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Late Wreck Ends Rhodes’ Title Run

Ben Rhodes’ Playoff run came to an end late Friday night when he got turned into the wall, and a teammate, in the closing laps of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix Raceway.

Restarting with 20 laps to go, Austin Cindric, who lined up behind Rhodes on the restart, dove under Rhodes to get the — while shallow, less than ideal entry — preferred groove through Turn 1. Rhodes moved down to block, came across Cindric’s nose and turned head-on into the inside wall. The impact lifted the right-side of his truck off the ground for a second, before landing on all four’s.

Rhodes’ lifeless truck spun up towards the track and into the path of teammate Matt Crafton, sending them both head-on into the outside wall in Turn 1.

The trucks rolls a few more yards, before coming to a stop in the middle of Turn 1.

This brought out the fourth caution of the night, as well as a 17-minute, seven-second red flag for cleanup.

“He put me in a bad place and (I was) trying to do everything I could to keep the spot, but once you file into Turn 1, we were all going to wreck. I’m not sure that was the right move on his part. I did everything I could to just make sure we were having a good day. We were in front of him all day long. We were going to be into the final four. I don’t know. It looked like a desperation move to me, because there’s so much racing left to do. I guess if I was in his position, I mean can’t blame him. But it’s definitely not the move I would’ve liked to see this early in the race. There’s so much to go on. The line in front of me started checking up. I could’ve done the same thing, but you have to be smart on the restarts, especially when you have, what, 70 laps to go, still?”

Cindric, after the race, said the incident was merely “two guys racing for the same amount of real estate.”

The wreck relegated Rhodes to a 20th-place finish. He leaves Phoenix fifth in points.

November 11, 2017
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Preview-Texas
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs continues this Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway for the second race in the Round of 6. It’s crunch time for the drivers who are in the Playoffs.

With Noah Gragson winning last weekend, a non-playoff driver, no one is locked in yet this weekend, so everyone will be on their game because as we’ve seen in previous years, anything can happen.

Let’s breakdown on who’s hot and who might lock themselves into the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami.

There are 32 trucks on the preliminary entry list for Friday night’s JAG’s Metal 350.

In the past five fall races, there have been four different winners and one repeat winner, Johnny Sauter in 2012 and 2016.

Starting position is crucial to stay up front all night. The lowest a winner has ever come from at Texas is 16th done by Sauter in the previous fall race.
1. 1. Matt Crafton – Crafton is looking for a little redemption after coming up one spot short to race winner Gragson at Martinsville. In five races, he has posted one win, four top fives and five top 10 finishes, with 258 laps led and an average finishing position of 3.6. This could be the race that propels Crafton to the Championship 4. He is the best among active drivers stat wise.
  2. Christopher Bell – Texas is a great track for Bell. He is the previous June winner of the race. However, in the fall race, he finished 11th. Other stats include one top five and two top 10 finishes in four races, leaving him with a 13.0 average finish.
  3. Johnny Sauter – Sauter is another driver to look out for at the 1.5-mile track. In 2012 and 2016, he won the fall races. By winning last year’s race, Sauter was able to go the Championship 4 at Homestead. It wouldn’t be a surprise if he claims the race win Friday night.
  4. Ben Rhodes – Rhodes might be a surprise in the Lone Star State this weekend. In the 2016 fall race, he finished 15th, however, not to be denied is the fact that he has one top five and top 10 finish. Rhodes ended up in victory lane earlier this season at the 1.5 mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Look for him to be a contender Friday night.
  5. Chase Briscoe – Briscoe only has one start here, but in that one start, he finished second on a last-lap pass in June. He finished sixth and second in Stages 1 and 2, respectively. After being knocked out of the Round of 8, Briscoe is looking to end the year strong with wins for Brad Keselowski Racing before they end up closing their doors for good at the completion of the 2017 season.
The trucks will hit the track for final practice on Thursday at 5 p.m. ET with no television coverage. Qualifying is slated for Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. ET on FS1 with race coverage beginning at 8 p.m. ET, both on FS1 and MRN Radio. The green flag is scheduled for 8:18 p.m. ET.
November 2, 2017
Five Of The Six Truck Series Playoff Drivers Have Solid Day At Martinsville

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series kicked-off its Round of 6 this past Saturday afternoon at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, thus setting off a four-race stretch to the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Five of the six drivers all placed in the top 10.

The first of the five was Matt Crafton. Crafton started second and finished second after leading 102 laps and winning the first stage. He lost the lead on the final restart to eventual race winner, Noah Gragson, who passed him on the outside after the restart. Crafton now sits third -15.

Johnny Sauter finishing third shouldn’t be a surprise in the truck series, especially at Martinsville where his team was the defending race winner. He started the race out strong by qualifying fourth. In Stage 1, he placed second. Stage 2 was basically flip-flopped as Sauter won it and Crafton finished second. Sauter would challenge for the win multiple times but settled for third. He is only three points behind in the playoff standings.

“We had a good day, just didn’t execute when we needed to,” Sauter said. “It’s unfortunate, but we had a fast ISM Connect Chevy. Joe did a good job; all the guys at GMS did a great job. We had a fast truck on that first run but that adjustment we made just wasn’t the right one I guess. Nonetheless, I still think track position is king. You get out in clean air and it’s dominant. I feel like anymore, everyone runs the same speed, so when you give up seven spots it’s pretty tough to overcome. But with that being said I’ve made plenty of mistakes myself, it happens, I can’t be mad about it. Despite it all, it was a good points day and we’re just getting started in what I believe is the part of the schedule that really plays into our strengths.”

Next up on the list is a driver who has been dominant all year long and in the Round of 8, Christopher Bell. He had somewhat of a decent showing by finishing eighth after getting spun earlier in the race on lap 123, bringing out the fourth caution. The Norman, Oklahoma driver scored another top 10 finish and is currently leading the playoff standings.

“I don’t know, our JBL Tundra was really, really strong throughout the second stage,” Bell said. ” I don’t know, other than that second stage we struggled to get going, but I’m not really sure what happened getting into (turn) three there. I thought I left Matt (Crafton) enough room, but overall it was not the day we wanted, but we were able to salvage a good finish out of it and got some stage points in the second stage. We’ll move on to Texas (Motor Speedway) and hopefully be a lot better than we were today.”

The Las Vegas winner, Ben Rhodes, scored his 12th top 10 finish of the year and is fourth in the standings, -34 points. He is certainly not out of it yet, but will most likely have to get a few more stage wins and a victory to get to Homestead. Rhodes had a solid showing of ninth after starting third, but it was earned the hard way.

“Yeah, we survived, but just barely,” Rhodes said. ” I didn’t survive in the position that I wanted to survive in. I wish we were a little bit further up. The whole race was a little bit frustrating. We had a top-five truck, I felt like. We ran up there the whole day. I feel like we made a bad call on pit strategy because we came in, and everybody else stayed out. Then that just put us in the back, and we just got knocked into the wall – bounced around like a pinball. All-in-all, our Safelite Tundra was fast, we just didn’t get back up through the field like we wanted to, and we saw that with a lot of trucks today. I feel like maybe we missed it on pit strategy, just a little bit. We probably could have had a little bit better day, but overall still an okay day for points. Just always wish it could be a little better.”

Austin Cindric rounds out the five playoff contenders having a decent showing at Martinsville. The Columbus, Ohio driver earned his 13th top 10 finish of the year by finishing 10th. He now sits fifth, -45 from first. Cindric placed seventh in Stage 1, did not finish in the top 10 in Stage 2 but came home in the top 10.

“It was a solid finish by our Fitzgerald Glider Kits Ford F-150 team and we moved up one spot in the championship standings,” Cindric said. “I’m happy with it. We have a pretty clean truck, all things considered. I think we got the most out of it today and we need to keep having races like this.”

The Camping World Truck Series heads to the mid-west this Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway for the JAGS Metals 350.

October 31, 2017
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Preview-Talladega
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series heads to Talladega Superspeedway this weekend and it’s the final race in the Round of 8. Two drivers will be eliminated in competing for the playoffs after the race is over.

Currently, there are 32 trucks entered on the preliminary entry list.

Surprisingly, there have only been 11 races dating back to the first race in 2006, when NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin earned the win.

In the past five races, there were three different winners, while Timothy Peters, who will not be competing this weekend, has repeated in the past two races. The lowest a winner has come from is 24th back in 2013 set by Johnny Sauter and the highest starting spot winner was from the pole at least three times in 2006, 2007 and 2015, respectively.

Here’s a look at who we can expect to be a strong contender for the win this weekend.
1. 1. Johnny Sauter – Sauter is the best active driver statistically at Talladega. In five races, he has one win (2013), two top five and four top 10 finishes, but has one DNF in 2014. His average starting position is 14.0, while his average finishing position is 9.0. Anything can happen at Talladega, but Sauter might just pull off a win.
  2. Christopher Bell – Bell won’t have anything to worry about as he already is locked into the next round, but he’ll be fighting for some extra playoff points. In two races, he has a finish of 13th and sixth, respectively. Bell has an average finishing position of 9.5. Look for him to be up front on Saturday.
  3. Kaz Grala – No career starts for Grala at Talladega, but he has high expectations after becoming the youngest-ever winner at Daytona earlier this season. A win will certainly help him to move on to the next round as he sits below the cut line.
  4. Grant Enfinger – Enfinger just might be the spoiler in the playoffs Saturday afternoon. In last year’s race, he pulled off the win after leading for 45 laps. So if he ends up in victory lane at the end of the day, don’t find it surprising that the Alabama driver plays as the spoiler.
  5. Ben Rhodes – While his result from last year’s race may not look pretty, he is carrying momentum after his first career win at Las Vegas two weekends ago. He, along with others, will be fighting for stage points throughout the race.
There will be two practices scheduled for Friday afternoon at 12 p.m. ET and 2 p.m. ET both on FS1. Qualifying is slated for Saturday morning beginning at 10:30 a.m. ET on FS1.Race coverage begins on FS1 and MRN Radio at noon ET, with the green flag dropping at 1:22 p.m. ET.
October 10, 2017
Four Takeaways from the Camping World Truck Series Race-Las Vegas
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series went to the wild west this past Saturday night in Las Vegas. The trucks are known for their exciting races and this one sure didn’t disappoint. Here are four takeaways from the Las Vegas 350.
1. Ben Rhodes Gets First Career Win – After coming close at Kansas earlier in the year and only coming up short due to an engine failure, Rhodes finally broke through and scored his first win on Saturday night in a last-lap thriller. Rhodes did a solid job of driving and racing his own race until the last lap came where he held off a hard-charging Christopher Bell off Turn 4 right at the finish line. With this win, Rhodes is now locked into the Round of 6 and will not have to worry about the pressures/wild card of Talladega.
2. Christopher Bell Has Another Strong Finish – If Bell does not end up in victory lane, then he is for sure close to it. He recorded his 12th top five of the year Saturday night. This will only help Bell further his championship chances. Surely, he will be a championship lock for the final four, if nothing goes sour for the rest of the season.
3. Brad Keselowski Racing Earns Top Five Finish – Chase Briscoe and Austin Cindric both had strong runs Saturday night. But, it shouldn’t be surprising, since both of the BKR trucks swept the top spots in last year’s race. Both of them, however, needed the strong runs to help continue their championship chances.
4. Kaz Grala and John Hunter Nemechek Need Great Finish At Talladega – Two playoffs drivers are in danger of being eliminated from the Round of 8 next weekend at Talladega, but anything can happen. Grala could earn two stage wins and be safe as long as he doesn’t get collected in a wreck. Nemechek will most likely need a win in order to move on. However, there are still two drivers who will have to go home and be eliminated after all is said and done. Although, no one can predict the unpredictability of Talladega, which makes the race fun to watch for the fans.
October 5, 2017
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Power Rankings-Las Vegas
The second race in the Round of 8 for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series took place in Sin City at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday night. The race did not disappoint as it ended in a last-lap thriller and a first-time winner.
1. Ben Rhodes – Rhodes did everything right when he scored his first win Saturday night. In the first stage, he finished sixth. However, after some varying pit strategies, Rhodes went on to win the second stage, thus earning Playoff points. Rhodes lost the lead for a little while until the last caution came out with 15 to go. The final restart came with seven to go. Rhodes took advantage of it as he went on to lead the last seven laps of the race and held off Christopher Bell in a last-lap thriller. He beat Bell by 0.066 seconds.
2. Christopher Bell – Bell came oh so close to earning another win in the 2017 season. He dominated most of the race by leading three times for 64 laps, and finished third in Stage 1, while he finished second in Stage 2. The last time Bell led was from lap 133-138. After the final caution, Bell tried all he could to chase down and pass Rhodes, but was unable to do so and had to settle for second. Nonetheless, still a dominating night in Las Vegas for the JBL Tundra driver, who turned 52 points.
3. Kaz Grala – Even though Grala finished inside the top 10 at New Hampshire, he needed to continue his strong run if he wanted to advance to the next round. Grala did that Saturday night despite being involved in an incident on Lap 43. He came through in Stage 1 by finishing seventh but fell outside the top 10 in Stage 2. Grala eventually rebounded and scored a fifth-place finish. Still, he sits seventh, eight points below the cut line. He’ll have to either win a stage or a race at Talladega, in order to advance to the Round of 6.
4. Chase Briscoe – It shouldn’t be a surprise that a Brad Keselowski Racing driver finished in the top five at Las Vegas as they finished 1-2 last year. Briscoe put on a dominating performance in Stage 1 by leading all 35 laps and won the stage. In a strong run for Stage 2, the No. 29 BKR driver finished sixth. Even though Briscoe did not lead for the rest of the night, he finished strong by placing third. He’ll still need a good finish, possibly a stage win, at Talladega to advance on to the Round of 6.
5. Cody Coughlin – Coughlin has had an up and down 2017 season. Statistically, he has three DNF’s and before Vegas, his best finish was eighth at Pocono. He didn’t place in any of the stages but when it counted, Coughlin rallied to a sixth-place finish.
October 1, 2017
Ben Rhodes Holds Off Christopher Bell to Win in Last Lap Thriller at Las Vegas

Ben Rhodes claimed his first career victory in the Camping World Truck Series race Saturday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, holding off Christopher Bell in the final laps to win by a margin of 0.066 seconds.

The ThorSport Racing driver took the lead on the final restart with seven laps to go in his No. 27 Toyota, leading twice for a total of 20 laps, on his way to Victory Lane. With this win, Rhodes is locked into the Round of 6.

“I used every play in my playbook,” said Rhodes said after the race. “I knew if I could keep him (Bell) close to me, he couldn’t break the (air) bubble. This is the biggest high of my life.

“So many things have gone wrong and now here I am in Victory Lane.”

Chase Briscoe finished third in his No. 29 Ford while Austin Cindric and Kaz Grala rounded out the top five.

On Saturday afternoon, Ryan Truex and Johnny Sauter set the front row spots in qualifying for the Las Vegas 350 Truck Series race. Stage 1 and 2 were 35 laps each with a final stage of 76 laps.

The first stage got off to a wild start. There was a pack of trucks that were three wide down the backstretch and unfortunately, Myatt Snider was bumped from behind by Stewart Friesen and was sent sideways in Turn 3.

After that, the action calmed a bit as Briscoe jumped out to the lead and was able to go on to win Stage 1. Sauter, Bell, Truex, Matt Crafton, Rhodes, Grala, Cindric, Friesen and Noah Gragson rounded out the top 10.

Stage 2 began on Lap 41 and just like the beginning of the race, there was tons of action on the first lap of the stage. Sauter missed a shift and got tapped from behind by Cindric which caused a chain reaction crash that involved Grala, Friesen, Austin Wayne Self and Justin Haley. Grala and Sauter were the only ones with major cosmetic damage.

On Lap 47, Bell went to the lead. The action didn’t stop there as Briscoe, Crafton, John Hunter Nemechek, Rhodes and Truex had a tight battle for the lead. However, on Lap 55, Cindric went sideways through the grass after a side-draft gone wrong with Grant Enfinger.

With a restart on Lap 61, Rhodes took the lead and never looked backed as he went to take Stage 2.

The third final stage went underway on Lap 77. After varying pit strategies, Cindric, who pitted for fuel only and Gragson, who stayed out, were marked as the leaders for a short while.

On Lap 81, playoff contenders, Crafton, Sauter and Cindric made contact with each other on the backstretch. Due to the contact, Sauter had a flat tire. As he went to pit, Sauter was deemed too fast entering pit road and again was caught for speeding.

Bell regained the lead on Lap 87. With 40 to go, Gragson began to pit for his scheduled pit stop but was caught speeding twice and ended up doing a stop-and-go penalty.

Green flag pit stops began with 25 laps to go. This saw most of the leaders pit, except for Playoff contender John Hunter Nemechek who was trying to stretch it to the finish on fuel. The final caution came out with 15 to go as Austin Wayne Self had a tire go down and slammed the outside wall hard. Unfortunately, Nemechek ran out of fuel and stalled his truck on pit road, ending his hopes at a shot for the win.

There were six cautions for 32 laps and seven leaders among 11 lead changes.

Playoffs Points
1. Christopher Bell (W)
2. Ben Rhodes (W)
3. Matt Crafton -51
4 . Johnny Sauter -54
5. Chase Briscoe -68
6. Austin Cindric -70
Below the cut line
7. Kaz Grala -78
8. John Hunter Nemechek -84

Next Up: The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series takes a week off before heading to Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday, October 12, for the Fred’s 250, the final race in the Round of 8.

September 30, 2017
Thorsport Racing Has Solid Outing At New Hampshire

The Thorsport Racing team has two of its three drivers in the 2017 playoff run to the championship. Even though only two are in the hunt for the championship, that doesn’t mean Grant Enfinger can’t challenge for a win either.

For Enfinger, he started out the UNOH 175 strong as he started in the eighth position. He finished top 10 in both stages with the highest finish coming in Stage 2, where he finished third. By the time, the 175-lap event was complete, Enfinger ended the day with a top-five finish. Enfinger gave his thoughts about the finish.

“Overall we were good- a lot of fun- first time running at Loudon,” Enfinger said. “Everybody on this RIDE TV Tundra did really good. We unloaded yesterday with good speed, we really had good speed all day. If we could have ever restarted in front of those guys, I don’t think they could have got back around us, but we weren’t quite good enough to get to them and pass them.”

Two of the playoffs drivers, Matt Crafton and Ben Rhodes also had great outings at New Hampshire.

Ben Rhodes ran up front all day. After starting fourth, he remained there in Stage 1 and moved up to second after the stage was over. In Stage 2, Rhodes finished seventh, thus gaining playoff points. After running well and leading 17 laps, he ultimately finished seventh after the day was over.

“Our day started off really strong, and we kind of faded as the day went on,” Rhodes said. “We, unfortunately, were in the wrong lane on the restarts all day – got stuck on the bottom. It’s ok, we took a risk with that two-tire stop, to get our Safelite Tundra up front. Unfortunately, it just didn’t pay off. As the day went on, we just got more loose and ultimately couldn’t make up those spots.”

The second and final playoff driver, Matt Crafton, earned a top 10 finish but wasn’t pleased with NASCAR’s decision-making.

The Thorsport Racing driver finished in the top 10 in both stages but wound up sixth on the results chart. However, the 41-year-old was ok with a top 10 finish.

“Track position was everything,” Crafton said. ” We were a little bit off without a doubt, but we really got screwed by NASCAR on the last call with the 98 (Grant Enfinger), our teammate. We were running in front of him and he was literally three-tenths behind us on track, the yellow comes out and they put him in front of me and he starts, whatever eighth, and I’m ninth on the bottom, and we lost spots. Overall, not a terrible effort. Good points day if you want to call it that.”

September 25, 2017
Ben Rhodes Poised to Become 2017 Truck Series Champion

The Louisville, Kentucky driver will be competing in his first ever post-season playoffs.

Ben Rhodes has been so close to victory lane in 2017. It all started at Kansas earlier this year when he was leading late but a blown motor, unfortunately, put him out of the race and he wound up 23rd. Since then, despite a few bad finishes, Rhodes has had strong results, with the highest finish of second coming at Pocono in July. Rhodes can’t have finishes like 20th at Martinsville, 27th at Kentucky and 30th at Eldora. However, there are a lot of unknowns throughout the playoffs, but Rhodes likes uncertainty.

“I guess I’m different because I kind of like it,” Rhodes said. “I like the fact that there’s an unknown certainty to it. We all have to go there, we all have to race. We all are subjected to the same conditions, so I kind of like the uncertainty of it. I like Talladega. I like Daytona. Those are some of my favorite races out of the whole year so that it’s in the Playoffs – I don’t think it could come at a better time.”

Although Rhodes was certain he had a chance to make it into the playoffs, he really didn’t know until after the race was over.

“It’s honestly a blur looking back at it,” Rhodes said. “I can tell you it wasn’t pleasant, wasn’t the most fun race of the season. We had a good time. The race didn’t go the way we wanted. There was multiple mistakes, different things that were going on and we had to overcome those throughout the entire day, the entire night. Not the most fun race in recent memory, but I feel like that’s good rehearsal for the Final Four. Hopefully, we can make it there and be consistent, limit those mistakes going forward and just play it safe going forward. Make sure that we don’t put the pressure on ourselves and I think we’ll be just fine.”

Even though Rhodes did not make the Round of 8 last year, he earned finishes 15th at Loudon, 12th at Las Vegas and 24th at Talladega due to a crash. He’ll need to improve upon those finishes if Rhodes wants to move on to the Round of 6.

September 21, 2017
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Power Rankings-Bristol

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series came to Bristol Motor Speedway after a week off and now the series will be on the road for the next four weeks. And now it’s pressure time for the bubble drivers/drivers who are on the outside looking in. Let’s take a look at who tops this week’s power rankings from Bristol.

1. Matt Crafton – After a respectable sixth-place finish last weekend at Michigan, Crafton had a career-best night at Bristol by finishing second. He finished third in Stage 1 and second in Stage 2. He also led twice for 90 laps. It was a great points night for Crafton.

“It was a really, really good race,” Crafton said. “The bottom was definitely a little preferred, but you could move around. You could at least run the second and third groove and weren’t like we were in practice. You were literally a second off the pace if you had to move off the bottom. Props to the track for what they did right there, it made for some great racing, I feel. I just wish we could’ve run that out because we were running him down there at the end, especially when he (Kyle Busch) was in lapped traffic. He picked me in lapped traffic earlier, so it was my turn there at the end, but just couldn’t quite get there whenever the yellow came out.”

2. John Hunter Nemechek – Nemechek had a quiet night at Bristol, but finished third after starting 14th. He didn’t finish inside the top 10 in Stage 1 but finished 10th in Stage 2. This was Nemechek’s best finish since Pocono after a disappointing weekend at Michigan. He now sits eighth in the points standings but will be racing for the championship due to wins earlier in the year, if sponsorship permits.

3. Ben Rhodes – Rhodes scored another top-five of the year at Bristol by finishing fifth. In Stage 1, he finished seventh and he finished fourth in Stage 2. He is currently fifth in the point standings but is not locked in with a win yet. He could turn that around in the two races left before the playoffs. It’s time for Rhodes to get a win after being close earlier in the year as wins are important in the playoffs to advance to the next round.

“Our Safelite AutoGlass Toyota Tundra was fast all night tonight,” Rhodes commented. “We got pretty far back in the field, and I was actually pretty proud of our team, and how good of a Tundra we had to be able to drive from 14th, to I think fourth, all during a green flag run. You know, unfortunately, the balance actually shifted on us. The track changed a lot in that last run. We just got way too free overall. We were able to come in on that last caution and put new tires on it, mostly because we had a vibration again. It seemed to be an issue, we got some bad tires. I don’t know what was going on, but we were having a bad vibration, so we came in to make sure that nothing was corded, and went back out there, and ended up fifth – same place we came in. Overall I’m happy. It was a good solid points night.”

4. Johnny Sauter – Sauter needed a rebound after a sour finish at Michigan by finishing 18th and he got it at Bristol with a sixth-place finish. It may not sound like much, but a top 10 is better than a top 20. However, he’s lost more ground to points leader Christopher Bell. He now sits 42 behind.

5. Grant Enfinger – Just like Nemechek, Enfinger also had a quiet night at the “Fastest Half Mile.” In Stages 1 and 2, he finished fifth and ninth, respectively. He didn’t lead any laps, but picked up 41 points and is now seventh in the standings. But he will need to keep up those strong runs and possibly a win to lock himself into the playoffs.

“We had a decent restart there at the end, and we really had a good Champion Power Equipment Tundra all day,” Enfinger noted. “We weren’t great. The 46 (Kyle Busch) – he’s really good at this racing stuff. He made us all look bad. But a solid run for us. We’ll take it. We need a little bit more but very, very proud of everybody on this ThorSport Racing team. We had to battle through some adversity this week, but we still got some more to come, so we’ll keep fighting strong.”

The Camping World Truck Series has just two races remaining until the playoffs/race to the championship begins for the series. There are some drivers that are on the bubble who don’t need a bad day and there are some drivers on the outside looking in who need a win to lock themselves in. And with two wildcards remaining, it’s certainly possible we could see a major shakeup in the point standings. It’s win or go home for the Truck Series drivers that are ninth on back.

August 19, 2017