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  • NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series Power Rankings-Daytona

    NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series Power Rankings-Daytona

    Friday night saw the opening season for the NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series. It was no ordinary season opener as the series is celebrating its 25th anniversary dating back to 1995.

    Every time there is a Truck Series race, you can normally expect one of two things, an exciting action-packed race or one driver who dominates the entire event. That’s what Friday night’s season opener NextEra Energy Resources 250 featured on Valentine’s day. Race fans saw a photo-finish between underdog Jordan Anderson and veteran Grant Enfinger to the finish line. Enfinger was able to just beat Anderson for the win by 0.010 seconds for the closest Truck Series finish in Daytona history. 

    While those two drivers certainly stole the show in Daytona, there were others that flew under the radar and still wound up with a great finish. Here are this week’s power rankings. 

    1. Austin Hill – Hill continued his strong Daytona performance by finishing sixth in Friday night’s race. He led 11 laps and finished seventh and fourth in both stages respectively. It wasn’t the win Hill was hoping for, but the Georgia native did a nice job of avoiding all the chaos that broke out during the race. It will be interesting to watch this team in their second year together with Hill as the driver and see if they can rattle off more wins.

    2. Grant Enfinger – No doubt Enfinger was the story of the night when all was said and done. The Alabama native finally got Daytona crossed off his checklist but it didn’t come easy for him. Enfinger had to work his way up to the front several times including getting shuffled to the back from the lead with 24 to go. At that point, a victory seemed unlikely or even a top-10 finish. But a crash with three to go set up an overtime restart with Enfinger in the lead. He had to throw a couple of blocks, one to Ross Chastain and the other to Jordan Anderson, but Enfinger got it done by .010 seconds. It was certainly a nice way to start the season as he now has secured a spot in the Playoffs. Going forward the No. 98 ThorSport Racing team can be a lot more aggressive and take more risks on-track.

    3. Johnny Sauter – Sauter had an up and down night in the No. 13 Tenda Ford F-150. He was penalized after making a pit stop after Stage 2 concluded when an uncontrolled tire rolled out of his pit stall. The Wisconsin native also barely missed the big one when his teammate Ben Rhodes spun in front of him with three laps to go. Sauter was able to miss it and brought his truck home with a seventh-place finish. The ThorSport Racing driver finished fifth and eighth in both stages while leading no laps.

    4. Jordan Anderson – We would be remiss if we didn’t talk about Jordan Anderson’s best finish of his Truck Series career. Anderson tried all he could to get the first elusive win of his career in what would have been a popular victory for the fans. By mere inches, the team owner finished second to Enfinger beating and banging to the line. Anderson found himself in second on the backstretch on the last lap and came oh so close to for his first career win. This will no doubt be a momentum builder for the No. 3 team who is now in an alliance with AM Racing.

    5. Riley Herbst – It looks like the experience somewhat paid off for Herbst and the No. 51 team. The Las Vegas, Nevada native started out on the right foot by qualifying on the pole Friday afternoon. Herbst continued his strong performance by winning Stage 1 and finishing fifth in the second stage. After the first two stages, chaos erupted for Herbst. The No. 51 driver was caught up in two accidents, one on Lap 67 and one with three to go on Lap 99. Still, Herbst wound up with a 12th place finish after leading 21 laps.
  • Enfinger wins in photo-finish at Daytona over Anderson

    Enfinger wins in photo-finish at Daytona over Anderson

    After an overtime restart, Grant Enfinger narrowly won in a photo-finish against Jordan Anderson coming to the line. The two drivers beat and banged off one another until the checkered flag flew at Daytona International Speedway. However, in what was the closest Truck Series race in history, the Alabama native, Enfinger, broke a two-year drought dating back to Las Vegas.

    “It would have been a good story for Jordan to win, but it was a better story for us,” Enfinger said to MRN Radio. “He gave us some good shoves there and I knew he was going to try and make a move and he did. I wasn’t confident the bottom line was going to carry or not, but I was 100% confident in my spotter Chris Lambert as he talked me through there good. I gave some shoves and tried to block his momentum, and get off of him and I kind of stalled him to eventually beat him back to the line. Just an unbelievable Ford F-150 we had here, 100th win for Ford in the Truck Series, the 25th anniversary for Duke and Rhonda Thorson. God has blessed me with an incredible opportunity and maybe this season is the year for us.”

    Tonight’s race at Daytona was the season opener for the NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series. Though race fans would have to wait a little while after the scheduled start time as a small rain shower moved through the area delaying the start of the race by more than half an hour.

    Stages were broken into 20/20/60 laps to make up the 100-lap race and rookie Riley Herbst was on the pole.

    Stage 1: Lap 1- Lap 20

    It appeared Stage 1 was going to be calm and collected with no incidents. However, a big incident occurred with five to go, as the No. 45 of Ty Majeski’s truck went upside down on its roof going into Turn 1 causing a red flag. Based on a replay, the No. 38 of Todd Gilliland made slight contact with the No. 12 of Tate Fogleman who then bumped into the No. 22 of Austin Wayne Self, while the two collected Majeski’s truck which made him flip. This incident would cause a seven-minute and 59 seconds red flag.

    A one-lap dash would set up a restart in Stage 1. Pole sitter Herbst took the stage win, while Tyler Ankrum, Christian Eckes, Brett Moffitt, Johnny Sauter, Stewart Friesen, Austin Hill, Grant Enfinger, Raphael Lessard and Todd Gilliland completed the top-10 for Stage 1.

    Stage 2: Lap 25- Lap 40

    There were no incidents in this stage as it went green the whole way. However, the No. 21 of Zane Smith had a window net down and was black flagged, and had to come down pit road to fix his issue. Then on Lap 35, the No. 9 of Codie Rohrbaugh got turned coming to pit road but saved the truck from crashing and no caution was thrown.

    Enfinger would wind up winning the second stage as Ben Rhodes, Ankrum, Hill, Herbst, Lessard, Friesen, Sauter and Sheldon Creed were the top-10 finishers in Stage 2.

    Stage 3: Lap 45- Lap 104

    There was a 20 lap green flag run taking place from Lap 45 to Lap 65. In fact, a few laps after lap 65, several drivers were thinking about making their last pit stop of the night in the coming laps. But a caution slowed the pace when the No. 00 of Angela Ruch spun in Turn 3 and caused a multi-vehicle wreck. Fogleman, Bryan Dauzat, Eckes, Smith and Brennan Poole were among the ones involved in the incident.

    A restart came with 25 to go and things were shaping up for another exciting finish at Daytona, especially in the Truck Series. The Trucks were racing hard all night and some drivers were making big risky moves in hopes of winning the race or pulling off the upset. In fact, in the first time around it looked like there was going to be a photo-finish as the trucks were three wide several rows back. As normally happens with Daytona late in the race, a caution came out for a big wreck in Turns 1 and 2.

    The No. 99 of Ben Rhodes got loose and almost took out race winner Enfinger in the process, but instead took out several other drivers including, Ankrum, Tanner Gray, Sauter, Herbst, Crafton, Gilliland, Friesen, Gus Dean, Jesse Little, Korbin Forrister and Eckes to name a few.

    Eventually, this put some drivers who had been riding around in the back the whole race up front at the end with a shot to win.

    The caution set up an overtime restart on Lap 104, just four laps past the advertised distance. On the white flag, the No. 40 of Ross Chastain had a huge run on Enfinger but Enfinger blocked and Chastain got shuffled out of the draft. The racing wasn’t done yet. This set up an unique opportunity for fan favorite and a potential upset, Jordan Anderson, who was running second with a head of momentum.

    Eagerly trying to find a way and time his moment to make the move, Anderson pulled out just a few feet from the finish line to try to pass Enfinger. Enfinger saw Anderson on the outside and the two bounced off one another, but in the end, it was the Alabama native Enfinger who took home the checkered flag just inches ahead of Anderson.

    “We had a good Ford F-150 last year,” Enfinger added to MRN Radio. “We could push pretty good, but we couldn’t lead. We tried to make improvements for Talladega, but we were terrible there. The guys at ThorSport Racing cut everything off of here. The roof, the chassis, everything in sight and we came back with a really good piece, and that was the difference. I fell into the sucker hole with 20 laps to go and I thought I lost my opportunity. Then I thought they were going to wreck, so I tried to get to an escape root to the bottom and they didn’t wreck. When it was time to go, I shot to the outside and was able to avoid that mayhem.”

    The win was Enfinger’s third win of his career and his first since Las Vegas in 2018, breaking a two-year win drought. He led four times for 41 laps and picked up six playoff points en route to victory.

    As Anderson watched the replay on pit road and his excitement was evident.

    “Grant, Grant, what are you doing door-slamming me man? I came here in 2015 and emptied my bank account to try to come down here and run. To be in a position to even go for a win at Daytona, man, I’m a kid that just wanted to go racing from South Carolina.

    “I thought we set him up good. We tried to follow Ross (Chastain) there and push him. I know he got loose, and I got up on Grant’s bumper there in (Turn) 4 and got a good run. It was like NASCAR Thunder 2003 all over again. I’m like, ‘God, I can do this!’ And I pushed him out of the way, and I thought we had it.”

    There were five cautions for 26 laps including one red flag along with 15 lead changes among seven different drivers.

    Official Results

    1. Grant Enfinger, led 41 laps, won Stage 2
    2. Jordan Anderson
    3. Codie Rohrbaugh
    4. Derek Kraus
    5. Natalie Decker
    6. Austin Hill, led 11 laps
    7. Johnny Sauter
    8. Ross Chastain
    9. Sheldon Creed, led two laps
    10. Jason White
    11. Zane Smith
    12. Riley Herbst, led 21 laps
    13. Brett Moffitt
    14. Cory Roper
    15. Matt Crafton
    16. Todd Gilliland
    17. Brennan Poole
    18. Korbin Forrister
    19. Spencer Boyd, one lap down
    20. Raphael Lessard, one lap down
    21. Stewart Friesen, one lap down, led 13 laps
    22. Christian Eckes, one lap down, Stage 1 winner
    23. Tanner Gray, OUT, Accident
    24. Jesse Little, OUT, Accident
    25. Ben Rhodes, OUT, Accident, led 17 laps
    26. Gus Dean, OUT, Accident
    27. Tyler Ankrum, OUT, Accident
    28. Angela Ruch, OUT, Accident
    29. Bryan Dauzat, OUT, Accident
    30. Tate Fogleman, OUT, Accident
    31. Austin Wayne Self, OUT, Accident
    32. Ty Majeski, OUT, Accident
  • NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Power Rankings- Martinsville II

    NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Power Rankings- Martinsville II


    The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series was back on-track this past weekend for the continuation of the Round of 6. There was a lot of action in the 2019 Hall of Fame 200 as many of the Playoff drivers faced problems throughout the day. Some were involved in wrecks and others were facing must-win situations heading forward to Phoenix in two weeks. However, there were a few surprises in the finishing order and one driver scored his first career victory. 

    Here’s a look at this week’s Power Rankings 

    1. Brett Moffitt – Moffitt had the truck to beat all day long, especially in the first stage. The Grimes, Iowa native was out front for 84 laps and remained consistent in the early portions. But troubles plagued the No. 24 team after having such a strong truck. On Lap 117 the GMS driver was caught up in an accident in Turn 4 leaving the truck with some left-side damage. Just a couple of laps later, his day was done when Moffitt was once again caught up in a wreck that collected many others. Despite calling it quits early, the No. 24 driver still leads the championship playoff points standings heading into the penultimate race at Phoenix. If Moffitt and company can avoid disaster, then they should have no worries making it to the Championship 4.

      Previous Week Ranking – First
    2. Todd Gilliland – Gilliland finally earned that elusive first career victory that he’s been needing for so long. He only led 11 laps but they were the ones that counted as this victory might be the most important to Gilliland’s career. As noted in his post-race press conference, he has nothing set in stone yet for 2020. The Kyle Busch Motorsports driver did not gain any stage points after not finishing in the top-10 but that did not matter as Gilliland wheeled the No. 4 machine into victory lane and earned the historic Grandfather clock.

      Previous Week Ranking – Fifth
    3. Ross Chastain – From wrecking out at Talladega to finishing third at Martinsville, Chastain had the truck to win and he was trying everything he could to get to victory lane. The Niece Motorsports driver roughed up a couple of fenders while he was out there and even found himself in contention to win at one point. Chastain had the second most laps led with 68 to Moffitt’s 84. Chastain finished 10th and fourth in Stage 1 and 2, respectively, before bringing home a second-place finish. Looking back, it’s what could have been for Chastain and his No. 45 Niece Chevy. If he had scored the victory, the team would have been going to their first Championship 4. However, it was still a solid finish for the team.

      Previous Week Ranking – Not Ranked
    4. Timmy Hill – A tip of the cap to Timmy Hill and his No. 56 Hill Motorsports team after earning their career-best finish of fifth so far in the team’s young history. They stayed out of trouble, avoided the major wrecks and brought home a clean top-five finish, the first in the stable’s history.

      Previous Week Ranking – Not Ranked
    5. Grant Enfinger – Enfinger was involved in a big wreck off Turn 2 on Lap 124. That still did not stop him and the No. 98 ThorSport as they fought to get a fourth-place finish. The Truck was beaten to pieces and was all used up. If you looked at it, you would think the truck went to a demolition derby or it was another night at Bowman Gray Stadium. With those efforts, Enfinger also placed ninth and second in both stages. It was a strong outing for the No. 98 ThorSport team at the paperclip.

      Previous Week Ranking- Not Ranked

      Fell Out

      1. Riley Herbst – Did not compete in this week’s race.

      Previous Week Ranking – Fourth

      2. Austin Hill – Hill and the No. 16 team was also caught up in the big wreck off Turn 2 on Lap 124. With the damage too severe to be fixed, the team could not repair the truck which resulted in a 26th place finish.

      Previous Week Ranking – Second

      3. Stewart Friesen – Friesen had a separate incident of his own on Lap 150, accidentally getting wrecked off Turn 4. The team was able to rebound, however, to a sixth-place finish after starting seventh. The Candian managed one stage point, finishing 10th in Stage 2.

      Previous Week Ranking- Third

  • Enfinger rounds out top five finishers at Bristol

    Enfinger rounds out top five finishers at Bristol

    After leading 57 laps and qualifying 14th, regular-season champion Enfinger came home fifth at Bristol.

    “Great job to Jeff Hensley (Crew Chief) right there, gusty call and getting some track position,” Enfinger said to MRN Radio. “We weren’t a bad truck when we had the lead. I don’t know what I would have done different on that restart. The 24 (Moffitt) was a little bit better than us on the top. I thought about taking away the top side, but we weren’t worth a crap up there, so I stuck to the bottom and that’s what worked for us.”

    “He just flat out nailed that restart and got me. We had a great truck, once we got some clean air. Really proud of everyone at ThorSport Racing. Champion Power Equipment, Duke and Rhonda Thorson, Curb Records, everyone that lets us do this.”

    Enfinger took the lead once and led for 57 laps before the eventual race winner, Brett Moffitt, took it from him on Lap 174, and went on to win the race. The Alabama native finished ninth in Stage 2 and is currently tied with his teammate Matt Crafton in fourth in the point standings, 28 points back from first.

  • Grant Enfinger claims regular season title

    Grant Enfinger claims regular season title

    Coming into the Corrigan Oil 200, ThorSport Racing driver Grant Enfinger knew he had an excellent chance to win the regular-season title giving him an automatic lock into the Playoffs, despite not winning a single race this year.

    Only something catastrophic like not starting the race would have prevented the Alabama native from winning the title. Even though we’ve seen crazier things in NASCAR, Enfinger was able to fire up his truck and was declared the regular-season champion.

    “It’s been a hard road for the most weekends out of the year but I feel like we’re making the most out of every opportunity,” Enfinger said to MRN Radio. “I think God has blessed us with everything we need, everything we wanted.”

    “We’ve been close to some checkered flags but today was not one of them. We still overcame a lot from yesterday. We had a terrible F-150 yesterday but we had a good one today, capable of running up front. Really big to get this regular-season championship for the driver points, as well as the owner points. That’s a big deal for the Playoffs. I can’t say thank you enough to Duke and Rhonda Thorson, everybody at ThorSport Racing. LTI Printing who came on this weekend, Champion Power Equipment, Curb Records, Protect The Harvest, everyone who lets us do this.”

    This is the first time in Enfinger’s career that he has won the regular-season championship.

    He finished sixth and third in both stages in the Corrigan Oil 200 to complete what has been a successful season so far for the Alabama native. He has earned seven top fives and 13 top-10 finishes along with two poles and 236 laps led.

    Enfinger will be seeded second when the Playoffs begin Thursday night, August 15 at Bristol Motor Speedway. He also is seeded second in the owners’ championship.

  • Friesen survives, wins his first career race at Eldora

    Friesen survives, wins his first career race at Eldora

    It took 437 laps led and 63 starts but finally, Stewart Friesen is a winner in the Gander Outdoors Truck Series. Friesen had to hold off Sheldon Creed and company to win the Dirt Derby at Eldora Speedway.

    “Thank you to all the race fans that stuck with us, that kept pulling for us,” Friesen said after he got out of his truck in Victory Lane. “Everybody that came to my hauler and thought that this is the week. Today, this is the day. This is part of it!”

    “Just thanks to all these race fans. This was meant to be.”

    Friesen was on the last spot in the Truck championship but with the win, he is locked into the field of eight for the Truck Series Playoffs that will start in Bristol.

    Sheldon Creed came home with a career-best finish of second followed by Grant Enfinger and Mike Marlar, a dirt regular, who came home fourth. Kyle Bisch Motorsports driver Todd Gilliland came home in fifth.

    Chase Briscoe and Matt Crafton started on the front row and they are no strangers to being up front on the dirt. Briscoe won this race last year with Crafton winning the year before. Briscoe led from wire to wire even though the stage was slowed by two quick cautions. Landon Huffman who is subbing for Spencer Boyd spun it around. Then Jake Griffin spun it around as well right after the green flag waved from the Huffman spin. When it was all said and done it was Briscoe winning the stage followed by Gilliland, Brett Moffitt, Creed and Crafton to round out the top five.

    Stage 2:

    Most of the leaders decided to stay out after the stage break with the exception of Gilliland and Moffitt while Briscoe continued to dominate as he did in the first stage. Also like the first stage, some yellows disrupted the flow of the action. Harrison Burton spun his truck around on Lap 57 and the dirt version of “The Big One” happened on Lap 65 which involved Austin Hill, Burton, Christian Eckes, Carson Hocevar, Colt Gilliam and more. Many were able to continue but for Hill and Gilliam, their nights were over.

    The action and the yellows did not stop though as the No. 34 of Mason Massey spun it around on Lap 76 when he got a cut tire. Creed spun it after they went back to green after the Massey spin but there was no yellow waved.

    Like the first stage though it was all Briscoe as he went wire to wire to win the stage.

    Final Stage:

    Friesen stayed out while Briscoe and Crafton, among others, went in to pit after the stage ended. With going in to pit Briscoe restarted 12th while Friesen led the field to green to start the final stage. Friesen started to pull away but it was all for nothing due to the No. 45 of Chastain spinning right in front of the field. But somehow, someway, all of the field escaped without hitting Chastain’s truck.

    There were a few more incidents after this one including a yellow that featured three wrecks in one. First, the No. 54 of Kyle Strickler spun trying to navigate the high side and before that the No. 32 of Devin Dodson and the No. 10 of Jennifer Jo Cobb. Last but not least Johnny Sauter and Briscoe got connected after the Strickler spin. Norm Benning spun with 31 laps to go after they went back to green following the multiple trucks that spun in the previous caution. The fun didn’t stop there as Dodson spun it around again with 17 laps to go.

    Briscoe was a man on a mission but he tried a little bit too hard and spun out with nine laps to go while battling Creed for fifth. Briscoe went on to finish seventh.

    There is only one race left to make the field of eight for the Gander Outdoors Truck Series Championship and that will be determined by the race in Michigan, a week from Saturday (August 3), on FS1.

  • Grant Enfinger and Ben Rhodes compete in IMSA IMPC race

    Grant Enfinger and Ben Rhodes compete in IMSA IMPC race

    In hopes of getting some extra track time in preparation for the Chevrolet Silverado 250 Truck Series race in August, ThorSport Racing drivers took to the track by competing in an IMSA IMPC race this past weekend at Bowmanville.

    Grant Enfinger and Ben Rhodes had a couple of practice sessions on Friday, July 5. After the practice session, the teammates placed 17th overall and 16th in the GS Class.

    Similar to the Truck Series, it was mostly a one day show with qualifying and the race taking place Saturday afternoon. Rhodes qualified the No. 15 Motorcraft Quality Parts Ford Mustang in the third position.

    When the race started, Rhodes and Enfinger were splitting the driver duties and at one point, Rhodes took the lead. Unfortunately, things went downhill for the teammates as Enfinger finished the final stint and wound up 13th. But even with the unfortunate finish, the ThorSport drivers were able to learn something for next month’s race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

    Enfinger had this to say on Twitter, “Had a great time @CTMPOfficial with @Multimatic and @FordPerformance,” Enfinger said. “Learned a ton to help us when we come back here. @benrhodes did great on the first stint. I lost track position twice then made it back to finish P13. Now to continue the 10 day road trip with the wife.”

    Rhodes even had a few notes that he posted on Twitter as well.

    In response to Enfinger, Rhodes said, “You did good coming back from that penalty!’ #GoodJobTeammate.

    “Man, I really enjoyed it,” Rhodes added on Twitter. This was a huge learning experience for me. You and Tyler (Mcquarrie, IMSA IMPC driver) are super talented and strong competitors. I wish you both the best of luck in the rest of the season! Maybe one day I can rub doors with you guys in the @NASCAR_Trucks!”

    Race day here @ctmpofficial! @benrhodes will qualify and run the first stint, then I’ll finish the race this afternoon. Thanks for the opportunity @fordperformance @Multimatic pic.twitter.com/LhrZQEGU9u—Grant Enfinger (@GrantEnfinger) July 6, 2019

    Our #FordMustang is fast! Qualified P3 for today’s race. Had pole speed but got held up on both fast laps? Make sure to tune in!#MustangNeedsRoomToGallop ?? pic.twitter.com/r9vSkX96lp— Ben Rhodes (@benrhodes) July 6, 2019

    The Chevy Silverado 250 for the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series will take place on Sunday, August 25 at 2:30 p.m. ET. It will be the second race in the Truck Series Playoffs.

  • ThorSport Racing places two trucks in top-five

    ThorSport Racing places two trucks in top-five

    Another race, another solid weekend, as ThorSport Racing was able to place two of their trucks in the top five at Iowa Speedway.

    Ben Rhodes placed highest, finishing in the third position after starting seventh. Rhodes fought hard throughout the race by finishing fifth and second in both stages, respectively. It was the fifth top-five finish of the year for Rhodes and the No. 99 Carolina Nut Company Ford F-150

    “Yeah, we were just struggling to run the top all day,” Rhodes said in his post-race interview with MRN Radio. “Ross Chastain (Race Winner) did a really good job getting his truck to the top yesterday in practice. We tried to run both, I think we should have committed to the top in practice and set it up for that spot. We learned and learned a lot. We’re building a big notebook here for Carolina Nut Company F-150, we’ll come back next time and be a truck to beat. We got a lot of good ideas to make ourselves better and it’s easy stuff too.”

    Grant Enfinger and the No. 98 team continued their season championship playoff run by earning another top-five finish. With qualifying rained out, the No. 98 qualified on the outside pole.

    The Alabama native finished third and fourth in both stages and finished the race in fifth for his six top-five finish of the year.

    “It was just tough to pass,” Enfinger described to MRN Radio in regards to the racing. “It’s a lot of fun, slipping and sliding by yourself but it’s really difficult to pass, even when you’re two-tenths faster than somebody. It was all about how you were going to get those restarts in the first couple of corners there. I feel like we had a really good Ford Protect The Harvest F-150, probably a third place truck today. I don’t know if we could have played a factor with the leaders up there, but I think if we could have got track position, they wouldn’t have got back around us.”

    Enfinger continues to lead the championship points standings over his teammate Matt Crafton by 47 points.

    Matt Crafton earned another top-10 finish this season, finishing eighth and collecting his ninth top-10 of the season.

    Johnny Sauter was parked by NASCAR after an incident with Austin Hill and is credited with only completing 137 laps. He wound up finishing 28th.

  • Four Takeaways from the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Race at Texas

    Four Takeaways from the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Race at Texas

    The 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway hosted the ninth race of the 2019 Truck Series season last Friday night and it did not disappoint.

    It was quite possibly the most exciting race from the NASCAR weekend. There were comers and goers throughout the race, and you really didn’t know who was going to win until the checkered flag flew.

    The race featured 13 cautions, a new track record. It was previously 10. There were 12 lead changes with a margin of victory of .963 seconds. In fact, 37.7 percent of the race was run under caution, while there were only 7.4 green flag laps.

    With that in mind, here are this week’s Four Takeaways from the Speedycash.com 400 at Texas.

    1. Greg Biffle Gets Popular Win – When the race was all said and done, there was quite the social media buzz across the NASCAR universe talking about Biffle’s win. Marcus Lemonis, CEO and Owner of Camping World & Gander Outdoors even chimed in on Twitter stating, “Congrats to @gbiffle on race one of #TheTrip @GanderOutdoors @GanderRV #winner hey @KyleBusch let’s get him in the truck again, nice finish to all.” As if that wasn’t enough, Biffle tweeted his thoughts about the win, “Words can’t express what this felt like. Thanks, @marcuslemonis @GanderOutdoors @NASCAR_Trucks for the support of this great series @KBMteam. #TheTrip.” Lemonis chimed back in response to Biffle and said, “I’m going to see what I can do to help.” It will be interesting to see what he has in mind as it has created a very exciting time in the Truck Series right now.

    2. ThorSport Racing Continues Season Dominance – If you looked in the top five running order, you would see that at least two ThorSport Trucks finished in the top five, Matt Crafton, who was trying to chase down Biffle, and Grant Enfinger who finished fifth. Although he did not finish in the top-10, he probably would have except for a transmission failure. Rhodes wound up 21st after winning Stage 2. The same can be said for Johnny Sauter who won Stage 1 but finished 13th after being in a wreck. However, the ThorSport team has four of their Trucks sitting in the top six in the points standings currently, with Enfinger continuing and extending his points lead by 37 points. If they keep it up and make it to the Playoffs, the ThorSport team has a really good chance of winning the championship this year despite not having any race wins, aside from Sauter who won at Dover earlier this season.

    3. Inconsistency Of Calling Cautions – Another week and more inconsistent race calls. A caution came out with about 15 to go Friday night for Austin Wayne Self who stalled on the bottom, which set up a 10-lap restart to the finish. It eventually helped Biffle win the race as he was close on gas, and more than likely wouldn’t have made it if there wasn’t a caution. However, we saw another Truck spun after the restart on the bottom of Turn 4 and no caution flag was flown. Of course, this did happen behind the pack. But when you call a caution for a Truck that is stalled on the bottom but do not call a caution for a Truck that is spinning, that’s really inconsistent. We saw it again in Monday’s FireKeepers Casino 400, when Erik Jones spun in the middle of Turns 1 and 2, got “stuck” and NASCAR threw the caution setting up an overtime finish. Again that’s inconsistent. Maybe I’m overthinking it, but I would like to see a little more consistency from NASCAR.


    4. Not Promoting The Other Two Series – When Fox Sports 1 signed off the air as the Cup Series race ended and the off week started, fans heard Mike Joy say, “We’ll see you in two weeks at Sonoma.” Yes, we will see them in two weeks at Sonoma, but what’s going on in the Xfinity and Truck Series? Did they forget the other two series were racing this week? As much as they talk about the up and coming racers hoping to be future Cup stars, it’s hard to notice these racers if you don’t promote their series. Of course, fans are smart enough to know that the Xfinity and Truck Series are racing while Cup is not, but NASCAR could do a better job of promoting them. It’s easy to sit back and critique every little thing, but the Xfinity and Truck Series are the other top two divisions in NASCAR. And right now, they are putting on better races then the Cup Series. Sure there are some races that are not great but 95% of the time they are more exciting. I’m sure it wasn’t Mike Joy’s intent to ignore the other series, but maybe the next time, please include the Xfinity and Truck Series.
  • NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Power Rankings- Texas II

    NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Power Rankings- Texas II

    The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series visited Texas Motor Speedway this past weekend for race number nine of the 2019 season. It also marked the beginning of The Triple Truck Challenge, where racers can win $50,000 over the next three races should they win. Win all three and they have a shot to win half a million dollars.

    Regarding The Triple Truck Challenge, it started off with a bang last Friday night when former series champion Greg Biffle returned to the field and won the race. It was Biffle’s first win in the Truck Series since Phoenix of 2001 and his first Truck Series win at Texas since 2000. It was a popular win across the NASCAR world Friday night and created a social media buzz. Marcos Lemonis (CEO of Camping World and Gander Outdoors) even weighed in on social media as well.

    The win was so popular that fans and people inside the NASCAR industry wanted to see Biffle back in the truck again for the upcoming race at Iowa Speedway. Unfortunately, the Washington State native will be ineligible to compete as he did not submit an entry blank in time before the deadline hit last week.

    Kyle Busch Motorsports already has four trucks entered in the race at Iowa, so it would have been hard for them to include a fifth entry for Biffle. However, Biffle is eligible to compete at the conclusion of The Triple Truck Challenge at Gateway, should KBM decide to offer Biffle a ride.

    While Biffle’s win was popular throughout the NASCAR garage, there were some familiar faces found inside the top five at the end of the night, including driver Tyler Ankrum who had his best career finish in his young career thus far.

    Without further ado, here is a look at this week’s power rankings.

    1. Matt Crafton – The two-time Truck Series champion came out of nowhere at the end of the race, lining up at the front on a late race restart with 10 to go. Crafton had a solid qualifying effort of 10th earlier that day. However, it was probably not what he was looking for after starting on the pole for two consecutive weeks in a row. He finished fifth and eighth, in the first two stages. The No. 88 Menards ThorSport driver also managed to miss all the chaos that happened around him during the race, which allowed him to have a shot at snapping his long winless streak that dates back two years. Crafton tried all he could to catch Greg Biffle for the late race charge but had to settle for another second-place finish. It was his sixth top five this season and he now sits third in the points standings, 41 points behind his teammate Grant Enfinger.

      Previous Week Ranking: 2nd

    2. Grant Enfinger – Enfinger is back in the power rankings this week. He had a solid outing at Texas, finishing in the fourth position and earning his fifth top-five finish of the 2019 season. He started third and stayed there for most of the night, finishing third in Stage 1 and fourth in Stage 2. What hurt the No. 98 team the most was when there was an incident late in the going when a truck spun off Turn 4. Enfinger noted in his post-race interview that he saw the yellow flag start to come out, but then it was put back away after he had slowed. This allowed a few more drivers go on by him, which kept him from having a more solid finish. Regardless, it was still a good points night as Enfinger still leads the Truck Series points standings over Stewart Friesen by 37 points.

      Previous Week Ranking- Not Ranked

    3. Harrison Burton – While his teammate Todd Gilliland had a rough night, crashing out and finishing 27th, Burton placed fifth, rounding out the top five finishers. Burton started 11th, finished 10th in Stage 1 and third in Stage 2. It was his third top five of the season and tied his fifth-place finish earlier this season at Las Vegas.

      Previous Week Ranking- Not Ranked

    4. Ross Chastain – Chastain was in the news again this week, but in a big way, as the Niece Motorsports driver elected to receive points in the Gander Outdoors Truck Series. It was big midweek news after having early season success with the team, finishing inside the top-10 in all the races and earning a big win at Kansas. However, per NASCAR rules, the win at Kansas does not count toward Chastain’s run for the championship and he had to start all over at Texas this past weekend. Niece already had three trucks in the field with Angela Ruch piloting the No. 44, Kyle Benjamin in a return to the Truck Series in the No. 45, and T.J. Bell in the No. 38. Niece was able to work a deal out with Chastain to place him in the No. 38 to compete at Texas. Chastain qualified 15th, certainly not the best qualifying effort, but he finished 10th, earning another top-10 in the 2019 Truck Series season. The Niece Motorsports driver finished fourth in Stage 1 and seventh in Stage 2. Chastain currently is nowhere to be seen in the top 20 points standings, so he will have a lot of ground to make up with just eight races remaining.

      Previous Week Ranking- 4th

    5. Sheldon Creed – Creed matched his best finish of sixth Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway after starting in the seventh position driving the No. 2 GMS Racing Chevy. He finished eighth in Stage 1 and 10th in Stage 2. It was Creed’s best finish since Las Vegas earlier this season in March, where he finished sixth. This earned him his second top-10 finish of the season.

      Fell Out

      1. Ben Rhodes – When people looked at the final results from Friday night’s SpeedyCash.com 400, they were probably left scratching their heads when they didn’t see the ThorSport driver in the top-10 running order. But his finish was a result of a transmission failure late in the going, which took Rhodes out of contention to win the race. The No. 99 Carolina Nut Company team tried to get back to the front but the damage was too severe and Rhodes had to suffer a disappointing 21st place finish after winning Stage 2.

      Previous Week Ranking- 1st

      2. Todd Gilliland – The hits keep on coming for the Kyle Busch Motorsports driver. Gilliland and Burton received more critical comments from their team owner in a media press conference Friday, where Busch stated, “If you can’t get it done in a KBM truck, might as well go home.” Despite those comments, Gilliland was having a decent race going for him after he started on the pole. He finished seventh in Stage 1 and led 31 laps before a crash on Lap 70 took him out of the race which put him 27th in the final running order. It will be interesting to see how much longer this can happen this season before Busch finally drops the hammer down.

      Previous Week Ranking- 1st