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  • Chandler Smith wins 2022 Truck Series regular-season finale at Pocono

    Chandler Smith wins 2022 Truck Series regular-season finale at Pocono

    After losing the lead to Ryan Preece with less than 20 laps remaining, Chandler Smith executed a restart with 14 laps remaining and a draft from teammate Corey Heim to his advantage as he reassumed the lead and fended off Preece to win the CRC Brakleen 150 at Pocono Raceway on Saturday, July 23.

    The 20-year-old Smith from Talking Rock, Georgia, led three times for a race-high 49 of 60-scheduled laps as he capped off the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular season stretch with his second victory of the season and added momentum in his pursuit for his first NASCAR national touring series championship.

    With on-track qualifying that was set for Friday canceled due to rain, the starting lineup was determined through a qualifying metric from NASCAR’s rulebook. As a result, Zane Smith, the regular-season points leader, started on pole position while Chandler Smith joined Smith on the front row.

    Prior to the event, Josh Reaume dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his truck.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Zane Smith and Chandler Smith dueled for the top spot entering the first turn as Chandler Smith used the inside lane to rocket his No. 18 Charge Me Toyota Tundra TRD Pro to the lead. Through the Long Pond straightaway, Zane Smith settled in the runner-up spot behind Chandler Smith while Carson Hocevar was in third ahead of Stewart Friesen, Christian Eckes, Derek Kraus, John Hunter Nemechek and Ty Majeski. 

    Just as Zane Smith started to challenge Chandler Smith for the lead, the first caution flew when rookie Jack Wood got loose entering the second turn and spun his No. 24 GMS Racing Chevrolet Silverado RST, though he was dodged by the oncoming field.

    As the event restarted on the fourth lap, the field fanned out to multiple lanes entering the first turn as Chandler Smith retained the lead ahead of Zane Smith’s No. 38 Fr8 Auctions Ford F-150 while Hocevar and Eckes battled for third ahead of Kraus, Friesen and Nemechek.

    Two laps later, the caution returned when Dean Thompson spun his No. 40 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Silverado RST in Turn 1. During the caution period, some like Ty Majeski and Grant Enfinger, who was encountering radio issues to his No. 23 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RSt, pitted while the rest led by Chandler Smith remained on the track.

    With five laps remaining in the first stage, the event proceeded under green. At the start, Chandler Smith took off with the lead on the outside lane while Eckes rocketed his No. 98 Cub Records Toyota Tundra TRD Pro into the runner-up spot. Behind, Hocevar fended off Nemechek for third place before Zane Smith and Friesen took Nemechek three-wide past the Tunnel Curve for spots in the top five. 

    As the on-track battles continued through the frontstretch and around the Tricky Triangle, the caution returned during the following lap when Todd Bodine, who was making his 800th NASCAR national touring series career start, got pinched in between Hailie Deegan and Blaine Perkins entering the first turn. The contact sent Bodine’s No. 62 Camping World Toyota Tundra TRD Pro around and into the outside wall as Jack Wood and Tyler Hill piled into Bodine’s Toyota. The wreck and damage were enough to conclude Bodine’s historic NASCAR career in the garage.

    The wreck involving Bodine was enough for the first stage scheduled for Lap 15 to conclude under caution as Chandler Smith captured his second stage victory of the season. Eckes settled in second followed by Hocevar, Friesen, Derek Kraus, Zane Smith, Nemechek, Tyler Ankrum, Matt Crafton and rookie Corey Heim. With his sixth-place result, Zane Smith clinched the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular season championship.

    Under the stage break, some led by Kraus and Zane Smith pitted while the rest led by Chandler Smith remained on the track.

    The second stage started on Lap 18 as Chandler Smith and Hocevar occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out, Smith retained the lead on the outside lane followed by Eckes and Friesen while Hocevar was being overtaken by Heim, Ankrum, Crafton, Ryan Preece, Matt DiBenedetto and Nemechek, all of whom were running on the outside lane through the Pocono turns.

    Through the first 20 scheduled laps, Chandler Smith was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Eckes followed by Friesen, Heim and Ankrum while Preece, Crafton, DiBenedetto, Nemechek and Hocevar were in the top 10. Derek Kraus was back in 11th ahead of Tanner Gray, Majeski, Jesse Little and Grant Enfinger while Colby Howard, Austin Hill, Timmy Hill, Chase Purdy and Blaine Perkins were in the top 20. Meanwhile, names like Zane Smith, Ben Rhodes and Hailie Deegan were mired outside of the top 20.

    By Lap 25, Chandler Smith extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Eckes. Meanwhile, Heim moved his No. 51 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro into third place while Friesen and Preece were scored in the top five. Crafton and Enfinger, both of whom occupied the final two spots to the Playoffs, were in seventh and 19th while Ankrum and Kraus, the first two competitors scored outside of the top-10 cutline, were in sixth and 11th.

    A few laps later, names like Heim, Friesen, Preece, Hocevar, Kraus, Austin Hill, DiBenedetto and Tanner Gray pitted under green. By Lap 28, Chandler Smith surrendered the lead to pit for four fresh tires and fuel while Eckes cycled to the lead. 

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 30, Eckes captured his first stage victory of the season. Ankrum settled in second following a side-by-side battle between Crafton and Nemechek. Majeski, Colby Howard, Chase Purdy, Zane Smith, Jesse Little and Enfinger were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, some led by Eckes pitted while the rest led by Chandler Smith remained on the track.

    With 25 laps remaining, the final stage started under green as Chandler Smith and Ryan Preece occupied the front row. At the start, Chandler Smith retained the lead on the outside lane followed by Preece, Heim, Hocevar, Hill and Kraus as the field fanned out through the Long Pond straightaway.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Chandler Smith was leading by four-tenths of a second over Preece while Heim, Hocevar and Austin Hill retained their spots in the top five. Kraus was in sixth ahead of Nemechek, DiBenedetto, Eckes and Ankrum while Crafton and Enfinger were in 13th and 17th.

    Shortly after, the battle for the lead ignited as Preece, who was dealing with a left-rear tire rub, dueled and overtook Chandler Smith for the top spot in Turn 1. Just as the battle between Preece and Smith continued, the caution returned with 18 laps remaining when Spencer Boyd spun from Turn 3 to the frontstretch as he also dropped debris on the frontstretch. During the caution period, Zane Smith pitted to fix a throttle issue along with Rhodes, who opted for fresh tires, while the rest led by Preece remained on the track.

    With 14 laps remaining, the event proceeded under green. At the start, Heim pushed teammate Chandler Smith back to the lead while Preece fell back to second. Meanwhile, Hocevar overtook Heim for third place as Nemechek joined the battle followed by Austin Hill, Kraus and Majeski.

    Two laps later, Kraus, who was running in seventh place, started to have smoke come out of the left-front fender of his No. 19 NAPA Chevrolet Silverado RST as he reported a power steering failure to his truck. Despite the issue, he continued on the track and the event remained under green.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Chandler Smith continued to lead by half a second over Preece’s No. 17 RaceChoice.com Ford F-150 followed by Heim, Hocevar and Nemechek while Austin Hill, Eckes, Kraus, Majeski and Tanner Gray were in the top 10. By then, Crafton was in 13th, Zane Smith recovered to 15th ahead of Ankrum and Enfinger was back in 18th behind Colby Howard.

    With five laps remaining, the top-six competitors were separated by less than two seconds as Chandler Smith remained as the leader by four-tenths of a second over Preece and seven-tenths of a second over teammate Heim. Behind, Hocevar, Nemechek and Hill engaged in a three-truck battle for fourth place while Kraus, Tanner Gray, DiBenedetto, Zane Smith, Crafton, Ankrum and Enfinger were in ninth, 10th, 12th, 13th, 15th, 16th and 17th, respectively.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Chandler Smith was leading by two-tenths of a second over Preece. While Preece kept Smith close to his front windshield, he could not gain any late momentum through the Trick Triangle’s turns as Smith managed to cycle his way back to the frontstretch and claim his second checkered flag of the season by more than two-tenths of a second.

    With the victory, Smith recorded his fourth Camping World Truck Series career victory, his first at Pocono and his first win since winning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March. He also recorded the seventh Pocono victory for Kyle Busch Motorsports. By collecting his second checkered flag of the season along with two stage victories throughout the regular season stretch, Smith and his No. 18 KBM Toyota team led by former championship-winning crew chief Danny Stockman Jr. will commence the 2022 Playoffs in second place in the Playoff standings with 2,022 behind Zane Smith, who holds 2,037 with his regular-season title.

    Photo by Jeff Clemons for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “God’s good,” Smith said on FOX. “We’ve been going through a little bit of a struggle here recently, but just when we needed to shine, we started shining. I can’t thank [Kyle Busch Motorsports]. This Charge Me Toyota Tundra was fast today. It was really good. It was a little tight. [I] Had problems getting through the gears. Also, thank you to the No. 51 team. Just can’t thank the good Lord. This is awesome! [The victory is] Big because we didn’t have a lot of Playoff points going into the Playoffs and today, we got one stage win, won the race, so I think we’re gonna be looking pretty sharp going to [Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park].”

    Preece, who made his seventh Truck start of the season and won in his latest series start at Nashville Superspeedway in June, settled in the runner-up spot while Nemechek, Heim and Hocevar finished in the top five. Completing the top 10 were Austin Hill, Majeski, Eckes, Kraus and Tanner Gray. 

    With their finishes of 15th and 17th, Matt Crafton and Grant Enfinger secured the final two spots to the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs. Kraus, who finished ninth, was the first competitor to miss the top-10 cutline to the Playoffs by 17 points.

    “After a day like today, it’s a little bit frustrating,” Enfinger said. “First and foremost, got to say thank you to everybody that stuck behind us. Everybody at GMS Fabrication. They built a brand new truck for here. We never were able to see what it did, so everything that happened to us today was on us. We’re gonna take it back, we’re gonna learn from it. We’re not gonna get down. The good thing about this regular season is it’s over and we made it to the off-season. We’ve learned a lot throughout this year. We’re getting transitioned again. [Crew chief] Jeff Hensley did a great job on the [pit] box, battling through the stuff that was self-inflicted. I’m frustrated right now, but we’re not gonna get down. We’re gonna work hard and be ready for [Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park].”

    “We had a very, very good truck,” Crafton said. “It was really good on short run. We had a way better truck than where we finished, but you need to be aggressive on the starts and I couldn’t put myself in any bad situations. You have to put yourself in bad situations on restarts to be able to get the spots. I would have to wait for everything to settle down and then, pass people, earn it instead of being a wild man on restarts. We just had to keep [Kraus] in grasp right there and hopefully, we didn’t get a new winner. [The team] worked really hard.”

    “[There were] A couple races that we could’ve improved on where we were better,” Kraus said. “Overall, it’s what happened. I don’t know what happened when the power steering went away. Just parts failure. Just move on, hang our heads high and we’ll go on to the next 10 [Playoff] races.”

    Zane Smith, Ben Rhodes, John Hunter Nemechek, Chandler Smith, Stewart Friesen, Ty Majeski, Carson Hocevar, Christian Eckes, Grant Enfinger and Matt Crafton have made the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs. All 10 competitors will embark on a seven-race postseason stretch and contend for this year’s Truck title.

    Derek Kraus, Tyler Ankrum, Matt DiBenedetto, Tanner Gray, Colby Howard, Timmy Hill, Chase Purdy, Lawless Alan, Hailie Deegan, Dean Thompson, Jack Wood, Spencer Boyd, Kris Wright, Blaine Perkins were among the remaining competitors whom did not make the Playoffs.

    There were five lead changes for three different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 20 laps.

    Results.

    1. Chandler Smith, 49 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    2. Ryan Preece, six laps led

    3. John Hunter Nemechek

    4. Corey Heim

    5. Carson Hocevar

    6. Austin Hill

    7. Ty Majeski

    8. Christian Eckes, five laps led, Stage 2 winner

    9. Derek Kraus

    10. Tanner Gray

    11. Chase Purdy

    12. Matt DiBenedetto

    13. Zane Smith

    14. Stewart Friesen

    15. Matt Crafton

    16. Tyler Ankrum

    17. Grant Enfinger 

    18. Colby Howard

    19. Ben Rhodes

    20. Tate Folgeman

    21. Max Gutierrez

    22. Lawless Alan

    23. Kaz Grala

    24. Dean Thompson

    25. Kaden Honeycutt

    26. Jesse Little

    27. Kris Wright

    28. Timmy Hill

    29. Blaine Perkins

    30. Tyler Hill

    31. Armani Williams, one lap down

    32. Spencer Boyd, one lap down

    33. Hailie Deegan – OUT, Brakes

    34. Josh Reaume, five laps down

    35. Jack Wood – OUT, Accident

    36. Todd Bodine – OUT, Accident

    The 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs is set to commence next Friday, July 29, at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, which marks the series’ return to the venue since 2011. The event is scheduled to commence at 9 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Kligerman fends off Zane Smith for wild Truck Series victory at Mid-Ohio

    Kligerman fends off Zane Smith for wild Truck Series victory at Mid-Ohio

    Parker Kligerman capitalized in a three-lap shootout and fended off several fierce challenges from Zane Smith to win the inaugural O’Reilly Auto Parts 150 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Saturday, July 9. The 31-year-old Kligerman from Stamford, Connecticut, led three times for a race-high 56 of 67 laps, including the final three, as he assumed the lead from Zane Smith at the start of a three-lap dash to the finish.

    Once he assumed the lead, Kligerman managed to fend off and remain in front of Smith through the 13-turn circuit three times before etching his name as the winner of the inaugural Truck event at Mid-Ohio and return to Victory Lane in the series for the first time in four seasons.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, which was also shortened due to rain, rookie Corey Heim started on the pole position after posting a time at 69.181 mph in 117.500 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Parker Kligerman, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 68.869 mph in 118.032 seconds.

    Prior to the event, names like Derek Kraus, Austin Wayne Self and Kris Wright dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made toothier respective trucks.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Heim launched his No. 51 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro clear of the field entering the first turn followed by Kligerman and Carson Hocevar as the field fanned out and jostled for early positions. With the competitors navigating their way through the 13-turn circuit for the first time, Heim, who was engaged in an early battle with Kligerman for the lead, led the first lap as John Hunter Nemechek moved up to third place. Meanwhile, Hocevar and Matt DiBenedetto battled for fourth in front of Matt Crafton and Tyler Ankrum.

    Two laps later, Kligerman, who intimidated Heim for the lead since the start, made his move in Turn 4 to assume the lead while Heim kept Kligerman within his sights.

    Through the first five scheduled laps, Kligerman was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Heim followed by Nemechek, DiBenedetto and Hocevar while Tyler Ankrum, Matt Crafton, Zane Smith, Grant Enfinger and Justin Marks were in the top 10. Behind, Dylan Lupton was in 11th ahead of Connor Mosack, Christian Eckes, Kaz Grala and Taylor Gray while Tanner Gray, Ben Rhodes, Stewart Friesen, Trey Burke III and rookie Jack Wood occupied the top 20. Ty Majeski was in 21st and Chandler Smith was in 23rd ahead of Hailie Deegan and Derek Kraus.

    Three laps later, the first caution flew when Mason Filippi stopped on the track. During the caution period, some like Dean Thompson and Taylor Gray pitted while the rest led by Kligerman remained on the track.

    When the event restarted on Lap 10, Kligerman and Heim battled for the lead as the former retained the top spot through the first two turns and entering Turns 3 and 4. Meanwhile, Nemechek retained third ahead of DiBenedetto, Ankrum, Hocevar and the field.

    By Lap 15, Kligerman extended his advantage over Heim followed by Nemechek, Zane Smith and Ankrum while Enfinger, Hocevar, Justin Marks, Crafton and Christian Eckes were in the top 10. Behind, Frisen was in 11th followed by Rhodes, who was reporting engine issues to his truck. Lupton, Grala and Tanner Tray occupied the top 15 while Connor Mosack, Majeski, Chandler Smith, Deegan and Chase Purdy were in the top 20. Meanwhile, DiBenedetto, who fell off the pace on Lap 13 when the power in his No. 25 Rackley Roofing Chevrolet Silverado RST shut off before re-firing entering Turn 2, was mired back in 28th.

    During the following lap, the caution returned when Trey Burke III, who earlier went off the course in Turn 2, came to a stop while trying to exit pit road. 

    With a single lap remaining in the first stage, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Kligerman retained the lead ahead of Heim, who was challenged by teammate Nemechek for the runner-up spot as Zane Smith joined the battle. In the midst of the three-truck battle, Zane Smith overtook both Kyle Busch Motorsports competitors to move into the runner-up spot as the field fanned out. Despite Smith’s late charge to the front, Kligerman managed to fend off Smith to remain the leader as he went on to claim the first stage victory on Lap 20. Zane Smith settled in second followed by Nemechek, Heim and Enfinger while Eckes, Ankrum, Hocevar, Marks and Friesen were scored in the top 10.

    Following a three-minute break period, where the teams were allowed to change tires, add fuel and make adjustments to their respective trucks while the field retained their sports, the second stage started under green on Lap 21. At the start, Kligerman and Zane Smith dueled for the lead from Turn 2 to Turn 4 until Kligerman managed to fend off Smith again as he remained with the lead. Behind, teammates Nemechek and Heim battled for third in front of Enfinger while Eckes made his way to sixth in front of Majeski.

    Through the first 25 scheduled laps, Kligerman remained as the leader by eight-tenths of a second over Zane Smith while Nemechek, Heim and Eckes were in the top five. Friesen was in sixth while Grant Enfinger, Hocevar, Ankrum and Grala were in the top 10. A lap earlier, Rhodes made an unscheduled pit stop as his pit crew went to work on the fuel cell amid his power issues to his No. 99 Tenda Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. The situation for Rhodes went from bad to worse when he was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    By Lap 30, Kligerman continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second over Zane Smith while Nemechek, Heim and Eckes remained in the top five.

    Nearing the Lap 35 mark, Nemechek, who had smoke coming out of his No. 4 Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, pitted before he made the turn to the garage. By then, Rhodes, who was two laps behind the leaders amid his mechanical issue, went off the course, though he continued as the race remained under green.

    At the start of the final lap of the second stage, the battle for the lead between Kligerman and Zane Smith ignited as Smith, who had slowly been pressuring Kligerman for the lead, made his move for the top spot and dueled for the lead through the first two turns. When the leaders returned to the start/finish line, Smith, who managed to overtake and clear Kligerman for the lead through the Esses, claimed his seventh stage victory of the season after winning the second stage on Lap 40. Kligerman settled in second followed by Heim, Eckes and Hocevar while Enfinger, Friesen, Ankrum, Grala and Majeski. 

    Following another three-minute break period for pit stops and adjustments, the final stage commenced under green with 25 laps remaining. At the start, Zane Smith received a strong start to hold the lead before Kligerman launched his challenge for the lead exiting Turn 2. Then in Turn 4, Kligerman gained a strong run as he managed to reassume the lead.

    With 20 laps remaining, Kligerman was leading by three-tenths of a second over Zane Smith while Heim, Hocevar, Eckes, Enfinger, Friesen, Ankrum, Chandler Smith and Tanner Gray were in the top 10. In the midst of the on-track action, Dylan Lupton backed his No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST into the tire barriers in Turn 7. Two laps earlier, Justin Marks, who was running in 13th, spun by himself in Turn 10 as he dropped out of the top 20.

    Two laps later, the caution returned when Marks, who darted to the left while trying to avoid Lawless Alan, lost his brakes and slid his No. 41 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Silverado RST backward into the gravel trap in Turn 4 as he pounded the tire barriers on his right side, thus ending his one-race return as a driver in the infield care center. By then, Tyler Ankrum, who was running in the top 10, dropped off the pace after sustaining damage and a right-rear tire.

    Down to the final 14 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Kligerman retained the lead in front of Zane Smith while Heim and Hoover battled for third place in front of the field. Shortly after, however, the caution returned for a multi-truck incident that started when Austin Wayne Self, who got loose while battling Chase Purdy and Colby Howard in a three-wide battle entering the first turn, spun and was hit by rookie Jack Wood’s No. 24 GMS Racing Chevrolet Silverado RST while Blaine Perkins and Timmy Hill sustained damage amid the carnage.

    With eight laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Zane Smith overtook Kligerman to reassume the lead exiting the first turn. At the same time, Hocevar briefly took over the runner-up spot over Kligerman before he went wide entering Turn 2 and fell back to fourth. In the midst of the on-track battles, Heim moved up to second followed by Kligerman and Hocevar. When the field returned to the start/finish line, Chase Purdy spun in Turn 12 following contact with DiBenedetto, but the race proceeded under green. 

    During the following lap, however, the caution flew when Heim fell off the pace due to a mechanical failure and came to a stop between Turns 6 and 7 as his hopes of winning a second Triple Truck Challenge bonus came to an end.

    Down to the final three laps of the event, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Zane Smith held a brief advantage before Kligerman made his move and reassumed the top spot exiting the fourth turn while Hocevar was up in third place. Behind, Crafton and Kris Wright spun, but the race proceeded under green. As the field returned to the start/finish line, Zane Smith launched another challenge on Kligerman for the lead, but he could not execute the move as Kligerman retained the top spot in his No. 75 Food Country USA/Tide Chevrolet Silverado RST.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Kligerman received another challenge from Zane Smith’s No. 38 Boot Barn Ford F-150 entering the first turn, though Kligerman retained the lead. Through Turns 3 to 12, Kligerman managed to hold a reasonable gap between himself and Smith. Then entering Turn 13, Smith launched his final attack by bumping and trying to move Kligerman up the track. The move, however, did not execute to the end as Kligerman managed to claim the checkered flag and cap off his dominant run with a narrow victory. 

    With the victory, Kligerman earned his third career win in the Camping World Truck Series and his first since winning at Talladega Superspeedway in October 2017, which also marked the final victory to date for Henderson Motorsports. He also claimed the third and final $50,000 bonus from the Triple Truck Challenge.

    “[The win]’s hard to put into words,” Kligerman said on FS1. “I was really emotional on the cooldown lap because this whole team, it’s like a team of second chances. Two years ago, I thought my driving days were done. This team gave me a call, wanted to get back racing and it’s just been a steady improvement throughout. [Owners] Charlie Henderson, Don Henderson, the whole Henderson family. All the employees at Food Country USA who give us this opportunity to come out here and do this. It’s unbelievable when you put a talented group of humans together, what they can achieve. We were doing this on an absolute fraction of what the trucks are up against. And to win on Mid-Ohio road course, finally! A road course win! I started in road courses, I came in NASCAR thinking that would be all easy. It’s taken me more than a decade to get a win, but finally, we’re here…This is a small team that could, but we’re not a small team that doesn’t win. We win. ”

    Zane Smith, who trailed Kligerman to the finish line by more than a tenth of a second, claimed his third runner-up result of the season while Hocevar, Friesen and Eckes finished in the top five. Chandler Smith, Kaz Grala, Derek Kraus, Colby Howard and Hailie Deegan completed the top 10 on the track.

    There were five lead changes for three different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 15 laps.

    Down to the final NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular-season event of the 2022 season, Zane Smith leads the regular-season standings by 58 points over both John Hunter Nemechek and Chandler Smith, 69 over Stewart Friesen and 70 over Ben Rhodes as he closes in towards the regular-season championship. 

    Zane Smith, Ben Rhodes, John Hunter Nemechek, Chandler Smith and Stewart Friesen are locked into the 2022 Truck Playoffs based on winning at least once throughout the season while Ty Majeski, Christian Eckes and Carson Hocevar have secured spots for the Playoffs based on points. Grant Enfinger remains above the top-10 cutline in ninth place by 47 points while Matt Crafton holds the 10th and final transfer spot to the Playoffs by 19 points. Derek Kraus trails the top-10 cutline by 19 points, Tyler Ankrum trails by 46, Matt DiBenedetto trails by 63, Tanner Gray trails by 72, Chase Purdy trails by 104 and Colby Howard trails by 139.

    Results.

    1. Parker Kligerman, 56 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    2. Zane Smith, eight laps led, Stage 2 winner

    3. Carson Hocevar

    4. Stewart Friesen

    5. Christian Eckes

    6. Chandler Smith

    7. Kaz Grala

    8. Derek Kraus

    9. Colby Howard

    10. Hailie Deegan

    11. Grant Enfinger

    12. Ty Majeski

    13. Chase Purdy

    14. Austin Wayne Self

    15. Taylor Gray

    16. Spencer Boyd

    17. Timmy Hill

    18. Matt Crafton

    19. Matt DiBenedetto

    20. Tanner Gray

    21. Tyler Ankrum

    22. Stephen Mallozzi

    23. Ben Rhodes, one lap down

    24. Lawless Alan, one lap down

    25. Kris Wright – OUT, Accident

    26. Corey Heim – OUT, Transmission, three laps down

    27. Dean Thompson, seven laps down

    28. John Hunter Nemechek, 10 laps down

    29. Jack Wood – OUT, Accident

    30. Blaine Perkins – OUT, Accident

    31. Justin Marks – OUT, Accident

    32. Dylan Lupton – OUT, Accident

    33. Kenko Miura, 25 laps down

    34. Connor Mosack – OUT, Brakes

    35. Trey Burke III – OUT, Rear gear

    36. Mason Filippi – OUT, Engine

    The 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular-season stretch is set to conclude at Pocono Raceway on July 23, where the 10-truck Playoff field will be determined. The event’s coverage is scheduled to occur at noon ET on FOX.

  • Kyle Busch Motorsports to surpass 750 combined Truck Series starts at Mid-Ohio

    Kyle Busch Motorsports to surpass 750 combined Truck Series starts at Mid-Ohio

    With the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular season stretch reaching its conclusion, Kyle Busch Motorsports is set to surpass a milestone start in the team’s 13th season in Truck competition. When KBM drivers Corey Heim, John Hunter Nemechek and Chandler Smith compete in this weekend’s inaugural event at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, KBM will surpass a combined 750 career starts in the Truck Series.

    Kyle Busch Motorsports debuted in the NASCAR Truck Series in 2010 with trucks purchased from Roush Fenway Racing and assets acquired from Xpress Motorsports as the team headquartered in Mooresville, North Carolina. By then, Busch had campaigned in seven part-time seasons in the series while accumulating 16 victories, all occurring with Billy Ballew Motorsports.

    For the 2010 season, Kyle Busch Motorsports planned on fielding three trucks: one that would be split between Busch and Brian Ickler, another that would be driven on a full-time basis by Taylor Malsam and a third that would be piloted by former champion Johnny Benson Jr. pending additional sponsorships. Prior to the start of the season, however, Miccosukee Resorts, one of Busch’s key Truck sponsors that initially followed him to KBM from Billy Ballew Motorsports, terminated its partnership with NASCAR and left Busch without a full-time sponsor throughout his part-time campaign. In addition, Benson’s role was limited to a part-time status as he shared the No. 18 Toyota Tundra entry with Busch, Ickler and Kasey Kahne while the second KBM entry, the No. 56 Toyota Tundra that was piloted by Malsam, was terminated following the first seven events. Despite the rocky start, it only took the first four events of the season for Kyle Busch to record the first victory for KBM at Nashville Superspeedway in April 2010. Busch went on to achieve victories at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, Bristol Motor Speedway and Chicagoland Speedway in August, New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September, Talladega Superspeedway in October and at Texas Motor Speedway in November, all occurring in the No. 18 entry. After winning the season-finale event at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November following a four-lap shootout, Busch captured the 2010 Truck Series owners’ championship on the strength of eight victories in 16 starts throughout the 25-race schedule. In total, KBM achieved eight victories, six poles, 16 top-five results and 21 top-10 results in its first season in NASCAR competition.

    For the team’s second season in 2011, Busch fielded the No. 18 Toyota Tundra as the primary, “all-star” entry that was split between himself, Kasey Kahne, Brian Ickler, Josh Richards and Denny Hamlin. Busch also fielded the Nos. 15 and 51 entries that both campaigned in limited events and was shared between Kimi Räikkönen, German Quiroga and Richards. Throughout the 2011 Truck season, Busch notched six victories in 16 starts, Kahne won at Darlington Raceway in March and Hamlin notched his first Truck victory at Martinsville Speedway in October, all occurring in KBM’s No. 18 entry. Despite accumulating a total of eight victories, two poles, 16 top-five results and 18 top-10 results throughout the 25-race schedule, the No. 18 entry settled in second place in the final owners’ standings behind the No. 2 Kevin Harvick Inc. entry.

    Photo by Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR.

    The 2012 Truck season was a difficult season for Kyle Busch Motorsports despite the team fielding the No. 18 Toyota Tundra on a full-time basis for a third consecutive season while the No. 51 Toyota Tundra competed the final five scheduled events with Quiroga and Hamlin behind the wheel. At the start of the season, veteran Jason Leffler piloted the No. 18 Toyota as the team’s primary competitor, but was released in August after only recording six top-10 results through the first 10 events. For the remainder of the season, the No. 18 entry was split between Busch, Hamlin, Brian Scott, Kurt Busch, Drew Herring and David Mayhew. After going winless for the majority of the season, Hamlin recorded the first victory of 2012 for KBM when he piloted the No. 51 Toyota to a win at Martinsville in October. Two races later, Scott overtook rookie Kyle Larson during a two-lap shootout to wheel the No. 18 Toyota to a late victory at Phoenix Raceway in November. In the end, KBM capped off the season with Busch being edged by Cale Gale in a photo finish at Homestead as Busch concluded a Truck season winless for the first time since 2004.

    In 2013, Kyle Busch Motorsports fielded three full-time entries for the first time in the team’s history with the No. 51 Toyota Tundra entry becoming the team’s “all-star” entry that was piloted between Busch, Erik Jones, Chad Hackenbracht, Scott Bloomquist and Hamlin throughout the 22-race schedule. For the new season, the No. 18 Toyota Tundra entry was taken sole possession by full-time competitor Joey Coulter while KBM’s No. 54 Toyota Tundra entry debuted for newcomer Bubba Wallace. Through the first 20 events, the No. 51 entry visited Victory Lane four times, all with Busch. At Phoenix in November, Jones became the youngest winner in the series at age 17 years, five months and nine days after recording his first career victory in KBM’s No. 51 truck. During the following weekend at Homestead, Busch survived three late-race restarts to capture his fifth win of the 2013 season and clinch the owners’ title for his No. 51 entry in a tie-breaker against ThorSport Racing’s No. 88 entry piloted by the 2013 drivers’ champion Matt Crafton. Meanwhile, the No. 18 entry that was piloted by Coulter achieved a total of five top-10 results and a 15th-place result in the final drivers’ standings while the No. 54 entry managed to earn a trip to Victory Lane at Martinsville in October as Wallace became the first African-American competitor to win in the Truck Series. To go along with his first Truck career victory, Wallace capped off his first full-time campaign in the series with a pole, five top-five results, 12 top-10 results and an eighth-place result in the drivers’ standings.

    Photo by Kala Perkins for SpeedwayMedia.com.
    Photo by Gary Buchanan for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    The 2014 season was a breakout year for Kyle Busch Motorsports, which featured Busch and Erik Jones splitting driving responsibilities of the No. 51 Toyota Tundra while Bubba Wallace returned as the driver of the No. 54 Toyota Tundra. In total, KBM won 14 of the 22 races to the schedule as Busch and Jones, both of whom earned a combined 10 victories, guided the No. 51 entry to the team’s third owners’ championship. Wallace piloted the No. 54 truck to four victories, two poles, nine top-five results and 14 top-10 results as he finished in third place in the final drivers’ standings. 

    A month following the conclusion of the 2014 season, Kyle Busch Motorsports unveiled its driver lineup for the 2015 season with Erik Jones headlining the lineup as he was promoted to a full-time Truck Series campaign in the No. 4 Toyota Tundra while newcomer Justin Boston replaced Bubba Wallace, who graduated to the Xfinity Series with Roush Fenway Racing, in the No. 54 Toyota Tundra. Meanwhile, KBM’s No. 51 Toyota Tundra team remained as an “all-star” entry that was split between Busch, Daniel Suarez, Matt Tifft and Christopher Bell. Early in the season, Suarez and Tifft served as the primary competitors of the No. 51 entry with Busch recovering from injuries sustained in a late multi-car wreck during the Xfinity season-opening event at Daytona in February. Boston, however, was released by KBM nine races into the new season due to a breech of contract involving the driver and his sponsor Zloop. With Boston out, the No. 54 entry was split between Tifft, Cody Coughlin, Gray Gaulding, Bell and Busch, who returned to full-time competition in May. Despite the early season drama for KBM, Bell captured his first career victory at Eldora Speedway in July following a two-lap shootout while Busch piloted the No. 51 truck to two victories at Pocono Raceway and at Michigan International Speedway between July and August. Meanwhile, Jones earned victories at Iowa Speedway in June, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in August and at Texas Motor Speedway in November. To go along with five poles, 11 top-five results and 20 top-10 results, Jones claimed the 2015 Truck Series championship following a sixth-place result at Homestead and by 15 points over Tyler Reddick and 22 over Matt Crafton. With Jones’ accomplishment, Kyle Busch Motorsports achieved its first drivers’ championship along with its fourth owners’ title in NASCAR.

    Photo by Don Dunn for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    The 2016 Truck Series season featured another new driver lineup for Kyle Busch Motorsports as Bell, coming off his first career victory at Eldora, replaced Erik Jones, who moved up to the Xfinity Series with Joe Gibbs Racing, as the driver of the No. 4 Toyota Tundra while William Byron, the reigning ARCA Menards Series East champion who made his Truck debut with KBM at Phoenix in November during the previous season, piloted the No. 9 Toyota Tundra. The No. 51 Toyota Tundra entry was split between Daniel Suarez, Cody Coughlin, Jones and Gary Klutt throughout the season while the No. 18 KBM entry made a total of five starts between Busch, Coughlin and Harrison Burton. Throughout the season, Busch wheeled the No. 18 truck to victories at Martinsville in April and at Chicagoland Speedway in September while Suarez drove the No. 51 Toyota to his first Truck career victory at Phoenix in November. The No. 9 Toyota team piloted by Byron achieved great success throughout the season with the Charlotte native earning his first career victory at Kansas Speedway in May after dodging a final lap incident involving Johnny Sauter and Ben Rhodes. He went on to win at Texas and Iowa Speedway in June followed by Kentucky Speedway in July as KBM became the winningest team in the Truck Series with 51 victories. After Byron won at Pocono in July, he established a new record for achieving the most victories by a rookie Truck competitor with five. After qualifying for the inaugural 2016 Truck Playoffs, he won the first postseason event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September and utilized consistency to transfer all the way to the Playoff’s Round of 6. Byron’s title hopes, however, came to an end at Phoenix in November after his No. 9 entry suffered an engine failure with 10 laps remaining while he was leading, which prevented him from earning a ticket to the Championship Round at Homestead. Nonetheless, he went on to win the season-finale event at Homestead for his unprecedented seventh victory of the season as he wrapped up both the 2016 Rookie-of-the-Year title and the fifth career owners’ title for KBM. In comparison to Byron and the No. 9 team, Bell and the No. 4 team rallied from a rocky start to generate a consistent regular season run, including a victory at Gateway in June, to qualify for the Playoffs. Bell remained consistent throughout the Playoffs to make it all the way to the Championship Round at Homestead and contend for the drivers’ title. During the finale, however, Bell finished in eighth place on the track and in third place in the final drivers’ standings.

    Photo by Simon Scoggins for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    For the 2017 season, Kyle Busch Motorsports retained Bell as driver of the No. 4 Toyota Tundra while welcoming Noah Gragson as a full-time competitor of KBM’s No. 18 Toyota Tundra. Busch remained as a part-time competitor of his No. 51 Toyota Tundra as he split the ride with rookies Harrison Burton, Todd Gilliland and Myatt Snider while also debuting the No. 46 Toyota Tundra for a total of four events, with himself and Gilliland earning two events apiece. Busch earned a total of three victories throughout the 2017 Truck season: two in the No. 51 entry at Kansas and at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May and one in the No. 46 entry at Bristol Motor Speedway in August. In addition, the No. 51 team earned a total of nine top-10 results and settled in fourth place in the final owners’ standings. For the No. 18 entry, Gragson earned his first career victory at Martinsville in October following a late duel with former champions Matt Crafton and Johnny Sauter. To go along with three poles, four top-five results and 13 top-10 results, Gragson finished in 10th place in the final drivers’ standings and in his first full-time Truck campaign. For Bell, who entered the season as a potential title favorite, he achieved five victories along with five poles, 15 top-five results and 21 top-10 results as he made his second consecutive appearance both in the Playoffs and in the Championship Round at Homestead. During the finale, Bell finished in the runner-up spot on the track and captured the 2017 Truck Series drivers’ championship over Sauter, Austin Cindric and Crafton. With his first championship in NASCAR, Bell recorded the second drivers’ championship and the sixth owners’ title overall for KBM.

    Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images.

    During the following season, Busch retained Gragson in the No. 18 KBM Toyota Tundra while Todd Gilliland contended for the 2018 Truck Rookie-of-the-Year title in the No. 4 Toyota Tundra, thus replacing Bell as Bell became a full-time Xfinity competitor for Joe Gibbs Racing. Gilliland, however, missed four of the first six events due to age restrictions and spent the early portions of the season splitting the No. 4 Toyota with his father David, Busch and newcomer Spencer Davis while Davis, Busch, David Gilliland, Harrison Burton, Brandon Jones, Riley Herbst, Logan Seavey and Christopher Bell took turns piloting the No. 51 Toyota Tundra. The No. 46 KBM Toyota Tundra also returned for a total of six events that was split between Brandon Jones, Herbst and newcomer Christian Eckes. Throughout the season, the No. 46 entry’s best on-track result was third at Charlotte in May made by Jones while the No. 4 entry achieved a season-best result of second place at Gateway in June with Todd Gilliland, who finished in 10th place in the final drivers’ standings. The No. 51 entry went to Victory Lane twice during the season with Busch at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March and at Pocono in July while Gragson wheeled the No. 18 entry to a dominant win at Kansas in May. Despite being absent at Pocono due to illness, where he was replaced by Erik Jones, Gragson utilized consistency to qualify for the 2018 Truck Playoffs and transfer all the way to the Championship Round at Homestead, where he settled in the runner-up spot in the final drivers’ standings.  

    The 2019 season featured Harrison Burton replacing Noah Gragson, who graduated to the Xfinity Series, as the driver of Kyle Busch Motorsports’ No. 18 Toyota Tundra while Todd Gilliland remained as a full-time driver of the No. 4 Toyota Tundra. Meanwhile, the No. 51 Toyota Tundra entry returned as the “all-star” entry that was split between Busch, Eckes, Brandon Jones, Greg Biffle, Chandler Smith, Alex Tagliani and Riley Herbst. The No. 46 Toyota Tundra entry returned for a total of seven events that was split between Herbst, Smith and Raphaël Lessard. In comparison to recent seasons, KBM endured a difficult 2019 season as both Burton and Gilliland did not make the Playoffs. While Burton finished in 12th place in the final drivers’ standings with no victories and 11 top-10 results, Gilliland managed to record his first Truck career victory at Martinsville in October along with 14 top-10 results before settling in 11th place in the final standings. With the No. 46 entry finishing no higher than fourth at Gateway in June made by Chandler Smith, the No. 51 entry won six of the 23-scheduled events: five with Busch and one with Biffle. To go along with a total of 15 top-five results and 17 top-10 results throughout the 23-race schedule, the No. 51 entry managed to capture the 2019 Truck owners’ title as KBM achieved its seventh owners’ championship in NASCAR.

    Photo by Brad Keppel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    For the following season, Kyle Busch Motorsports introduced new drivers to the Nos. 4 and 18 entries as Harrison Burton moved up to the Xfinity Series with Joe Gibbs Racing while Todd Gilliland moved over to Front Row Motorsports. The No. 18 Toyota was taken over by Christian Eckes while Raphaël Lessard took over the No. 4 Toyota. The No. 51 Toyota also returned as Busch, Brandon Jones, Chandler Smith, Riley Herbst and Alex Tagliani took turns to drive the truck throughout the season. In his first full-time campaign in the series, Eckes qualified for the 2020 Truck Playoffs, but was eliminated from title contention following the Round of 10 as he ended up in eighth place in the final drivers’ standings with no victories and 11 top-10 results. Lessard, on the other hand, did not make the Playoffs, but he managed to capture his first career victory at Talladega in October along with a total of seven top-10 results before finishing in 12th place in the final standings. Meanwhile, the No. 51 entry went to Victory Lane four times: three with Busch and once with Brandon Jones, who captured his first elusive series win at Pocono in June. To go along with a total of 10 results in the top five, the No. 51 entry settled in sixth place in the final owners’ standings.

    This past season, Kyle Busch Motorsports welcomed John Hunter Nemechek as the driver of the No. 4 Toyota Tundra, where he replaced Lessard, while Chandler Smith replaced Christian Eckes as a full-time competitor of the No. 18 Toyota Tundra. The No. 51 Toyota Tundra remained as the “all-star” entry for a ninth consecutive season as the truck was piloted between Busch, Drew Dollar, Parker Chase, Martin Truex Jr., Corey Heim, Brian Brown, Derek Griffith and Dylan Lupton throughout the 22-race schedule. Three races into the new season, Nemechek recorded his first win with KBM at Las Vegas in March before the No. 51 entry visited Victory Lane during the following two events: the first with Busch at Atlanta and the second at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course with Truex, who claimed his first Truck career victory. Not long after, Nemechek fended off Busch to win at Richmond Raceway before Busch capitalized on a late restart to win at Kansas. Those five victories followed by three additional victories by Nemechek capped off a strong regular season stretch as Nemechek, who claimed the regular season championship, and Chandler Smith qualified for the 2021 Truck Playoffs. During the Playoffs, Smith claimed his first Truck career victory at Bristol in September to advance from the Round of 10 to 8 along with Nemechek. During the Round of 8, Smith’s title hopes evaporated while Nemechek was able to earn enough points through consistency to secure a spot in the Championship 4 finale at Phoenix Raceway. An early tire issued, however, derailed Nemechek’s title hopes as he ended up in third place in the final drivers’ standings while Smith won the finale and captured the 2021 Truck Rookie-of-the-Year title. Meanwhile, the No. 51 entry settled in 10th place in the owners’ standings.

    This season, Kyle Busch Motorsports retained John Hunter Nemechek and Chandler Smith as drivers of the Nos. 4 and 18 entries, respectively. In addition, Corey Heim returned with an expanded part-time Truck schedule as he split the No. 51 entry with Kyle Busch and Buddy Kofoid. Through the first 14 scheduled events, all three KBM entries have visited Victory Lane at least once, with Smith winning at Las Vegas in March, Nemechek winning at Darlington in May, Busch winning at Sonoma Raceway in June and Heim recording his first two career victories in the series at Atlanta in March followed by Gateway in June. Heim is scheduled to take over the No. 51 entry for the remainder of the season as he contends for the 2022 Truck Rookie-of-the-Year title while Nemechek and Smith, both of whom are pursuing their first championship in NASCAR, are guaranteed spots for the 2022 Truck Playoffs.

    Photo by Simon Scoggins for SpeedwayMedia.com.
    Photo by David Myers for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    Through a combined 749 Truck starts, Kyle Busch Motorsports has achieved two drivers’ championships, a record seven owners’ championships, 95 victories, 63 poles, 276 top-five results, 439 top-10 results and 13,196 laps led with 51 different competitors making at least one start for the organization.

    Kyle Busch Motorsports is primed to surpass 750 career starts in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Saturday, July 9, with coverage to occur at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Ryan Preece scores second consecutive Truck Series victory at Nashville

    Ryan Preece scores second consecutive Truck Series victory at Nashville

    A year after achieving his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory at Nashville Superspeedway, Ryan Preece shined under the lights at Music City for a second consecutive season after surviving the late chaos while on worn tires to win the Rackley Roofing 200 on Friday, June 24.

    The 31-year-old Preece from Berlin, Connecticut, led three times for a race-high 74 of 150-scheduled laps, including the final 49, as he had enough horsepower through three restarts to survive the chaos and fend off late challenges from both Zane Smith and Carson Hocevar under the final five laps to collect his second career victory in the series and in his sixth Truck start of the 2022 season.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Ryan Preece, who won last year’s Truck event at Nashville, claimed his first pole position in the series after posting a pole-winning lap at 160.925 mph in 29.753 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Zane Smith, who posted his best qualifying lap at 160.386 mph in 29.853 seconds.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Zane Smith and Preece dueled for the lead entering the first turn until Smith gained the advantage on the inside line entering the backstretch to assume the lead as he went on to lead the first lap. With Smith leading ahead of Preece, Corey Heim was in third ahead of Carson Hocevar and Stewart Friesen, who had Chandler Smith, Matt DiBenedetto and Derek Kraus pursuing him. By then, Tanner Gray, who made an unscheduled pit stop, was penalized for fueling prior to the green flag, where he was pinned a lap behind the field.

    Seven laps into the event and with Zane Smith still leading, the first caution of the event flew when Matt Crafton made contact with rookie Jack Wood and sent Wood’s No. 24 Chevrolet Accessories Chevrolet Silverado RST into the outside wall between Turns 3 and 4 before he slid below the apron and forced the field to scatter to avoid being hit.

    When the race proceeded under green on Lap 13, the field fanned out entering the first two turns as Zane Smith retained the lead followed by Preece, Hocevar, Heim, Friesen and Chandler Smith. 

    Nearing the Lap 20 mark, the second caution of the event flew when Camden Murphy spun and wrecked his No. 30 Rowdy Energy Toyota Tundra TRD Pro in Turn 2. At the time of caution, Zane Smith was leading ahead of Preece followed by Heim, Hocevar and Friesen while Chandler Smith, Derek Kraus, Matt DiBenedetto, Ty Majeski and Christian Eckes were in the top 10.

    With the race restarting under green on Lap 24, Zane Smith gained another strong advantage on the outside lane to retain the lead as Preece, Heim and Friesen engaged in a three-wide battle for the runner-up spot with Preece prevailing in his No. 17 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford F-150. Soon after, Heim moved his No. 51 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro into third place while Friesen settled in fourth place in front of Chandler Smith, Kraus, Hocevar and DiBenedetto.

    Through the first 30 laps of the event, Zane Smith was leading by more than a second-and-a-half over Preece while Heim, Friesen, Chandler Smith, Kraus, Hocevar, Ty Majeski, DiBenedetto and Christian Eckes were in the top 10. By then, John Hunter Nemechek was in 11th ahead of Ben Rhodes, Tyler Ankrum, Grant Enfinger and Crafton while Hailie Deegan, Todd Bodine, Chase Purdy, Parker Kligerman and Colby Howard were in the top 20.

    Ten laps later, Zane Smith continued to lead by more than a second over Preece while Heim Friesen and Chandler Smith remained in the top five. Meanwhile, Kraus and Hocevar battled for sixth place with the latter prevailing.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 45, Zane Smith cruised his No. 38 Speedco Ford F-150 to his sixth stage victory of the season. Preece settled in second followed by Heim, Friesen, Chandler Smith, Hocevar, Kraus, Majeski, DiBenedetto and Eckes were scored in the top 10. Behind, Colby Howard spun while in 18th place, but he was able to nurse his truck back to pit road under caution.

    Under the stage break, the leaders led by Zane Smith pitted and Majeski emerged with the lead following a two-tire pit stop followed by Smith, Preece, Friesen, Heim and Hocevar. Following the pit stops, Jesse Little was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.

    The second stage started on Lap 53 as Majeski and Zane Smith occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out to multiple lanes entering the first turn, Zane Smith used the inside lane and four fresh tires to his advantage as he reassumed the lead followed by Preece while Majeski fell back to fourth behind Heim.

    Nearing the Lap 60 mark, Colby Howard got into the outside wall entering Turn 3 after he cut a tire. Despite the incident, Howard was able to nurse his truck back to pit road and the race proceeded under green. By then, Zane Smith was leading by three-tenths of a second over Preece followed by Heim, Eckes and Chandler Smith while Majeski fell back to sixth ahead of Nemechek, Friesen, Hocevar and Kraus.

    Then on Lap 69, the caution flew when Hocevar and Nemechek made contact entering the backstretch, which sent Nemechek’s No. 4 Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro spinning through the backstretch grass. The incident occurred while both were battling for eighth place. During the caution period, some like Hocevar, Hailie Deegan, DiBenedetto, Kris Wright, Jesse Little, Stefan Parsons, Kligerman, Tyler Ankrum, Rhodes and Majeski pitted while the rest led by Zane Smith remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Hocevar was penalized for speeding while exiting pit road.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 73, Preece received a push from Eckes on the inside lane to move into the lead ahead of Zane Smith as the field behind jumbled for positions. As Preece maintained the lead ahead of Zane Smith, Heim and Eckes battled for third in front of Friesen while Bodine battled Kraus for sixth ahead of Chandler Smith, Grant Enfinger and Rhodes.

    By Lap 80, Preece was leading by six-tenths of a second over Zane Smith while Heim, Eckes, Friesen, Kraus, Bodine, Rhodes, Chandler Smith and Enfinger were in the top 10. Behind, Majeski was in 11th ahead of Crafton, Max Gutierrez, Ankrum, Chase Purdy, Nemechek, Hocevar, DiBenedetto, Kligerman and Dean Thompson.

    Ten laps later, Preece remained as the leader by more than a second over Zane Smith while Heim, Eckes, and Friesen remained in the top five. 

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 95, Preece, who encountered lapped traffic, claimed his third stage victory of the season. Zane Smith settled in second followed by Heim, Eckes, Friesen, Kraus, Rhodes, Majeski, Bodine and Enfinger. 

    Under the stage break, the leaders led by Preece pitted and Parker Kligerman exited with the top spot following a two-tire pit stop followed by Preece, Eckes, Friesen, Stef Parsons and Rhodes. Following the pit stops, Chandler Smith was penalized for removing equipment out of his pit stall.

    With 48 laps remaining, the final stage started. At the start, Preece took off with the lead on the inside lane and on four fresh tires followed by Eckes and Friesen while the field fanned out and stacked up around Kligerman, who was struggling to keep pace, entering the first two turns.

    Eight laps later, Preece was leading by more than a second over Eckes while Friesen, Enfinger, and Zane Smith were in the top five. Rhodes was in sixth ahead of teammate Majeski, Hocevar, Heim and Kligerman while Crafton, Kraus, DiBenedetto, Max Gutierrez and Hailie Deegan were in the top 15. 

    Then with 31 laps remaining, the caution flew when Bodine spun his No. 62 Camping World Toyota Tundra TRD Pro through the frontstretch. During the caution period, some led by Hocevar pitted while the rest led by Preece remained on the track.

    With 26 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Preece and Eckes dueled for the lead and the field fanned out entering the first two turns as both Rhodes and Chandler Smith nearly got turned sideways through the frontstretch grass. 

    Three laps later and with the field jostling and scrambling for positions amid those with fresh tires compared to those on old tires, the caution returned when a four-wide action between Majeski, Heim, Enfinger and DiBenedetto that resulted in the latter three colliding and wrecking hard against one another and into the Turn 3 outside wall, leaving DiBenedetto, Enfinger and Heim with demolished trucks.

    When the field attempted to restart with 15 laps remaining, the caution quickly returned when Deegan spun into Howard through the frontstretch as the field fanned out to avoid hitting Deegan. 

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Preece took off with the lead followed by Eckes and a hard-charging Zane Smith as the field fanned out and battled behind. Behind, Bodine scrapped the wall as sparks flew out of his truck, but the race remained under green as Zane Smith started his bid to challenge Preece for the win. Behind, Hocevar moved up to third while Majeski and Eckes were in the top five.

    With five laps remaining, Preece remained as the leader by nearly a second over Zane Smith followed by Hocevar, Majeski and Eckes while Friesen, Max Gutierrez, Ankrum, Crafton and Kligerman were in the top 10.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Preece, who was being pressured by both Zane Smith and Hocevar under the final five laps, retained the lead by two-tenths of a second with Hocevar trailing close behind. In Turn 1, Zane Smith attempted to make his move beneath Preece, but Preece threw a block and Hocevar was able to draw himself alongside Smith’s truck, which lost momentum entering the backstretch, in a bid for the runner-up spot. While Hocevar battled Smith, Preece was able to run away from his challengers and cycle back to the finish line for his first checkered flag of the 2022 season and for his second consecutive Gibson guitar trophy.

    In addition to claiming his second consecutive victory at Nashville, Preece claimed his second Camping World Truck Series career win in his eighth series start, the fourth career victory for David Gilliland Racing and the second consecutive victory for DGR’s No. 17 Ford F-150 team. As an added bonus, Preece claimed the second of three $50,000 bonuses from the Triple Truck Challenge.

    “I don’t ever like [the battle] to be that close,” Smith said on FS1. “My hats off to [David Gilliland Racing] and this Hunt Brothers Ford F-150. We’re getting a second guitar! I might have to start a band! I like it. That sounds good. I just want you guys to know [that] a lot of this is built in the shop. The speed is built in the shop and these guys work their tails off, and I know what it takes to win races. They gave me a phenomenal race car, so just proud to be the one holding the steering wheel. The biggest thing I had was clean air and to put as much dirty air on [Zane Smith] as possible. I wasn’t giving up.”

    Behind, Zane Smith edged Hocevar to claim the runner-up spot while Majeski and Friesen finished in the top five.

    “Clean air [was what I needed,” Smith said. “Ryan just did a really good job of shutting my air off there. Just really, really though to pass. Once we had that really bad [pit] stop, [I] lost 10 spots, I was worried. To battle back there and contend for a win says a lot about my SpeedCo Ford F-150 and my Front Row [Motorsports] team. Just man, another fast Ford. Just not quite enough.”

    “I thought it was just gonna be like our year,” Hocevar said. “We run really good and have something happen, but I’m tired. I’m actually wore out. I haven’t really got to work out or do anything, so I’m a little winded, but the No. 42 truck was pretty good. We struggled to find the balance there and finally hit it almost too late. It’s tough. It is so hard to win these races and hard to get passed. Clean air is so important. I had twenty-something lap better tires than [the leaders]…My best chance was to push [Smith] and let him take the shot. I didn’t have enough momentum built up when [Smith and Preece] got close and lost their momentum. Finally, we finished, probably, where we deserved to finish.”

    Ecks, Ankrum, Max  Gutierrez, Nemechek and Crafton completed the top 10 on the track. Notably, Rhodes finished 12th behind Kraus, Chandler Smith settled in 15th, Kligerman ended up in 20th and Bodine concluded his night in 27th, one spot ahead of Deegan.

    There were seven lead changes for four different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 43 laps.

    With two races remaining of the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular-season stretch, Zane Smith leads the regular-season standings by 21 points over John Hunter Nemechek, 30 over Ben Rhodes, 35 over Chandler Smith and 53 over both Stewart Friesen and Ty Majeski. 

    Zane Smith, Ben Rhodes, John Hunter Nemechek, Chandler Smith and Stewart Friesen are tentatively locked into the 2022 Truck Playoffs based on winning at least once throughout the season while Ty Majeski, Christian Eckes, Carson Hocevar, Grant Enfinger, and Matt Crafton are above the top-10 cutline based on points. Derek Kraus trails the top-10 cutline to the Playoffs by 29 points, Tyler Ankrum trails by 50, Matt DiBenedetto trails by 62, Tanner Gray trails by 70 and Chase Purdy trails by 109.

    Results.

    1. Ryan Preece, 74 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Zane Smith, 70 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    3. Carson Hocevar

    4. Ty Majeski, four laps led

    5. Stewart Friesen

    6. Christian Eckes

    7. Tyler Ankrum

    8. Max Gutierrez

    9. John Hunter Nemechek

    10. Matt Crafton

    11. Derek Kraus

    12. Ben Rhodes

    13. Chase Purdy

    14. Dean Thompson

    15. Chandler Smith

    16. Colby Howard

    17. Kris Wright

    18. Blaine Perkins

    19. Jesse Little

    20. Parker Kligerman, two laps led

    21. Kaden Honeycutt

    22. Stefan Parsons

    23. Timmy Hill

    24. Lawless Alan

    25. Spencer Boyd

    26. Nick Leitz

    27. Todd Bodine, two laps down

    28. Hailie Deegan, six laps down

    29. Chris Hacker, six laps down

    30. Tanner Gray, seven laps down

    31. Matt DiBenedetto – OUT, Accident

    32. Grant Enfinger – OUT, Accident

    33. Corey Heim – OUT, Accident

    34. Camden Murphy – OUT, Accident

    35. Jack Wood – OUT, Accident

    36. Chase Janes – OUT, Rear gear

    The 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season will next continue to Lexington, Ohio, to compete for the first time at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, which will also mark the third and final Triple Truck Challenge event of the season. The event is scheduled to occur on July 9 at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Corey Heim benefits in overtime to claim second Truck Series career victory at Gateway

    Corey Heim benefits in overtime to claim second Truck Series career victory at Gateway

    A late caution, a given lane choice to restart on the bottom lane on the front row and a well-executed launch during an overtime shootout fell into the hands of Corey Heim as he fended off Christian Eckes and Chandler Smith to win the Toyota 200 at World Wide Technology Raceway on Saturday, June 4.

    The 19-year-old Heim from Marietta, Georgia, led twice for 20 of 165 over-scheduled laps as he benefitted through the overtime shootout and retaining the lead at the moment of caution due to a multi-truck wreck on the final lap to achieve his second NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career victory in his ninth series start.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, rookie Corey Heim secured his first pole position after recording a pole-winning lap at 138.232 mph in 32.554 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Zane Smith, who clocked in a fast qualifying lap at 137.978 in 32.614 seconds.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Heim pulled ahead on the outside lane followed by teammate Chandler Smith while teammate John Hunter Nemechek also made his way into the top three ahead of Zane Smith, Ty Majeski and Stewart Friesen. With the field settling in a long single-file line, Heim led the first lap followed by his two Kyle Busch Motorsports teammates.

    Through the first five scheduled laps, Heim retained the lead ahead of Chandler Smith, Nemechek, Zane Smith and Christian Eckes while Ty Majeski, Friesen, Grant Enfinger, Colby Howard and Matt Crafton were in the top 10.

    By Lap 10, Heim continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over Chandler Smith while Nemechek, Zane Smith and Eckes remained in the top five.

    Ten laps later, Chandler Smith, who took over the lead two laps earlier, was out in front by eight-tenths of a second over Heim followed by Nemechek, Zane Smith, Eckes, Friesen, Majeski, Enfinger, Crafton and Colby Howard.

    At the Lap 30 mark, Chandler Smith extended his advantage by more than two seconds over Heim. Behind, Nemechek remained in third followed by Zane Smith and Friesen while Eckes was back in sixth.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 35, Chandler Smith notched his first stage victory of the season. Teammate Heim settled in second followed by teammate Nemechek, Zane Smith, Friesen, Majeski, Enfinger, Eckes, Crafton and Colby Howard.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Enfinger, who opted for a two-tire pit stop, exited in first place followed by Chandler Smith, Heim, Nemechek, Eckes, Friesen and Zane Smith.

    The second stage started on Lap 43 as Enfinger and Chandler Smith occupied the front row. At the start, Chandler Smith gained the advantage on the outside lane to reassume the lead while Enfinger settled in second in front of Heim, Nemechek and Eckes.

    Three laps later, the caution flew when Majeski turned Taylor Gray and sent Gray into the outside wall in Turn 2. At the same time, Rajah Caruth, a full-time ARCA Menards Series competitor who was making his Truck debut for Spire Motorsports, spun while avoiding Gray’s truck.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 52, Chandler Smith pulled ahead and retained the lead ahead of Enfinger while Heim challenged Enfinger for the runner-up spot. Behind, Friesen battled and overtook Nemechek for fourth place as the field behind jostled for positions.

    A lap later, the caution flew for a multi-truck wreck that erupted when Nemechek made contact with Friesen entering Turns 3 and 4, which sent Nemechek’s No. 4 Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro sideways in the middle of oncoming traffic. Nemechek’s spin ignited a chain reaction wreck that collected Majeski, Colby Howard, Jesse Little and Blaine Perkins, with Nemechek sustaining damage after hitting the wall before getting hit by both Perkins and Howard. The damage was enough to terminate Nemechek’s following a seven-race span of finishing no lower than sixth place.

    When the race proceeded under green on Lap 59, Chandler Smith and Enfinger engaged in a heated duel for the lead for two laps until Enfinger got loose beneath Smith, which sent both competitors into the Turn 1 outside wall on Lap 61 with Enfinger sustaining significant damage to his No. 23 Champion Chevrolet Silverado RST while Smith emerged with minimal damage to his No. 18 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro.

    Under caution, names like Rhodes, Crafton, Chase Purdy, Derek Kraus, Austin Wayne Self, Carson Hocevar, Tyler Hill, Brennan Poole, Dean Thompson, Hailie Deign and Rajah Caruth remained on the track while the rest pitted.

    With two laps remaining in the second stage, the race restarted under green. At the start, Rhodes, who had taken the lead following Enfinger and Smith’s wreck, managed to fend off teammate Crafton and the field to retain the lead. With a series of battles occurring behind him, Rhodes remained out in front during the shootout as he claimed his seventh stage victory of the season on Lap 70. Teammate Crafton settled in second ahead of Kraus, Purdy, Self, Hocevar, Deegan, Friesen, Heim and Zane Smith. During the stage break, Friesen ran into the side of Deegan’s truck to his displeasure for being squeezed into the outside wall by Deegan during the shootout.

    Under the stage break, some like Rhodes pitted while the rest led by Carson Hocevar remained on the track.

    With 83 laps remaining, the final stage started as Hocevar and Hailie Deegan occupied the front row. At the start, Hocevar pulled ahead of Deegan to lead entering the first turn until Heim challenged Hocevar for the top spot. Hocevar, however, received a push from Zane Smith through Turn 2 to retain the lead for a lap until Smith challenged Hocevar in a side-by-side battle for the lead for a full lap.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 80, Zane Smith managed to clear Hocevar for the lead entering the first turn as he started to pull away while Heim, Eckes, Deegan and Caruth battled behind. Meanwhile, Johnny Sauter was in seventh ahead of Matt DiBenedetto, Chandler Smith and Tanner Gray.

    Ten laps later, Zane Smith extended his advantage to two seconds over Eckes followed by Hocevar, Heim and Sauter while Caruth, Chandler Smith, DiBenedetto, Tanner Gray and Deegan were in the top 10.

    Another three laps later, the caution flew when Kris Wright got loose beneath Jordan Anderson and backed his truck into the outside wall in Turn 3. During the caution period, nearly the entire field led by Friesen pitted as Friesen inherited the lead while Hocevar exited pit road first. Following the pit stops, Caruth was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    With 62 laps remaining, the race restarted under green as Friesen and Hocevar occupied the front row. At the start, Friesen took off with the lead on the outside lane followed by Rhodes while Hocevar was being pressured by Kraus for third place. Then in Turn 1, Hocevar, who made contact with Kraus in Turn 3 during the previous lap and was losing spots, rubbed fenders with Zane Smith as Smith fell off the pace with a flat right-front tire. 

    As the field scrambled and jostled for positions, Friesen continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over Rhodes followed by Eckes, Kraus and Tanner Gray while Heim, DiBenedetto, Sauter, Jordan Anderson and rookie Jack Wood were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Hocevar was back in 11th ahead of Chandler Smith.

    Then with 53 laps remaining, the caution returned when Crafton made contact and sent Hocevar for a spin through Turn 2. Under caution, some like Friesen pitted while the rest led by Rhodes remained on the track.

    With 46 laps remaining, teammates Rhodes and Eckes led the field back to green flag racing as Rhodes retained the lead. Not long after, Kraus moved into the runner-up spot followed by Eckes. 

    Down to the final 35 laps of the event, the caution flew when Colby Howard got loose, spun and got into the wall between Turns 1 and 2. At the time of caution, Rhodes was leading by nearly a second over Kraus followed by Eckes, Heim and Sauter.

    When the race restarted under green four laps later, Rhodes rocketed away with the lead followed by teammate Eckes while Kraus and Heim battled for third place in front of DiBenedetto, Sauter and Chase Purdy. The caution, however, was quick to return with 29 laps remaining due to debris on the track and when Rajah Caruth got into the outside wall.

    With 24 laps remaining, the race proceeded under green as teammates Rhodes and Eckes occupied the front row. At the start, Rhodes retained the lead while Kraus overtook Eckes for the runner-up spot in front of the field.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Rhodes was leading by two-tenths of a second over Kraus while Eckes, Heim and DiBenedetto occupied the top five. Sauter was in sixth ahead of Purdy, Chandler Smith, Crafton and Friesen while Hocevar, Anderson, Zane Smith, Tyler Ankrum and Tanner Gray were in the top 15.

    Two laps later, Kraus moved his No. 19 NAPA Chevrolet Silverado RST into the lead over Rhodes followed by Eckes while Sauter intimidated Heim for fourth place.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Kraus extended his advantage to more than a second over Eckes while Rhodes, who fell back to third, radioed power issues to his truck.

    Then with the laps dwindling, Eckes started to erase Kraus’ advantage with the former closing in on the latter. With six laps remaining and following a tight battle with Kraus, Eckes moved his No. 98 Curb Records Toyota Tundra TRD Pro into the lead in Turn 1. Though Kraus kept Eckes close within his sights, Eckes then started to pull away by nearly half a second under the final five laps.

    Then with the field approaching the final two laps, the caution flew when Tanner Gray spun and wrecked in Turn 3. By then, Eckes had pulled away by more than a second over Kraus as the field was sent into overtime. 

    Prior to the start of the first overtime attempt, Kraus surrendered the runner-up spot to restart on the outside lane behind Eckes, thus giving Heim and Chandler Smith the top-two starting spots on the inside lane with Heim restarting on the front row next to Eckes and with an opportunity to win.

    At the start of the first overtime attempt, Heim received a push from teammate Chandler Smith that launched Heim’s No. 51 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro into the lead ahead of Eckes as he maintained the lead through the backstretch. By then, the restart was under review for Heim potentially jumping the start.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Heim was still out in front ahead of Eckes and Chandler Smith while Friesen was in fourth ahead of Hocevar and Kraus. Then in Turn 1, Hocevar spun after getting hit by Kraus before he was T-boned by Tyler Hill as Lawless Alan and Austin Wayne Self also wrecked. 

    The carnage involving Hocevar was enough for the event to conclude under caution as Heim cycled his way back to the finish line and claim the victory under caution. By then, NASCAR deemed the final restart that was reviewed towards Heim to be clear with no penaltie and with Heim officially handed the victory.

    With the victory, Heim claimed the first of three Triple Truck Challenge $50,000 bonuses and his second career win in the Camping World Truck Series after notching his first win at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March.

    Photo by Simon Scoggins for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “Yeah, I can’t believe I got the bottom [lane] right there [on the overtime restart],” Heim said on FS1. “That’s unbelievable. A great push by my teammate Chandler Smith right there. All the dedication to my team. These couple of weeks has been just everything. I’ve been putting in so much time and effort to improve my craft. Man, I’m out of breath right now. That was awesome. Anytime we can get the extra seat time is super important. I feel like I’m getting better every week, but like I said, everyone back at the shop, just phenomenal job.”

    Eckes settled in second place while Chandler Smith, Friesen and Sauter finished in the top five.

    “[I] Spun the tires a little bit and [Kraus] picked my rear wheels off the ground,” Eckes said. “Just didn’t get a good launch. Man, it’s just two of the last three races, we’ve been leading and the caution comes out late. It just sucks, but very proud of my ThorSport Racing team. Just really frustrating. The past three weeks, we should’ve won and we didn’t. We gotta go back to the drawing board and try to fix some stuff out.”

    “To be honest with you, if [Enfinger] didn’t run out of talent there in Stage 2, we’d probably lapped half the field easily,” Chandler Smith said. “Our truck was stupid, stupid good. Hats off to [crew chief] Danny [Stockman Jr.], everybody at [Kyle Busch Motorsports]. They gave me a really fast Safelite/Charge Me Toyota Tundra. I honestly probably should’ve won the race, but got drove all the way into the fence once again. It is what it is. Glad to get a top three out of it, but definitely sucks.”

    Matt DiBenedetto, Kraus, Rhodes, Zane Smith and Chase Purdy completed the top 10 while Rajah Caruth finished 11th in his Truck Series debut.

    Following the event, Hocevar was airlifted to a local hospital for further evaluation following his hard wreck on the final lap.

    There were 11 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured 11 cautions for 54 laps.

    The second of three Triple Truck Challenge events of 2022 is next scheduled to occur at Nashville Superspeedway on June 24.

    With five races remaining of the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular season stretch, Ben Rhodes leads the regular season standings by 17 points over Chandler Smith, 21 over Zane Smith, 22 over John Hunter Nemechek and 24 over Stewart Friesen.

    Ben Rhodes, Chandler Smith, Zane Smith, John Hunter Nemechek, Stewart Friesen are currently guaranteed spots for the 2022 Truck Playoffs based on winning at least once throughout the season while Christian Eckes, Ty Majeski, Carson Hocevar, Matt Crafton and Grant Enfinger are above the top-10 cutline based on points. Derek Kraus trails the top-10 cutline to the Playoffs by 44 points, Tanner Gray trails by 48, Matt DiBenedetto trails by 59, Tyler Ankrum trails by 78 and Chase Purdy trails by 112.

    Results.

    1. Corey Heim, 20 laps led

    2. Christian Eckes, nine laps led

    3. Chandler Smith, 40 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    4. Stewart Friesen, 13 laps led

    5. Johnny Sauter

    6. Matt DiBenedetto

    7. Derek Kraus, 12 laps led

    8. Ben Rhodes, 43 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    9. Zane Smith, 16 laps led

    10. Chase Purdy

    11. Rajah Caruth

    12. Matt Crafton

    13. Tyler Ankrum

    14. Dean Thompson

    15. Hailie Deegan

    16. Jordan Anderson

    17. Timmy Hill

    18. Lawless Alan

    19. Jack Wood

    20. Jesse Little 

    21. Tate Fogleman

    22. Blaine Perkins

    23. Colby Howard

    24. Carson Hocevar – OUT, Accident, eight laps led

    25. Tyler Hill – OUT, Accident

    26. Austin Wayne Self – OUT, Accident

    27. Mason Maggio, one lap down

    28. Grant Enfinger, two laps led, four laps led

    29. Jake Garcia, four laps led

    30. Tanner Gray – OUT, Accident

    31. Spencer Boyd – OUT, Electrical

    32. Ty Majeski, 29 laps down

    33. Kris Wright – OUT, Accident

    34. Brennan Poole – OUT, Rear gear

    35. John Hunter Nemechek – OUT, Dvp

    36. Taylor Gray – OUT, Accident

    Next on the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule is the series’ return to Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California, for the first time in 24 years. The event is scheduled to occur on Saturday, June 11, at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Friesen snaps two-year winless drought with an overtime Truck Series victory at Texas

    Friesen snaps two-year winless drought with an overtime Truck Series victory at Texas

    The 54-race winless drought for Stewart Friesen came to an end under the lights in the Lone Star state Saturday night. The 38-year-old Friesen from Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada, outlasted an overtime restart and a fierce duel against Christian Eckes to win the SpeedwayCash.com 220 at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday, May 20.

    Friesen, who posted the third-fastest qualifying lap but led the field to the start, led a race-high 60 of 149 laps as he made his long-awaited return to Victory Lane for the first time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series since winning at Phoenix Raceway in November 2019.

    With on-track qualifying occurring on Friday, John Hunter Nemechek notched his fourth Truck pole position of the season after a pole-winning lap at 182.359 mph in 29.612 seconds. Nemechek, however, dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his truck. As a result, Stewart Friesen, who qualified in third place with a qualifying lap at 181,056 mph in 29.825 seconds, and rookie Corey Heim, who qualified in second place with a lap at 182.192 mph in 29.639 seconds, occupied the front row.

    Jordan Anderson, Austin Wayne Self, Grant Enfinger, Bret Holmes and Chris Hacker joined Nemechek at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective trucks. Colby Howard also started at the rear of the field in a backup truck after he wrecked his primary truck during Friday’s practice session.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Heim and Friesen were locked in a side-by-side battle for the top spot before Heim led the first lap by a hair on the outside lane. Shortly after, however, Friesen managed to clear the field and move into the lead as the field scrambled and jostled for positions early.

    Through the first five scheduled laps, Friesen was leading over Ryan Preece followed by Christian Eckes, Heim and Derek Kraus while Chandler Smith, Ty Majeski, Ben Rhodes, Hailie Deegan and Ross Chastain, rounded out the top-10.

    Nearing the Lap 10 mark, the first caution of the event flew when Chris Hacker spun in Turn 2. During the caution period, some of the drivers, including Carson Hocevar, pitted while the rest, led by Friesen, remained on the track.

    On Lap 14, the race restarted under green as the field locked in a heated, side-by-side battle. When the field returned to the start/finish line, Ryan Preece led the following lap before being challenged in another side-by-side battle with Friesen for the lead, with the latter reassuming the top spot. Behind, Eckes and Kraus battled for third ahead of Heim, Chandler Smith, Ben Rhodes, Ty Majeski and the field.

    At the Lap 20 mark, Preece reassumed the lead over Friesen while Eckes, Majeski, Chandler Smith, Zane Smith, Kraus, Heim, Rhodes and Matt Crafton were in the top 10. By then, Nemechek, who started at the rear of the field, was challenging for a top-10 spot.

    Ten laps later, Preece stabilized his advantage to more than two-tenths of a second over Friesen while Eckes, Zane Smith and Majeski battled in the top five. By then, Nemechek was up to seventh behind teammate Chandler Smith while Kraus, Rhodes and Heim were in the top 10.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 35, Preece captured his first stage victory of the season while Friesen, Zane Smith, Eckes, Chandler Smith, Nemechek, Majeski, Rhodes, Kraus and Heim were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, the field, led by Preece, pitted and Friesen retained the top spot after exiting first ahead of Preece, Eckes, Zane Smith, Rhodes and Nemechek. During the pit stops, Zane Smith was penalized for equipment interference while Blaine Perkins and Todd Bodine were penalized for speeding on pit road. In addition, Chandler Smith pitted for a second time to address a loose left-rear wheel on his No. 18 iBuyPower Toyota Tundra TRD Pro.

    The second stage started on Lap 42 as Friesen and Preece occupied the front row. At the start, Friesen and Preece were locked in another side-by-side battle for the lead with the latter managing to lead ahead of Eckes and Nemechek, who cracked the top five.

    Through the first 50 scheduled laps, Friesen’s No. 52 Halmar Toyota Tundra TRD Pro was leading by more than a tenth of a second over Preece’s No. 17 Morton Buildings Ford F-150 while Nemechek’s No. 4 Tom Thumb/Albertson’s Toyota Tundra TRD Pro was up in third place. ThorSport Racing’s Eckes and Rhodes were in the top five followed by Tyler Ankrum, Corey Heim, Kraus, Grant Enfinger and Majeski while Ross Chastain, Carson Hocevar, Matt Crafton, Matt DiBenedetto and Chandler Smith occupied the top 15. Behind, Hailie Deegan and Zane Smith battled for 16th while Tanner Gray, rookie Jack Wood and Chase Purdy were in the top 20.

    Ten laps later, Friesen extended his advantage to more than six-tenths of a second over Preece while Nemechek, Eckes and Rhodes remained in the top five.

    Another six laps later, Preece seized the opportunity when Friesen was stuck in lapped traffic to take the lead while third-place Nemechek trailed by more than four-tenths of a second. By then, fourth-place Ben Rhodes trailed by more than five seconds along with teammate, Eckes.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 70, Preece, who managed to slowly pull away from Friesen, captured his second consecutive stage victory of the season. Friesen settled in second followed by Nemechek, Rhodes, Eckes, Derek Kraus, Heim, Majeski, Chastain and Ankrum.

    Under the stage break, the field, led by Friesen, returned to pit road for service and Nemechek emerged at the top of the leaderboard after exiting with the lead followed by Friesen, Preece, Eckes and Chastain. During the pit stops, Zane Smith, Ankrum and Heim made contact, which sent Heim’s No. 51 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro around on pit road. Following the pit stops, Rhodes was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.

    With 70 laps remaining, the final stage started under green. At the start, Nemechek and Preece briefly dueled for the lead until Nemechek pulled away as the field fanned out through the backstretch. When the field returned to the start/finish line, Preece had fallen back to fourth while Friesen and Eckes were in second and third.

    With 62 laps remaining, the caution flew when Majeski got loose beneath Kraus entering Turn 1 and sent Kraus into the outside wall. During the caution period, some drivers, including Nemechek, Preece and Crafton pitted, while the rest, led by Friesen remained on the track.

    Six laps later, the race proceeded under green as Friesen and Eckes occupied the front row. After Friesen led the first few laps during the restart, Eckes muscled his No. 98 AHI Facility Services Toyota Tundra TRD Pro to the front.

    With 50 laps remaining, Eckes was leading by more than a tenth of a second over Friesen while Chandler Smith, Chastain and Ankrum were in the top five. Enfinger was in sixth followed by Zane Smith, Majeski, Carson Hocevar and Matt DiBenedetto.

    Two laps later, Friesen regained the lead over Eckes. Another six laps later, the caution flew for an incident involving Tyler Hill and Kris Wright in Turn 2 that cut Wright’s tire and sent him into the Turn 3 wall. During the caution period, nearly the entire field, except for Chase Purdy, pitted. Following the pit stops, Austin Wayne Self was penalized for improper fueling along with Jesse Little for an uncontrolled tire.

    Down to the final 36 laps of the event, the race proceeded under green as Purdy and Hocevar occupied the front row. At the start, the field shuffled for positions entering the backstretch as Hocevar retained the lead followed by Eckes and Chastain.

    Three laps later, Eckes took the lead over Hocevar while Chastain, Friesen and Grant Enfinger occupied the top five. Meanwhile, Nemechek was in seventh behind Tanner Gray while Chandler Smith, Zane Smith and Preece were scored in the top 10.

    Under the final 30 laps of the event, Eckes was leading by less than three-tenths of a second over Hocevar followed by Friesen, Chastain and Enfinger while Nemechek moved up to sixth place. Behind, Chandler Smith and Zane Smith made contact entering Turn 1, but both competitors managed to proceed forward. However, Zane Smith ended up pitting under green due to cutting a right-front tire.

    With 20 laps remaining, Eckes was leading by less than three-tenths of a second over Hocevar while Nemechek was up in fourth behind Friesen. By then, Zane Smith had dropped off the pace as he made another pit stop under green to address the right-front fender on his truck.

    Just then, the caution flew as Ankrum spun due to on-track contact with Enfinger while both were battling for a top-10 spot. During the caution period, none of the front competitors toward the front chose to pit.

    Down to the final 14 laps of the event, the race continued under green. At the start, Hocevar led briefly until Eckes carved his way back to the lead when he returned to the start/finish line. Behind, Friesen moved into the runner-up spot while Preece and Nemechek were in the top five. 

    Down to the final 10 scheduled laps, Eckes, Friesen, Hocevar, Preece and Nemechek were separated by less than eight-tenths of a second as Eckes continued to lead by a tenth of a second over Friesen and less than three-tenths over Hocevar.

    Then with five laps remaining, the caution flew when Rhodes spun and hit the backstretch wall following contact with Tanner Gray. At the moment of caution, Eckes was still out in front by a narrow margin over Friesen, Hocevar, Preece and Nemechek, all of whom battled intensely in the closing laps of the event. 

    With the event sent into overtime, Eckes and Friesen battled for the top spot for a full lap as the field jostled for last-minute positions behind.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Friesen and Eckes remained dead even for the lead through the frontstretch until Friesen managed to clear and pull ahead of Eckes entering the backstretch. Then through Turns 3 and 4, Friesen went from the top to the bottom lane to block Eckes and stall his progress. This was enough for Friesen to cross the finish line by 0.122 seconds over Eckes to grab his first series victory in over two seasons.

    In addition to snapping a two-year winless drought, Friesen notched his third career victory in the Camping World Truck Series, his first at Texas and his first driving a Toyota. With the victory, Friesen became the fifth Truck regular competitor to grab a win and be guaranteed a spot for the 2022 Truck Playoffs. He also recorded the first NASCAR victory for crew chief Jon Leonard.

    “Man, I made all the mistakes I needed to make in the first two segments,” Friesen said on FS1. “We had an awesome truck. Thanks so much to [owner] Chris Larsen, everybody at Halmar International, the whole group. There’s a huge office there that pulls for us every week. Finally, we got something to celebrate. Thank you, guys. You have no idea the work that’s went into this race team over the past three years to build this up. It’s an awesome group. We’re in the Playoffs. How about that?! Whoo!”

    “I’m terrible on restarts, and that was probably the best one on old tires,” Friesen added. “Just didn’t spin the tires, got a jump and then, thew a slider into [Turns] 1 and 2, and it stuck.”

    Eckes, who led 40 laps, settled in second place for his best result of the season thus far while Preece came home in third place. 

    “[I] Just didn’t have lane position,” Eckes said. “It is what it is. Just super proud of these AHI Facility Services team. It’s been a rough stretch here for a little bit. I’m glad to show that we can actually be here and win races. This is just a taste to come and we’re more hungrier than ever.”

    “We just need to clean up a few things,” Preece said. “When you gain control of the race, you can’t give it up, especially here. It was, really top lane, dominant there, basically in the middle part of the race and to the end. Proud of the speed this Morton Buildings Ford F-150 really had. It’s a pleasure to race trucks like that and to work with [crew chief] Chad Johnston and this entire group. It stings that much more watching [the end] right now, but we got to third. I hate losing more than I love winning, but we’ll try to go get them the next time we’re in this [series].”

    Carson Hocevar, who is still pursuing his first career victory in NASCAR, finished in fourth place while Ty Majeski finished in the top five.

    Nemechek, Heim, Chandler Smith, Crafton and DiBenedetto completed the top 10.

    There were 17 lead changes among seven different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 36 laps.

    With seven races remaining in the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular-season stretch, John Hunter Nemechek leads the standings by four points over Ben Rhodes, 18 over Chandler Smith, 21 over Stewart Friesen, 32 over Zane Smith and 33 over Ty Majeski. 

    Zane Smith, Ben Rhodes, John Hunter Nemechek, Stewart Friesen and Chandler Smith are currently guaranteed spots in the 2022 Truck Playoffs based on winning at least once throughout the season while Ty Majeski, Christian Eckes, Carson Hocevar, Grant Enfinger and Matt Crafton are above the top-10 cutline based on points. Tanner Gray trails the cutline by 35 points with Derek Kraus trailing by 57, Matt DiBenedetto by 67 and Tyler Ankrum by 68.

    Results.

    1. Stewart Friesen, 60 laps led

    2. Christian Eckes, 40 laps led

    3. Ryan Preece, 27 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    4. Carson Hocevar, four laps led

    5. Ty Majeski

    6. John Hunter Nemechek, 14 laps led

    7. Corey Heim, one lap led

    8. Chandler Smith

    9. Matt Crafton

    10. Matt DiBenedetto

    11.  Grant Enfinger

    12. Ross Chastain

    13. Todd Bodine

    14. Jordan Anderson

    15. Bret Holmes

    16. Jack Wood

    17. Hailie Deegan

    18. Austin Wayne Self

    19. Jesse Little

    20. Timmy Hill

    21. Chase Purdy, three laps led

    22. Tate Fogleman

    23. Brennan Poole

    24. Tanner Gray

    25. Tyler Hill

    26. Blaine Perkins

    27. Ben Rhodes, one lap down

    28. Spencer Boyd, two laps down

    29. Dean Thompson, three laps down

    30. Lawless Alan, four laps down

    31. Chris Hacker, six laps down

    32. Zane Smith, six laps down

    33. Tyler Ankrum – OUT, Overheating

    34. Colby Howard, 10 laps down

    35. Kris Wright – OUT, Accident

    36. Derek Kraus – OUT, Accident

    Next on the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule is the series’ annual event at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. The event is scheduled to occur on Friday, May 20, at 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Zane Smith cruises to dominant Truck victory at Kansas

    Zane Smith cruises to dominant Truck victory at Kansas

    A late-race caution with 13 laps remaining and an eight-lap dash to the finish could not stall Zane Smith’s dominant run in the Sunflower state as he went on to claim his third NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory of the season in the Heart of America 200 at Kansas Speedway on Saturday, May 14.

    The 22-year-old Smith from Huntington Beach, California, led four times for a race-high 108 of 147 laps as he rocketed away from Ty Majeski, John Hunter Nemechek and the field during an eight-lap shootout to the finish to become the first three-time winner of this year’s Truck season.

    With on-track qualifying occurring on Saturday, John Hunter Nemechek notched his third pole position of the season after posting a pole-winning lap at 176.644 mph in 30.570 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate and rookie Corey Heim, who qualified at 175.965 mph in 30.688 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Tate Fogleman and Matt DiBenedetto dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their respective trucks. In addition, Stewart Friesen started at the rear of the field after he was unable to participate during Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions amid a delayed flight from New York. As a result, NASCAR Cup Series competitor Bubba Wallace practiced and qualified Friesen’s truck in fifth place while Friesen arrived in time for the event.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, teammates Nemechek and Heim battled dead even entering the first three turns until Nemechek gained a huge run on the outside lane to pull ahead and lead the first lap ahead of Heim, Zane Smith, Ty Majeski and the field.

    Two laps later, Nemechek and Smith engaged in a tight battle for the lead while Majeski battled and overtook Heim for third place. By the fourth lap, Smith moved his No. 38 Speedco Ford F-150 into the lead.

    Through the first 10 laps of the event, Zane Smith was leading by more than a second over Heim. Meanwhile, Nemechek was back in third place while Majeski and Chandler Smith were in the top five. Behind, Derek Kraus was in sixth followed by Ben Rhodes, Tanner Gray, Matt Crafton and Colby Howard while Carson Hocevar, Chase Purdy, Riley Herbst, Tyler Ankrum and Christian Eckes were in the top 15. Hailie Deegan was in 16th ahead of rookie Jack Wood, Stewart Friesen, rookie Dean Thompsons and Grant Enfinger.

    Shortly after, Blaine Perkins spun across the backstretch after making contact with Tate Fogleman, but he was able to nurse his truck back to pit road without sustaining any damage and the event remained under green.

    By Lap 20, Zane Smith was being challenged by Heim for the lead. While Heim gained a huge run in Turn 3 to take the lead, Smith pulled a crossover move to issue another challenge for the top spot. Heim, however, gained another strong run through Turns 2 and 3 to assume the lead for good on Lap 22 amid lapped traffic.

    At the Lap 25 mark, Heim extended his advantage to more than a second over Zane Smith while Majeski, Chandler Smith and Nemechek occupied the top five. 

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 30, Heim streaked his No. 51 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro across the start/finish line and claim his first career stage victory. Behind, Majeski overtook Zane Smith for the runner-up spot while Chandler Smith, Nemechek, Kraus, Rhodes, Crafton, Tanner Gray and Hocevar were scored in the top 10. By then, Friesen was up in 15th place while DiBenedetto was mired in 21st.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Heim retained the lead ahead of teammate Nemechek, Zane Smith, Tanner Gray, Rhodes and Ankrum. 

    The second stage started on Lap 36 as Heim and Zane Smith occupied the front row. At the start and with the front-runners locked in a tight battle through double lanes, Heim and Zane Smith dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Heim received a strong push from teammate Nemechek’s No. 4 Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro to clear the field and assume the lead. 

    During the following lap, however, Zane Smith reassumed the lead and slowly pulled away as the field behind jostled for positions. 

    By Lap 40, Zane Smith was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Nemechek while Heim, Rhodes and Gray were in the top five. Behind, Friesen worked his way up to seventh behind Majeski while Hocevar, Colby Howard and Ankrum were in the top 10.

    Ten laps later, Zane Smith continued to lead by less than two seconds over Heim while Nemechek, Rhodes and Majeski remained in the top five.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 60, Zane Smith, who was leading by more than two seconds, claimed his fourth stage victory of the season. Heim settled in second followed by Nemechek, Majeski, Rhodes, Hocevar, Gray, Kraus, Howard and Friesen.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Rhodes assumed the lead ahead of Zane Smith, Heim and the field.

    With the race reaching its halfway mark on Lap 67, the final stage started. At the start, Zane Smith muscled his way back to the lead ahead of Rhodes, Nemechek and the field with the competitors jostling for positions and fanning out to multiple lanes.

    With 55 laps remaining, Zane Smith stabilized his advantage to more than three seconds over Heim while Rhodes, Nemechek and Majeski were in the top five. Meanwhile, Eckes was in sixth followed by Hocevar, Kraus, Purdy and Ankrum while Friesen was in 11th ahead of Chandler Smith, Colby Howard, Matt DiBenedetto and Hailie Deegan. Crafton was in 16th ahead of Grant Enfinger, Tanner Gray, Riley Herbst and Dean Thompson.

    Eleven laps later, the caution flew for an incident involving Kris Wright in Turn 2. At the moment of caution, Zane Smith was leading by more than three seconds over Heim.

    Under caution, the leaders returned to pit road for service and Heim reassumed the lead followed by Zane Smith, Rhodes, Nemechek, Majeski and Eckes.

    With 39 laps remaining, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Zane Smith and Heim made contact with the former assuming the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch while Nemechek and Eckes moved up to second and third. Meanwhile, Heim slipped back to fourth in front of Friesen and Rhodes.

    Down to the final 30 laps of the event, Zane Smith was leading by more than two seconds over Nemechek while Eckes, Majeski and Chandler Smith, who rallied from losing a lap to the leaders, were in the top five. Friesen was in sixth ahead of Heim, Rhodes, Kraus and Howard.

    Shortly after, Heim’s strong run was spoiled after he made contact with the outside wall in Turn 1 and made a trip to pit road, thus losing a lap to the leaders.

    With 20 laps remaining, Zane Smith continued to extend his advantage to more than four seconds over Nemechek while Majeski, Chandler Smith and Eckes were in the top five. 

    Just then, the caution flew with 13 laps remaining when Dean Thompson spun in Turn 2. The incident all but evaporated Zane Smith’s advantage of more than six seconds over Nemechek and the field.

    Under caution, some like DiBenedetto, Lawless Alan, Ankrum and Colby Howard pitted while the rest led by Zane Smith remained on the track.

    Down to the final eight laps of the event, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Zane Smith rocketed with the lead while Nemechek, who struggled at the start on the outside lane, slipped out of the top five as Majeski moved into the runner-up spot. 

    When the field returned to the start/finish line, Zane Smith was leading ahead of Majeski, Enfinger, Eckes and Chandler Smith while Nemechek was mired back in sixth place.

    With less than five laps remaining, Zane Smith stabilized his advantage to nearly seven-tenths of a second over runner-up Majeski and more than two seconds over third-place Enfinger.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Zane Smith continued to lead by more than a second over Majeski. Having no competition coming close to his fast truck, Smith cycled his way back to the finish line as he capped off a dominant run with another victory of the season.

    With his third victory of the season, all occurring in his first campaign with Front Row Motorsports, Smith also claimed his first win at Kansas and his sixth career victory in the Truck circuit.

    “Just an unbelievable truck,” Smith said on FS1. “We, honestly, struggled there in the first stage. I feel like I made the mistake last week with adjusting too much in the heat of the day and wasn’t right in the night [conditions]. We just executed greatly with this truck. This was our Vegas truck. I feel like this would’ve been an image of Vegas what we’ve seen tonight if I didn’t get damage early in the race there. What a track record with Speedco and Love’s [Travel Stops]. Just so cool. That was one of my easier ones I’ve ever had to win, but that late-race restart scared me a little, but good thing I didn’t have another one there because I am stuck in fourth [gear].”

    Finishing in a career-best runner-up spot was Ty Majeski, who also achieved his third top-five result of the season as he is currently campaigning in his first full-time season in the series with ThorSport Racing. Majeski’s second-place run occurred in his 28th series start.

    “We were really close,” Majeski said. “We kept easing on the adjustments all night. Getting the balance better every run. Track was freeing up and we were just a little bit too free. We kept making small changes. The sun went down, I think we under-adjusted a little bit for that last stop. Just couldn’t attack it. Just a little bit too free. Overall, a really, really fast American Racing Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. We’ve been really hitting it off this year. It’s been a ton of fun. Being in the shop every day with these guys and working with them. We have a great relationship and there’s a lot of great things coming. We’re right there.”

    The third-place result was the second in a row in recent weeks for Enfinger, who is currently competing on a full-time basis with GMS Racing.

    “[Crew chief] Charles [Denike], tonight, made some really good calls ‘cause we were terrible when we unloaded, terrible in qualifying,” Enfinger said. “I could drive it at the beginning of the race, but we were slow. [Denike] did a great job adjusting on it all night. I feel like he hit on something. The last two adjustments made a big difference.”

    Chandler Smith came home in fourth place and Eckes completed the top five while Nemechek, who led the first three laps and who was coming off a win last weekend at Darlington Raceway, fell back to sixth place.

    “[I] Spun the tires, didn’t get a good push from behind,” Nemechek said. “It’s on me. I spun the tires and that was pretty much it. That’s all she wrote. [I] Had a decently fast Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro tonight. We missed it. [Zane Smith] was definitely the dominant truck and he should’ve won the race. I feel like we should’ve finished second or third, but got to work on restarts, come back and we know what we need to do here coming back for the Playoff race. Proud of the guys. Proud of the effort. Still on a top-six streak here. Just got to continue on.”

    Matt DiBenedetto, Kraus, Crafton and Rhodes finished in the top 10.

    There were nine lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured four cautions for nine laps.

    With the first half of the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular-season stretch complete, Ben Rhodes leads the regular-season standings by 20 points over John Hunter Nemechek and 21 over Zane Smith. Currently, Zane Smith, Rhodes, Nemechek and Chandler Smith are tentatively locked into the 2022 Truck Playoffs based on winning at least once throughout the season while Ty Majeski, Stewart Friesen, Carson Hocevar, Christian Eckes, Grant Enfinger and Matt Crafton are above the top-10 cutline based on points. Tanner Gray trails the top-10 cutline by 20 points, Derek Kraus trails by 37, Tyler Ankrum trails by 45, and Matt DiBenedetto trails by 66.

    Results.

    1. Zane Smith, 108 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Ty Majeski, one lap led

    3. Grant Enfinger

    4. Chandler Smith

    5. Christian Eckes

    6. John Hunter Nemechek, three laps led

    7. Matt DiBenedetto

    8. Derek Kraus

    9. Matt Crafton

    10. Ben Rhodes, four laps led

    11. Colby Howard

    12. Riley Herbst

    13. Chase Purdy

    14. Stewart Friesen

    15. Carson Hocevar

    16. Tyler Ankrum

    17. Hailie Deegan

    18. Tanner Gray

    19. Lawless Alan

    20. Tate Fogleman, one lap down

    21. Tyler Hill, one lap down

    22. Dean Thompson, one lap down

    23. Austin Wayne Self, one lap down

    24. Jesse Little, two laps down

    25. Kris Wright, two laps down

    26. Jack Wood, three laps down

    27. Timmy Hill, four laps down

    28. Ryan Huff, four laps down

    29. Trey Hutchens, four laps down

    30. Josh Reaume, five laps down

    31. Spencer Boyd, seven laps down

    32. Blaine Perkins, eight laps down

    33. Corey Heim, 10 laps down, 18 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    34. Matt Mills – OUT, Axle

    35. Jesse Iwuji – OUT, Too slow

    Next on the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule is the series’ lone visit of the season at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, which will occur on Friday, May 20, at 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Corey Heim scores first Truck Series career win at Atlanta

    Corey Heim scores first Truck Series career win at Atlanta

    Rookie Corey Heim executed a bold final lap pass over teammate Chandler Smith and fended off the field to win the Fr8 208 at the newly reconfigured Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday, March 19, for his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win in his fifth series start.

    The 19-year-old Heim from Marietta, Georgia, who competes part-time in the ARCA Menards Series for Venturini Motorsports and in the Truck Series for Kyle Busch Motorsports, led four times for 22 of 150-scheduled laps as he received a boost from teammate John Hunter Nemechek, who was two laps behind, to overtake teammate Chandler Smith at the start of the final lap. Then for a single lap, Heim fended off a pack of storming trucks to notch his first career victory in his second series start of the season.

    The starting lineup for the event was determined through the Performance Metrics formula based on four statistics: drivers’ results, owners’ race and points results and the fastest lap from the previous Cup event. With that, Chandler Smith, winner of the previous scheduled Truck event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, started on pole position. Joining him on the front row was Stewart Friesen.

    The use of the Performance Metrics formula occurred after rain cancelled all on-track activities on Friday, which resulted with the Truck competitors receiving a single practice session earlier on Saturday in place of on-track qualifying.

    Prior to the event, Jordan Anderson, John Hunter Nemechek, Thad Moffitt, Chase Purdy and Ty Majeski dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustment to their respective trucks.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Chandler Smith peaked ahead with an early advantage until Friesen received a strong push from Matt DiBenedetto to take the lead. Then in Turn 3, DiBenedetto got into the outside wall in Turn 3 as the field overtook DiBenedetto’s slow truck through the turn. Meanwhile, Friesen led the first lap ahead of the field as the race continued to run under green. 

    Through the first five scheduled laps, Friesen was leading followed by Grant Enfinger, Carson Hocevar, Derek Kraus and Matt Crafton while Chandler Smith, Tyler Ankrum, Christian Eckes, Austin Wayne Self and Tanner Gray were in the top 10. 

    By Lap 20, Friesen continued to lead ahead of the field with the competitors mired in a tight, side-by-side battle for positions.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 30, Friesen captured his first Truck stage victory of the season. Enfinger settled in second followed by Kraus, Eckes, Matt Crafton, Gray, Chandler Smith, Ross Chastain, John Hunter Nemechek and Ankrum. Meanwhile, Hailie Deegan pulled her No. 1 David Gilliland Racing Ford F-150 to pit road as her left-rear tire was on fire. The incident was enough to terminate her event on pit road.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Eckes emerged out in front with the lead. During the pit stops, Tyler Ankrum and Rhodes overshot their pit stalls. Chase Purdy and Brennan Poole were busted for speeding while Jesse Little and Chris Hacker were penalized for having a crew member over the pit wall too soon.

    The second stage started on Lap 37 as Friesen and Eckes occupied the front row. At the start, the leaders battled dead even through the backstretch until Friesen stormed to the lead on the outside lane. 

    At the Lap 40 mark, Friesen was leading by a tenth of a second over Nemechek followed by Eckes, Crafton, Majeski, Kraus, Chandler Smith, Preece, Zane Smith and Enfinger.

    Nearing the Lap 50 mark, the caution flew due to debris on the frontstretch that came off of the No. 20 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST piloted by Matt Mills. Under caution, some led by Friesen pitted while the rest of the field led by Nemechek remained on the track.

    With five laps remaining in the second stage, the race restarted under green. At the start, Nemechek received a push from Eckes on the outside lane to peak ahead of Majeski for the lead. A few laps later, Majeski received a push from Chandler Smith to move in front of Nemechek for the lead. 

    Then prior to the final lap of the second stage, Nemechek bolted to the inside lane to reassume the lead over Majeski followed by teammate Chandler Smith. Shortly after, the caution flew due to a tire tread that came off of Ross Chastain’s No. 41 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST. The caution was enough for the second stage scheduled for Lap 60 to conclude under caution as Nemechek captured the stage victory. Majeski settled in second followed by Chandler Smith, Eckes, Ankrum, Crafton, Dean Thompson, Gray, Hocevar and Preece were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, names like Friesen, Rhodes, Enfinger and Jack Wood remained on the track while the rest of the field remained on the track. 

    The third and final stage restarted under green on Lap 66. At the start, Grant Enfinger muscled his GMS Racing machine to the top spot over Friesen.

    Then on Lap 68, the caution flew for a multi-truck wreck in Turn 3 that consumed Eckes, Jack Wood, Dean Thompson and Lawless Allen. Under caution, some including Preece remained on the track while the rest led by Enfinger pitted.

    Seven laps later, the race restarted under green. At the start, Heim received a push from teammate Chandler Smith to retain the lead over Preece while the field jostled for positions.

    The caution returned, however, on Lap 80 when Tate Fogleman spun on the frontstretch. Four laps later, the race proceeded under green as Heim moved into the lead over Preece. By then, Enfinger, who pitted, was penalized for running over his air hose on pit road.

    Then on Lap 91, the caution once again flew when Jordan Anderson and Tanner Gray made contact entering Turn 1, which got Anderson loose as he came down across the track and hit Tate Fogleman, which then sent Fogleman hard against the Turn 1 outside wall. 

    With 38 laps remaining, the final stage started. At the start, Majeski shoved teammates Rhodes to the lead over Heim as the field fanned out to three lanes through the backstretch. 

    With the majority of the field settling in a long single file line, Rhodes was ahead of teammate Majeski, Heim, Preece and Zane Smith while Chandler Smith, Kraus, Nemechek, Chastain and Friesen were in the top 10.

    Following an incident involving Kris Wright with 35 laps remaining, the race restarted under green six laps later. At the start, the field locked in a side-by-side battle for the top spot until Rhodes managed to retain the lead by a narrow margin. Shortly after, Heim challenged Rhodes for the lead as he led the following lap. With Heim and Rhodes running the outside lane along with Preece, Chandler Smith challenged on the inside lane followed by Kraus. 

    Not long after, the battle for the lead intensified between Heim and Chandler Smith, both of whom representing Kyle Busch Motorsports and as Georgia natives competing at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Meanwhile, teammate Nemechek, who was running near the top 10, was off the pace after making contact with Crafton through the backstretch. 

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event and with the battle for the lead fanning out to two lanes as the top-20 competitors were mired in a tight pack towards the front, Chandler Smith was ahead over teammate Heim followed by Tanner Gray, Friesen and Tyler Ankrum. 

    Five laps later, Chandler Smith settled with an advantage of more than a tenth of a second over teammate Heim while Friesen, Zane Smith and Rhodes were in the top five. Majeski was in sixth followed by Gray, Austin Wayne Self, Kraus and Ankrum.

    With 10 laps remaining, Chandler Smith continued to lead followed by teammate Heim, Friesen, Zane Smith, Rhodes and the field.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, the front-runners continued to run in a single file line with the top-11 trucks separated by more than a second as Chandler Smith remained in the lead ahead of teammate Heim, Zane Smith, Rhodes and Majeski. By then, Nemechek, who was two laps down, blended in with the leaders.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Heim made his move beneath teammate Chandler Smith followed by teammate Nemechek, Rhodes and the field while Chandler Smith was trapped on the outside lane. Through the backstretch and Turn 3, Heim continued to lead as Rhodes tried to make a final lap charge for the top spot. With the field fanning out approach the finish line, Heim managed to streak across the finish line in first place to claim his first checkered flag by 0.173 seconds over Rhodes.

    With the victory, Heim became the 119th different competitor to achieve a Truck Series victory and the 12th to do so while competing for Kyle Busch Motorsports as KBM notched its fourth Truck victory at Atlanta. Heim is scheduled to compete in 13 of the remaining 21 Truck events in KBM’s No. 51 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro.

    “That was awesome!” Heim said on FS1. “I can’t believe it. We just put ourselves in the right place at the right time. Our JBL Tundra TRD Pro was amazing today. Just can’t thank everyone enough back at the shop. Toyota Racing helped so much to get here and this truck looks awesome in Victory Lane. So glad to be here.”

    “[There were] No team orders there [for the finish],” Heim added. “As long as one [Kyle Busch Motorsports] truck won, that’s all that matters. [Teammate Chandler Smith] did an awesome job defending for most of the race there and [teammate John Hunter Nemechek] stuck with me when it mattered the most. [I] Got to give all the credit to John Hunter Nemechek for helping out there. It’s surreal. Awesome.” 

    Rhodes settled in second place followed by Majeski while Chandler Smith fell back to fourth place in front of Zane Smith.

    “I would’ve liked to duke it out with [Heim], just us and not have anyone else in the middle of it,” Chandler Smith said. “It is what it is. I’m happy for [the 51 team]. That’s their first win of the year and first win for Corey. That’s exciting, I remember how it was to get my first and it was a really cool moment. Happy for him and happy for that whole group. [Crew chief Danny] Stockman and everybody back at KBM. They give me a really fast Safelite/Charge Me/NGE Roofing Toyota Tundra TRD Pro today. It just sucks that it had to end like that. I wish we could’ve duked it out.

    Friesen, Preece, Gray, Kraus and Austin Wayne Self came home in the top 10. Notably, Enfinger finished 14th, Eckes finished 17th, Nemechek and Crafton finished 24th and 25th and DiBenedetto settled in 30th.

    There were 18 lead changes for 10 different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 40 laps.

    With his fourth-place result, Chandler Smith continues to lead the regular season standings by 13 points over Tanner Gray, 17 over Ty Majeski, 26 over Stewart Friesen and 27 over Ben Rhodes.

    Results.

    1. Corey Heim, 22 laps led, 

    2. Ben Rhodes, nine laps led

    3. Ty Majeski, one lap led

    4. Chandler Smith, 21 laps led

    5. Zane Smith

    6. Stewart Friesen, 49 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    7. Ryan Preece, four laps led

    8. Tanner Gray

    9. Derek Kraus

    10. Austin Wayne Self

    11. Tyler Ankrum

    12. Grant Enfinger, 14 laps led

    13. Jack Wood

    14. Chase Purdy

    15. Jesse Little

    16. Christian Eckes, three laps led

    17. Chris Hacker

    18. Jordan Anderson

    19. Matt Jaskol

    20. Spencer Boyd, one lap down

    21. Kris Wright, one lap down

    22. Timmy Hill, one lap down

    23. Ross Chastain, two laps down

    24. John Hunter Nemechek, two laps down, 11 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    25. Matt Crafton, two laps down, one lap led

    26. Colby Howard, two laps down

    27. Carson Hocevar, three laps down

    28. Brennan Poole, five laps down

    29. Blaine Perkins, nine laps down

    30. Matt DiBenedetto, 12 laps down

    31. Tate Fogleman – OUT, Accident

    32. Thad Moffitt – OUT, Engine

    33. Lawless Alan – OUT, Accident

    34. Dean Thompson – OUT, Accident

    35. Matt Mills – OUT, Suspension

    36. Hailie Deegan – OUT, Tire

    Next on the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule is the series’ second annual event at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, which will occur on Saturday, March 26, at 1 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Corey Heim takes ARCA victory at Kansas, Bret Holmes claims ARCA championship

    Corey Heim takes ARCA victory at Kansas, Bret Holmes claims ARCA championship

    The 2020 ARCA Menards Series season finally reached its conclusion with the season finale Friday night in the Heartland at Kansas Speedway.

    Only two drivers had a chance at the championship, Bret Holmes and Michael Self, and neither has ever won an ARCA title. While the battle was competitive on track, the 2020 championship eventually went to Holmes after five years of trying. With determination and a never give up attitude even when at times he wanted to give up racing entirely, Holmes finally prevailed.

    “It’s been a tough road, for sure,” said Holmes. “Everything we’ve done has just been phenomenal this season, every decision we’ve made. To come out and not even know we were going to run the full season, and to finish it off like this, is really special.”

    With an ARCA title on the line, there was also a race winner to be had in the 100 lap race as well. Three segments split up the 100 lapper, with the first segment ending on Lap 30, second on Lap 60 and the final on Lap 100. Ty Gibbs, who ultimately took home the Owner’s Championship qualified on the pole.

    Segment 1: Lap 1 – Lap 30

    The action was intense early for championship contender Michael Self. Self, in the No. 25 SinClair Lubricants Toyota, started to experience fuel pick up problems on Lap 21 of the race. The issue eventually put the Park City, Utah native a lap down through the rest of the segment, but he was the recipient of the free pass when Segment 1 ended.

    Also experiencing problems was the polesitter, Ty Gibbs. At Lap 28, the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team pushed the Monster Energy Toyota behind the wall for multiple laps. It wasn’t until the end of the second segment that Gibbs would return to the racetrack, but multiple laps down.

    As the first segment wrapped up on Lap 30, Venturini Motorsports driver Corey Heim was in first, with Holmes, Derek Griffith, Hailie Deegan, Self, Drew Dollar, Dylan Lupton, Kris Wright, Scott Melton, and Eric Caudell completing the Top 10.

    Segment 2: Lap 33 – Lap 60

    The second segment was caution-free with Heim leading the field to the second break that occurred on Lap 60.

    Segment 3: Lap 64 – Lap 100

    With Heim pulling away from the field, the focus was on the two title contenders, Self and Holmes, who were battling in the top five. Self rebounded to a fifth-place running position after the fuel pickup problem earlier in the race.

    As the checkered flag flew on Lap 100, Corey Heim collected his first-ever checkered flag while Self, unfortunately, fell short for a second consecutive year. Holmes finally took home his first ARCA Menards Series championship in 81 starts since 2016. Self was runner-up in the points finishing 12 points behind Holmes.

    “Really surreal right now, man,” said Heim of his first ARCA Menards Series victory. “I’m kind of at a loss for words. Craftsman, Toyota, Venturini Motorsports, all the people who make it happen, couldn’t have done it without them. [Crew chief Kevin Reed Jr.] here, he did an awesome job just dialing me in. We were a little loose throughout the race, but I couldn’t have asked for much more on that last run, and here we are in victory lane. Couldn’t be happier.”

    Heim dominated the race by leading 82 of the scheduled 100 laps, en route to his first ARCA Menards Series victory in just 16 starts.

    There were two leaders among two different lead changes.

    Official Results following the Speediatrics 150 at Kansas Speedway.

    1. Corey Heim, led 82 laps
    2. Bret Holmes, led 18 laps
    3. Derek Griffith
    4. Dylan Lupton
    5. Michael Self
    6. Hailie Deegan
    7. Kris Wright
    8. Drew Dollar, 1 lap down
    9. Scott Melton, 3 laps down
    10. Eric Caudell, 4 laps down
    11. Tim Richmond, 6 laps down
    12. Mike Basham, 9 laps down
    13. Chandler Smith, 19 laps down
    14. Ty Gibbs, 40 laps down
    15. Brad Smith, OUT, Engine
    16. Owen Smith, OUT, Clutch
    17. Wayne Peterson, OUT, Brakes
    18. Alex Clubb, OUT, Vibration

    Up Next: After a hectic season and some major rescheduling, the 2020 ARCA Menards Series season is finally completed. Now, the focus will turn to the off-season and toward the 2021 season as well. Normally, an ARCA Open Test at Daytona takes place in January, but nothing has been officially announced as of this writing.