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  • Zane Smith emerges victorious in rain-shortened Truck Series opener at Daytona

    Zane Smith emerges victorious in rain-shortened Truck Series opener at Daytona

    The reigning NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Zane Smith commenced the new season of competition on a high and bizarre note by winning the rain-shortened NextEra Energy 250 at Daytona International Speedway on Friday, Feb. 17.

    The 23-year-old Smith from Huntington Beach, California, led three times for 17 of 79-shortened laps, including the final 15, where he assumed the lead on Lap 65 following a three-wide move against Corey LaJoie and Tyler Ankrum. He then retained the top spot for a few additional laps before the event was red-flagged for over an hour due to persistent rain that halted the event in the early stages. More than an hour after NASCAR attempted to dry the superspeedway venue and send the competitors back under racing conditions, Smith was declared the official winner of the event that was shortened 21 laps shy of its 100-lap scheduled distance.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, newcomer Nick Sanchez claimed his first career pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 181.899 mph in 49.478 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Ty Majeski, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 180.785 mph in 49.783 seconds.

    Prior to the event, names that included Clay Greenfield, Chase Purdy, Corey LaJoie, Josh Reaume and Canada’s Jason M. White dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective trucks. Newcomer Daniel Dye also dropped to the rear of the field due to a transmission change along with Chris Hacker, who fell back due to an engine change.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Majeski and Sanchez dueled for the lead early followed by Jack Wood and Christian Eckes entering the first turn. With the truck competitors remaining dead even through two tight-packed lanes through the backstretch, Majeski gained the early advantage as he was drafted into the lead followed by Eckes. With the clean air and control of both lanes, Majeski proceeded to lead the first lap ahead of Sanchez and Eckes.

    During the following lap, Majeski retained the lead through the first two laps until Eckes was drafted into the lead following a strong push from Matt Crafton on the outside lane, which dropped Majeski back to third place. Not long after, the first caution of the event flew due to sprinkles reported around the superspeedway venue. Under the first caution period, some names like Derek Kraus, Chase Purdy, Daniel Dye and Tyler Ankrum pitted while the rest led by Eckes remained on the track.

    Once the track was cleared from precipitation, the race restarted under green on the sixth lap. A few seconds later, however, the caution quickly returned due to reports of more rain around the superspeedway venue. At the moment of caution, Eckes retained the lead ahead of Crafton, Matt DiBenedetto, Majeski and Sanchez. During the caution period, names like Parker Kligerman, Corey LaJoie, Kris Wright, Colby Howard, Tanner Gray and Travis Pastrana pitted while the rest led by Eckes remained on the track.

    When the race restarted on Lap 10, Eckes and Crafton dueled for the lead entering Turn 1 until Eckes peeked ahead with drafting help from DiBenedetto. Crafton, however, fought back on the outside lane through the backstretch before Eckes pulled ahead on the inside lane with another push from DiBenedetto as he retained the lead through the frontstretch.

    Two laps later, Crafton received a huge push from teammate Majeski on the outside lane entering Turns 3 and 4 to assume full command of the lead in his No. 88 Menards Ford F-150 entering the frontstretch. Though he led the Lap 13 mark, Eckes fought back on the inside lane as he and Crafton continued to engage in repeated swaps for the lead from the outside to inside lanes. By Lap 15, Eckes managed to pull his No. 19 NAPA AutoCare Chevrolet Silverado RST away from the side-by-side action on the inside lane followed by DiBenedetto while Crafton remained as the lead truck on the outside lane. Crafton, however, fought back by Lap 18 as he received another push from Majeski to pull away on the backstretch.

    Then on the final lap of the first stage, Majeski made his move to the outside of Crafton as he assumed the lead followed by Eckes and DiBenedetto. As Majeski moved back to the inside lane, Eckes charged on the outside lane as he drew himself alongside Majeski through the backstretch. Then in Turns 3 and 4, Majeski got loose towards the apron but managed to keep his truck straight. This, however, allowed Eckes to pull away as he claimed the first stage victory on Lap 20. Crafton settled in second while DiBenedetto, Hailie Deegan, Sanchez, Majeski, Carson Hocevar, Tanner Gray, Jack Wood and Grant Enfinger were scored in the top 10 on the track.

    Under the stage break, some, led by Eckes, pitted while others, led by Ankrum and including Stewart Friesen, Colby Howard, Kligerman, Purdy and Pastrana remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Kris Wright was penalized for speeding on pit road. Corey Heim was also penalized for having a crew member jump over the pit wall too soon.

    The second stage started on Lap 25 as Ankrum and Friesen occupied the front row. At the start, Ankrum pulled away with the lead on the inside lane through Turns 1 and 2 until Friesen gained momentum on the outside lane as he was drafted by Kligerman into the lead. As the field battled through two tight-packed lanes through the frontstretch, Ankrum drew his No. 16 LiUNA! Toyota Tundra TRD Pro back even against Friesen’s No. 52 Aim Autism/Halmar Toyota Tundra TRD Pro as they dueled for the lead. Not long after, the field fanned out to three lanes as Eckes tried to march his way back to the front.

    Then on Lap 28, the caution flew as a multi-truck wreck erupted just past the start/finish line and on the frontstretch when Clay Greenfield got loose, slipped sideways and ignited carnage that included Dean Thompson, Deegan, Tanner Gray, DiBenedetto, Bret Holmes, Josh Reaume and Daniel Dye. Soon after, the event entered a red flag period and the competitors parked their trucks on the backstretch due to rain returning on the venue and as the safety workers went to work to clear the wreckage. Eventually, the competitors were ordered by NASCAR to cycle their trucks back to pit road as the event remained under a red flag period due to rain.

    Following a red flag period spanning approximately 12 minutes, the competitors returned to the track at a cautious pace. Once the circuit was cleared, the race restarted under green on Lap 35 as Ankrum and Howard occupied the front row. At the start, Howard briefly peaked ahead until Ankrum retained the lead as he had the draft to his advantage on the inside lane. Howard, however, prevailed during the following lap as he cleared the field with the lead while Friesen and Ankrum dueled for second.

    During the following lap, Ankrum responded right back by assuming the lead through the backstretch. As Ankrum nearly got turned off the front nose of Howard entering the frontstretch, Friesen made a bold three-wide pass on both Howard and Ankrum to take the lead as the field behind also fanned out to three tight-packed lanes.

    Then on the final lap of the first stage, Friesen, who lost the lead to Ankrum through the first two turns, got turned into the outside wall on the backstretch after making contact with Ben Rhodes as Codie Rohrbaugh, Howard, Kligerman and Holmes also wrecked. The incident was enough to conclude the second stage scheduled on Lap 40 under caution as Ankrum claimed the second stage victory. Purdy settled in second followed by Crafton, Sanchez and Eckes while Enfinger, Rhodes, Enfinger, Jack Wood and Hocevar were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, the majority of the field led by Ankrum pitted while the rest led by Corey LaJoie remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Majeski was penalized for a second time due to a rear crew member jumping over the pit wall too soon. In addition, Jason A. White, a Richmond, Virginia, native driving for TRICON Garage, was also penalized for removing equipment out of his pit box.

    Amid another brief on-track delay due to precipitation as the competitors remained on the track, the final stage commenced under the green flag with 53 laps remaining as LaJoie and Zane Smith occupied the front row. At the start, LaJoie and Smith briefly dueled for the lead until Smith pulled ahead with the lead followed by DiBenedetto and Ankrum. Exiting the backstretch, however, Ankrum received a draft from Eckes to storm back into the lead as he immediately moved in front of Zane Smith. Eckes, however, remained on the outside lane as he assumed the lead for two turns until LaJoie made a move beneath Eckes to reassume the lead.

    With 50 laps remaining, LaJoie was leading ahead of Ankrum as both competitors engaged in repeated side-by-side battles for the top spot. Heim was in third followed by Zane Smith and DiBenedetto while Eckes, Crafton, Chase Elliott, Enfinger and rookie Rajah Caruth were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Majeski was in 11th followed by Rhodes, Hocevar, Tanner Gray and Jack Wood while Dye, Purdy, Travis Pastrana, Sammy Smith, and Timmy Hill occupied the top 20 amid a tight battle within the front pack.

    Then with 43 laps remaining, the caution flew when rookie Rajah Caruth, who was running towards the top 10, made contact with both Zane Smith and Heim entering Turns 3 and 4, which got his No. 24 Wendell Scott Foundation Chevrolet Silverado RST sideways as he spun before he was hit by DiBenedetto and teammate Daniel Dye. Amid the carnage, a majority of competitors running towards the middle of the pack took evasive action to avoid the carnage, including Tanner Gray and Elliott as both dodged the wreck, Majeski also avoided the incident by a hair despite making contact against Dye and having to slam the brakes.

    During the caution period, nearly the entire field except for LaJoie, Timmy Hill, Carson Hocevar and Josh Reaume pitted, though LaJoie’s move in remaining on the track was not as planned due to a miscommunication between himself and his pit crew on when pit road was open for service. Prior to the restart and with the majority of the competitors remaining uncertain on completing the remainder of the race’s scheduled distance on fuel, names like Timmy Hill, Carson Hocevar, Christian Eckes, Travis Pastrana, Chase Purdy, Chris Hacker, Jack Wood, Nick Sanchez, Sammy Smith, Kris Wright, Grant Enfinger, Derek Kraus and Jason A White pitted again to top off on fuel.

    With 36 laps remaining, the event restarted under green. At the start, LaJoie jumped ahead with the lead on the inside lane through the first two turns. He then tried to fend off Ankrum on the outside lane, but Ankrum and Zane Smith placed LaJoie in the middle of a three-wide battle entering Turns 3 and 4 as Zane Smith assumed the lead in his No. 38 Love’s Ford F-150 while LaJoie drifted all the way to the back of the lead pack after losing the draft.

    Three laps later, the caution returned due to reports of rain returning to the racing surface. By then, Zane Smith was the leader followed by Tanner Gray, Howard, Eckes and Enfinger while Majeski, Ankrum, Heim, Crafton and Elliott. Another six laps later amid an extensive caution period, the field led by Zane Smith returned to pit road and the race was placed on its second red flag hiatus due to the precipitation.

    An hour later, the red flag lifted and the competitors returned to the track under a cautious pace in spite of the weather remaining misty and the rain transitioning from either raining or not raining. Soon after, the field returned to pit road and under another red flag period with 21 laps remaining. Soon after, NASCAR declared the event official due to the persistent rain and Zane Smith was declared the winner of the event on pit road.

    For Smith, the Daytona victory was his second in a row after winning last year’s season opener, which made him the first competitor to win back-to-back Truck events at Daytona since Todd Bodine made the last accomplishment between 2008 and 2009. It also marked his eighth career victory in the Craftsman Truck Series and his second in a row after winning both the 2022 finale and series championship at Phoenix as he became the first competitor to be guaranteed a spot for the 2023 Truck Series Playoffs. Smith’s Daytona victory also marked the sixth Truck career win for Front Row Motorsports and the eighth time where the Ford nameplate won at Daytona.

    ““I know there’s about a million ways to get [a win] at Daytona, but we’re proving that,” Smith, who is set to make his Daytona 500 debut on Sunday, said on FS1. “Obviously, [I] wanted to go back racing there somewhat, to duke it out with good friends of mine. Hey, we’ll take a win at Daytona any day we can get. [I] Just give a huge shoutout to everyone at Front Row Motorsports. This whole group, man, I’ve said it over and over again, they work their guts out and it proves it. [We’re] Locked in the Playoffs. It’s like a repeat of last year. Just loving life right now.”

    With Zane Smith winning the event, Tanner Gray settled in a career-best second place while Eckes, Colby Howard and Enfinger concluded in the top five. Majeski, Ankrum, Heim, Crafton and Elliott finished in the top 10.

    Notably, Ben Rhodes finished 11th in front of Hocevar, Pastrana settled in 13th in front of newcomer Sammy Smith, Purdy ended up 17th, LaJoie fell back to 23rd and Sanchez finished 26th in his series debut in front of Jack Wood and Friesen.

    There were 20 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 41 laps.

    Following the first event of the 2023 Craftsman Truck Series season, Christian Eckes leads the regular-season standings by five points over Matt Crafton, nine over Ty Majeski, 10 over both Zane Smith and Tyler Ankrum, 12 over Tanner Gray and 14 over Grant Enfinger.

    Results.

    1. Zane Smith, 17 laps led

    2. Tanner Gray

    3. Christian Eckes, 19 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    4. Colby Howard, two laps led

    5. Grant Enfinger

    6. Ty Majeski, two laps led

    7. Tyler Ankrum, 15 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    8. Corey Heim

    9. Matt Crafton, two laps led

    10. Chase Elliott

    11. Ben Rhodes

    12. Carson Hocevar

    13. Travis Pastrana

    14. Sammy Smith

    15. Jason A. White

    16. Timmy Hill

    17. Chase Purdy, one lap led

    18. Derek Kraus

    19. Josh Reaume

    20. Matt DiBenedetto

    21. Jason M. White

    22. Kris Wright

    23. Corey LaJoie, 19 laps led

    24. Mason Massey

    25. Chris Hacker

    26. Nick Sanchez

    27. Jack Wood

    28. Stewart Friesen, five laps down, two laps led

    29. Rajah Caruth – OUT, Accident

    30. Daniel Dye – OUT, Accident

    31. Bret Holmes – OUT, Brakes

    32. Parker Kligerman – OUT, DVP

    33. Codie Rohrbaugh – OUT, Accident

    34. Clay Greenfield – OUT, Accident

    35. Hailie Deegan – OUT, Accident

    36. Dean Thompson – OUT, Accident

    With the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season underway, the series will travel west to Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada, for the second event of the season. The event is scheduled to occur on March 3 at 9 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Enfinger to make 150th Truck career start at Phoenix

    Enfinger to make 150th Truck career start at Phoenix

    With the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season set to conclude following this weekend’s season-finale Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix Raceway, Grant Enfinger is set to achieve a milestone start of his own. By competing in the finale, the driver of the No. 23 GMS Racing Chevrolet Silverado RST will make his 150th career start in the Truck circuit. 

    A native of Fairhope, Alabama, Enfinger made his Truck Series debut at Talladega Superspeedway, his home track, in October 2010. By then, he had made 18 career starts in the ARCA Menards Series with seven top-five results and 10 top-10 results. Driving the No. 95 Ford F-150 for Team Gill Racing, Enfinger started 12th but finished 22nd in his series debut after being involved in a late multi-truck wreck that involved series champions Todd Bodine and Ron Hornaday Jr.

    During the following two seasons, Enfinger made a total of five starts between four different organizations in the Truck Series. His best results during the five-race span were three 12th-place results: the first occurring at Talladega in October 2011 while competing for Bragg Racing Group, the second occurring at Daytona International Speedway in February 2012 with Bragg Racing Group and the third occurring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in September 2012 while driving for Brad Keselowski Racing.

    After competing in the ARCA Menards Series from 2013 to 2015, where he achieved 14 victories and the series championship in 2015, Enfinger made his return to the Truck Series in 2016 and on a part-time basis for GMS Racing. He commenced his part-time season by notching his first Truck career pole at Daytona in February. Despite leading four laps, Enfinger finished 20th in the 32-truck field after being involved in a late multi-truck pileup towards the front. He rebounded during the following weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway by earning his first top-five career result in fifth place. After finishing no lower than 12th during his next four scheduled events, Enfinger earned his first career victory in the Truck Series at Talladega, his hometrack, in October after leading a race-high 45 of 94 laps and fending off teammate Spencer Gallagher and the field during a two-lap shootout. He went on to make his eighth and final series start of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November, where he piloted the No. 92 RBR Enterprises Ford F-150 to a 23rd-place result.

    In 2017, Enfinger earned a full-time Truck ride in the No. 98 Toyota Tundra for ThorSport Racing, where he replaced Rico Abreu. After commencing the season with a 16th-place result at Daytona due to being involved in a last lap multi-truck wreck, he picked up his first top-10 result of the season by finishing eighth during the following event at Atlanta. After finishing 16th and 11th during the following two events, Enfinger earned five top-five results during the following six events. Despite earning two additional top-five results during the next five events, he did not earn enough points to make the 2017 Truck Playoffs. He went on to finish in the top 10 in five of the final seven events as he capped off his first full-time Truck campaign in 11th place in the final standings along with nine top-five results, 15 top-10 result and an average-finishing result of 9.4.

    Remaining at ThorSport Racing for the 2018 season as the team changed manufacturers from Toyota to Ford, Enfinger commenced the season with a sixth-place result at Daytona followed by a ninth-place result at Atlanta and back-to-back fourth-place results at Las Vegas and Martinsville Speedway. Earning a total of 12 top-10 results through the 16 regular season stretch, including a runner-up result at Eldora Speedway in July following a photo finish loss against teammate Chase Briscoe, were enough for Enfinger and the No. 98 Ford F-150 team to earn a spot in the 2018 Truck Playoffs. Despite commencing the Playoffs with a 17th-place result at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, he rebounded during the following event at Las Vegas in September by notching his second career victory in the series and earning a spot in the Round of 6. During the Round of 6, however, Enfinger’s three-race stretch of finishing no lower than 14th were not enough for him to earn a spot to the Championship Round at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Nonetheless, Enfinger capped off the 2018 season with a runner-up result during the finale and in fifth place in the final standings in a season where he achieved one victory, two poles, seven top-five results, 15 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 8.7.

    Enfinger commenced the 2019 Truck season on a strong note by finishing in the runner-up spot behind Austin Hill at Daytona while rallying from a late multi-truck wreck. Throughout the 16-race regular season stretch, he did not record a victory, but he earned seven top-five results and 13 top-10 results, which were enough for him to claim the 2019 Truck regular season championship and 15 bonus points to the 2019 Truck Playoffs. Despite finishing fifth at Bristol and 13th at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, respectively, Enfinger’s title hopes came to an end following an early engine failure at Las Vegas in September, an issue that would also affect his Playoff teammates Johnny Sauter and Matt Crafton despite the latter proceeding to win the title. With his title hopes for 2019 evaporated, Enfinger went on to finish in the top 10 in the final four scheduled events and conclude the season in seventh place in the final standings and with two poles, a career-best 10 top-five results, a career-high 18 top-10 results and a career-best average-finishing result of 8.5.

    Enfinger commenced the 2020 Truck season on a high note by capturing his third career victory at Daytona and snapping a one-year winless drought after edging Jordan Anderson by 0.010 seconds at the finish line during an overtime attempt. The Daytona victory for Enfinger marked the 100th Truck career victory for the Ford nameplate. Despite finishing no higher than 12th during the following two Truck events, he rebounded at Atlanta in June by overtaking Austin Hill during a two-lap overtime shootout to win for the second time in 2020 and achieve multiple Truck victories in a season for the first time in his career. He then capped off the regular season stretch by winning at Richmond Raceway in September following a late battle with teammate Matt Crafton. After utilizing consistency to transfer from the Round of 10 to 8 during the Playoffs, Enfinger fended off teammate Ben Rhodes and the field during a two-lap shootout to claim his fourth victory of the season and earn a spot to the Championship Round at Phoenix Raceway in November. During the finale, however, he got shuffled all the way back to 13th despite starting on the front row for a two-lap shootout as he settled in a career-best fourth place in the final standings. Despite falling short of winning his first NASCAR title, Enfinger concluded the 2020 season with a career-high four victories, eight top-five results, 13 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 10.4. By then, he surpassed 100 career starts in the Truck Series.

    For the 2021 season, Enfinger’s racing schedule was reduced to a part-time role as he split driving duties of the No. 98 ThorSport Racing Toyota Tundra with Christian Eckes. After finishing 11th at Daytona despite being involved in a multi-truck wreck approaching the finish line, Enfinger did not compete during the following scheduled event at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course. He rebounded during the following event at Las Vegas by finishing seventh while piloting the No. 9 Chevrolet Silverado for CR7 Motorsports. For the remainder of the season, Enfinger split driving duties between ThorSport Racing and CR7 Motorsports. In total, he earned 11 top-10 results throughout the 22-race schedule with all but three of his total top-10 results occurring with ThorSport Racing. The results were enough for the Alabama native to finish in 11th place in the final standings.

    A month prior to the conclusion of the 2021 season, GMS Racing announced that Enfinger will be rejoining the organization to pilot the No. 23 Chevrolet Silverado RST on a two-year basis, beginning in 2022. After finishing no higher than 12th through the first three scheduled events, he went on to achieve six top-10 results during the following seven events. Despite earning an additional top-10 result during the final six regular-season events, he managed to secure a spot for the 2022 Truck Playoffs based on points. Then during the Playoff opener at Lucas Oil Raceway, Enfinger navigated his way from fourth to first during an overtime shootout to win as he snapped a one-year winless drought and transferred from the Round of 10 to 8. His title hopes, however, came to an end after finishing fourth, 29th and 14th, respectively, during the Round of 8, which were not enough for him to transfer to the Championship 4 round.

    Enfinger is currently ranked in seventh place in the drivers’ standings entering this weekend’s finale at Phoenix. Through 149 previous Truck starts, he has achieved seven victories, five poles, 49 top-five results, 88 top-10 results, 899 laps led and an average-finishing result of 10.7.

    Enfinger is scheduled to make his 150th Camping World Truck Series career start in the season-finale Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix Raceway on Friday, November 4, with the event’s coverage to occur at 10 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Ty Majeski wins Homestead for second Truck Series victory

    Ty Majeski wins Homestead for second Truck Series victory

    A month after locking himself into the Championship 4 round with his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career victory at Bristol Motor Speedway, Ty Majeski doubled down with additional momentum after claiming a late dominant victory in the Baptist Health Cancer Care 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday, October 22.

    The 28-year-old Majeski from Seymour, Wisconsin, led two times for a race-high 67 of 134-scheduled laps, including the final 33, and beat runner-up Zane Smith by more than four seconds to claim the second Truck Series victory of his career at Miami. By winning two of three Round of 8 events during the Playoffs and automatically transferring to the Championship 4 round, Majeski will square off against Zane Smith, Chandler Smith and reigning series champion Ben Rhodes for this year’s Truck Series championship that will be determined at Phoenix Raceway in early November.

    With on-track qualifying that was scheduled for Friday being canceled due to rain, the starting lineup was determined through a metric system from NASCAR’s rulebook. As a result, Ryan Preece was initially awarded the pole position for the main event. Preece, however, dropped to the rear of the field along with Lawless Alan and Nick Leitz due to unapproved adjustments. With that, Playoff competitor Ben Rhodes led the field to the start alongside Matt DiBenedetto.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Rhodes launched ahead of DiBenedetto, who spun the tires at the start, before Chandler Smith drew himself alongside Rhodes in his early bid for the lead through the first two turns. Following an early side-by-side battle with Chandler Smith, Rhodes pulled ahead through Turns 3 and 4 as he led the first lap while the field behind fanned out and jostled early for positions.

    Through the first five laps of the event, Rhodes was leading ahead of Chandler Smith, Christian Eckes, Zane Smith and Stewart Friesen while Tyler Ankrum, Matt DiBenedetto, John Hunter Nemechek, Parker Kligerman and Matt Crafton were running in the top 10. By then, Ty Majeski was in 12th, Corey Heim was back in 16th and Grant Enfinger was vying for 17th.

    At the Lap 10 mark, Rhodes’ No. 99 Kubota Toyota Tundra TRD Pro continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over Chandler Smith’s No. 18 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro followed by Zane Smith, Friesen and Eckes. By then, all 36 starters were on the lead lap. In addition, the remaining eight Playoff contenders were running in the top 11.

    A few laps later, Nemechek, who made contact with the outside wall in Turn 3 on the third lap, got into the wall again in the third turn before hitting the wall hard in Turn 1 after losing a tire. The incident prompted Nemechek, who came into the event five laps behind the top-four cutline to make the championship finale, to make an unscheduled pit stop under green and fall out of the lead lap category. Nemechek would eventually make multiple trips to pit road for repairs to his No. 4 Gearwrench Toyota Tundra TRD Pro as his title hopes took an early serious hit.

    By Lap 20, Rhodes remained as the leader by more than a second over Chandler Smith followed by Zane Smith, Friesen and Majeski while Eckes was back in sixth. 

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 30, Rhodes, who came into Miami three points above the top-four cutline, captured his ninth stage victory of the 2022 season. Zane Smith settled in second followed by Friesen, Majeski, Enfinger, Eckes, Chandler Smith, Crafton, Parker Kligerman and Preece.

    Under the stage break, the leaders led by Rhodes pitted and Zane Smith emerged with the lead over the field. Following the pit stops, Parker Kligerman was penalized for speeding on pit road along with Matt Crafton, whose pit crew jumped over the pit stall too soon. In addition, Blaine Perkins was penalized due to crew member interference.

    The second stage started on Lap 36 as Zane Smith and Enfinger occupied the front row. At the start, Rhodes used the outside lane to his advantage as he rocketed past Zane Smith and Enfinger with a three-wide move to reassume the lead through the backstretch. Enfinger, however, fought back during the following lap as he drew his No. 23 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST alongside Rhodes while Zane Smith tried to close back in on the two leaders. Behind, Preece and Majeski battled for fourth while Heim occupied sixth place.

    By the Lap 40 mark, a side-by-side battle for the lead commenced between Rhodes and Zane Smith, with Rhodes using the outside lane to his advantage while Smith tried to use the inside lane to pull ahead of Rhodes. During the following lap, Smith managed to pull his No. 38 Speed Ford F-150 in front of Rhodes entering Turn 4 and fend off a crossover move by Rhodes to claim the outside lane and the lead. Not long after, Preece battled and overtook Rhodes for second followed by Majeski while Enfinger remained in fifth.

    Ten laps later on Lap 50, Zane Smith was leading by more than a second over Majeski followed by Preece, Rhodes and Eckes while Enfinger, Friesen, Heim, Chandler Smith and Colby Howard occupied the top 10. With seven of eight Playoff competitors running in the top 10 on the track, Nemechek was the lone Playoff competitor running in the back of the pack as he was mired in 36th, dead last, while scored two laps down.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 60, Zane Smith, who came into Miami 18 points above the top-four cutline, captured his eighth stage victory of the 2022 season. Majeski trailed in second place by more than a second while Preece, Friesen, Rhodes, Eckes, Enfinger, Howard, Heim and Chandler Smith were scored in the top 10. By then, Nemechek was pinned three laps behind in 36th place.

    Under the stage break, the leader led by Zane Smith pitted and Preece exited with the lead followed by Majeski, Eckes, Zane Smith and Heim. During the pit stops, Rhodes suffered a slow pit stop as he exited pit road in 15th place. Following the pit stops, Kaden Honeycutt was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.

    With 68 laps remaining, the final stage started as Preece and Majeski occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out engines the first turn, Majeski muscled ahead with the lead on the inside lane followed by Preece and Zane Smith while Eckes and Enfinger battled for fourth in front of Heim and the field.

    Eight laps later and with 60 laps remaining, Majeski was leading by a tenth of a second over Zane Smith followed by a heated four-truck battle for third place between Eckes, Heim, Enfinger and Preece. Friesen, meanwhile, was in seventh while Derek Kraus, Chandler Smith and Rhodes were scored in the top 10. By then, Nemechek was still pinned multiple laps down in 36th place, dead last.

    Then with 55 laps remaining, Enfinger’s championship hopes took a serious hit after he made an unscheduled pit stop under green to address a flat right-front tire due to making contact with the outside wall. After pitting for four fresh tires, Enfinger, who came into Miami in a “must-win” situation, lost a lap to the leaders.

    Back on the track with 50 laps remaining, Majeski retained the lead by eight-tenths of a second over Zane Smith followed by Heim, Eckes and Friesen while Preece, Chandler Smith, Crafton, Rhodes and Kraus occupied the top 10. With Enfinger mired in 31st, Nemechek was back in 36th, dead last, as both Playoff competitors were in jeopardy of not transferring to the finale.

    With 40 laps remaining, pit stops under green commenced as Preece pitted followed by Bret Holmes. Rhodes also pitted along with Kligerman, Chase Purdy, Hailie Deegan, Friesen and a wave of competitors.

    With 32 laps remaining and with the cycle of green flag pit stops complete, Majeski reassumed the lead followed by a hard-charging Zane Smith while Preece was in third. By then, Friesen was back in fourth as he was contending for a transfer spot to the finale against Rhodes, who was in eighth and held sole possession of the fourth and final transfer spot to the finale by a single point.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Majeski continued to lead by more than a second over Zane Smith and more than 10 seconds over third-place Preece. Meanwhile, Friesen was in fourth in front of Heim and Eckes while Rhodes was trying to fend off Chandler Smith for seventh place and for a spot in the finale. By then, Enfinger rallied to 11th while Nemechek was mired in 32nd palace, four laps down.

    Six laps later, Friesen overtook Preece for third place and drew himself into a tie for the fourth and final transfer spot to the finale over Rhodes, who remained in seventh but owned the tie-breaker for recording the best finish during the Round of 8 at Talladega Superspeedway with a second-place result.

    With 10 laps remaining, Majeski retained the lead by nearly three seconds over Zane Smith. Behind, Friesen remained in third place, trailing the leaders by more than 14 seconds, while Rhodes was locked in a battle with teammate Crafton for seventh place, a spot Rhodes needs to retain to transfer to the finale. Eckes, meanwhile, was running in sixth, but eight points below the top-four cutline.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Majeski stabilized his advantage to more than four seconds over Zane Smith while Rhodes, who briefly lost seventh place to Crafton, retained his spot on the track in front of his ThorSport Racing teammate and with a spot to the finale on the line. A few laps later, Rhodes managed to track and overtake teammate Eckes for sixth place, which placed Rhodes in a one-point advantage over Friesen, who remained in third place, in the standings.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Majeski remained as the leader by more than four seconds over Zane Smith. With no challenges lurking behind or in front of him, Majeski was able to navigate his way around Homestead for a final time as he cycled back to the finish line and claimed his second checkered flag in the series.

    The victory, which was enough for Toyota to secure the manufacturer’s title for the 13th time overall, gave Majeski and his No. 66 ThorSport Racing Toyota Tundra TRD Pro team additional momentum approaching the championship finale at Phoenix Raceway in November, where the Wisconsin native will contend for his first Truck Series title.

    “Man, this is awesome,” Majeski said on FS1. “This place is so hard to read and practice. Nobody has any grip, right? I didn’t know really what we had, but man, this No. 66 Road Ranger Toyota Tundra TRD Pro was bad to the bone today. Man, just thank you to Joe Shear, my crew chief. We’ve been working great this year together. Just so thankful that we’re able to make the most of this thing. We’re gonna go chase a championship [in] two weeks. [There’s gonna be] A lot of sim time, a lot of simulator just like the rest of the year. We’ve been working really hard on Phoenix ever since we won Bristol. We’re bringing that truck back. I feel really good about what we have so far. Keep fine-tuning [the truck]. If it’s anywhere near this [Homestead truck] today, we’ll be pretty good.”

    Zane Smith settled in second place for the fifth time this season, which was more than for him to transfer to the Championship 4 finale for a third consecutive season as he will contend for his first Truck Series championship.

    “Another really good [Front Row Motorsports] Ford,” Zane Smith said. “Man, I really wanted to get that [win]. Just hats off to my whole team. They’ve put in a lot of hours the past couple of weeks. [I] Just really wanted this one for them, but we get to go fight for another championship, which is really cool. One more left. That’s all that matters. I pretty much figured out every way to lose one, so third time’s a charm, hopefully. We’ve been fast all year. Regardless of what happens at Phoenix, it’s just an outstanding year.”

    Friesen came home in third place, trailing the leaders by more than 13 seconds, but missed the top-four cutline by a single point over Rhodes, who finished sixth in front of teammates Eckes and Crafton. As a result, Rhodes will join teammate Majeski, Zane Smith and 10th-place finisher Chandler Smith as the four competitors to transfer to the Championship 4 finale and contend for the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship. 

    “Every spot matters,” Rhodes said. “We got in by one point from what I understand. I’m just really, really happy [that] we had a good showing for this Kubota Toyota Tundra. Man, I wished [the race] was easier. It seemed harder than it should have. Just glad that we can defend the title. It’s been an up-and-down season. We aren’t the best on mile-and-a-halfs, but we made leaps and bounds here. We were able to get the first stage win, be fifth in the second [stage] and when we had that bad pit stop and went back to 15th, I was sweating bullets. I knew I had a lot of work to do. I just didn’t know it was gonna be that tough. We just got to be consistent. We’re working on that. So far, so good. I’m thrilled with the last two races, Now, we’ve turned everything around and made it back in.”

    “We, overall, just missed it today,” Chandler Smith said. “With that being said, we are all focused on going to run for a championship. I’m really happy with that. Being here with my Satellite [Kyle Busch Motorsports] group. This is awesome to be able to have the opportunity to go and run for a championship. I may never be able to do this in my career again, so really, really, thankful for the opportunity. Just super blessed right now. I’m feeling humbled.”

    Friesen, meanwhile, joins seventh-place finisher Eckes, 14th-place finisher Enfinger and 35th-place finisher Nemechek as the four competitors who have been eliminated from Playoff contention.

    “I didn’t have a teammate to lay over and give me an extra point like they were doing in the back,” Friesen said. “I’m so proud of our race team. That’s the best truck we’ve ever had here. Just a beautiful race car today. It was so fun to drive. We nailed it. We just lost a couple of spots in the pits and the front two could fire off a little bit better and get gone. That was it. I was praying for a caution. It didn’t happen, but I’m proud of our race team. I’m excited to move forward and keep building our race team. That’s what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna keep building over the winter.”

    “[I] Just made a mistake on my end,” Nemechek said. “I got dirtied up behind [Friesen] early on in stage in and hit the fence and just trying to make up time and was pushing the issue probably a little too hard. Ultimately pushed it a little too hard, hit the fence again and had the right front go flat. Came in, pitted and ended up not clearing tires good enough and had another tire go down and had to pit again. Then had to play pit strategy and after that, it was just damage control. It’s on me. It’s just frustrating for myself for sure to not advance to the final four, but still have a couple races left to go out and try to win.”

    In addition to the driver’s championship battle, the final four title contenders (Majeski, Chandler Smith, Zane Smith and Rhodes) will contend for this year’s owners’ championship.

    There were eight lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured two cautions for 10 laps. All 36 starters finished the race while 10 finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Ty Majeski, 67 laps led

    2. Zane Smith, 26 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    3. Stewart Friesen

    4. Ryan Preece, two laps led

    5. Corey Heim

    6. Ben Rhodes, 37 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    7. Christian Eckes

    8. Matt Crafton

    9. Parker Kligerman

    10. Chandler Smith

    11. Tyler Ankrum, one lap down

    12. Carson Hocevar, one lap down

    13. Colby Howard, one lap down

    14. Grant Enfinger, one lap down

    15. Derek Kraus, one lap down

    16. Chase Purdy, one lap down

    17. Hailie Deegan, one lap down

    18. Kaz Grala, one lap down

    19. Matt DiBenedetto, one lap down

    20. Timmy Hill, one lap down, two laps led

    21. Max Gutierrez, one lap down

    22. Blaine Perkins, two laps down

    23. Dean Thompson, two laps down

    24. Brennan Poole, two laps down

    25. Tanner Gray, two laps down

    26. Stefan Parsons, two laps down

    27. Kaden Honeycutt, two laps down

    28. Nick Leitz, three laps down

    29. Tyler Hill, three laps down

    30. Chad Chastain, three laps down

    31. Jack Wood, four laps down

    32. Mason Maggio, five laps down

    33. Bret Holmes, five laps down

    34. Lawless Alan, five laps down

    35. John Hunter Nemechek, six laps down

    36. Spencer Boyd, 10 laps down

    *Bold indicates Playoff contenders

    Playoff standings.

    1. Ty Majeski – Advanced

    2. Zane Smith – Advanced

    3. Chandler Smith – Advanced

    4. Ben Rhodes – Advanced

    5. Stewart Friesen – Eliminated

    6. Christian Eckes – Eliminated

    7. Grant Enfinger – Eliminated

    8. John Hunter Nemechek – Eliminated

    The 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season is set to conclude at Phoenix Raceway on November 4, where a champion will be crowned. The finale is scheduled to occur at 10 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • DiBenedetto survives overtime finish for first Truck career victory at Talladega

    DiBenedetto survives overtime finish for first Truck career victory at Talladega

    A timely caution amid a major wreck during the finish of an overtime attempt generated a new winner in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series as Matt DiBenedetto was awarded his first career win in the Chevrolet Silverado 250 at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday, October 1.

    The 31-year-old DiBenedetto from Grass Valley, California, placed himself in prime position of contending for the win as he was running in the top five during the final lap of the first and only overtime attempt that was caused when Carson Hocevar intentionally spun to draw a caution with four laps remaining. Approaching the frontstretch and the finish line, DiBenedetto went three-wide on Playoff contender Ben Rhodes and Bret Holmes as he launched his bid for the win.  Despite getting forced below the double yellow line by Rhodes as Rhodes wrecked along with a host of other competitors, DiBenedetto managed to cross the finish line sideways in the runner-up spot after being edged by Holmes. Following an extensive review of the finish, however, DiBenedetto was deemed the winner due to being out in front at the moment of caution prior to taking the checkered flag and completing the race, thus claiming his first NASCAR national touring series career victory.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Playoff contender John Hunter Nemechek claimed his seventh pole position of the season after posting a pole-winning lap at 178.767 mph in 53.567 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate and Playoff contender Chandler Smith, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 177.732 mph in 53.879 seconds.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Nemechek jumped ahead with an early advantage as the field stacked up in two tight-packed lanes through the first two turns. Through the backstretch, Nemechek retained the lead ahead of teammate Chandler Smith while Zane Smith started to challenge on the outside lane. Despite Zane Smith gaining a run through the frontstretch, Nemechek moved up to block him as he went on to lead the first lap.

    A lap later, a side-by-side battle for the lead between Zane Smith and Nemechek occurred while the field behind started to fan out to three lanes.

    Through the first five scheduled laps, Nemechek was leading by a hair over Zane Smith followed by Ty Majeski, Chandler Smith, Carson Hocevar, Colby Howard, Matt Crafton, Corey Heim, Jordan Anderson and Christian Eckes.

    By Lap 10 and with the field settling into two tight-packed lanes within the draft, Nemechek continued to lead ahead of Zane Smith, Hocevar and Crafton while Chandler Smith and Jordan Anderson battled for fifth. By then, half of the remaining eight Playoff contenders were running in the top 10 with Eckes in eighth. Behind, Ben Rhodes was in 12th, Stewart Friesen was in 17th, Grant Enfinger was back in 23rd and Ty Majeski settled in 27th.

    Then with two laps remaining in the first stage, the first caution of the event flew when the No. 3 Chevrolet Silverado RST piloted by Anderson, which was running in fifth place, went up in smoke and flames at full speed. With the truck up in flames, Anderson, who was trying to keep his truck below the apron with reduced speed, managed to avoid contact with the field as he then steered his flaming truck towards the inside wall in Turn 2 before escaping it. He would then be airlifted to a local hospital to be further evaluated with burns.

    The caution for Anderson was enough for the first stage to conclude on Lap 20 as Nemechek secured his seventh stage victory of the 2022 season. Zane Smith settled in second followed by Hocevar, Chandler Smith, Tanner Gray, Colby Howard, Rhodes, Heim, Tyler Ankrum and Eckes. Meanwhile, Playoff contenders Friesen, Enfinger and Majeski were scored in the top 20.

    Under the stage break, the leaders led by Nemechek pitted, most for fuel, as Chandler Smith exited first followed by teammate Nemechek, Friesen, Rhodes, Heim and Eckes.

    The second stage started on Lap 26 and at the start, Chandler Smith and Rhodes dueled for the lead in front of Nemechek as the field stacked up entering Turn 2. Then as Rhodes gained another strong run on the outside lane to overtake Chandler Smith for the lead, the caution returned when Colby Howard spun in the middle of the pack and towards the backstretch after cutting a left-rear tire.

    When the race restarted on Lap 31, a tight side-by-side battle for the lead ignited between Rhodes and Chandler Smith through the first two turns before Nemechek gave teammate Chandler Smith a small draft to lead through the backstretch. Rhodes, however, fought back on the outside lane with drafting help from teammate Eckes as the field battled in a tight side-by-side pack.

    During the following lap, the caution flew when Lawless Alan blew a right-front tire and went dead straight into the outside wall in Turn 3. With debris flying out of Alan’s wrecked truck, Bryan Dauzat and Hocevar also received damage. This caution provided mixed strategy amongst the field as some pitted while others remained on the track.

    With two laps remaining in the second stage, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Rhodes and Chandler Smith dueled for the lead in front of the pack and they remained dead even for the lead when they returned to the frontstretch and started the final lap of the second stage.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 40, Chandler Smith received a draft from teammate Nemechek to surge ahead of Rhodes and capture his sixth stage victory of the 2022 season. Teammate Nemechek settled in second while Friesen, Rhodes, Enfinger, Eckes, Ankrum, Heim, Zane Smith and Majeski were scored in the top 10. By then, all of the eight Playoff contenders cracked the top 10 and had scored at least one stage point.

    Following the second stage’s conclusion, Zane Smith nursed his No. 38 Love’s Travel Stop Ford F-150 into his pit stall after he cut a right-rear tire and damaged the right-rear fender of his truck. Once pit road became accessible for the field, some led by Nemechek pitted, mainly for fuel, while names like Chase Purdy, Bret Holmes, Johnny Sauter, Matt DiBenedtto, Hailie Deegan and Clay Greenfield remained on the track. Prior to the restart, names like Nemechek and Chandler Smith pitted again to top off on fuel and for damage repair.

    With 49 laps remaining, the final stage started as Chase Purdy and Bret Holmes occupied the front row. At the start, Holmes cleared the field and assumed the lead on the outside lane followed by Matt DiBenedetto as the field started to fan out to three lanes through the backstretch.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 47, Holmes was leading ahead of DiBenedetto, Purdy, Johnny Sauter and Derek Kraus while Jack Wood, Enfinger, Eckes, Blaine Perkins and Carson Hocevar were scored in the top 10. By then, Eckes was the lone Playoff contender running in the top 10 while the remaining seven were mired inside the top 30.

    With less than 40 laps remaining, Eckes made his way to the top of the field followed by Holmes, Hocevar, DiBenedetto and Sauter while Ryan Preece, Kraus, Purdy, Wood and Enfinger were in the top 10. With two of eight Playoff contenders running in the top 10, Rhodes and Majeski were in the top 20 while Friesen, Nemechek, Chandler Smith and Zane Smith were mired back from 25th to 28th, respectively.

    Then nearing the final 30 laps of the event and with most of the front-runners veering to pit road for service under green, the caution flew when Hailie Deegan, who entered pit road too fast, hit her tire carrier and caused a tire to roll out of her pit box and onto the infield grass, which prompted the tire carrier to bolt to the infield grass and retrieve the tire. Following the pit stops, additional names like Friesen, Sauter and Purdy were penalized for speeding on pit road.

    Down to the final 26 laps of the event, the race proceeded under green as Eckes and Hocevar occupied the front row. At the start, Hocevar was drafted into the lead followed by Enfinger before Eckes fought back on the outside lane through the backstretch. Soon after, Eckes and Hocevar engaged in a tight side-by-side battle for the lead in front of the pack running tight through two drafting lanes.

    Five laps later, the caution returned when Colby Howard spun in front of Nemechek in Turn 4, though he managed to straighten his truck and not sustain any significant damage nor collect others.

    With 18 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Eckes received a push from teammate Rhodes on the outside lane to remain as the leader by a mere margin before Hocevar fought back on the inside lane with drafting help from Preece. 

    Three laps later, the caution flew when Playoff contender Grant Enfinger, who was starting to fall off the pace in Turn 3, was bumped by Austin Wayne Self as both slipped sideways and pounded the outside wall. In the process, Sauter and Tanner Gray were collected as all four sustained significant damage to their respective trucks.

    During the following restart with 10 laps remaining, Hocevar received drafting help from Preece to lead the inside lane while teammates Eckes and Rhodes fought back on the outside lane. As the field returned to the frontstretch, the front-runners were mired in a tight pack between two lanes as Eckes and Hocevar remained dead even for the lead.

    Then with five laps remaining of the event, Hocevar, who was battling Eckes for the lead, dropped his truck below the apron and was falling off the pace after cutting a tire. Then with the race remaining under green while the lead pack zipped by, Hocevar remained on the track below the apron and looped his truck around past the start/finish line. This prompted NASCAR to draw the caution as Eckes was ahead followed by teammate Rhodes, DiBenedetto, Bret Holmes and Preece. In addition, NASCAR issued a one-lap penalty to Hocevar for intentionally causing a caution as the field was sent into overtime.

    During the start of overtime, teammates Eckes and Rhodes battled for the lead through the first two turns. Then through the second turn and the backstretch, Rhodes received drafting help from Holmes to briefly pull away with the lead before the rest of the front-runners caught up to them through Turns 3 and 4. By then, Holmes navigated his way into the lead as DiBenedetto and Rhodes dueled for the lead.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Holmes was leading ahead of Rhodes, DiBenedetto, Eckes and Preece. Through the backstretch, Rhodes was drafted into the lead by Eckes before both ThorSport Racing teammates dueled for the lead in front of the pack. 

    Then entering Turn 4, Rhodes started to pull ahead of Eckes when Heim got bumped as he wrecked his No. 51 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro into the outside wall. With Heim coming back across the track and collecting more competitors, Holmes and DiBenedetto went three-wide on Rhodes approaching the start/finish line. While Holmes remained on the outside lane, DiBenedetto made contact with Rhodes as he was shoved below the double yellow line. The contact got Rhodes sideways as nearly the entire field wrecked while crossing the finish line. Back at the front, however, Holmes edged DiBenedetto by 0.002 seconds to score what appeared to have been his first NASCAR national touring series career victory.

    Following an extensive review of the final lap incident, the battle for the win and who was out in front at the moment of caution, NASCAR determined that the caution was displayed before Holmes crossed the finish line to complete the race and that DiBenedetto was out in front when the caution was displayed, thus being declared the official winner.

    With the victory, DiBenedetto, who has made 248 career starts in the NASCAR Cup Series, achieved his first career victory in his 338th career start across NASCAR’s top three national touring series and in his 21st career start in the Camping World Truck Series. The victory was also the first for Rackley-W.A.R. Racing, a team that debuted in 2021. 

    DiBenedetto’s victory marks the seventh consecutive season where the Truck Series Playoff event has been won by a non-Playoff contender with the streak spanning to the series’ Playoff inception in 2016. He also became the sixth different competitor to record a first Truck career victory at Talladega.

    “Oh man, it’s such a long time coming!” DiBenedetto said on FS1. “Praise God. I’m so thankful. [My fans] have bared with me through so much in me being a reckless human being sometimes just through life. This one’s life-changing. I’m out of breath. I think I was more nervous waiting and hearing what would happen. My spotter, Doug Campbell, is awesome. We worked together so good. I think in the Cup Series, we led on like the white flag twice here or something at Talladega. So, I owe a lot to him. At the end there, we were just really committed to staying on the bottom [lane] and pushing. This [truck], it pushed well, so I was just committed to staying there and pushing whoever was in front of me. I’m so thankful. So thankful! This is amazing. This team deserves it.” 

    Once the final finishing order was displayed, Rhodes was awarded the runner-up spot despite ending up with a wrecked truck while Holmes was shuffled back to a career-best third place.

    “It’s tough to lose something that close,” Holmes said. “We lost an ARCA race that close, I don’t know, probably lost it closer today. I want to win here so bad, I can’t stand it. I have so many people here from my hometown, friends, and family. Growing up and racing at the dirt track across the road, it just would mean the world for me to win here. It seems like the last couple years in ARCA we’ve been right there, the Truck races we’ve been right there. It’s just super tough, hate we couldn’t pull it off for everybody. Wish the race ended at the finish line because I feel like we would’ve had it…It’s tough to lose that one, for sure.”

    Preece ended up fourth while Eckes completed the top five. Deegan notched a career-best sixth place despite being involved in the final lap accident while Purdy, Colby Howard, Parker Kligerman and Tyler Ankrum completed the top 10 on the track.

    Notably, Playoff contenders Chandler Smith, Zane Smith, Friesen, Majeski, Nemechek and Enfinger finished 14th, 17th, 20th, 23rd, 24th and 29th, respectively.

    There were 25 lead changes for 11 different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 36 laps.

    Results.

    1. Matt DiBenedetto, one lap led

    2. Ben Rhodes, two laps led

    3. Bret Holmes, six laps led

    4. Ryan Preece

    5. Christian Eckes, 25 laps led

    6. Hailie Deegan

    7. Chase Purdy, six laps led

    8. Colby Howard

    9. Parker Kligerman

    10. Tyler Ankrum

    11. Kaden Honeycutt

    12. Clay Greenfield

    13. Derek Kraus, three laps led

    14. Chandler Smith, 17 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    15. Timmy Hill

    16. Parker Retzlaff

    17. Zane Smith, one lap led

    18. Kaz Grala

    19. Jack Wood

    20. Stewart Friesen

    21. Bayley Currey

    22. Matt Crafton, one lap led

    23. Ty Majeski, one lap led

    24. John Hunter Nemechek, 20 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    25. Johnny Sauter

    26. Corey Heim – OUT, Accident

    27. Blaine Perkins – OUT, Accident

    28. Carson Hocevar, one lap down, 12 laps led

    29. Grant Enfinger, one lap down

    30. Austin Wayne Self – OUT, Accident

    31. Tanner Gray – OUT, Accident

    32. Jennifer Jo Cobb – OUT, Clutch

    33. Lawless Alan – OUT, Accident

    34. Dean Thompson – OUT, Accident

    35. Bryan Dauzat – OUT, Dvp

    36. Jordan Anderson – OUT, Accident

    *Bold indicates Playoff contenders

    Playoff standings

    1. Ty Majeski – Advanced

    2. Chandler Smith +30

    3. Zane Smith +18

    4. Ben Rhodes +3

    5. Christian Eckes -3

    6. Stewart Friesen -3

    7. John Hunter Nemechek -5

    8. Grant Enfinger -29

    With the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season nearing its conclusion, the Playoff’s Round of 8 will next continue at Homestead-Miami Speedway on October 22, where the Championship Round field will be set. The event’s coverage is scheduled to commence at 1 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Ty Majeski clinches Championship 4 finale spot with first Truck career victory at Bristol

    Ty Majeski clinches Championship 4 finale spot with first Truck career victory at Bristol

    Ty Majeski became the first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoff contender to secure a spot for the Championship 4 Round finale at Phoenix Raceway after scoring his first career victory in the UNOH 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Thursday, September 15.

    The 28-year-old Majeski from Seymour, Wisconsin, made his first appearance as the leader during a restart with 45 laps remaining after he overtook Playoff rival Zane Smith for the top spot. Despite enduring a final late-race restart with 12 laps remaining, he capitalized on the restart, holding off Smith to claim his first career victory within NASCAR’s top three national touring series. He also earned a one-way ticket to the finale, where he will contend for the 2022 Truck Series championship.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Thursday, Derek Kraus claimed his second pole position of the season after posting a pole-winning lap at 125.264 in 15.276 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Chandler Smith, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 125.584 mph in 15.279 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Playoff contenders Zane Smith, Blaine Perkins, Chris Hacker and Josh Reaume dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective trucks. In addition, Playoff contender John Hunter Nemechek started at the rear of the field in a backup truck after wrecking his primary truck during Thursday’s lone practice session.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Kraus launched ahead with an early advantage on the outside lane. With the field jostling early for positions, Kraus led the first lap ahead of Chandler Smith, Grant Enfinger and Stewart Friesen, who slipped in Turn 3 before slipping again in Turn 1 as he lost fourth to Ty Majeski before settling in front of rookie Corey Heim.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Kraus was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Chandler Smith followed by Enfinger, Majeski and Friesen while Heim, Christian Eckes, Matt DiBenedetto, Carson Hocevar and Bayley Currey were in the top 10. Tyler Ankrum was in 11th ahead of Ben Rhodes, Matt Crafton, Rajah Caruth and rookie Dean Thompson while John Hunter Nemechek and Zane Smith were mired back in 27th and 28th.

    Ten laps later on Lap 20, Kraus continued to lead by exactly half a second over Chandler Smith while Enfinger, Majeski and Friesen settled in the top five. Meanwhile, Zane Smith and Nemechek remained mired in 27th and 28th, respectively, as Kraus started to navigate his way through lapped traffic.

    Eight laps later, Chandler Smith, winner of last year’s Truck event at Bristol, moved his No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass Toyota Tundra TRD Pro into the lead over Kraus’ No. 19 Incredible Bank Chevrolet Silverado RST in Turn 3. Behind, Enfinger was locked in a battle with Majeski and Friesen for third place while Heim, Eckes, DiBenedetto, Hocevar and Currey remained in the top 10. Two laps earlier, Spencer Boyd made contact with the outside wall in Turn 3, though the race remained under green.

    Another nine laps later, however, the first caution of the event flew when Josh Reaume, who was lapped but racing in front of a handful of Playoff contenders, got loose underneath Blaine Perkins in between Turns 1 and 2, slipped and backed his truck into the outside wall in Turn 2. As Reaume’s truck slid below the apron, he was hit by a sliding Rajah Caruth, who tried to avoid hitting Reaume, as both trucks sustained significant damage. 

    During the caution period, names like Zane Smith, Nemechek, Jesse Little, Dean Thompson, Tanner Gray, Lawless Alan, Taylor Gray, Kaden Honeycutt, Parker Kligerman, Tyler Ankrum, Timmy Hill and Connor Mosack pitted while the rest led by Chandler Smith remained on the track. Following gate pit stops, Zane Smith pitted his No. 38 Speedco Ford F-150 for a second time to have his adjustments from his previous pit stop re-adjusted.

    With eight laps remaining in the first stage, the race restarted under green. At the start, Chandler Smith retained the lead after starting on the outside lane while Friesen overtook Kraus for the runner-up spot. Behind, DiBenedetto and Enfinger battled for fourth in front of Majeski, Heim, Eckes, Currey and Hocevar.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 55, Chandler Smith captured his fourth stage victory of the 2022 season. Friesen settled in second, trailing Smith by four-tenths of a second, while Kraus, DiBenedetto, Enfinger, Majeski, Eckes, Heim, Currey and Matt Crafton were scored in the top 10. By then, Ben Rhodes was in 11th, Nemechek was back in 21st and Zane Smith was all the way back in 28th.

    Under the stage break, names like Enfinger, DiBenedetto, Heim, Thompson, Hailie Deegan, Currey, rookie Jack Wood, Austin Wayne Self, Jake Garcia, Colby Howard, Timmy Hill, Leland Honeyman Jr. and Jesse Little pitted while the rest led by Chandler Smith, who has yet to pit, remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Wood was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    The second stage started on Lap 65 as Chandler Smith and Friesen occupied the front row. At the start, Chandler Smith retained the lead with another strong start on the outside lane while Kraus reassumed the runner-up spot as Friesen, who spun the tires at the front, fell back to third in front of ThorSport Racing’s Rhodes, Majeski and Eckes.

    By Lap 75, Chandler Smith was leading by half a second over Kraus while Friesen, Majeski, Eckes, Rhodes, Chase Purdy, Tanner Gray, Taylor Gray and Nemechek were in the top 10. By then, Zane Smith was in 14th and Enfinger was in 17th.

    Ten laps later, the caution returned when Connor Mosack spun underneath Jesse Little in Turn 2. By then, DiBenedetto had pitted under green. During the caution period, names like Kraus, Deegan, Crafton, Enfinger, Majeski, Tyler Ankrum, Heim, Carson Hocevar, Austin Wayne Self and Bayley Currey pitted while the rest led by Chandler Smith remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Hocevar was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    When the race proceeded under green on Lap 91, Chandler Smith rocketed with the lead while Friesen and Eckes battled for the runner-up spot in front of Rhodes and Taylor Gray. Shortly after, Friesen retained the runner-up spot ahead of Eckes as Rhodes and Taylor Gray also remained in the top five. Behind, Chase Purdy was up in sixth place while Tanner Gray, Nemechek, Zane Smith and Kaden Honeycutt were in the top 10.  

    At the halfway mark on Lap 100, Chandler Smith retained the lead by four-tenths of a second over Friesen while Eckes, Rhodes and Gray remained in the top five. By then, six of the eight remaining Playoff contenders were scored in the top 10 while Majeski and Enfinger were scored inside the top 15.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 110, Chandler Smith captured his fifth stage victory of the 2022 season and swept both stages of the night at Bristol. Friesen settled in second while Eckes, Rhodes, Taylor Gray, Purdy, Tanner Gray, Nemechek, Kaden Honeycutt and Zane Smith were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, a majority of the field led by Chandler Smith, who peeled off to pit road for the first time of the night as part of a one-stop strategy, pitted while the rest led by Zane Smith remained on the track.

    With 79 laps remaining, the final stage started as Zane Smith and Kligerman occupied the front row. At the start, Zane Smith and Kligerman briefly duked for the lead as Smith prevailed on the inside lane to retain the lead. Shortly after, Majeski moved his No. 66 Road Ranger Toyota Tundra TRD Pro into the runner-up spot while Kligerman, who got shuffled and mired on the outside lane, was locked in a heated battle with Kraus for third place. Then a few laps later in Turn 4, Kraus and Kligerman made contact and slid up the track in Turn 1, which allowed Enfinger to overtake both for third place before Kligerman retained fourth ahead of Kraus, Hailie Deegan and Crafton.

    With less than 70 laps remaining, Zane Smith was out in front by three-tenths of a second over Majeski followed by Enfinger, Kligerman, Kraus, Deegan, Crafton, Heim, Ankrum and Hocevar. Meanwhile, Chandler Smith was mired back in 12th behind Dean Thompson and in front of Friesen and Eckes, Nemechek was back in 17th and Rhodes was scored back in 20th. By then, Taylor Gray and Colby Howard made contact with one another while battling in the top 20, but the race proceeded under green.

    Then with 50 laps remaining, the caution flew when Chris Hacker spun in between Turns 3 and 4 before coming to a rest below the apron after he got hit by the No. 98 CMR Construction & Roofing Toyota Tundra TRD Pro piloted by Playoff contender Eckes.

    During the following restart with 44 laps remaining, Majeski received a strong start on the outside lane as he assumed the lead for the first time over Zane Smith while Kligerman battled and overtook Enfinger for third place while the field behind jostled for late positions.

    With 35 laps remaining, Majeski was leading by more than a second over Zane Smith followed by Kligerman, Enfinger and Kraus while Crafton, Friesen, Chandler Smith, Tyler Ankrum and Deegan were in the top 10.

    Down to the final 22 laps of the event, the caution returned when Tanner Gray made contact with Dean Thompson in Turn 3 that sent Thompson’s No. 40 WorldWide Express Chevrolet Silverado RST slipping below the apron and into the outside wall as he sustained significant rear-end damage. By then, Majeski had stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Zane Smith while Kligerman, Enfinger, Kraus, Crafton, Friesen, Chandler Smith, Ankrum and Deegan remained in the top 10. Meanwhile, Eckes was in 11th, Nemechek was back in 14th and Rhodes was mired in 17th.

    During the following restart with 12 laps remaining, Majeski rocketed away with the lead on the outside lane while Zane Smith, who spun the tires on the inside lane, was left in a side-by-side battle with Kligerman for the runner-up spot. Smith, however, was able to clear Kligerman during the following lap as he reassumed second place while Enfinger moved up to fourth in front of Kraus and Friesen.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Majeski continued to lead by four-tenths of a second over Zane Smith and eight-tenths of a second over third-place Kligerman while everyone else behind jostled again for late positions.

    With five laps remaining, Majeski stabilized his advantage to nearly a second over Zane Smith while Kligerman settled in third ahead of Enfinger and Crafton. By then, Chandler Smith, who dominated the first half of the event, was mired in ninth while Kraus, Friesen and Eckes were in sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Majeski remained as the leader by more than a second over Zane Smith. With Smith unable to close back the deficit, Majeski was able to navigate his way around Bristol for a final circuit as he cycled back to the frontstretch and claim his first checkered flag in the series.

    With the victory, Majeski, who claimed his first Truck career win in his 40th series start, became the 120th different competitor to record a victory in the Truck Series as this marked the third consecutive season where the Truck Series Playoff event at Bristol featured a first-time winner. He also recorded the second victory of the season for ThorSport Racing and the 11th for Toyota as he joined Corey Heim as the only competitors to achieve their first Truck wins this season.

    By clinching a spot for the Championship Round finale at Phoenix Raceway in November, Majeski will contend for his first NASCAR national touring series championship in his first full-time season in the Truck circuit and without having to place his focus towards the upcoming Round of 8 events at Talladega Superspeedway and at Homestead-Miami Speedway in October. Prior to his first victory, he had achieved three poles, three stage victories, eight top-five results, 13 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 9.8 through the previous 19 scheduled events of 2022.

    “Man, this is unbelievable,” Majeski said on FS1. “I’ve been waiting for an opportunity like this. [Owners] Duke, Rhonda Thorson, Allison [Thorson], thank you for this opportunity. Just so proud to be here. We came guns blazing for this race, took our best truck. [Crew chief] Joe [Shear Jr.] was aggressive on pit strategy. [It] Got us out front. We were able to get it done. This is so cool. My career’s been so up and down. There’s been a lot of people to help me get to this point. It’s so cool. I know my late model guys are watching back at the shop. They’re the big reason why I’m here. My parents, my fiancé. This is just so damn cool. Man, I’ve been waiting for this for a long time.”

    Meanwhile, Zane Smith rallied from starting at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his truck to finish in the runner-up spot for his seventh top-two finish of the season. The result was enough for Smith to leave Bristol in third place in the Playoff standings and 21 points above the top-four cutline to the finale.

    “A good salvage of the night,” Smith said. “We worked on our Speedco Ford. The only chance we got, and I felt like went the right direction. I wished I could’ve done a few things different there. Obviously, take the top [lane]. [The] Top [lane] always launches better here. I was so bad if I was outside of the PJ1 [TrackBite] or wherever it is. I didn’t want to get freight-trained on the top. I tried matching [Majeski]. I did the first time and the second time, he just got me. He was just ultimately better than us, but [it was a] never give up kind of a night. That’s what it takes to get in the Final Four.”

    Parker Kligerman emerged as the highest non-Playoff contender of the night after finishing in third place for his fourth top-five result of the season while Enfinger and Crafton finished in the top five.

    “We qualified 28th legitimately on speed,” Kligerman said. “I think we just kind of stole a third-place finish, but I’m proud of everyone at Henderson Motorsports. We have now, I believe, at least I have finished in every position within the top five except for first at this racetrack. I wanna win here so bad, and I can see it. I can taste it. I feel like I can touch it, whether it’s dirt or concrete. We just can’t quite get there. Tonight, though, we got to be really proud because I think after practice and qualifying, I was legitimately worried that we were gonna be a lap down within 15 laps and be riding around this place. [Crew chief] Chris Carrier and everyone stuck it through. We found ourselves in the top five…We just didn’t have enough.”

    Pole-sitter Kraus, Friesen, Eckes, Chandler Smith and Corey Heim completed the top 10 on the track. Nemechek and Rhodes were the two Playoff contenders to finish outside of the top 10 in 12th and 18th, respectively. 

    There were three lead changes for four different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 49 laps.

    Results.

    1. Ty Majeski, 45 laps led

    2. Zane Smith, 39 laps led

    3. Parker Kligerman

    4. Grant Enfinger

    5. Matt Crafton

    6. Derek Kraus, 27 laps led

    7. Stewart Friesen

    8. Christian Eckes

    9. Chandler Smith, 89 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    10. Corey Heim

    11. Tyler Ankrum

    12. John Hunter Nemechek

    13. Kaden Honeycutt

    14. Hailie Deegan

    15. Bayley Currey

    16. Taylor Gray

    17. Tanner Gray

    18. Ben Rhodes 

    19. Carson Hocevar

    20. Austin Wayne Self

    21. Jack Wood

    22. Jake Garcia

    23. Lawless Alan

    24. Colby Howard

    25. Jesse Little

    26. Timmy Hill 

    27. Matt DiBenedetto, one lap down

    28. Blaine Perkins, three laps down

    29. Leland Honeyman Jr., five laps down

    30. Chase Purdy, seven laps down

    31. Connor Mosack, eight laps down

    32. Dean Thompson – OUT, Accident

    33. Chris Hacker – OUT, Suspension

    34. Rajah Caruth – OUT, Accident

    35. Josh Reaume – OUT, Accident

    36. Spencer Boyd – OUT, Accident

    *Bold indicates Playoff contenders

    Playoff standings

    1. Ty Majeski – Advanced

    2. Chandler Smith +24

    3. Zane Smith +21

    4. Stewart Frisen. +9

    5. John Hunter Nemechek -9

    6. Christian Eckes -13

    7. Grant Enfinger -15

    8. Ben Rhodes -18

    The second Round of 8 event of the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs will occur at Talladega Superspeedway on October 1 with the event’s coverage to commence at 12:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • John Hunter Nemechek grabs wild last lap Truck Series victory at Kansas

    John Hunter Nemechek grabs wild last lap Truck Series victory at Kansas

    John Hunter Nemechek denied an opportunity for Carson Hocevar to win and race his way into the Round of 8 in the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs by executing a final lap pass to win the Kansas Lottery 200 at Kansas Speedway on Friday, September 9.

    The 25-year-old Nemechek from Mooresville, North Carolina, led five times for a race-high 88 of 134-scheduled laps as he started the day sweeping the first two stages. After opting to surrender the lead and pit under green for four fresh tires and fuel with 32 laps remaining, Nemechek spent the next 31 laps bolting his way through lapped traffic and the field to catch Hocevar, who topped off on fuel on Lap 80 and was trying to stretch his fuel tank to the finish and with an opportunity to both win and advance in the Playoffs. Hocevar’s gamble, however, did not pay off on the final lap as he was overtaken by Nemechek, who proceeded to claim his second checkered flag of the 2022 Truck Series season and secure a spot for the Round of 8 in the Playoffs.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, John Hunter Nemechek claimed his sixth pole position of the 2022 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 175.444 mph in 30.779 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Ty Majeski, who clocked in the second-fastest lap at 175.182 mph in 30.825 seconds.

    Prior to the event, names like Brett Moffitt, Mason Maggio, Armani Williams and Brennan Poole dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective trucks.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Nemechek received a push from teammates Corey Heim and Chandler Smith to assume an early advantage as he went on to lead the first lap. Meanwhile, Majeski retained the runner-up spot ahead of Heim, Christian Eckes and Chandler Smith as the field fanned out and jostled early for positions.

    Through the first five scheduled laps, Nemechek was ahead by four-tenths of a second over Majeski and more than a second over Eckes while Heim fell back to fourth in front of teammate Chandler Smith’s No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. Matt Crafton was in sixth while Ben Rhodes, Zane Smith, Ryan Preece and Matt DiBenedetto were in the top 10.

    At the Lap 10 mark, Majeski, who inherited the lead from Nemechek three laps earlier, was leading in his No. 66 Road Ranger Toyota Tundra TRD Pro by eight-tenths of a second over Nemechek while Eckes, Heim and Chandler Smith remained in the top five. Meanwhile, Playoff contenders Stewart Friesen, Carson Hocevar and Grant Enfinger were in 13th, 15th and 16th, respectively.

    By Lap 20, Majeski continued to lead by a tenth of a second over Nemechek, who relaunched and eventually overtook Majeski for the lead, followed by Eckes and Heim while Zane Smith moved his No. 38 Hamsters USA Ford F-150 into the top five. Ryan Preece also moved his No. 17 Morton Buildings Ford F-150 up to sixth while Chandler Smith fell back to seventh in front of Derek Kraus, Crafton and Rhodes.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 30, Nemechek, who reclaimed the lead on Lap 21, captured his fifth stage victory of the 2022 season. Majeski settled in second while Eckes, Heim, Zane Smith, Preece, Kraus, Chandler Smith, Crafton and Tanner Gray were scored in the top 10. With their results at the conclusion of the first stage, Nemechek and Zane Smith clinched spots for the Round of 8 in the Playoffs, joining Chandler Smith and Grant Enfinger.

    Under the stage break, the leaders led by Nemechek pitted and Nemechek exited with the lead followed by Eckes, Majeski, Heim, Preece and Gray.

    The second stage started on Lap 37 as Nemechek and Eckes occupied the front row. At the start, Nemechek rocketed with another strong start on the inside lane to retain the lead followed by Majeski while Eckes and Preece battled for third place. Behind, Heim muscled his way into fifth after overtaking Rhodes and Zane Smith through Turns 3 and 4 as the field jostled for positions.

    At the Lap 45 mark, Nemechek was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Eckes while Zane Smith, Preece and Majeski were in the top five. Heim fell back to sixth followed by Tyler Ankrum, Ben Rhodes, Crafton and Kraus while Carson Hocevar, Tanner Gray, Enfinger, Chandler Smith, Parker Kligerman, Bret Holmes, Matt DiBenedetto, Brett Moffitt, Colby Howard and Chase Purdy were in the top 20. Meanwhile, Friesen was mired back in 22nd in front of Hailie Deegan.

    Then with four laps remaining in the second stage, the caution flew when Bayley Currey spun the No. 44 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST below the apron on the frontstretch entering Turn 1. Currey’s incident was enough for the second stage scheduled to conclude on Lap 60 to conclude under caution as Nemechek captured his sixth stage victory of the season. Zane Smith settled in second followed by Preece, Eckes, Heim, Majeski, Ankrum, Kraus, Crafton and Hocevar were scored in the top 10. With his result in the second stage, Majeski secured a spot for the Playoff’s Round of 8.

    Under the stage break, the leaders led by Nemechek returned to pit road and Nemechek retained the lead following another quick pit service from his pit crew followed by Preece, Heim, Zane Smith, Kraus and Enfinger. Following the pit stops, Friesen pitted for a second time for adjustments to his spoiler.

    With 70 laps remaining, the final stage started as Nemechek and Preece occupied the front row. At the start, Nemechek retained the lead followed by teammate Heim and Preece as the field fanned out entering the first two turns and through the backstretch. Not long after, the caution returned when Kaden Honeycutt made contact with rookie Dean Thompson before spinning in the backstretch.

    During the following restart with 65 laps remaining, Nemechek received a push from teammate Heim to retain the lead while Preece, who restarted as the first competitor on the outside lane, was being overtaken by Heim and Zane Smith. While the field fanned out for positions amid Derek Kraus barely scrapping the outside wall in the frontstretch, Nemechek retained a steady advantage followed by Zane Smith, Heim, Preece and Enfinger while Christian Eckes, who was battling above the top-eight cutline to make the Round of 8 in his No. 98 CMR Construction & Roof Toyota Tundra TRD Pro was in sixth.

    Four laps later, the caution returned when the No. 22 AM Racing Chevrolet Silverado RST piloted by Brett Moffitt went up in smoke due to an engine loss entering the frontstretch. As Timmy Hill spun through the frontstretch grass after getting into the spilled oil, Moffitt’s truck erupted in flames as the driver quickly stopped below the apron in the frontstretch and retired. During the caution period, some like Hocevar, DiBenedetto, Colby Howard, Bailey Currey, Kaz Grala, Kaden Honeycutt and rookie Lawless Alan pitted while the rest led by Nemechek remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Hocevar pitted for a second time to top off on fuel.

    With 53 laps remaining, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Nemechek received another strong push from teammate Heim’s No. 51 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro to retain the lead as Eckes launched a brief attack on Heim for the runner-up spot before the latter prevailed. With Heim in second, Eckes retained third ahead of Zane Smith, Preece and Enfinger.

    Thirteen laps later and with 40 laps remaining, Nemechek was out in front by more than a second over Zane Smith followed by Preece, Heim and Enfinger while Chandler Smith, Eckes, Majeski, Ankrum and Chase Purdy were in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Rhodes, Crafton, Hocevar and Friesen were in 12th, 14th, 16th and 17th, respectively.

    Then with 32 laps remaining, green flag pit stops ensued as the leader Nemechek pitted his No. 4 Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro followed by teammate Chandler Smith, who won the previous Truck event at Richmond Raceway to secure his spot into the Round of 8. Zane Smith soon followed along with Majeski, Chase Purdy, Rhodes, Preece, Tyler Ankrum, Parker Kligerman, Friesen, Enfinger, Heim, Bret Holmes, Eckes and Crafton. During the pit stops, Purdy was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    Back on the track and with 28 laps remaining, Hocevar, who last pitted on Lap 80 to top off on fuel and opted to stretch his fuel tank to the finish, was in the lead followed by teammate Currey while Colby Howard, DiBenedetto and Hailie Deegan were in the top five.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Hocevar continued to lead by more than six seconds over teammate Currey while Colby Howard and DiBenedetto retained third and fourth, respectively. Meanwhile, Nemechek, the first competitor racing on four fresh tires and a full tank of gas, was in fifth, trailing Hocevar by 12 seconds but blazing his way through the leaderboard with a fast truck.

    Six laps later, Nemechek navigated his way into the runner-up spot after zipping by Currey. By then, he was scored eight seconds behind Hocevar’s No. 42 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Silverado RST.

    With 10 laps remaining, Hocevar, who continued to run strong in spite of a low gas tank, retained the lead by five seconds over Nemechek while Zane Smith, Currey and Preece were in the top five.

    With five laps remaining, Hocevar, who was carving his way through lapped traffic, was still out in front by nearly two seconds over Nemechek, who was also mired in the lapped traffic, among which included Crafton’s No. 88 Menards Toyota Tundra TRD Pro.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Hocevar was leading by a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Nemechek, who cleared the lapped traffic and was right on Hocevar’s bumper. Then entering Turn 1, Nemechek bolted his truck beneath Hocevar and reassumed the lead entering the backstretch. With Hocevar shaking his truck after running out of fuel and losing ground entering the backstretch, Nemechek was able to cruise away with an increasing advantage through the final two turns and cycle back to the frontstretch to capture his second checkered flag of the 2022 season.

    With the victory that took him another step closer to achieving his first NASCAR national touring series championship, Nemechek grabbed his second Camping World Truck Series victory of the season, his first since winning at Darlington Raceway in May and his 13th career win in his 143rd series start. He also recorded his second NASCAR national touring series victory at Kansas since winning the Xfinity Kansas event in 2018 and the eighth victory of the season for Kyle Busch Motorsports.

    “It’s huge,” Nemechek said on FS1. “I can’t thank [the crew] enough for the truck they gave me tonight. The Toyota Tundra TRD Pro was absolutely on rails. Qualified on the pole, led a ton of laps, won both stages and won the race. We came here really good points-wise. It played out in our favor to go get some more Playoff points going into the next round. [It] Puts us in a good spot. We have some momentum on our side going into Bristol [Motor Speedway]. I think this one is even sweeter. It’s been a really tough week for myself, mentally, emotionally, things you just can’t control. It feels good to come out here and cap it off with a win and show who I am…Just proud of all my guys, proud to get back to Victory Lane. Second [win] of the year. We’re behind from last year, but I said I would rather win five races in the Playoffs and go win a championship than win five in the regular season. We’re gonna try and do that.”

    While Nemechek was left smiling on the frontstretch, Hocevar, who ran out of fuel on the final lap while trying to execute his late strategy but managed to coast across the finish line in second place, was left heartbroken on pit road for two reasons: the first was falling one lap short of claiming his first elusive Truck career win and the second was being one of two competitors to be eliminated from the 2022 Truck Series Playoffs. The final standings showed Hocevar missing the cutline to the Round of 8 by three points over Christian Eckes, who finished 10th.

    “I don’t know how you’re supposed to handle these,” Hocevar, who led 28 laps compared to Nemechek’s 88, said. “As many times as I’ve come and close, I should be used to this. I’m gonna be my bridesmaid at my own wedding. I don’t know. I thought I saved too much [fuel]. I could have gone harder and built a gap, but into [Turn] 3 coming to take the white flag, I started sputtering. I knew it was game over. [Kraus] had an issue [earlier] and I lost three seconds there. Looking back, I wished I would’ve gotten those back, but [crew chief] Phil Gould made a hell of a call. Even I didn’t see it. Fifty-six [laps] to go. There’s gonna be a yellow [flag], right? Cutoff race. It’s the Truck Series of all things…Just got beat. [I] Had the winning strategy. Just, obviously, didn’t work out.”

    Meanwhile, Ryan Preece came home in third place while Zane Smith and Enfinger finished in the top five. Chandler Smith settled in sixth place while teammate, Heim, then, Majeski, Colby Howard and Eckes completed the top 10 on the track.

    Zane Smith, Chandler Smith, John Hunter Nemechek, Ben Rhodes, Stewart Friesen, Ty Majeski, Grant Enfinger and Christian Eckes have transferred to the Round of 8 in the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs. Carson Hocevar and Matt Crafton have been eliminated from Playoff and championship contention for this season.

    “It’s just part of it,” Crafton, who missed the cutline by 10 points, said. “We sucked all year. To even get to the Playoffs was a feat in itself. To be in going into this race, just by three [points], that says a lot. It’s only the second race I’ve worked with [crew chief] Shane [Wilson]. We made the mistake. I’ve never ran some of the setup stuff that we ran tonight and I had [Wilson] jump the fence. I just had him tighten [the truck] up or free it up a little bit too much on the second run, and then we ended up going to the back and tightening it too much.

    “Just him learning some of my lingo of what I’m saying and what he’s doing. Put in our notebook and keeping working on it because the truck had a lot of speed earlier today and in qualifying. It is what it is. We were terrible all year. To even get to where we were, I just can’t thank these guys enough for how hard they’ve worked and how hard they’ve been kicked because it’s the baddest we’ve been. We have four of five more [races] to go. We can go out and don’t worry about points anymore and go about worry about wins.”

    There were 11 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 25 laps.

    Results.

    1. John Hunter Nemechek, 88 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    2. Carson Hocevar, 28 laps led

    3. Ryan Preece

    4. Zane Smith, two laps led

    5. Grant Enfinger, one lap led

    6. Chandler Smith

    7. Corey Heim

    8. Ty Majeski, 14 laps led

    9. Colby Howard

    10. Christian Eckes, one lap led

    11. Parker Kligerman

    12. Matt DiBenedetto

    13. Ben Rhodes

    14. Tyler Ankrum

    15. Matt Crafton, one lap down

    16. Tanner Gray, one lap down

    17. Bret Holmes, one lap down

    18. Kaz Grala, one lap down

    19. Timmy Hill, one lap down

    20. Stewart Friesen, one lap down

    21. Derek Kraus, one lap down

    22. Hailie Deegan, one lap down

    23. Dean Thompson, one lap down

    24. Kaden Honeycutt, one lap down

    25. Chase Purdy, two laps down

    26. Jack Wood, two laps down

    27. Bayley Currey, two laps down

    28. Jesse Little, two laps down

    29. Tyler Hill, four laps down

    30. Blaine Perkins, four laps down

    31. Lawless Alan, four laps down

    32. Mason Maggio, eight laps down

    33. Spencer Boyd, 10 laps down

    34. Brennan Poole, 11 laps down

    35. Armani Williams – OUT, Too slow

    36. Brett Moffitt – OUT, Engine

    Bold indicates Playoff contenders

    Playoff standings

    1. Zane Smith – Advanced

    2. Chandler Smith – Advanced

    3. John Hunter Nemechek – Advanced

    4. Ben Rhodes – Advanced

    5. Stewart Friesen – Advanced

    6. Ty Majeski – Advanced

    7. Grant Enfinger – Advanced

    8. Christian Eckes – Advanced

    9. Carson Hocevar – Eliminated

    10. Matt Crafton – Eliminated

    The Round of 8 in the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs is set to commence next Thursday, September 15, at Bristol Motor Speedway. The event’s coverage is scheduled to occur at 9 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • GMS Racing to achieve a combined 650 Truck Series starts at Kansas

    GMS Racing to achieve a combined 650 Truck Series starts at Kansas

    GMS Racing is set to achieve a milestone start in the team’s 10th season with one start in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. When GMS competitors Grant Enfinger and rookie Jack Wood take the green flag in this weekend’s Playoff event at Kansas Speedway, GMS Racing will reach a combined 650 career starts in the Truck circuit.

    GMS Racing, which was established by Allegiant Travel Company CEO Maurice Gallagher and is currently based in Statesville, North Carolina, made its inaugural presence during the 2011 ARCA Menards Series season. Two years later, the team expanded its program into the Camping World Truck Series and attempted to compete in five events with the No. 21 Chevrolet Silverado piloted by Spencer Gallagher, son of Maurice Gallagher. Throughout the season, Spencer Gallagher managed to qualify for three events as he finished 22nd at Kansas Speedway in April, 20th at Texas Motor Speedway and 32nd at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November, respectively.

    In 2014, GMS Racing fielded the No. 21 Chevrolet Silverado as a full-time entry for Joey Coulter. The team also fielded the Nos. 23 and 33 Chevrolet Silverados on a part-time basis, where Spencer Gallagher, Max Gresham and Brandon Jones piloted the entries. Throughout the season, Jones, who piloted the No. 33 truck in two events, finished 32nd and 12th at Martinsville Speedway in October and at Phoenix Raceway in November, respectively. Gallagher and Gresham each recorded a top-10 result in the No. 23 Chevrolet, with Gallagher earning a strong third-place result at Talladega Superspeedway in October. Coulter, meanwhile, earned three top-five results, 10 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 13.1 throughout the 22-race schedule before finishing in seventh place in the final drivers’ standings.

    Photo by Kirk Schroll for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    During the following season, Coulter, who did not compete due to a lack of funding, became team relationships coordinator for GMS while the No. 21 entry made a single appearance at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in October, where Brennan Poole piloted the truck to an 11th-place result. The Nos. 23 and 33 Chevrolet Silverado entries became full-time entries, with Spencer Gallagher driving the No. 23 truck while Brandon Jones, Austin Dillon and Ty Dillon split the No. 33 ride. At New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September, Austin Dillon recorded the first NASCAR career victory for GMS Racing after leading a race-high 80 of 175-scheduled laps en route to his seventh Truck career victory from pole position. To go along with the victory, the Dillon brothers recorded a combined two poles, four top-five results and five top-10 results in six starts in the No. 33 entry while Jones, who made two starts, earned his best result of the season in 12th place at Phoenix in November. In his first full-time campaign in NASCAR, Gallagher notched his career-best result of second place at World Wide Technology Raceway in June along with a total of six top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 14.6 before finishing in 10th place in the 2015 standings.

    The 2016 season featured a major addition to GMS Racing’s Truck driver lineup as veteran Johnny Sauter was named a full-time competitor of the No. 21 Chevrolet Silverado entry, where he competed alongside the No. 23 entry retained by Spencer Gallagher and the No. 33 truck split between newcomers Grant Enfinger and Kaz Grala. GMS also debuted the No. 24 Chevrolet Silverado entry that competed on a part-time basis while split between Kyle Larson, Clint Bowyer, Shane Lee, Grala and Enfinger. In May, Ben Kennedy joined the team’s lineup, where he split time between the Nos. 24 and 33 entries, after departing Red Horse Racing. The team’s highlights throughout the 16-race regular-season schedule included Sauter winning in his debut with GMS at Daytona International Speedway in February and Kennedy notching his first career win in the No. 33 Chevrolet at Bristol Motor Speedway in August. The victories made by Sauter and Kennedy were enough for both to qualify for the inaugural Truck Series Playoffs. Meanwhile, Spencer Gallagher drove the No. 23 Chevrolet to six top-10 results throughout the regular season, which were not enough for him to make the Playoffs, while the No. 24 GMS entry earned a victory at Eldora Speedway in July with Larson along with six top-10 results. Through six of the seven-race Playoff stretch, GMS earned three additional victories after Enfinger drove the No. 24 Chevrolet to his first career win at Talladega Superspeedway in October while Sauter achieved back-to-back wins at Martinsville Speedway and at Texas Motor Speedway between October and November. The Playoff victories made by Sauter were enough to transfer the Wisconsin veteran and the No. 21 team all the way to the Championship Round at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November. During the finale, Sauter achieved the first NASCAR championship for himself and for GMS Racing after finishing third on the track and ahead of title rivals Matt Crafton, Christopher Bell and Timothy Peters. Overall, the 2016 season was a breakout season for GMS Racing, which went to Victory Lane six times and achieved its first NASCAR national touring series championship, and for Sauter, who achieved his first multi-win season (three), racked up the most top-five (12) and top-10 results (19) in his career and earned his first NASCAR title. While Sauter earned the title, Kennedy finished in seventh place in the final standings after being eliminated from title contention following the Round of 6 while Gallagher, who achieved his first two career poles, ended up in 12th place.

    Photo by Ted Seminara for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    Embarking the 2017 season as the reigning champion, Sauter retained his seat in the No. 21 Chevrolet while Kaz Grala graduated to a full-time driving role in the No. 33 Chevrolet. The No. 24 Chevrolet also became a full-time entry for Justin Haley, the reigning K&N Pro Series East champion. Haley, however, was not allowed to compete in the first two scheduled events at Daytona and at Atlanta due to age restrictions, with the events filled by Scott Lagasse Jr. and Alex Bowman, respectively. Lastly, the No. 23 Chevrolet appeared for only the first three events of the schedule, with Spencer Gallagher driving at Daytona while Chase Elliott competed at Atlanta and Martinsville. Throughout the season, Elliott recorded the lone victory for the No. 23 entry at Martinsville in March while the No. 24 entry achieved a total of 13 top-10 results made between Lagasse, Bowman and Haley. Despite commencing his first season in the Truck Series at Martinsville in March and recording 10 top-10 results throughout the 16-race regular-season stretch, Haley did not make the Playoffs. Nonetheless, he went on to finish in the top 10 twice during the seven-race Playoff stretch before capping off his first Truck season in 12th place in the drivers’ standings. Meanwhile, Grala commenced his first full-time Truck season by becoming the youngest competitor to win both a pole and race at Daytona at age 18 after he dodged a multi-truck wreck on the final lap to capture his first NASCAR career victory in February. He went on to record five additional top-10 results for the remaining 15 regular-season events before entering the 2017 Truck Playoffs as a title contender. His title hopes, however, came to an early end following respective finishes of 10th, fifth and 29th during the Round of 8. He went on to finish in the top 10 three times during the final four-scheduled events before settling in seventh place in the final standings. Like Grala, Sauter secured his spot for the 2017 Playoffs on the strength of winning at Dover in May and at Chicagoland in September. After recording consistent top-10 results to transfer to the Round of 8, Sauter notched back-to-back victories at Texas and Phoenix in November, respectively, to advance to the Championship Round at Homestead for a second consecutive season. During the finale, however, Sauter finished third on the track, one spot behind Christopher Bell as Bell claimed the championship while Sauter, who was unable to defend his series title, was left with a runner-up result in the final standings coupled with four victories, 13 top-five results, 19 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 6.3. Despite falling short of defending its title, GMS Racing tied its career-high number of victories as an organization in a season at six.

    Photo by Simon Scoggins for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    Sauter and Haley remained as drivers of the Nos. 21 and 24 GMS entries for the 2018 season while the team welcomed Cody Coughlin and Dalton Sargeant as drivers of the newly-formed Nos. 2 and 25 Chevrolets, respectively. Midway into the season, however, Sargeant, who earned four top-10 results throughout the 16-race regular-season stretch, and Coughlin, who earned six top-10 results in 18 starts, were released from the team and both of their entries were piloted by multiple competitors that included Timothy Peters, Sheldon Creed, Spencer Gallagher and Tyler Dippel for the closing stretch of the season during the Playoffs. The No. 2 team concluded the season in 14th place in the owners’ standings, one spot behind the No. 25 GMS team that went to Victory Lane with Peters at Talladega in October. Meanwhile, Sauter and Haley achieved great on-track success, which started with both finishing first and second at Daytona in February that was won by Sauter. During the next nine scheduled events, Sauter racked up additional victories at Dover Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway and at Texas Motor Speedway between May and June while Haley earned his first Truck career victory at World Wide Technology Raceway in June. Sauter proceeded to win the regular-season finale at Bristol Motor Speedway in August and clinch the 2018 Truck regular-season title as he and Haley entered the Playoffs with momentum. Haley commenced the Playoffs on a high note by winning at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in August after overtaking a spinning Todd Gilliland and Noah Gragson on the final lap and final corner. After Sauter won at Martinsville in October and Haley won at Texas following a dramatic final lap overtake on Gilliland, both solidified spots for the Championship 4 finale at Homestead. During the finale, however, Haley finished eighth on the track, four spots ahead of teammate Sauter, as he and Sauter concluded the season in third and fourth place in the final drivers’ standings. Ultimately, the 2018 season produced GMS Racing’s highest number of victories in a season at 10.    

    Photo by Don Dunn for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    In 2019, Brett Moffitt, the reigning Truck Series champion who was released by his championship-winning team Hattori Racing Enterprises, joined GMS Racing to drive the No. 24 Chevrolet Silverado in a quest to defend his series title, where he replaced Justin Haley as Haley moved up to the Xfinity Series. GMS also hired Sheldon Creed, the reigning ARCA Menards Series champion who drove the No. 2 Chevrolet Silverado on a full-time basis, and newcomer Sam Mayer, who piloted the No. 21 Chevrolet in three events after Sauter parted ways from the organization. Mayer’s best on-track result was 19th at Phoenix in November while Creed, who did not make the Playoffs, notched two runner-up results, four top-five results, 11 top-10 results, a 10th-place result in the final standings and a runner-up result in the Rookie-of-the-Year standings during his first full-time Truck campaign. For Moffitt, he recorded five top-10 results during the first nine-scheduled events before being awarded his first victory of the season at Iowa in June. The victory occurred after NASCAR disqualified initial winner Ross Chastain due to his truck failing the post-race inspection process, thus prompting NASCAR to award the win for the runner-up finisher Moffitt. Two races later, he earned his first win of the season at Chicagoland before the 2019 Playoffs commenced. Moffitt’s pursuit to defend his title commenced on a strong note by winning the first two Playoff events at Bristol and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in September, respectively, as he transferred from the Round of 8 to 6. Despite finishing 29th at Martinsville, Moffitt utilized consistency to transfer to the Championship Round at Homestead for a second consecutive season. He was unable to defend his title after finishing fifth on the track and third in the final standings. Overall, Moffitt achieved four wins, three poles, 13 top-five results, 17 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 8.8 in his first season with GMS.

    Photo by Tim Jarrold for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    The 2020 Truck Series season featured a major expansion for GMS Racing in the series, where the team fielded five entries: the No. 2 Chevrolet for Creed, the No. 21 Chevrolet for rookie Zane Smith, the No. 23 Chevrolet for Moffitt, the newly-formed No. 26 Chevrolet for Tyler Ankrum and the No. 24 Chevrolet for multiple competitors that included Chase Elliott, Chase Purdy, Justin Haley, David Gravel, Kris Wright, Sam Mayer and Greg Biffle. Commencing the season by placing four of its five trucks in the top 10 at Daytona, GMS achieved its first Truck victory of the season at Charlotte in May when Elliott claimed a $100,000 bounty by beating Kyle Busch. The Charlotte event was also a banner event for GMS as teammates Zane Smith, Moffitt and Creed finished in the top five. Throughout the 16-race regular-season stretch, Creed piloted the No. 2 Chevrolet Silverado to his first three career victories in the series at Kentucky Speedway in July followed by Daytona International Speedway Road Course and World Wide Technology Raceway in August. Smith also earned his first two career victories in the series after winning at Michigan International Speedway and at Dover International Speedway in August following two-lap shootouts. The victories enabled Creed and Smith to make the 2020 Truck Playoffs along with Moffitt and Ankrum, both of whom made it in on points. Mayer then spoiled the start of the 2020 Truck Playoffs by claiming his first career win at Bristol after beating teammate Moffitt by more than four seconds. While Creed, Moffitt, Smith and Ankrum transferred from the Round of 8 to 6, Moffitt and Creed earned respective wins at Kansas Speedway and at Texas Motor Speedway in October to qualify for the Championship Round at Phoenix Raceway in November. Smith also transferred to the finale by three points while Ankrum failed to transfer past the Round of 6. During the finale, Creed utilized fresh tires to go from ninth to first during a two-lap shootout to win the 2020 Truck Series championship, which marked his first NASCAR national touring series title in his second season in the series and second for GMS in the Truck circuit. To go along with the championship, the 2020 Truck season was a memorable one for GMS as Zane Smith settled in second place in the final standings and captured the 2020 Truck Rookie-of-the-Year title while Moffitt, who initially had the championship lead within his grasp during the finale prior to the two-lap shootout, concluded the season in third place in the final standings, thus giving GMS a 1-2-3 in the final drivers’ standings. In total, GMS achieved a combined 10 victories, 33 top-five results and 59 top-10 results with its extensive drive lineup.

    Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images.
    Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images.

    Coming off their second championship, GMS Racing remained as a five-truck operation in 2021 while retaining Creed, Smith and Ankrum to the Nos. 2, 21 and 26 Chevrolets, respectively. The only changes made to the team included assigning Chase Purdy to a full-time role in the No. 23 Chevrolet and welcoming Raphaël Lessard to drive the No. 24 Chevrolet. Following the first seven scheduled events, however, Lessard, whose best finish of the season was third at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course in March, was released due to funding issues as the No. 24 Chevrolet was split between Ryan Reed, Chase Elliott, Doug Coby and rookie Jack Wood for the remaining 15 events. The lone highlight for GMS throughout the 15-race regular-season stretch was when Creed won at Darlington Raceway in May following a two-lap shootout. While Creed and Smith qualified for the 2021 Playoffs, Ankrum and Purdy did not accumulate enough points to make the postseason battle for the title. Once the Playoffs commenced, Creed notched back-to-back victories at World Wide Technology Raceway and at Darlington between August and September to transfer from the Round of 10 to 8. Then at Martinsville in October, Smith, who also transferred to the Round of 8, prevailed in a two-lap shootout to win and punch his ticket to the Championship Round finale at Phoenix for a second consecutive season. Creed, however, failed to transfer to the finale nor have the opportunity to defend his title by four points. During the finale, Smith was in position to achieve his first Truck title until he was overtaken by Ben Rhodes with eight laps remaining and ended up in the runner-up spot in the final standings for a second consecutive season. Creed finished fifth in the final standings, Ankrum ended up 15th and Purdy, who was absent for one event at Watkins Glen International in August following a positive COVID-19 test and was replaced by AJ Allmendinger, fell back to 19th. The No. 24 “all-star” entry settled in 18th place in the final owners’ standings on the strength of four top-10 results.

    At the start of this season, GMS Racing scaled back to fielding two full-time entries in the Truck circuit: the No. 24 Chevrolet Silverado RST for Jack Wood and the No. 23 Chevrolet Silverado RST for Grant Enfinger, who reunited with the organization since 2016. Despite recording seven top-10 results throughout the 16-race regular-season stretch, Enfinger secured a spot for the 2022 Truck Playoffs based on points. He then rose to the occasion during the first Playoff event at Lucas Oil Raceway in late July by charging from fourth to first during a two-lap shootout to record his first victory of the season and the seventh of his career. With his latest result being a fourth-place run at Richmond in August, Enfinger is currently guaranteed a spot for the Round of 8 in the Playoffs by virtue of winning at Lucas Oil Raceway. Meanwhile, Wood’s highest on-track result is 13th, which occurred at Atlanta in March. To go along with a total of five top-20 results and an average-finishing result of 25.2, he is ranked in fourth place in the Rookie-of-the-Year standings.

    Through a combined 648 starts, GMS Racing has achieved two championships, 42 victories, 14 poles, 158 top-five results, 308 top-10 results and 5,239 laps led with 36 different competitors.

    GMS Racing is set to achieve a combined 650 career starts in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at Kansas Speedway on Friday, September 9. The start of the event is scheduled to occur at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Grant Enfinger wins 2022 Truck Series Playoff opener at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park

    Grant Enfinger wins 2022 Truck Series Playoff opener at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park

    A gusty call to pit for four fresh tires under caution with less than 10 laps remaining before bolting his way to the front through two late-race restarts netted Grant Enfinger a big victory in the TSport 200 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on Friday, July 29.

    The 37-year-old Enfinger from Fairhope, Alabama, led four times for 13 of 207 over-scheduled laps and utilized four fresh tires to overtake Zane Smith during an overtime attempt to capture his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory of the season and to become the first Playoff contender to transfer from the Round of 10 to 8.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup on Friday, Playoff contender John Hunter Nemechek started on pole position for the fifth time in 2022 after posting a pole-winning lap at 111.188 mph in 22.211 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Nemechek’s teammate and Playoff contender Chandler Smith, who won last weekend’s event at Pocono Raceway and won Friday’s ARCA Menards Series event earlier at IRP before he clocked in his best lap at 110.998 mph in 22.249 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Chris Hacker and Josh Reaume dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective trucks.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Nemechek launched his No. 4 Yahoo! Toyota Tundra TRD Pro to the lead while Chandler Smith and Christian Eckes battled for the runner-up spot before the former retained the spot in front of the field.

    As the field returned to the start/finish line to complete the first lap, Nemechek retained the top spot ahead of teammate Chandler Smith and Eckes while Grant Enfinger, Carson Hocevar and Corey Heim battled for spots within the top six.

    By the fifth lap, Enfinger moved his No. 23 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST up to third followed by Hocevar while Eckes fell back to fifth in front of Stewart Friesen and Heim. Meanwhile, Nemechek remained as the leader by three-tenths of a second over Chandler Smith’s No. 18 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro.

    Nearing the Lap 10 mark, the first caution of the event flew when Josh Reaume and Spencer Boyd wrecked in Turn 1, resulting in Reaume’s truck sustaining significant rear-end damage and Body’s truck bursting into flames. By then, Nemechek, who nearly lost the lead to teammate Chandler Smith, was back out in front followed by Enfinger, Hocevar and Friesen while Heim, Eckes, Ben Rhodes, Ty Majeski and Derek Kraus were in the top 10. In addition, Zane Smith, the 2022 Truck Series regular-season champion, was mired in 17th behind Austin Wayne Self while Matt Crafton was back in 22nd behind Chase Purdy.

    Following an extensive caution period, the event restarted under green on Lap 20. At the start, Nemechek retained the top spot while Carson Hocevar made a bold move on the inside lane in an attempt to take the lead before he settled in third behind Chandler Smith. Behind, Enfinger and Stewart Friesen battled for fourth in front of Corey Heim and the field that fanned out to multiple lanes. 

    Through the first 25 scheduled laps, Nemechek was leading by two-tenths of a second over teammate Chandler Smith followed by Hocevar, Friesen and Enfinger while Heim, Ben Rhodes, Eckes, Kraus and Majeski were in the top 10. 

    Four laps later, the caution returned when Reaume, who was involved in the first caution with Spencer Boyd, spun in Turn 4. During the caution period, Matt Crafton pitted for adjustments to his No. 88 Menards Toyota Tundra TRD Pro along with Jesse Little and Blake Lothian while the rest of the field led by Nemechek remained on the track.

    When the event proceeded under green on Lap 37, Nemechek retained the lead while Chandler Smith fended off Hocevar and Friesen to remain in second. As the field fanned out, Enfinger was in fifth followed by Heim, Rhodes, Majeski and Eckes while Zane Smith cracked the top 10.

    At the Lap 50 mark, Nemechek continued to lead by more than a second over teammate Chandler Smith as the top-10 spots were occupied by Playoff contenders. The only Playoff competitor who was not in the top 10 was Crafton, who was mired in 24th.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 60, Nemechek captured his fourth stage victory of the season. Teammate Chandler Smith trailed in the runner-up spot while Hocevar, Friesen, Enfinger, Rhodes, Heim, Majeski, Zane Smith and Eckes were scored in the top 10. Crafton, meanwhile, was still mired in 24th.

    Under the stage break, the leaders led by Nemechek pitted and teammate Chandler Smith emerged with the lead followed by Hocevar, Nemechek, Rhodes, Heim and Enfinger. Following the pit stops, Rhodes and Kris Wright were sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road.

    The second stage started on Lap 70 as Chandler Smith and Hocevar occupied the front row. At the start, Hocevar rocketed his No. 42 Premier Security Chevrolet Silverado RST to the lead on the inside lane in front of Chandler Smith as the field fanned out to multiple lanes around the circuit.

    Three laps later, the caution returned when Blake Lothian came to a stop in Turn 1 as his night came to an end.

    When the event restarted under green on Lap 80, Hocevar managed to retain the lead while on the inside lane as Enfinger challenged Chandler Smith for the runner-up spot in front of Nemechek. Behind, Tyler Ankrum was in fifth ahead of Heim, Kraus, Friesen, Eckes and Zane Smith.

    By Lap 90, a heated side-by-side battle for the lead was occurring between Hocevar and Enfinger. While Enfinger gained a run and was strong through the turns, Hocevar managed to fend off Enfinger and retain the lead entering the straightaways. Meanwhile, third-place Nemechek trailed by less than a second while Chandler Smith and Ankrum were in the top five.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 100, Hocevar was leading by a narrow margin over Enfinger while Nemechek, Chandler Smith, Ankrum, Friesen, Heim, Zane Smith, Majeski and Kraus were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Christian Eckes was in 11th, Rhodes was in 14th and Crafton was back in 17th behind Taylor Gray.

    Five laps later, Enfinger persevered through his tight, endless battle against Hocevar by taking the lead through the backstretch and entering Turn 3. Another two laps later, the caution returned when Nemechek, who was closing in on Hocevar and teammate Chandler Smith for the runner-up spot, spun in Turn 2 after making contact with the lapped truck of Kris Wright. Despite spinning and coming to a stop in the middle of the track and in a cloud of smoke in Turn 2, Nemechek was dodged by the oncoming competitors led by Ankrum as he managed to continue without sustaining any significant damage.

    During the caution period, most of the field led by Enfinger pitted while names that included Chandler Smith, Rhodes, Kaz Grala, Lawless Alan and Timmy Hill remained on the track as Smith reassumed the lead.

    With six laps remaining in the second stage, the race restarted under green. At the start, Chandler Smith retained the lead on the inside lane ahead of Rhodes as the field fanned out entering the backstretch. Two laps later, however, Ty Majeski muscled his No. 66 Road Ranger Toyota Tundra TRD Pro to the lead on fresh tires followed by Enfinger, who quickly dispatched Chandler Smith on fresh tires. Another two laps later, Zane Smith and Chandler Smith made contact as Zane rubbed against Chandler’s No. 18 Toyota in Turn 1 with both making contact with the outside wall. Despite the contact, the race proceeded under green as Majeski remained as the leader. 

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 120 under caution after Dean Thompson spun in Turn 2, Majeski held off Enfinger to claim his second stage victory of the season. Enfinger settled in second followed by Rhodes, Hocevar, Zane Smith, Heim, Friesen, Chandler Smith, Ankrum and Colby Howard.

    Under the stage break, Chandler Smith, Zane Smith, Rhodes, Lawless Alan, Kaz Grala, Austin Wayne Self, Johnny Sauter, Hailie Deegan, Timmy Hill and Jake Garcia pitted while the rest led by Majeski remained on the track.

    With 72 laps remaining, the final stage commenced under green. At the start, Majeski fended off Enfinger to remain as the leader while Hocevar was in third ahead of Friesen, Ankrum, Nemechek and Heim while the field fanned out.

    Following a debris caution reported in Turn 4 10 laps later, the race proceeded under green with 55 laps remaining. At the start, Majeski retained the lead by a narrow margin over Enfinger while Nemechek, Friesen and Ben Rhodes duked for fifth in front of Hocevar, Heim and Tyler Ankrum. Not long after, however, the caution returned when Lawless Alan, who was locked in a tight four-wide battle through the backstretch, got turned by Chase Purdy as he spun and made hard contact against the inside wall. In the midst of the carnage, Zane Smith sustained minimal damage to his No. 38 Boot Barn Ford F-150 after hitting Alan.

    During the caution period, names like Zane Smith, Taylor Gray, Austin Wayne Self and Dean Thompson pitted while the rest led by Ty Majeski remained on the track.

    With 42 laps remaining, the event restarted under green. At the start, Majeski and Enfinger dueled for the lead through Turn 1 as Nemechek also attempted to squeeze his way to the top spot. Despite the tight racing for the lead entering the backstretch, Majeski managed to clear Enfinger to remain as the leader while Nemechek settled back in third. Behind, Friesen was in fourth while Rhodes was in fifth in front of Hocevar.

    Down to the final 30 laps of the event, Majeski was leading by more than one-and-a-half seconds over Enfinger followed by Nemechek, Friesen and Rhodes while Hocevar, Heim, Colby Howard, Ankrum and Matt DiBenedetto were in the top 10. By then, Zane Smith, Chandler Smith, Crafton and Eckes were in 14th, 15th, 17th and 21st, respectively.

    Ten laps later, Majeski, who was carving his way through lapped traffic, extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Enfinger while Nemechek, Rhodes and Friesen remained in the top five.

    Then with 12 laps remaining, Majeski, who was getting stalled by the lapped truck of Hailie Deegan and Blaine Perkins, was caught by Enfinger as Enfinger dueled and overtook Majeski for the lead a lap after as Nemechek started to close in while running in third place. 

    With 10 laps remaining, however, the caution flew when Colby Howard, who was having a strong run in eighth place, made contact with Hocevar entering Turn 4, which Hocevar repaid the favor by veering dead left and sending Howard’s No. 91 Gates Hydraulics Chevrolet Silverado RST backward into the outside wall. The incident prompted Howard to express his displeasure towards Hocevar after he exited his damaged truck.

    During the caution period, the majority of the field led by Enfinger and Majeski pitted while names like Nemechek, Taylor Gray, Ankrum, Zane Smith, DiBenedetto, newcomer Layne Riggs, Johnny Sauter, Austin Wayne Self, Jesse Little and Chris Hacker remained on the track as Nemechek inherited the lead.

    Down to a two-lap shootout to the finish, the race restarted under green. At the start, Taylor Gray managed to pull ahead of Nemechek and the field to take the lead entering the backstretch. Then entering Turn 4, Gray was hit by Nemechek as he spun his No. 17 David Gilliland Racing Ford F-150 across the outside wall, which prompted NASCAR to display the caution and send the event into overtime. At the moment of caution, Nemechek managed to retain the top spot followed by Zane Smith while Ankrum was in third ahead of Enfinger, Layne Riggs and DiBenedetto. 

    At the start of the first overtime attempt, Nemechek launched ahead on the outside lane entering the first two turns before he got forced into the outside wall by Zane Smith. With Nemechek falling below the leaderboard following his late scrape, Zane Smith assumed the top spot followed by a hard-charging Enfinger, who was on four fresh tires, as the field fanned out and jostled for late positions. 

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Enfinger was ahead by a nose over Zane Smith as Rhodes carved his way into third. Enfinger then managed to clear Zane Smith and the field through the first two turns and the backstretch to assume full authority. With no late challenges instigating behind and having four fresh tires to his advantage, Enfinger cycled his way back to the frontstretch and claimed the checkered flag by four-tenths of a second over Rhodes.

    With the victory, Enfinger, who competed between ThorSport Racing and CR7 Motorsports a year ago before reuniting with GMS Racing as a full-time competitor this season, claimed his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win since winning at Martinsville Speedway in October and his seventh career win in the series. He also became the 13th overall competitor to win a Truck event at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park as he recorded the first victory of the season for GMS Racing and the third for the Chevrolet nameplate. 

    By winning the first event of the 2022 Truck Series Playoffs at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, Enfinger, who managed to secure a Playoff spot based on points a week ago at Pocono Raceway, also earned an automatic transfer spot to the Round of 8 as he continues his pursuit to win his first NASCAR national touring series championship.

    “We’re finally moving forward at all,” Enfinger said on FS1. “This is the first laps we’ve led since Atlanta or something. Terrible off-season. Not because of these [pit] guys behind me, but we’ve just been off a little bit as an organization. [I] Can’t say thank you enough to [GMS Racing president] Mike Beam, [owner] Maury Gallagher, Ron Booth, everybody at GMS Fabrication and everybody on this No. 23 team. We’ve been working so hard because we’ve been sucking. It hurts to say it, but we’ve had a terrible season to this point. We had a great No. 23 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet all day. [I] Felt like every time I got the lead, the caution come out. It put [crew chief Jeff] Hensley in a bad spot. I knew from experience, just trust his gut. It’s a pretty special night. Definitely very, very thankful.”

    During his victory celebration, Enfinger credited the late gusty pit call made by his veteran crew chief Jeff Hensley, who reunited with Enfinger at GMS Racing in late June. Both Enfinger and Hensley worked together at ThorSport Racing from 2017 to 2020.

    “Four years and we’ve ridden the roller coaster together,” Enfinger added. “We’ve been in the lows. We missed the Playoffs our first year together and we haven’t missed it since then. We’ve had some success together. He’s a racer. I’m a racer. Neither one of us are very smart, but we put it together tonight.”

    Rhodes came home in second place in front of Zane Smith while Friesen and Heim finished in the top five. Ankrum finished in sixth in front of newcomer Layne Riggs while Majeski, who was initially in a position to win his first NASCAR race, settled in eighth. Crafton rallied to finish ninth while Nemechek, who led a race-high 75 laps and ended up in the wall while leading, fell back to 10th place.

    Notably, Playoff contenders Christian Eckes, Chandler Smith and Carson Hocevar finished 16th, 18th and 21st, respectively.

    The Truck Series’ return to Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park since 2011 featured 12 lead changes for six different leaders. The race also featured 10 cautions for 78 laps.

    Results.

    1. Grant Enfinger, 13 laps led

    2. Ben Rhodes

    3. Zane Smith

    4. Stewart Friesen

    5. Corey Heim

    6. Tyler Ankrum

    7. Layne Riggs

    8. Ty Majeski, 71 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    9. Matt Crafton 

    10. John Hunter Nemechek, 75 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    11. Matt DiBenedetto

    12. Johnny Sauter

    13. Hailie Deegan

    14. Derek Kraus

    15. Jesse Little

    16. Christian Eckes

    17. Timmy Hill

    18. Chandler Smith, 13 laps led

    19. Austin Wayne Self

    20. Kaz Grala

    21. Carson Hocevar, 34 laps led

    22. Taylor Gray, one lap led

    23. Tanner Gray

    24. Chris Hacker

    25. Jack Wood

    26. Blaine Perkins

    27. Chase Purdy, one lap down

    28. Jake Garcia, one lap down

    29. Dean Thompson, three laps down

    30. Chad Chastain, three laps down

    31. Kris Wright, three laps down

    32. Colby Howard – OUT, Accident

    33. Josh Reaume – OUT, Too slow

    34. Lawless Alan –  OUT, Accident

    35. Blake Lothian – OUT, Driveshaft

    36. Spencer Boyd – OUT, Accident

    *Bold indicates Playoff contenders.

    Playoff standings

    1. Grant Enfinger – Advanced

    2. Zane Smith +50

    3. Ben Rhodes +36

    4. Stewart Friesen +28

    5. John Hunter Nemechek +24

    6. Chandler Smith +24

    7. Ty Majeski +19

    8. Carson Hocevar +7

    9. Matt Crafton -7

    10. Christian Eckes -7

    With the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs underway, the second Round of 10 events is scheduled to occur at Richmond Raceway on August 13. The event’s coverage is scheduled to occur at 8 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • 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.

  • 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.