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NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Power Rankings-Chicago
The final regular season race took place last Friday night at Chicagoland Speedway for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and set the final playoff point standings. Here’s a look at who thrived in Chicago.
1. Johnny Sauter – Sauter seemed to have found his rhythm back after having several weeks of disappointment and losing his championship lead in the summer months. This past Friday night, he changed that as he won for the first time since Dover International Speedway. Sauter finished second and fourth, respectively, in both stages and didn’t take the lead until 27 laps to go. He might be heating up at the right time as he cut the Christopher Bell’s point lead down to 15.
2. Christopher Bell – In the past three races, Bell has been up and down, and it has shown that in the points differential. At Bristol, Candian Tire Motorsports Park and Chicagoland, Bell finished seventh, 26th and third, respectively. This past Friday night, he finished eighth in Stage 1 and won the second stage. But at Bristol, Bell had a 42 point lead over Sauter, however, due to the engine failure at Canada and Sauter’s win on Friday night, the points lead was cut down to 15. Bell did lead 18 laps but needs to have his momentum back that he had during the summer months. Still no doubt, he will be a strong championship challenger throughout the playoffs, but he needs no mistakes.
3. Chase Briscoe – Briscoe had a strong night at Chicago. Throughout the race, he led twice for 18 laps and finished in the top 10 in both stages. He’ll need to keep up the momentum and perhaps win a race if he wants to be in the final four at Homestead. Nonetheless, another solid run for the No. 29 Brad Keselowski Racing Cooper Standard Ford.
4. Ryan Truex – The other Truex is maybe showing shades of his older brother Martin, here lately, in the Camping World Truck Series. In the past two races, he has won at least one stage. In Canada, it was the second stage and he wound up finishing fifth, while this past weekend in Chicago, Truex won the first stage and finished fourth. Unfortunately, Truex missed the 2017 playoffs by a tie-breaker.
5. Grant Enfinger – Enfinger had a quiet but decent night at Chicago. The 32-year-old scored his seventh top five of the year but missed the playoffs by not having enough points/wins. Not finishing in the top 10 in any stages hurt Enfinger’s chances of making the playoffs. The only task Enfinger can do now is finish the year out strong by winning a couple of races and look forward to the 2018 NASCAR season.Next up: The “Round of 8” begins at New Hampshire Motor Speedway this Saturday. Christopher Bell, Johnny Sauter, John Hunter Nemechek, Matt Crafton, Chase Briscoe, Austin Cindric, Ben Rhodes and Kaz Grala will be competing for the championship. It will be interesting to see how these eight drivers will compete throughout the playoffs. These drivers cannot afford any mistakes if they want to have any chance making it to the final four.
September 19, 2017
Four Takeaways From Saturday’s Truck Race At Michigan
1. Darrell Wallace Jr. gets a breakthrough win at Michigan – 2017 has been an up and down year for Wallace Jr. After the XFINITY race at Pocono, the No. 6 XFINITY team was shut down due to lack of funding. However, he’s been filling in rides since then. He’s raced four races for Aric Almirola when he was injured from Pocono to Kentucky with a best finish of 11th at Kentucky. Wallace Jr. then received an opportunity to drive for MDM Motorsports at Michigan. He was able to make the most of it scoring his sixth career win in the Truck Series.
2. Christopher Bell extends points lead – Bell continues his strong season by finishing second in Saturday’s race, giving him his ninth top five of the year and extending his points lead to 37. He’ll head to Bristol Motor Speedway Wednesday night looking for his fifth win of the season.
3. Johnny Sauter has a rough day at Michigan – Sauter had a rough outing in this past weekend’s race. However, on the bright side, he was able to score some playoff points by finishing fifth in Stage 1. Problems continued as Sauter had to pit for a flat tire, thus ending his shot for a second win in 2017. He wound up finishing 18th and losing more points to Christopher Bell. Sauter will have to turn his season around at Bristol this Wednesday if he wants to retake the points lead from Bell.
4. Three races remain until the playoffs – Three races, three wild cards until the 2017 playoffs begin at Loudon in September. This week the drivers will head to Bristol, then to Canada after a couple of weeks off with the final race at Chicago before the playoffs start. Christopher Bell, John Hunter Nemechek, Johnny Sauter, Matt Crafton and Kaz Grala are all locked in by securing wins throughout the season. However, the door is wide open after fifth as Chase Briscoe, Ryan Truex and Ben Rhodes sit on the bubble. Also, Grant Enfinger, Noah Gragson, Austin Cindric and Justin Haley are currently out at the moment. The season has provided some exciting and thrilling action so we could see three new winners in the next three races.
August 14, 2017
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Power Rankings – Eldora

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series headed to the famed Eldora Speedway on Wednesday for the fifth annual Eldora Dirt Derby and what was the 11th race of the year. It’s time to take a look at a wild night of dirt racing at Eldora.

1. Stewart Friesen – While Friesen may not have won the race, he held his own and led the most laps. After winning the first heat race, he would end up qualifying on the pole. Friesen led most of the laps in Stage 1 but came up one spot short as that stage ended under caution. He then rebounded to win the second stage. However, problems began for him as he pitted at the end of the stage for a flat tire. Friesen was able to hold on to the lead until 16 to go, where eventual race winner, Matt Crafton went on to take the win.

“We didn’t come here to run second, that’s for damn sure,” Friesen said. “I’m proud of these guys (Halmar Racing) they worked hard to get the truck dialed in.”

2. Matt Crafton – Crafton finally ended his long winless streak that started in June of 2016 at Charlotte, and claimed his first ever dirt win, in NASCAR, at least. After winning the second heat race, this placed him second alongside the pole sitter for the race. When a late race stage caution came out, Crafton was the leader and NASCAR determined him as the winner of Stage 1, due to a lengthy cleanup. In Stage 2, he placed ninth. The winning moment for Crafton came with 16 to go, as he took the lead for good and went on to win at Eldora.

“My first dirt win,” Crafton said, “a lot of fun. In the second part of the race, we darn right just stunk. It was my fault, we over-tightened it on the first run, we were pretty good. I thought we were a little bit too free, so we just tightened up and went back to the way we started the race. At the end, I had to either tear up the right side off or take it to victory lane.”

3. Chase Briscoe – Briscoe had a solid outing at Eldora by coming home third. It should be no surprise, however, as he has experience in dirt track racing. He raced in the second heat and came home third, which gave him a 12th place starting spot. He was a silent contender all night long placing fourth in the first stage but fell out of the top in the second stage. Briscoe rallied back, though, as he came home in the third position, giving him his fifth top five of the year.

“The last two days at Eldora were really up and down, especially since I’ve been looking forward to this race for so long,” Briscoe said. “We had a really good Cooper Standard Ford F-150 primary truck and at the end of the final practice, we were fast with a couple of tenths in the bank. Unfortunately, I hopped the cushion wall and had no choice but to go to a backup. I lost fourth gear 15 laps into the race and had the whole race in third gear, which hurt us. When the track is that slick, having fourth gear so you can pedal it and keep it hooked up is big. I just couldn’t carry straightaway speed.”

4. Grant Enfinger – Enfinger came home with a solid points day. You would not think of him as someone having experience in the dirt, however, he has one win at DuQuoin, which is a dirt track in the ARCA Racing Series. Enfinger was in the top 10 in both of the stages. At the end of the night, he came home fourth, thus giving him his fifth top five of the year.

“It was definitely a great night for us,” Enfinger said. “We had a really good Champion Power Equipment Tundra the last two days we were here. It was just a matter of me getting adjusted to it. I learned a lot the whole night. I feel like we were legitimately a contending truck there at the end.”

5. Noah Gragson – It was Gragson’s first time on dirt at Eldora. In the fifth heat race, he placed second. Toward the end of the race, it was all about track position. When Stage 3 went back underway, Gragson restarted in the fourth position. He battled hard throughout the rest of the night, only to place seventh in his first dirt track race.

“That race was ridiculous, but also so much fun,” Gragson said. “It was something that really wasn’t in my wheelhouse. I’m used to running short-track asphalt stuff and this was nothing like anything I’d ever done before. The track was constantly changing. It was wild going three or four-wide most of the race. “It was a wild night at Eldora as the race was run under caution 38 percent of the time.

The race featured 10 cautions for 59 laps, as well as, four leaders among 15 lead changes.

Next Up: The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series heads to Pocono International Raceway Saturday, July 29.

July 24, 2017
John Hunter Nemechek Goes Back To Back In 2017

John Hunter Nemechek won the M&MS 200 at Iowa Speedway Friday night, capturing his second straight victory.

Noah Gragson set the pole in qualifying, alongside him was Kyle Busch Motorsports teammate Christopher Bell, who has won twice this season. Sixty laps each made up Stages 1 and 2, while 80 laps made up the final laps.

When Stage 1 began, Gragson led early, but it was Bell who took the lead on Lap 17 and never looked back. Bell would go on to win the first stage, which was incident free.

Stage 2 took place on lap 69; Bell and Chase Briscoe were on the front row after pit stops. While it looked like the stage would remain incident free once again, problems began on Lap 95 for Ben Rhodes, who had a vibration and had to pit from fifth place. The second caution came out on Lap 108 when Mike Senica spun off Turn 2.

This caution brought many varying pit strategies. The race leader Bell stayed out while the rest of the field pitted.

Stage 2 went back to green on Lap 113 and Johnny Sauter took the lead away from Bell three laps later. Toward the end of the stage, Kaz Grala and Cody Coughlin made contact on the backstretch to bring out another caution. Rhodes was also involved, getting a flat tire due to contact. NASCAR made the decision to end the stage under caution, to allow clean up due to extensive fluid laid down the track. Sauter ended up winning the second stage.

Stage 3 got underway with 68 laps to go. Sauter was setting the pace until Briscoe took the lead with 17 laps to go. It looked like the race was going to remain green but Matt Crafton wrecked and hit the wall hard in Turns 3 and 4, due to a bump by his teammate Grant Enfinger. Under this caution, we saw the race-winning call. Sauter stayed out, while others pitted. This also saw eventual race winner, Nemechek, take four tires and restart in the fourth position.

With seven to go for the restart, Sauter was on old tires as Briscoe made a pass for the lead and held on for one lap. Nemechek made the winning pass with six to go on the backstretch. When he took the checkered flag, there was a wreck involving Harrison Burton and Justin Haley. Both drivers were uninjured.

“That’s definitely special,” Nemechek said. “All year, we felt really good about this whole stretch, Gateway, Iowa and Kentucky. So hopefully, we can go to Kentucky and make it three in a row.”

“I can’t say enough,” Nemechek said. “Thank you to all my guys. They’re so determined. They work as many hours as needed. This is fun getting to victory lane.”

Sauter, Brandon Jones, Enfinger and Bell rounded out the top five. Current Truck Series champion Sauter is the points leader by 42 over second place Bell.

This was Nemechek’s second win of the year and his fifth career win. He led once for six laps.

There were five leaders among six lead changes, with four cautions for 34 laps.

Next Up: The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series takes next weekend off, before heading to Kentucky Speedway Thursday, July 6.

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June 23, 2017
Camping World Truck Series Preview – Iowa

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series heads to Iowa Speedway this Friday night for race number nine of the 2017 season.

Currently, there are 34 trucks on the preliminary entry list. In the last five races, there have been three different winners. Erik Jones, who is not entered, is the only repeat winner with victories in 2014 and 2015.

Here are some of the drivers to keep an eye on during Friday night’s M&M’s 200.

Matt Crafton – Crafton has one win at Iowa which came in 2011. However, in the last three races at Iowa, he has two top fives and three top 10 finishes, with 33 laps led. Crafton ranks number one among active drivers at Iowa Speedway. He has not won yet this season but looks to turn that around at Iowa.

John Hunter Nemechek – Nemechek is coming off his first win of the season last week. In the last three races at Iowa, Nemechek has one top 10 and one pole, along with 53 laps led. His average finish 15.0, but a win carries momentum into the next race. Keep an eye on Nemechek once again this week.

Christopher Bell – Bell is having a strong season so far. In Iowa, he has competed in the last two races with a finish of ninth or better. He has one top five and two top ten finishes. Bell is always a threat week in and week out.

Johnny Sauter – Sauter has been decent in his recent Iowa outings. In the past five races, he has one top five and two top finishes. In his championship season last year, Sauter finished 10th in the 2016 race. Sauter might just sneak a win out on Friday night.

Ben Rhodes – Rhodes only has one start at Iowa coming in 2016, earning a fourth place finish.

Drivers To Watch:

Ryan Truex -Truex has been strong as of late. This season he has placed two top fives and six top 10 finishes, although, Truex has never competed in the Truck Series at Iowa.

Brandon Jones – Jones is competing in the Truck Series once again this weekend. He has competed in two races at Iowa with the best finish of second in 2015.

Chase Briscoe – Briscoe has been oh so close this season regarding victory lane. The driver of the No. 29 Brad Keselowski Racing F-150 has finished second in the last two races. In 2016, Briscoe competed at Iowa in the ARCA Racing Series and notched a win at the track.

Noah Gragson – Iowa might be a breakthrough point for Gragson. During his K&N Pro Series days, Gragson has a finish of third, second and sixth, respectively.

Coverage starts on Friday morning with the first of two practices beginning at 10:00 a.m. ET on Fox Sports 1. Qualifying is slated for 6:05 p.m. ET Friday evening. Race coverage begins at 7:30 p.m. on FS1 and the Motor Racing Network with the green flag scheduled for 8:47 p.m.

June 21, 2017
Top Five NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Rankings-Gateway

The NASCAR Camping Truck Series headed to Gateway Motorsports Park on Saturday night. It was the fourth race for the track since its return in 2014. The race was action packed and featured different pit strategies. Chase Briscoe won his first career pole in the series, alongside him was race winner John Hunter Nemechek.

1. John Hunter Nemechek – Nemechek had a decent track record coming into Gateway but never had won. Nemechek set the pace early by taking the Stage 1 win. He faltered a little bit in Stage 2 after pit stops but wound up finishing third. After a late race caution with eight laps to go, Nemechek made the pass for the win with six laps to go and held off Chase Briscoe for the win. It was a gutsy pit call by taking fuel only but it paid off.

“Incredible,” Nemechek said, “I felt like we had the truck to beat if we had track position.” Nemechek led three times for 46 laps.

2. Chase Briscoe – Briscoe was another contender for the win all night long. After Nemechek took the Stage 1 win, Briscoe had the dominant truck in Stage 2, ultimately winning the stage. However, a pit stop with 27 laps to go, cost him the win after a miscommunication with his crew. A late race caution came with 13 laps to go, this saw Briscoe come down pit road and take four tires. After the restart, he tried all he could to get to Nemechek, but eventually, settled for second place once again for the second week in a row.

“Tonight was a really great night for Brad Keselowski Racing and I’m proud of this team,” Briscoe said. “We’ve had fast Ford F-150s at every single race this year, but this was the first time we really dominated.” Briscoe now has five top-five finishes of the year.

3. Christopher Bell – After starting third, Bell was quietly in contention all night. In Stage 1, he finished fourth, while he finished fifth in the second stage. Bell made his pit stop with 30 laps to go by taking four tires. He was headed straight for the leader with 13 laps to go by taking second before a caution ultimately slowed the pace. Bell was second with two laps to go when Chase Briscoe made a dive bomb move and moved Bell up the track. He eventually got a flat tire and finished sixth.

“We had a really, really good truck there on the long run after we made our pit stop,” Bell said. “The other guys didn’t take tires and we did so that definitely helped us there and I felt like we were going to have it. We had a really strong JBL Tundra there at the end, but I didn’t get it done on the restart and I feel bad for my guys because they worked really hard.”

4. Matt Crafton – Crafton was finally looking to break through at Gateway after three years of bad luck there. He finished third in Stage 1 and second in Stage 2. After a miscue by Chase Briscoe’s pit crew, Crafton took the lead with 25 laps to go. A caution came out, however, with 13 laps to go for a stalled truck. He held the lead for two laps after the restart, before eventually getting passed by race winner John Hunter Nemechek. Crafton fell back to a disappointing fourth.

“Those guys just took two tires, and I was on no tires,” Crafton said. “You win some, you lose some. Everybody is upset, but at the same time, they knew we were here tonight.”

5. Grant Enfinger – Enfinger was nobody’s pick to win, but he quietly had a solid night finishing in the fifth position.

“It turned out that way because these guys busted their tails all day,” Enfinger said. “We had a better truck, I feel like, than fifth, but it gets dicey on the restarts, and you’ve got to put yourself in compromising situations to even have a shot at it.”

The race featured only three cautions for 17 laps, with five leaders among nine lead changes.

Johnny Sauter continues to lead the point standings by thirty-eight points over second-place Matt Crafton.

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series now heads to Iowa Speedway Friday night June 23.

June 18, 2017
Christopher Bell Wins Wild Truck Race at Texas

Christopher Bell held on to win the winstaronlinegaming.com 400 after a wild finish at Texas Motor Speedway. This was his second series win in 2017 and his fourth career win in the Truck Series.

It was round seven for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in the 2017 season. The race had three stages. Forty laps made up Stages 1 and 2, while 87 laps made up Stage 3. Noah Gragson and Johnny Sauter set the front row in qualifying earlier in the day.

After Stage 1 began, Noah Gragson had a strong truck early and led his first ever laps in the Truck Series. However, there were a few cautions that took place on Lap 3 for Austin Cindric and Lap 7 for Jordan Anderson. Barring a few cautions early, there were some long green flag runs.

Last week’s winner, Johnny Sauter, took the lead on Lap 20. From there, Sauter held on to win the Stage 1. Even after pit stops, Sauter won the race off pit road.

Stage 2 began on Lap 47, with Sauter and Chase Briscoe on the front row. With Sauter dominating most of the stage, Christopher Bell, after starting 21st, took the lead on Lap 70. Not much action happened in Stage 2, and Bell, eventually went on to win Stage 2.

Stage 3 took place on Lap 86, with Bell and teammate, Myatt Snider, on point. Long green flag runs were the story in the final stage until a caution came out with 50 laps to go for Stewart Friesen who hit the wall on the frontstretch.

After a restart with 43 laps to go, there were six laps of green flag racing until another caution took place for Snider, who spun off Turn 2.

Race leader Bell had to survive a few more restarts after having two more cautions on Lap 137 and on Lap 157. During those laps, Chase Briscoe had come alive to be a strong contender for the win.

With the restart taking place with eight laps to go, it looked like the race would stay green. However, Kaz Grala and Myatt Snider got together in a crash, thus bringing out a caution.

The restart took place with two laps to go, as Bell and Briscoe were the race leaders. Briscoe had gotten a little bit of an edge on Bell, but Bell stayed side-by-side with him until the final caution took place after the leaders crossed the finish line. The caution was for Timothy Peters and Austin Wayne Self who got into each other, sending Peters into the grass and causing him to flip several times before eventually landing upside down. After the crazy crash, Peters was able to walk away under his own power. He was evaluated and released from the Texas Motor Speedway infield care center.

However, there was another issue that was taking place and that was deciding the winner. Both Briscoe and Bell were in a dead heat at the finish line. After some confusion, and video reviewing by the NASCAR officials, NASCAR declared Christopher Bell as the race winner.

There were 10 cautions for 42 laps and five leaders among eight lead changes.

The next scheduled NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race is Saturday night June 17 at Gateway Motorsports Park.

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June 9, 2017
Briscoe Fastest in First Truck Practice at Atlanta

HAMPTON, Ga. — Chase Briscoe topped the chart in the first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

The driver of the No. 29 Brad Keselowski Racing Ford was the fastest with a time of 30.616 and a speed of 181.082 mph. Noah Gragson was second in his No. 18 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota with a time of 30.820 and a speed of 179.883 mph and Alex Bowman was third in his No. 24 GMS Racing Chevrolet with a time of 30.901 and a speed of 179.412 mph.

Christopher Bell was fourth fastest in his No. 4 KBM Toyota with a time of 30.954 and a speed of 179.104 mph while Chase Elliott rounded out the top-five in his No. 24 GMS Chevrolet with a time of 31.013 and a speed of 178.764 mph.

Briscoe posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 176.255 mph.

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March 3, 2017