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  • Four Takeaways From The Ford Ecoboost 200 At Homestead-Miami

    Four Takeaways From The Ford Ecoboost 200 At Homestead-Miami

    The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series held its last race of the year this past Friday night in Southern Florida. As the sun set and nighttime fell, the action only intensified as the 2017 season neared its end. After the checkered flag flew, here are four takeaways from the championship event.

    1. Christopher Bell Earns Championship – In his second full year, Christopher Bell finally earned the championship after finishing second. He ended the season with five wins, 15 top fives and 21 top 10 finishes, with five pole awards. That was enough to earn him a championship. It would not be surprising if he challenges for the XFINITY Series championship in 2018, let alone win it all. After all, Bell has one win in eight starts this year in that series, along with three top fives and five top 10 finishes.
    2. Veterans Still Dominate in Series – In a year of new stars and rookies, veterans and champions, such as Matt Crafton and Johnny Sauter were still dominant and age was no factor. Crafton qualified for the playoffs with a win on the dirt at Eldora and Sauter early at Dover. Sauter got in the Championship 4 for the second consecutive year after winning at Texas and Crafton got in on points. The two finished third and sixth, respectively, in the final race of the year. Crafton ended with one win, five top fives and 16 top 10 finishes, while Sauter ended with four wins, 13 top fives and 19 top 10 finishes. It just goes to show that veterans still can dominate the series and age is only a number.
    3. Grant Enfinger and Justin Haley Earn Top 10 Finishes – When it’s the final race of the year, racecar drivers like to end it on a high note. Enfinger and Haley did just that by finishing eighth and ninth, respectively. Both of them finished in the top 10 in Stage 1, while Haley was the only one to finish in the top 10 in Stage 2. At the end of the day, the scoring loop showed them in the top 10. This was Haley’s 12th top 10 of the year and Enfinger’s 15th top 10 of the year.
    4. Exciting Playoffs – The 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series playoffs might go down as one of the most exciting in its series history. Throughout the eight race round, we saw six different winners including an upset at Talladega by Parker Kligerman, which was very exciting for the fans to watch. Sauter was the only repeat winner after victories at Texas and Phoenix. Bell won at the opening round in Loudon but carried through with points and stage wins. The season, as always, ended in the bright Florida sun and showed a new champion, and a first-time race winner. The 2017 season, no doubt, was most likely one of the most exciting seasons yet for the Camping World Truck Series.
  • NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Preview-Talladega

    NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Preview-Talladega

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

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

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

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

    Here’s a look at who we can expect to be a strong contender for the win this weekend.

      1. Johnny Sauter – Sauter is the best active driver statistically at Talladega. In five races, he has one win (2013), two top five and four top 10 finishes, but has one DNF in 2014. His average starting position is 14.0, while his average finishing position is 9.0. Anything can happen at Talladega, but Sauter might just pull off a win.
      2. Christopher Bell – Bell won’t have anything to worry about as he already is locked into the next round, but he’ll be fighting for some extra playoff points. In two races, he has a finish of 13th and sixth, respectively. Bell has an average finishing position of 9.5. Look for him to be up front on Saturday.
      3. Kaz Grala – No career starts for Grala at Talladega, but he has high expectations after becoming the youngest-ever winner at Daytona earlier this season. A win will certainly help him to move on to the next round as he sits below the cut line.
      4. Grant Enfinger – Enfinger just might be the spoiler in the playoffs Saturday afternoon. In last year’s race, he pulled off the win after leading for 45 laps. So if he ends up in victory lane at the end of the day, don’t find it surprising that the Alabama driver plays as the spoiler.
      5. Ben Rhodes – While his result from last year’s race may not look pretty, he is carrying momentum after his first career win at Las Vegas two weekends ago. He, along with others, will be fighting for stage points throughout the race.

    There will be two practices scheduled for Friday afternoon at 12 p.m. ET and 2 p.m. ET both on FS1. Qualifying is slated for Saturday morning beginning at 10:30 a.m. ET on FS1.Race coverage begins on FS1 and MRN Radio at noon ET, with the green flag dropping at 1:22 p.m. ET.

  • NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Power Rankings-New Hampshire

    NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Power Rankings-New Hampshire

    The Round of 8 began this past weekend for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. While there were some surprises in the top 10 results, most of it saw the normal faces up front. Here are this week’s power rankings.

          1. Christopher Bell – Bell continued his dominant season and starts the Playoffs off with the win going into the next round. He led three times for 73 laps and won both stages. Bell also gained seven playoff points after his fifth career victory of 2017. He certainly dominated this weekend at New Hampshire and is safe for at least the next two races in this round.
          2. Noah Gragson – Despite not getting the finish he wanted and missing out on the playoffs, Gragson dominated most of Stage 1 until Bell passed him late in the stage. However, the second stage did not go as well as the first stage did for the Las Vegas driver. On lap 65, Gragson was involved in a multi-truck accident involving a tap by Ben Rhodes. Playoff contender, Johnny Sauter, was also collected as he had right side damage to his truck. Gragson could not rebound after this wreck and wound up 15th on the scoring charts.
          3. Todd Gilliland – The young 17-year-old was not to be denied at the “Magic Mile” on Saturday afternoon. In Stage 1, he finished eighth. However, during the pit stops after the stage was over, Gilliland was nabbed with a pit road penalty for running over equipment. This sent him to the back before Stage 2 started, although, Gilliland charged through the front late and ended up finishing third. Nice rebound after getting tabbed with a penalty early on.
          4. Stewart Friesen – Friesen has been a solid 2017 season so far, despite not competing in the full schedule. Prior to New Hampshire, Pocono in July was the site that saw the best finish of his career by finishing 12th. However, he upped that this past Saturday by finishing fifth, scoring his second top five of the year.
          5. Grant Enfinger – Enfinger is another driver who missed the playoffs this year but had a solid outing at New Hampshire. He finished ninth in Stage 1 and third in Stage 2. At the end of the day, when all was settled and done with, Enfinger earned a fourth-place finish.

    Next Up: The Round of 8 continues this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. While one driver is locked in, seven others will look to lock themselves in as well and punch their ticket to the next round.

  • Thorsport Racing Has Solid Outing At New Hampshire

    Thorsport Racing Has Solid Outing At New Hampshire

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Power Rankings-Chicago

    NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Power Rankings-Chicago

    The final regular season race took place last Friday night at Chicagoland Speedway for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and set the final playoff point standings. Here’s a look at who thrived in Chicago.

    1. Johnny Sauter – Sauter seemed to have found his rhythm back after having several weeks of disappointment and losing his championship lead in the summer months. This past Friday night, he changed that as he won for the first time since Dover International Speedway. Sauter finished second and fourth, respectively, in both stages and didn’t take the lead until 27 laps to go. He might be heating up at the right time as he cut the Christopher Bell’s point lead down to 15.
    2. Christopher Bell – In the past three races, Bell has been up and down, and it has shown that in the points differential. At Bristol, Candian Tire Motorsports Park and Chicagoland, Bell finished seventh, 26th and third, respectively. This past Friday night, he finished eighth in Stage 1 and won the second stage. But at Bristol, Bell had a 42 point lead over Sauter, however, due to the engine failure at Canada and Sauter’s win on Friday night, the points lead was cut down to 15. Bell did lead 18 laps but needs to have his momentum back that he had during the summer months. Still no doubt, he will be a strong championship challenger throughout the playoffs, but he needs no mistakes.
    3. Chase Briscoe – Briscoe had a strong night at Chicago. Throughout the race, he led twice for 18 laps and finished in the top 10 in both stages. He’ll need to keep up the momentum and perhaps win a race if he wants to be in the final four at Homestead. Nonetheless, another solid run for the No. 29 Brad Keselowski Racing Cooper Standard Ford.
    4. Ryan Truex – The other Truex is maybe showing shades of his older brother Martin, here lately, in the Camping World Truck Series. In the past two races, he has won at least one stage. In Canada, it was the second stage and he wound up finishing fifth, while this past weekend in Chicago, Truex won the first stage and finished fourth. Unfortunately, Truex missed the 2017 playoffs by a tie-breaker.
    5. Grant Enfinger – Enfinger had a quiet but decent night at Chicago. The 32-year-old scored his seventh top five of the year but missed the playoffs by not having enough points/wins. Not finishing in the top 10 in any stages hurt Enfinger’s chances of making the playoffs. The only task Enfinger can do now is finish the year out strong by winning a couple of races and look forward to the 2018 NASCAR season.Next up: The “Round of 8” begins at New Hampshire Motor Speedway this Saturday. Christopher Bell, Johnny Sauter, John Hunter Nemechek, Matt Crafton, Chase Briscoe, Austin Cindric, Ben Rhodes and Kaz Grala will be competing for the championship. It will be interesting to see how these eight drivers will compete throughout the playoffs. These drivers cannot afford any mistakes if they want to have any chance making it to the final four.
  • NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Power Rankings-Bristol

    NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Power Rankings-Bristol

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Enfinger’s Eventful Day Ends with Top-Five at Thunder Valley

    Enfinger’s Eventful Day Ends with Top-Five at Thunder Valley

    BRISTOL, Tenn. — NASCAR’s annual midweek day of racing at Bristol Motor Speedway had barely commenced when penalties from Michigan resulted in Grant Enfinger losing points he earned just days earlier. By night’s end, he brought his truck home to a fourth-place finish in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series UNOH 200 and salvaged some of those lost points.

    Following the LTi Printing 200 at Michigan International Speedway, Enfinger was hit with two penalties, resulting in a double-encumbered finish. The first penalty was the result of a post-race ride-height violation, and the second was a safety violation for crew chief Jeff Hensley for an “improperly affixed” weight. The subsequent 10-point penalty resulted in him going from 14 points back of teammate Ben Rhodes, to 24 behind.

    But his performance through the day and evening at Thunder Valley demonstrated bridging the gap might not be a tall task. He finished 11th and seventh in the day’s practice sessions, and qualified his car seventh for the race.

    While Enfinger didn’t race “under the radar,” as he did finish top-10 (fifth and ninth) in both the first and second stage, he never posed a threat to Kyle Busch’s dominance, as had teammate Matt Crafton. But he drove his way through traffic, both lead and lapped, and drove it to a fourth-place finish as the checkered flag waved.

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

    Enfinger leaves Bristol seventh in points. Unfortunately, teammate Rhodes, who currently occupies the cutoff spot, out-pointed him, in spite of a fifth-place finish. He trails Rhodes by 26 with two races to go in the Truck Series regular season.

  • Enfinger’s Season After 13 Races

    Enfinger’s Season After 13 Races

    BRISTOL, Tenn. — Grant Enfinger’s first full season in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series has him just on the outside, vying for a playoff spot, with three races remaining in the 2017 regular season.

    Ask him how he’d rate his season, he’d say, “it depends on where in the season you ask me.”

    “If you’re asking me right now, probably a C,” he said. “We’ve been an A at certain parts of the season, and we’ve been an F at certain parts of the season.”

    His season started with him pushing teammate Ben Rhodes with two laps to go in the NextEra Energy Resource 250 at Daytona International Speedway. Exiting Turn 2, Rhodes got loose, turned down into teammate Matt Crafton and triggered a 12-truck wreck. Enfinger wound up 16th.

    He rebounded the following week with an eighth-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway but was a non-factor in a 17th-place finish at Martinsville Speedway.

    After an 11th  place at Kansas Speedway, Enfinger went on a run of five top-10 finishes and four top-fives. That run consisted of a seventh at Charlotte Motor Speedway, a bottom-step podium finish at Dover International Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway, a fifth at Gateway Motorsports Park and a fourth at Iowa Speedway.

    “We got through the first three or four races and weren’t where we really wanted to be, and then we started to gain a lot of momentum, and had some really good finishes and had some really good trucks,” he continued.

    This five-race hot streak came to an end when he collided with teammate Rhodes, only half a lap into the second stage of the Buckle Up In Your Truck 225 at Kentucky Speedway.

    Enfinger bounced back with a fourth-place finish at Eldora Speedway, bringing him to his highest points position of the season to date.

    After finishes of 13th at Pocono Raceway and eighth at Michigan International Speedway, he now sits seventh in points, 14 back of teammate Rhodes, who currently occupies the final playoff spot.

    Doing so won’t be easy, given that, as he notes, his team is without the consistency that carried them for the aforementioned five-race stretch.

    “In the last couple of races, we’ve struggled,” Enfinger added. “We just haven’t had the finishes we’ve needed, but we’re looking to get back on track here at Bristol.”

  • Four Takeaways From Saturday’s Truck Race At Michigan

    Four Takeaways From Saturday’s Truck Race At Michigan

    1. Darrell Wallace Jr. gets a breakthrough win at Michigan – 2017 has been an up and down year for Wallace Jr. After the XFINITY race at Pocono, the No. 6 XFINITY team was shut down due to lack of funding. However, he’s been filling in rides since then. He’s raced four races for Aric Almirola when he was injured from Pocono to Kentucky with a best finish of 11th at Kentucky. Wallace Jr. then received an opportunity to drive for MDM Motorsports at Michigan. He was able to make the most of it scoring his sixth career win in the Truck Series.
    2. Christopher Bell extends points lead – Bell continues his strong season by finishing second in Saturday’s race, giving him his ninth top five of the year and extending his points lead to 37. He’ll head to Bristol Motor Speedway Wednesday night looking for his fifth win of the season.
    3. Johnny Sauter has a rough day at Michigan – Sauter had a rough outing in this past weekend’s race. However, on the bright side, he was able to score some playoff points by finishing fifth in Stage 1. Problems continued as Sauter had to pit for a flat tire, thus ending his shot for a second win in 2017. He wound up finishing 18th and losing more points to Christopher Bell. Sauter will have to turn his season around at Bristol this Wednesday if he wants to retake the points lead from Bell.
    4. Three races remain until the playoffs – Three races, three wild cards until the 2017 playoffs begin at Loudon in September. This week the drivers will head to Bristol, then to Canada after a couple of weeks off with the final race at Chicago before the playoffs start. Christopher Bell, John Hunter Nemechek, Johnny Sauter, Matt Crafton and Kaz Grala are all locked in by securing wins throughout the season. However, the door is wide open after fifth as Chase Briscoe, Ryan Truex and Ben Rhodes sit on the bubble. Also, Grant Enfinger, Noah Gragson, Austin Cindric and Justin Haley are currently out at the moment. The season has provided some exciting and thrilling action so we could see three new winners in the next three races.
  • NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Power Rankings – Eldora

    NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Power Rankings – Eldora

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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