:55 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series final practice, FS1 (Follow live)
    4:05 p.m.-4:55 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series final practice, FS1 (Follow live)
    5:15 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying, FS1 (Follow live)

    PRESS PASS (Watch live)
    10 a.m.: Austin Dillon
    10: 30 a.m.: Brad Keselowski
    10:45 a.m.: Darrell Wallace Jr.
    1 p.m.: Jordan Anderson, Johnny Sauter and Ben Rhodes
    1:20 p.m.: Chase Elliott
    1:35 p.m.: Martin Truex Jr.
    1:50 p.m.: Ryan Blaney
    2 p.m.: Folds of Honor/QuikTrip
    2:15 p.m.: Justin Allgaier, Kaz Grala, Brandon Jones, Tyler Reddick
    6:30 p.m. (approx.): Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series post-qualifying

    Saturday, Feb. 24

    ON-TRACK

    9:10 a.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series qualifying, FS1 (Follow live)
    10:35 a.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series qualifying, FS1 (Follow live)
    12 p.m.-1:20 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice, FS1 (Follow live)
    2 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series Rinnai 250 (163 laps, 251.02 miles), FS1 (Follow live)
    4:30 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Active Pest Control 200 benefiting Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (130 laps, 200.2 miles), FS1 (Follow live)

    PRESS PASS (Watch live)
    4:15 p.m. (approx.): NASCAR Xfinity Series post-race
    6:30 p.m. (approx.): NASCAR Camping World Truck Series post-race

    Sunday, Feb. 25

    ON-TRACK
    1 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (325 laps, 500.5 miles), FOX (Follow live)

    PRESS PASS (Watch live)
    4:45 p.m. (approx.): Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series post-race

     

  • Ben Rhodes And Crew Chief Penalized Following Daytona

    Ben Rhodes And Crew Chief Penalized Following Daytona

    NASCAR announced today that the No. 41 of Ben Rhodes failed post-race tech inspection after the eighth annual NextEra Energy Resources 250.

    Rhodes’s crew chief, Eddie Troconis is fined $5,000 and will not be at Atlanta this weekend due to Troconis serving his suspension this weekend. Rhodes was docked 10 points and the team was penalized 10 owner points.

    Rhodes will have a different crew chief adorn the pit box this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He currently sits seventh in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series point standings.

  • Johnny Sauter Wins an Emotional Race at Daytona

    Johnny Sauter Wins an Emotional Race at Daytona

    Johnny Sauter was the first driver to punch his ticket in the 2018 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season tonight at Daytona International Speedway.

    This was Sauter’s 18th career victory, his third win at Daytona and his first win at the track since 2016. He led five times for 39 laps and earned six playoff points.

    David Gilliland competed in his first truck race since 2015 for Kyle Busch Motorsports and was on the pole, alongside him was the eventual race winner, Johnny Sauter.

    The stages were broken up into 20/40/100.

    The race was off to a clean start without much incident aside from an early caution that saw fluid come from the back of the No. 50 truck of Travis Kvapil. After the caution on Lap 4, Stage 1 was clean and green until the end of the conclusion which took place on lap 20. Gilliland was able to win the first stage followed by Sauter.

    Stage 2 resumed on lap 26. There were many lead changes that took place without incident. The field once again raced to the Stage 2 conclusion on lap 40. This time it was Sauter who collected the green-checkered flag to earn 10 championship playoff points.

    However, after the first two stages of clean racing, all heck broke loose when the caution flag flew on Lap 56 with seven trucks involved. These included Cody Coughlin, Dalton Sargeant, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Grant Enfinger, Scott Lagasse Jr, Parker Kligerman and Noah Gragson. Cobb took a hard hit into the inside wall just before pit road. After the race, Cobb was evaluated and released from the infield care center.

    Nine laps later, another incident took place on Lap 65 involving Gragson, Bo LeMastus and Kligerman. Kligerman and LeMastus were done for the night due to extensive damage. Gragson finished 23rd after the incident.

    The race was restarted on Lap 70, but the term “cautions breed cautions” came into play as another melee took place on Lap 74, where six trucks were involved. Brett Moffitt of the No. 16, John Hunter Nemechek, Myatt Snider, Stewart Friesen, Spencer Davis and Austin Hill were all collected in the incident.

    One more incident came about on Lap 83, where five trucks were wrecked out of the race. These included Clay Greenfield, Bryan Dauzat, Matt Crafton, Austin Hill and Korbin Forrister coming off Turn 4.

    After the final caution of the night, the lead was swapped multiple times between Justin Haley, David Gilliland and Sauter. Sauter retook the lead on Lap 92 and held on for the final nine laps to win at Daytona International Speedway.

    There were seven cautions for 35 laps, with 21 lead changes among 10 drivers.

    “I like it,” Sauter said.  “I like it a lot.  Man, what a truck tonight. That Allegiant Chevrolet was just — man, yesterday in practice, you obviously try to feel things out. You don’t know what to expect coming down here with a new engine package, and unfortunately we only got in a pack of I think 10 or 12 trucks. You work the draft as best you can, but you know it’s going to be a little different when you get 30 of us or 32 of us out there running. Man, we qualified well, tried to keep track position all night, came from 10th, I think, a couple different times to get to the front, and I just felt so calm today. I just had all the faith in the world in the truck. It was fast.”

    With Sauter scoring his second win at Daytona since 2016, the victory was especially emotional for his crew chief, Joe Shear Jr., who lost his wife in December of last year.

    “Yeah, exactly,” Joe Shear Jr. said.  “Getting back on the road and actually going back to work was the biggest thing that kept me going. It’s sad, and I think about her all the time. But working and racing is my passion. So I just got back to it and tried to do the best I could, but I had many friends and family that worked with me and that supported me and kept me sane. Thank you.”

    This was the first win for Sauter since Phoenix of last year in the playoffs.

    The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway next weekend with first practice kicking off at 2:05 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/NextEra-Energy-Resources-250-Truck-Series-race-at-Daytona-2-16-18-unofficial-results.pdf” title=”NextEra Energy Resources 250 Truck Series race at Daytona 2-16-18 unofficial results”]

  • Johnny Sauter Falls One Spot Short In Search Of Consecutive Titles, Re-Signs With GMS Racing

    Johnny Sauter Falls One Spot Short In Search Of Consecutive Titles, Re-Signs With GMS Racing

    The 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season has been a great one for 2016 champion Johnny Sauter but he fell one spot short of going back-to-back at the Homestead season finale.

    Prior to getting to the Championship 4, Sauter advanced to the Playoffs with a win at Dover. He continued on a hot streak by placing in the top five and 10. Despite finishes of 23rd at Eldora and 18th at Michigan, Sauter qualified for the Playoffs and even won at Chicago before they started.

    The wins at Texas and Phoenix were good enough to get him a spot in the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami for the second consecutive year.

    Sauter qualified a somewhat uncharacteristic 11th for the season finale. Throughout the race, he ran as high as third and as low as 14th and ran fifth mid-race. Sauter, placed eighth and fifth in both stages. When the race was all said and done, he placed fourth but it wasn’t enough for him to go back-to-back as Christopher Bell finished one spot ahead of him to win the 2017 series title.

    With the 2017 season over for Sauter, he will end the year with four wins, 13 top fives and 19 top 10 finishes, with 455 laps led.

    “We started the race way too free,” Sauter said. “We made some good adjustments for the first stop with the ISM Connect Chevy. The guys (crew) did a good job and I had a little better fire off speed on the next restart. Eventually, it would (truck) just go away on me and just die. You know, just way too free, especially corner exit which is crazy but I could never commit to the top. I would have to drive in straight and shallow in the corners because it was so free, and I could make really good time doing that by using a little brake and hard throttling it up off the corner.”

    “At one point with 25 or 30 (laps) to go, we were running quicker than the 4 (Christopher Bell) and then, I just didn’t have anything left. I could not touch the throttle off corner exit, but we gave them all we had and when it comes down to one race like this that’s what you got. We just needed to be one spot better, I guess.”

    Despite not going back-to-back in the Championship 4, Sauter’s 2018 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season is set, as he is expected to be back with GMS Racing.

    “I can’t thank the Gallagher family and Mike Beam enough for the opportunity they’ve given me the last two years,” Sauter said. “To be able to compete at this level, where you know you could win any given weekend, is incredible and I’m excited to be able to continue with the No. 21 team next year.”