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  • Playoff contender Brett Moffitt wins at Bristol

    Playoff contender Brett Moffitt wins at Bristol

    Start first and finish first was the name of the game for the GMS Racing driver Brett Moffitt as he took home the win Thursday night at Bristol Motor Speedway. It was Moffitt’s third win of the season and locks him into the Round of 6 as the Playoffs continue.

    “This is unbelievable,” Moffitt excitedly told MRN Radio. “I’ve had runs in the past where I’m decent but I never felt confident at this track. There’s so much that can happen, but man, getting the first win here and having Junior Johnson on the hood of this truck and to go to victory lane at Bristol, Tennessee up here in the mountains, you know where Moonshine is started.”

    “It’s so cool to have him on this truck and honor him at this place, but to win in this round and get locked in is truly unbelievable and the best win of the season thus far. So it’s all good.”

    Moffitt and another playoff championship contender, Ross Chastain, started on the front row.

    Stage 1: Lap 1 – Lap 57

    Stage 1 only saw one incident that took place on Lap 4 for Sheldon Creed, Jordan Anderson and Jesse Little for an accident in Turn 2. Other than that, Niece Motorsports driver Ross Chastain went on to win the first stage with a dominant truck.

    Moffitt, Johnny Sauter, Ben Rhodes, Chandler Smith, Matt Crafton, Stewart Friesen, Tyler Ankrum, John Hunter Nemechek and Austin Hill rounded out the top-10 stage finishers for Stage 1. Sauter, Rhodes, Harrison Burton, Grant Enfinger and Hill were among the drivers to pit under the stage break.

    Stage 2: Lap 66 – Lap 112

    Stage 2 saw a lot more action. On Lap 68, a caution came out for the returning Angela Ruch who went spinning on the front stretch. Then, on Lap 77, Nemechek wrecked on the front stretch after Sauter got loose off of Turn 4. During the incident, Nemechek also collected Sauter as he turned down on the track with Sauter receiving right front fender damage.

    These were the only incidents that happened in Stage 2 but this time Moffitt took the stage win after Chastain nearly dominated once again. However, during the stage break, the Florida native was penalized for a safety violation and was sent to the rear of the field.

    Chastain, Smith, Crafton, Friesen, Ankrum, Rhodes, Raphael Lessard, Enfinger and Sam Mayer completed the top-10 stage finishers for Stage 2.

    Stage 3: Lap 121- Lap 200

    The third and final stage saw the most action. On Lap 131 Tyler Dippel spun in Turn 2 after contact with Brennan Poole. Dylan Lupton and Timmy Hill were also involved. On Lap 137 Natalie Decker brought out the caution again. During the caution, Ankrum reported his engine was skipping intermittently. Burton also had a broken shock mount to his No. 18 Kyle Busch Motorsports truck.

    The caution came out once again with 48 to go for Friesen and Crafton. Both had made contact in one of the turns after Crafton got a little bit sideways and then got into Friesen and sent Friesen into the wall. On Lap 168, Jennifer Jo Cobb went around after Rhodes made slight contact with her. After the incident, the replays showed Rhodes was trying to lift and not make contact but eventually did.

    During the last 27 laps, it seemed the race would take forever with a stop and go for caution. Lessard went spinning around in Turn 1 with 24 to go after contact with Chastain. Meanwhile, Sauter made contact with the inside wall. With 17 to go, Gus Dean, Decker and Dippel were involved and had damage to their trucks.

    Under the caution, Decker was trying to get the push truck to back off as she had her truck fired but the push truck did not realize it and eventually sent Decker around on the surface. The race was red-flagged with 14 to go due to oil on the track and to allow fans to see a run to the finish.

    The final caution of the night took place with eight to go, as rookie Mayer hit the wall. This would set up a three-lap dash for an exciting finish. Moffitt, the 2018 Truck Series champion, was able to fend off rookie Smith in a thrilling battle to the checkered flag.

    “We got the next two races where we can go race aggressive and try to get more points for the following round, but this is a lot of pressure off our race team,” Moffitt added to MRN Radio.

    With the win, Moffitt moves onto the Round of 6 and will not have to worry about Canada or Las Vegas.

    There were 12 cautions for 73 laps with nine lead changes among three drivers.

    Playoff Points Standings after Bristol:

    1. Brett Moffitt (W, Advanced to Round of 6)
    2. Ross Chastain, -16
    3. Stewart Friesen, -24
    4. Matt Crafton, -28
    5. Grant Enfinger, -28
    6. Johnny Sauter, -38
    7. Austin Hill, -41
    8. Tyler Ankrum, -51

    Official Results

    1. Brett Moffitt, led 65 laps
    2. Chandler Smith
    3. Ross Chastain, led 78 laps
    4. Stewart Friesen
    5. Grant Enfinger, led 57 laps
    6. Sheldon Creed
    7. Matt Crafton
    8. Ben Rhodes
    9. Todd Gilliland
    10. Austin Hill
    11. Johnny Sauter
    12. Raphael Lessard
    13. Parker Kligerman
    14. Ryan Sieg
    15. Austin Wayne Self
    16. Landon Huffman
    17. Timmy Hill
    18. Gus Dean
    19. Brennan Poole, One lap down
    20. Tyler Ankrum, Seven laps down
    21. Sam Mayer, OUT, Crash
    22. Jennifer Jo Cobb, Seven laps down
    23. Harrison Burton, Eight laps down
    24. Tyler Dippel, OUT, Crash
    25. Natalie Decker, OUT, Crash
    26. Clay Greenfield, OUT, Steering
    27. Dylan Lupton, OUT, Dvp
    28. Jordan Anderson, OUT, Engine
    29. John Hunter Nemechek, OUT, Crash
    30. Angela Ruch, OUT, Crash
    31. J.J. Yeley, OUT, Transmission
    32. Jesse Little, OUT, Crash

    Up Next: The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series heads north of the border where they will continue the Round of 8 at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on Sunday, August 25.

  • Eckes and Moffitt content with top-five finish at Pocono

    Eckes and Moffitt content with top-five finish at Pocono

    After winning the ARCA race Friday afternoon at Pocono, Christian Eckes had to jump straight into the famed No.51 Kyle Busch Motorsports to compete in the Truck Series.

    With the ARCA Menards Series win, the nearby Middletown, New York native was hoping to take the sweep at “The Tricky Triangle.”

    Eckes started 13th at Pocono Raceway and eventually made his way up to the front. In Stage 1, he finished seventh while finishing outside the top-10 in Stage 2 after making a pit stop late in the stage to gain some track position in hopes of winning the race.

    After pitting, Eckes restarted fourth for the final stage after staying out under the stage break.

    It was clean and green for the rest of the way, and with fuel being somewhat of a concern for the race leaders, Eckes came home fourth.

    “You know, it was a pretty good weekend overall,” Eckes said to MRN in his post-race interview. “I wish we could have swept the weekend a little bit, but you know, as a whole, the race was pretty exciting. It was a great weekend and it’s something we can build on for the next two races at KBM.”

    Although Eckes was happy with his top-five finish, GMS Racing driver, Brett Moffitt was frustrated after finishing fifth.

    Photo by Kirk Schroll for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    Moffitt was hoping to put the Kentucky race behind him after running out of gas on the last lap in hopes of taking the checkered flag at Pocono.

    The GMS Racing driver qualified his No. 24 Chevy in the fourth spot and placed fifth in Stage 1 and second in Stage 2.

    He would restart seventh for the final stage but never could catch the lucky break or caution he needed in order to have a shot at the win. In the end, he finished fifth, earning his eighth top-five of the season.

    “Very uneventful day here at Pocono,” Moffitt said to MRN Radio. “It’s frustrating, it’s so spread out, the PJ1 didn’t really come into play at all which was unfortunate. I applaud NASCAR on trying something, but we need to do something to make the racing better here. It’s just all about track position, getting out front and staying out front.”

    “All in all, we had a pretty good No. 24 Chevy Accessories GMS Silverado. Jerry (Baxter, Crew Chief) and everyone did a great job working on what we had. It felt like we were fighting on some type of engine issue or driveline issue, where I couldn’t make runs on guys like they could get on me. It just plagued us all race on, I wasn’t able to be aggressive.”

  • NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Power Rankings-Kentucky

    NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Power Rankings-Kentucky

    The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series came to Kentucky Speedway for race No. 13 of the 2019 season and what an exciting race it was.

    The NASCAR Truck Series saw another first-time winner Thursday night just days after Justin Haley scored his first victory at Daytona. This time, it was Tyler Ankrum for DGR-Crosley who took home the checkered flag and earned his first career win.

    Ankrum took the lead from Brett Moffitt with a lap and a half to go, as Moffitt ran out of gas on the backstretch, and Ankrum claimed what was a popular win across the NASCAR community.

    While it was a great night for Ankrum and his team who put themselves in a possible playoff spot, there are still potential sponsorship woes for the youngster who hopes to be fighting for the championship at Homestead-Miami.

    The 17-year-old got his first win in only his 12th start.

    Here’s a look at this weeks power rankings.

    1. Stewart Friesen – Friesen delivered another top-five finish for his No. 52 Halmar Racing team. The Canadian finished second for his eighth top-five finish of the year. It was a wild day for Friesen, however, as NASCAR confiscated his primary truck for a firewall issue which could have been a potential competitive advantage. Friesen would have to start last, but it didn’t take him long to get up front and contend for the win. He finished sixth in Stage 2. And as others were running out of gas, Friesen ran out of time and finished 7.373 seconds behind Ankrum. Friesen matched his second-place finish from Texas earlier this season.

      Previous Week Ranking – Third

    2. Ross Chastain – While many other drivers had trouble, Chastain did not, despite racing in an unsponsored truck. He qualified fifth and finished fifth, and second in both stages, respectively. Chastain didn’t lead any laps but by finishing inside the top-10 for both stages, he earned a playoff spot and is now in the top-20 in the point standings. Things continue to look up for the Floridian, as he continues to chase the Truck Series championship. Hopefully, it’s the only time Chastain is an unsponsored truck.

      Previous Week Ranking – Second

    3. Harrison Burton – Burton got himself another top-five finish for the 2019 Truck Series season. The No. 18 Safelite driver qualified sixth and stayed there for most of the night. Burton finished sixth in Stage 1 but found trouble in Stage 2 as he went sideways after a restart and received minor damage. Due to the incident and being off strategy from everyone else, Burton would only finish 16th in the second stage. He made the most of it, however, and climbed up to fourth as the final stage began. At the end of the night, the 18-year old wound up third for his sixth top five of the season. Unfortunately, despite earning a third-place finish, Burton is in danger of missing the playoffs as he sits ninth in the standings with only three races left until the playoffs began.

      Previous Week Ranking – Fourth

    4. Brett Moffitt – Moffitt came oh so close to taking home his second consecutive win of the season Thursday night in Kentucky. But the No. 24 GMS Racing driver pushed his truck too far, as he fell a lap and a half short of victory when his truck ran out of gas. Before then, it wasn’t until lap 110 when Moffitt took the lead. In his first stint, he would only lead 11 laps before taking the lead again on Lap 125. From there, the Grimes, Iowa native led for 24 laps until running out of fuel. Moffitt finished a disappointing seventh after leading a combined 35 laps. For his efforts, he finished seventh in Stage 1. Moffitt leads the playoff points standings.

      Previous Week Ranking – First

    5. Austin Wayne Self – A driver who benefited from other drivers running out of gas late was Texan, Austin Wayne Self, who finished sixth. Surprisingly, it was his first top-10 finish since the season opener at Daytona. Self also finished eighth in the second stage. It was a great outing for his family owned No. 22 team.

      Previous Week Ranking – Not Ranked

      Unranked

      1. Grant Enfinger – Enfinger had a great day going, qualifying on the pole, his second of the year. The Alabama native finished second in Stage 1, but bad luck hit in Stage 2 when Enfinger got loose in Turn 4 and went up the track and taking Brandon Jones with him, smacking the wall hard. Enfinger’s night would be cut short early on Lap 66 after leading 22 laps.

      Previous Week Ranking – Fifth

      Honorable Mention

      1. Spencer Davis – In just his third Truck Series start of the season, Davis finished eighth after starting 21st. The Georgia native even finished fifth in the second stage. It was his first top-10 finish since Texas of 2018.

      2. Tyler Hill – Hill is making the most out of his first Truck Series season. It was his third start of 2019 with a still new team. Hill, the brother of Timmy Hill, finished 11th, one spot outside the top-10. It’s the best finish that the No. 56 Truck has seen so far in its short career.
  • Brett Moffitt so close yet so far away

    Brett Moffitt so close yet so far away

    Brett Moffitt was just inches away from going back-to-back this year but he ran out of gas on the backstretch with just a half lap to go Thursday night at Kentucky Speedway.

    Moffitt tried to play the fuel mileage game, but fell short and finished in the seventh position.

    “It’s a heartbreak for sure,” Moffitt said to MRN Radio. “Jerry (Baxter, Crew Chief) and everyone on this 24 did a great job tonight. I’ve never ran strong at Kentucky, so had one of the best trucks out here tonight. At the end of the race, we probably had the most speed which was great. But it’s definitely a heartbreak to lose them like that, unfortunately, we handed away another playoff spot to another manufacturer which is a Chevy team. It’s not great, but I thank them for their support and the Gallagher family, and everyone involved in this team. We were just one lap short, you gotta push it and we just pushed it a little too hard.”

    Moffitt and his GMS No. 24 team qualified seventh and finished seventh in Stage 1. Moffitt did not record a top-10 finish in Stage 2, as he finished one spot short in 11th. He led twice for 35 laps.

    It was Moffitt’s ninth top-10 of the year. He continues to lead the playoff points standings over Ross Chastain.

  • Four Takeaways: NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series-Chicago

    Four Takeaways: NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series-Chicago

    Chicagoland Speedway hosted the 12th race of the 2019 NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series season Friday night and saw a familiar winner back in victory lane.

    The Camping World 225 was a relatively quick, and for the most part, a caution free race. The race lasted about one hour and 49 minutes with five cautions for 27 laps. There were three incidents during the race; Jordan Anderson spun off Turn 4, Natalie Decker was nudged by Todd Gilliland off Turn 4 and Austin Wayne Self, Spencer Davis and Grant Enfinger were involved in an accident off Turn 4 as well.

    The percentage under caution and green flag were about equal, with 18 percent run under caution, as race fans saw 20.5 laps under the green flag. There were seven leaders that made 12 lead changes among Austin Hill, Grant Enfinger, Brandon Jones, Camden Murphy, Brett Moffitt, Sheldon Creed and Spencer Boyd.

    Despite those lead changes, Moffitt was able to pick up his second win of the 2019 Truck Series season and the ninth win of his career.

    With that said, here are this week’s Four Takeaways from the Camping World 225.

    1. Moffitt Wins In Unsponsored Truck – Quite possibly one of the more newsworthy items following the race was Moffitt winning in an unsponsored truck at Chicago. It’s the first time this season that Moffitt was not sponsored. While there may or may not be concerns in the GMS Racing camp about sponsorship, Spencer Gallagher noted on Friday night, “the statement is that the winning race truck is available for sponsorship to those organizations that want to be a member of a winning team and a future championship team, I believe.” Hopefully, it’s the only time Moffitt is not sponsored in a race and the team picks up more sponsors for the rest of the season. Nonetheless, it will be an interesting story to follow throughout the season.

    2. Kyle Busch Motorsports Has Solid Outing – KBM was able to place all their trucks in the top-10 in Friday night’s race. Brandon Jones was the highest finisher placing second, Harrison Burton was fourth and Todd Gilliland rounded out the KBM team finishing order in sixth. Jones and Burton were able to place themselves in the top-10 during the stages, while Gilliland did not. However, it was just what Burton and Gilliland needed after facing some criticism this season. Although, both will need a win soon as the Playoffs are on the horizon as Burton sits sixth in the standings while Gilliland is eighth and neither have any wins. They could race their way in on points. However, as it stands right now, Sauter, Hill and Moffitt all have wins, while Enfinger, Friesen, Crafton and Rhodes do not. When the points reset for the Playoffs, Sauter, Hill and Moffitt will be on top of the points standings and everyone else will move down a spot. This will more than likely leave someone that is highly competitive out of the Playoffs.

    3. ThorSport Racing Struggles – While one team enjoyed success, another team struggled to place their trucks in the top-10. After having such a solid season early on and leading up to Chicago’s race Friday night, it was a forgettable night for the Sandusky, Ohio based team. The night went from bad to worse when Ben Rhodes, who qualified 17th, blew up on the first lap of the race before getting into the turn. Due to the engine issue, Rhodes wound up with a last-place finish. It was the first last-place finish of his career for the Louisville, Kentucky native. More issues arose for his teammate Johnny Sauter. Sauter began experiencing the same thing in both of the stages. The No. 13 team believed it was a spark plug wire issue but never could figure out the exact cause. This left Sauter with a disappointing 18th place finish after qualifying second. For Enfinger, it looked like he was going to earn his first race win of the season. He qualified fifth, finished second in Stage 1 after getting passed on the last lap and won the second stage. The Alabama native led 49 laps only to finish 16th. Matt Crafton was the only ThorSport driver in the top-10 finishing eighth. It was a forgettable night for ThorSport Racing who will probably use the off week to reset and start fresh again.

    4. Off Week – After completing 12 races of the 2019 Truck Series season, the regulars will be taking a week off. Many drivers will probably be celebrating the Fourth of July holiday, while others will use it as a reset before heading to Kentucky next week. Believe it or not, there are only five races left until the Playoffs. Those five tracks are Kentucky, Pocono, Eldora, Michigan and Bristol (the cutoff race before the Playoffs begin). There are some drivers that could sneak into the playoffs like Sheldon Creed, Tyler Dippel and possibly Spencer Boyd, who could surprise the field. Nonetheless, there are some other drivers like Enfinger and Friesen, among others, who have not won yet. The 2019 Truck Series season will only heat up from here in what has been one of the most exciting seasons to date.
  • NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Power Rankings-Chicago

    NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Power Rankings-Chicago

    The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series visited the Windy City this past weekend for race No. 12 of the 2019 season.

    For some, it was a great race. Brett Moffitt earned his second win of the 2019 season in an unsponsored truck, while Kyle Busch Motorsports’ drivers placed in the top-10 for the first time in a while.

    Other drivers like Anthony Alfredo, Dylan Lupton, Sheldon Creed and Tyler Ankrum all had good runs finishing ninth through 13th, some earned their best career finish.

    However, others had their struggles coming out of the Camping World 225, despite being on a hot streak coming into the race.

    With that said, here’s a look at this week’s Power Rankings following the 12th race of the season.

    1. Brett Moffitt – Moffitt claimed his second win of the season Friday night in Joliet, Illinois. However, it was a newsworthy win for Moffitt and his No. 24 GMS Racing team, as they came in Thursday and unloaded an unsponsored truck. This left some people wondering how Moffitt would do in the race and whether or not, sponsorship problems would affect his performance. Obviously, it didn’t, as Moffitt started third and a had a great truck from the start. The Grimes, Iowa native finished third in both stages. However, it really wasn’t until after Stage 2 when we saw Moffitt out in front leading the way. He took the lead on Lap 74 and led for 46 laps. Despite green flag pit stops late in the going, Moffitt cycled out and regained the lead with 25 to go. From there, he held steady and won the race. This moves Moffitt up into third in points, 53 points behind first. The question remains if GMS Racing will continue to face more sponsorship woes as the season goes on.

      Previous Week Ranking – Third

    2. Ross Chastain – Chastain quietly finished in the seventh position at Chicago Friday night after his popular win at Gateway the week prior. He started midfield, qualifying 16th. The Niece Motorsports driver didn’t place in the top-10 at all in Stage 1 but was able to earn playoff points by finishing eighth in Stage 2. Chastain ran as high as sixth, but never really got any further as he had to settle for a seventh place finish. This would be Chastain’s 11th top-10 finish of the season. He is now 10 points outside the top-20 in order to make the Playoffs, as there are now five races remaining.

      Previous Week Ranking – Second

    3. Stewart Friesen – Another week, another third-place finish for Friesen and the No. 52 Halmar Racing team. He started in the 10th position, then finished eighth and sixth in Stage 1 and 2, respectively. This allowed Friesen to gain two points on championship points leader Grant Enfinger. Friesen is now 52 points back. Friesen ran as high as second in the race and averaged a fifth place showing throughout the event.

      Previous Week Ranking – Fifth

    4. Harrison Burton – After a disappointing 16th place at Gateway, Burton and his No. 18 Kyle Busch Motorsports team rebounded to a fourth-place finish this past weekend. He never led a lap, but ran as high as second and finished sixth and fourth in both stages. Burton would remain consistent throughout the night and would finish in the top five for the fifth time this season. He sits sixth in the points standings, 111 points back with five races remaining before the Playoffs begin.

      Previous Week Ranking – Not Ranked

    5. Grant Enfinger – Enfinger had strong outings in both stages, finishing second in Stage 1 and winning the second stage. He led three times for 49 laps until an accident late in the going on Lap 80 took Enfinger out of contention to win. The Alabama native continued to struggle throughout the night, having tires go down. This would, unfortunately, place Enfinger 16th, one lap down. Despite the bad luck, he still remains the points leader over Stewart Friesen by 52.

      Previous Week Ranking – First

    Unranked:

    1. Sheldon Creed -It was a rough outing at Chicago for the No. 2 GMS Racing team. While his teammate Moffitt was celebrating in victory lane, Creed was left with a disappointing 11th place finish. Creed did not finish in the top-10 in either stage, despite qualifying seventh and leading two laps.

    Previous Week Ranking- Fourth

    Other Notables:

    Dylan Lupton returned to the Truck Series in his first outing in 2019. Lupton competed in the No. 5 DGR-Crosley Toyota and wound up 10th for the first top-10 finish of his career. Tyler Dippel earned a 12th place finish. It was his first 12th place finish since Kansas back in May.

  • Brett Moffitt takes second win of the season at Chicago

    Brett Moffitt takes second win of the season at Chicago

    A year removed from his first win at the Chicagoland Speedway in 2018, GMS Racing’s Brett Moffitt came in looking to repeat the same success he had one year ago. He succeeded by giving the team their second win of the 2019 season.

    But this time, the story was a little different, as Moffitt and his No. 24 machine was unsponsored for the first time this season. The truck was all white with only GMS Fabrication on the truck lid and on the back bumper.

    “Just a really good Chevy Silverado, Jerry (Baxter, Crew Chief), everyone does a great job,” Moffitt said in his post-race interview with MRN Radio. “We’ve been struggling on mile and a half’s, on and off. We’ve had speed at times and not at times, and then this pit crew got us out first, you could never complain about that. They did solid all night. I was able to do my job and hang on to it. It was just a full team effort tonight and we executed the race how we needed to, even when we lost track position, we never got down.”

    Austin Hill and Johnny Sauter made up the front row for the Camping World 225 after qualifying earlier in the day. The race marked Sauter’s return from suspension last weekend at Gateway.

    Stages were broken into 35/35/80 laps to make up the scheduled 150 lap race.

    The first stage was relatively clean for the most part but still had some noticeable incidents. On the very first lap, everyone was trying to avoid the No. 99 of Ben Rhodes, who had major smoke coming out of the back end of his truck. Rhodes would eventually go to the garage where the team would try to work on his truck, but later would be out for the rest of the race due to an engine issue that relegated him to a last-place finish.

    Then on Lap five, the first caution was brought out by the No. 3 of Jordan Anderson who spun off Turn 4. After that, the first stage remained clean and green for most of the way with the No. 98 of Grant Enfinger leading until the last lap, as the No. 51 of Brandon Jones made a late surge to pass Enfinger in Turn 4 for the stage win.

    Right as the stage ended, the No. 6 of Norm Benning was parked for the rest of the night when they ignored the black flag for not maintaining minimum speed. Also during the yellow, Rhode’s teammate, Johnny Sauter, was experiencing the same issue as Rhodes and was trying to diagnose the problem.

    Stage 2 saw 35 laps again and had just one incident, but some near misses.

    On Lap 44, Todd Gilliland barely nudged the No. 54 of Natalie Decker, which spent her spinning in the frontstretch grass to bring out the third caution of the night. Also during the caution, it appeared that Sauter might have been dealing with a plug wire problem, as he was still trying to figure out what was going on with his Tenda Heal truck.

    Right after the restart on Lap 47, eventual race winner Moffitt and two-time series champion Matt Crafton made contact with Austin Wayne Self. The three looked like they were going to wreck out of the race but somehow they were able to save their trucks from spinning out.

    That was the only major incident in the stage, as this time the stage win would be flip-flopped when Grant Enfinger won the second stage, despite a rally from Jones.

    The last stage began on Lap 77 and it was action packed right from the get-go.

    On Lap 79, Enfinger had a hard time getting going on the restart, which saw him dropping back in the field. On the same lap, the No. 44 of Spencer Davis got loose off of Turn 4, which sent Davis back down the track only to get collected by Wayne Self. This would bring out the fifth and final caution of the night. This would also see Enfinger’s chances of winning diminish heavily due to the amount of damage he incurred.

    It seemed as more trouble would happen for the ThorSport Racing team as right before the restart, Crafton’s No. 88 truck shut off, which caused the restart to be waved off. A little bit after Crafton’s incident, Wayne Self was parked for the rest of the night due to not maintaining minimum speed.

    As the race went back green, so did the action. On Lap 98, Enfinger reported a tire going down. Just two laps later, he had to make an unscheduled pit stop to change the tire that went down.

    From there, the race went on a long green flag run to the finish. However, Stewart Friesen and Jones battled for the second spot for quite a while until the last round of pit stops began with 34 to go.

    Tyler Ankrum was the one who began the final round of green flag pit stops, however, he was busted speeding on pit road which ended his chances of winning for the night.

    Everyone else started coming down on pit road with 32 to go or less. The major critical point in the race was when the race leader Moffitt pitted from the lead with 30 to go. After that, we saw Friesen, Harrison Burton, Hill and Jones pitting from the lead with 29 to go while Sheldon Creed pitted from the lead with 27 to go.

    Despite the different strategies taking place all over the race track, in hopes of somehow beating Brett Moffitt, they couldn’t. On Lap 125 with 25 to go, the Grimes, Iowa native retook the lead as the pit stops cycled out.

    From that point on, hoping for no late race cautions, Moffitt pulled his No. 24 machine away from the field and won his second race of the 2019 Truck Series season.

    “Yeah new tires, we were really fast on the bottom,” Moffitt added in his post-race interview with MRN Radio. “That second to last run there, where the 52 (Stewart Friesen) was gaining on us there on the top. Once I moved up there, it took away his air and it kind of stalled his run. Him and the 51 (Brandon Jones) got racing, they both got really good trucks. You know, I was fast on top, fast on the bottom, but clean air with new tires is just better.”

    This was Moffitt’s second win of 2019 and the ninth of his Truck Series career.

    There were five cautions for 27 laps, with seven lead changes among 12 leaders.

    Grant Enfinger continues to lead the championship points standings over Stewart Friesen by 52 points.

    Up Next: The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series takes a week off before heading to Kentucky Speedway on Thursday, July 11, live on Fox Sports 1.

  • Moffitt rebounds to fifth after engine issues at Gateway

    Moffitt rebounds to fifth after engine issues at Gateway

    Overlooked in the final running order of Saturday’s NASCAR Gander Outdoor Truck Series race at Gateway was the winner at Iowa, Brett Moffitt. Moffitt’s fifth-place run wasn’t without difficulty, as they didn’t show up near the front until later in the race.

    Moffitt finished 10th at the end of Stage One, earning one playoff point toward his championship defense. During Stage Two, Moffitt continued to linger around the bottom half of the top-10, finishing 12th at the end of the stage.

    Due to some pit strategy and a late race caution, the No. 24 GMS Racing team was able to get their driver closer to the front of the field, where he managed to hang on to his sixth top-five of 2019.

    “It was a pretty good strategy call from where we were at,” Moffitt told MRN Radio after the race. “Jerry [Baxter, Crew Chief] and everyone did a good job. I thought we had a lot better truck then that when we practiced, so it’s pretty disappointing. I don’t know if it’s going from sunshine to nighttime or what, but really thought our [Chevy] Silverado was stronger then that. We salvaged a top five out of it, I didn’t think we were going to end up there. We were lucky to be in the top-10 for most of the race, so we’ll move on and do better.”

    Moffitt currently sits fifth in points, 69 back from the leader, with six races left until the Playoffs begin at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on August 25.

  • NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Preview-Gateway

    NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Preview-Gateway

    After a crazy week in NASCAR’s third division, the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series will head to the World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

    The track was formerly known as Gateway Motorsports Park and is located in Madison, Illinois. Earlier in the season, World Wide Technology bought the track naming rights. There were 33 trucks on the preliminary entry list, however, the No. 30 of Brennan Poole has withdrawn from the race and the No. 0 of Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing has yet to be announced.

    After being suspended on Tuesday afternoon, ThorSport Racing has announced that part-time driver Myatt Snider will occupy the No. 13 for this weekend while Johnny Sauter is serving his suspension.

    Also, it appeared as if Greg Biffle, who won at Texas a couple of weeks ago, could be in the race, but he later found out that he was not eligible for The Triple Truck Challenge. Biffle had three starts at Gateway with one win and two top fives along with two poles at the track.

    Here’s a top five look at who might wheel it into victory lane Saturday night.

    1. Ben Rhodes – Rhodes has had a strong couple of finishes in the past few weeks and is carrying that momentum right on through. Since Martinsville, Rhodes has finished second, 10th at Texas, sixth at Dover, second at Kansas and fourth at Charlotte He had a transmission failure at Texas and previously finished second at Iowa. At Gateway, Rhodes’ first outing was in 2016, three years ago. In his first start, he started on the pole and finished second after leading four laps. The second year, he finished eighth while Rhodes finished 19th last year. Despite the finish last year, he has been finishing better in recent races. Rhodes average finish at Gateway is 9.7.

    2. Todd Gilliland – Gateway could be the place where Gilliland might break through for a first career win. He did not fare well here in his first outing after starting fourth and finishing 21st. But he finished fourth in Stage 1 and fifth in Stage 2. Last year’s race was a better turnaround for the No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports team. Gilliland started eighth, finished third in Stage 2, and wound up second even after being involved in an incident mid-race. This time around, Gilliland will be piloting the “KBM-060, a brand-new chassis,” according to the KBM press release. Look for the Sherrills Ford, North Carolina driver to finish one spot better on Saturday night.

    3. Brett Moffitt – After a crazy turn of events following post-race inspection at Iowa, Moffitt was declared the new race winner. This happened after Ross Chastain who had been declared as the winner failed inspection. Last year’s champion could continue that winning streak at Gateway Saturday night. Moffitt has just one start, that came last year. Despite the finishing results not showing his strong efforts, the Grimes, Iowa native finished sixth in Stage 1 and fifth in Stage 2, respectively. He even led 18 laps, but finished a disappointing 14th. Moffitt and his new GMS Racing team will look forward to continuing their winning ways this weekend.

    4. Myatt Snider – Snider will be back in a truck for the first time since Martinsville earlier this season. He has one other start that came at Daytona, where Snider finished 21st after crashing out on Lap 62. He only has one start at Gateway, coming last year where he finished fourth, despite not earning a stage finish in the top-10. This weekend, however, despite unfortunate circumstances, the Charlotte, North Carolina driver will try to make the best of his ability to shine and turn a negative into a positive.

    5. Chandler Smith – After impressing the NASCAR world last weekend at Iowa, Smith returns to the Kyle Busch Motorsports team this weekend at Gateway. However, he will be competing in the No. 46 Toyota Tundra instead of the famed No. 51. Smith will also be having extra track time and doing double duty on Saturday by also competing in the ARCA Menards Series prior to the Truck Series race.

    Also on the entry list, we see the return of Christian Eckes who will be back in the No. 51. Cody McMahan will drive the No. 1 of Beaver Motorsports and Bryant Barnhill will be in the No. 34 for Josh Reaume. Ross Chastain will also look to rebound from a disappointing Iowa weekend in the No. 45 and Lou Goss is entered in the No. 174.

    After a four year hiatus, the Truck Series returned to the 1.250-mile paved track in Madison, Illinois in 2014. Since then, the track has seen five different winners and will see their sixth on Saturday night. Before the four year hiatus, however, World Wide Technology Raceway has seen 18 races with its first race in 1998.

    There’s a who’s who of winners that have won here.

    Rick Carelli was the first winner in 1998 and Greg Biffle won in 1999. Other winners include Jack Sprague, Ted Musgrave, Terry Cook, Brendan Gaughan, David Starr, Todd Bodine, Johnny Benson, Ron Hornaday, Mike Skinner, Kevin Harvick, Bubba Wallace, Cole Custer, Christopher Bell, John Hunter Nemechek and Justin Haley. The last five winners have gone on to competitively compete in the Xfinity Series.

    Surprisingly enough, Ted Musgrave has been the only repeat winner at Gateway, winning in 2001 and 2005.

    Qualifying is also important, as the lowest a race winner has ever come from was 14th set by David Starr back in 2004. The highest a race winner has ever come from was the pole position, three times, Musgrave in ’01 and ’05, and Harvick in 2010 before the track went on a hiatus.

    It will be a one day and night show for the Truck Series at Gateway. The first practice will be live on Saturday at 10:35 a.m. CT while final practice is scheduled at 12:35 p.m. CT. Qualifying can be seen live on Fox Sports 2 at 6:30 p.m. CT/7:30 p.m. ET.

    The CarShield 200 is set to take the green flag shortly after 9 p.m. CT/10 p.m. ET, Saturday night, live on Fox Sports 1 and MRN Radio.

  • NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Preview- Iowa

    NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Preview- Iowa

    Continuing their exciting run through the summer stretch and the run to the Playoffs, the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series stays in the Midwest as they head to Iowa Speedway for a rare Saturday night race.

    Currently, there are 33 drivers on the preliminary entry list. There were 34 but the No. 32 of Daniel Sasnett for Reaume Racing withdrew from the event.

    Iowa Speedway located in Newton, Iowa, is still relatively new to the Truck Series. The series first came to the track in 2009 and has hosted 12 races since then.

    The speedway will host the second round of The Triple Truck Challenge. Greg Biffle won last weekend earning himself $50,000. However, despite a valiant effort, Biffle will not be competing this weekend to continue his run toward the money as he missed the entry deadline date. Also, Kyle Busch Motorsports already has four trucks entered and it would be tough to add a fifth truck to the field.

    With that said, here are five drivers to keep an eye on in Saturday’s M&M’s 200.

    1. Matt Crafton – After having a strong run in last week’s race at Texas, finishing second to Biffle, Crafton looks to carry that momentum forward in hopes of finally snapping his two-year winless streak dating back to Eldora of 2017. Iowa could be the place to do it. The No. 88 driver has 12 starts at the Newton facility earning one win in 2011. Other career stats include five top fives and 10 top-10 finishes, 109 laps led, two DNFs and 96.6% laps completed. Up until the 2017 race, Crafton finished inside the top-10 in every race. The last two years, however, he’s had disappointing finishes, crashing out in two consecutive races that left him with finishes of 19th and 26th. Before wrecking out last year, Crafton finished second in Stage 1 and 10th in Stage 2. Keep an eye on the No. 88 ThorSport Racing team as they’ll try to break that winless drought.

    2. Brett Moffitt – Moffitt has a perfect track record of a 100% success rate, but that’s because he only has one start at the .875 mile racetrack in Iowa. His win came last year in exciting fashion. In a last-ditch effort by now Xfinity Series driver Noah Gragson, made a dive bomb move in Turns 3 and 4 in hopes of making a last lap pass on Moffitt. Gragson’s effort failed as he would take the lead for a split second, but he wound up hitting the wall and Moffitt went by him with a margin of victory by .333 seconds. This year, however, has been a bit of a challenge for the 2018 Truck Series champion who drives the No. 24 GMS Racing Chevrolet. He still has no wins but has four top fives and five top-10 finishes with one pole. Iowa could be the place where a winning streak could start up again. After all, it is his hometown racetrack as Moffitt is from Grimes, Iowa, just 48 minutes east of the track.

    3. Stewart Friesen – Friesen, driver of the No. 52 for Halmar Racing, is hoping to get the monkey off his back, especially after crashing last week. He has one start which came last year with a ninth-place finish after leading 48 laps. Friesen finished fourth in Stage 1 and won Stage 2. Friesen is looking to finally get that win that has eluded him for so long.

    4. Johnny Sauter – When looking at statistics, race fans may be surprised when they see Sauter does not have any wins at Iowa. Like Crafton, he has made every start since the track held its first Truck Series race back in 2009. Over the 12 races at Iowa, Sauter has eight top fives and nine top-10 finishes with 110 laps led and an average finish of 7.2. In the last two races, he has finishes of fifth and second. His best finish with ThorSport racing is second back in 2010, nine years ago. It will be interesting to see if Sauter and the No. 13 team can finally get a win and cross Iowa Speedway off the win checklist.

    5. Ross Chastain – Chastain continues his fight to make the Playoffs this week at Iowa. He has five starts with only one top-five finish back in 2013 driving for Brad Keselowski after starting on the pole and leading 116 laps. His other finishes include a finish of 16th in 2012, 11th in the fall race of 2012 and 13th in 2013 before he finished second later in the year and 30th last year. But, Chastain is with Niece Motorsports and has finished inside the top-10 in every Truck Series race this season including a win at Kansas last month. Chastain’s playoff run will be an interesting story to watch throughout the summer.

    There are some different names on the entry list this week. Juan Manuel Gonzalez returns to Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing to drive the No. 10. Gonzalez has no Truck starts as he attempted the Martinsville race with the same team but failed to qualify. Raphael Lessard also returns to the series to pilot the No. 17 DGR-Crosley Toyota. C.J. McLaughlin will be in the No. 33 for Reaume Racing and Mason Massey will attempt to make his first NASCAR debut. Chad Finley is back racing for his family-owned team in the No. 42. Future upcoming star Chandler Smith will be making his NASCAR debut for Kyle Busch Motorsports driving the famed No. 51. Tyler Hill returns in the No. 56 for Hill Motorsports. Lou Goss will try to make his first NASCAR attempt in the No. 74 and team owner Josh Reaume will pilot the No. 87 Nemco Motorsports Chevrolet.

    With the Truck Series having a span of 12 races at Iowa dating back to 2009, the winner’s list includes Mike Skinner, Austin Dillon, Matt Crafton, Timothy Peters, Ryan Blaney, James Buescher, Erik Jones, William Byron, John Hunter Nemechek and Brett Moffit.

    Qualifying is important at Iowa with most of the winners coming from the top 10 starting positions. Only two winners have started outside the top 10, Matt Crafton who started 11th in 2011, and Moffitt who started 16th in last year’s race.

    Only two drivers have won twice at the track. Timothy Peters did it in 2012 and 2013. Erik Jones is the only driver that has won two consecutive races, in 2014 and 2015.

    The race winner has come from the pole four times, in 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2015.

    The Truck Series will hit the track Saturday morning for the first practice at 9:30 a.m. ET. The final practice is set for 11:30 a.m. ET. Qualifying is slated for 5:35 p.m. ET live on Fox Sports 2.

    The M&M’s 200 race is scheduled to start shortly after 8:30 p.m. ET live on Fox Sports 1 and MRN Radio. It will consist of three stages that will be broken into 60/120/200 laps to make up the 175-mile race distance.