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NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Preview- Iowa
Continuing their exciting run through the summer stretch and the run to the Playoffs, the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series stays in the Midwest as they head to Iowa Speedway for a rare Saturday night race.

Currently, there are 33 drivers on the preliminary entry list. There were 34 but the No. 32 of Daniel Sasnett for Reaume Racing withdrew from the event.

Iowa Speedway located in Newton, Iowa, is still relatively new to the Truck Series. The series first came to the track in 2009 and has hosted 12 races since then.

The speedway will host the second round of The Triple Truck Challenge. Greg Biffle won last weekend earning himself $50,000. However, despite a valiant effort, Biffle will not be competing this weekend to continue his run toward the money as he missed the entry deadline date. Also, Kyle Busch Motorsports already has four trucks entered and it would be tough to add a fifth truck to the field.

With that said, here are five drivers to keep an eye on in Saturday’s M&M’s 200.
1. Matt Crafton – After having a strong run in last week’s race at Texas, finishing second to Biffle, Crafton looks to carry that momentum forward in hopes of finally snapping his two-year winless streak dating back to Eldora of 2017. Iowa could be the place to do it. The No. 88 driver has 12 starts at the Newton facility earning one win in 2011. Other career stats include five top fives and 10 top-10 finishes, 109 laps led, two DNFs and 96.6% laps completed. Up until the 2017 race, Crafton finished inside the top-10 in every race. The last two years, however, he’s had disappointing finishes, crashing out in two consecutive races that left him with finishes of 19th and 26th. Before wrecking out last year, Crafton finished second in Stage 1 and 10th in Stage 2. Keep an eye on the No. 88 ThorSport Racing team as they’ll try to break that winless drought.
2. Brett Moffitt – Moffitt has a perfect track record of a 100% success rate, but that’s because he only has one start at the .875 mile racetrack in Iowa. His win came last year in exciting fashion. In a last-ditch effort by now Xfinity Series driver Noah Gragson, made a dive bomb move in Turns 3 and 4 in hopes of making a last lap pass on Moffitt. Gragson’s effort failed as he would take the lead for a split second, but he wound up hitting the wall and Moffitt went by him with a margin of victory by .333 seconds. This year, however, has been a bit of a challenge for the 2018 Truck Series champion who drives the No. 24 GMS Racing Chevrolet. He still has no wins but has four top fives and five top-10 finishes with one pole. Iowa could be the place where a winning streak could start up again. After all, it is his hometown racetrack as Moffitt is from Grimes, Iowa, just 48 minutes east of the track.
3. Stewart Friesen – Friesen, driver of the No. 52 for Halmar Racing, is hoping to get the monkey off his back, especially after crashing last week. He has one start which came last year with a ninth-place finish after leading 48 laps. Friesen finished fourth in Stage 1 and won Stage 2. Friesen is looking to finally get that win that has eluded him for so long.
4. Johnny Sauter – When looking at statistics, race fans may be surprised when they see Sauter does not have any wins at Iowa. Like Crafton, he has made every start since the track held its first Truck Series race back in 2009. Over the 12 races at Iowa, Sauter has eight top fives and nine top-10 finishes with 110 laps led and an average finish of 7.2. In the last two races, he has finishes of fifth and second. His best finish with ThorSport racing is second back in 2010, nine years ago. It will be interesting to see if Sauter and the No. 13 team can finally get a win and cross Iowa Speedway off the win checklist.
5. Ross Chastain – Chastain continues his fight to make the Playoffs this week at Iowa. He has five starts with only one top-five finish back in 2013 driving for Brad Keselowski after starting on the pole and leading 116 laps. His other finishes include a finish of 16th in 2012, 11th in the fall race of 2012 and 13th in 2013 before he finished second later in the year and 30th last year. But, Chastain is with Niece Motorsports and has finished inside the top-10 in every Truck Series race this season including a win at Kansas last month. Chastain’s playoff run will be an interesting story to watch throughout the summer.
There are some different names on the entry list this week. Juan Manuel Gonzalez returns to Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing to drive the No. 10. Gonzalez has no Truck starts as he attempted the Martinsville race with the same team but failed to qualify. Raphael Lessard also returns to the series to pilot the No. 17 DGR-Crosley Toyota. C.J. McLaughlin will be in the No. 33 for Reaume Racing and Mason Massey will attempt to make his first NASCAR debut. Chad Finley is back racing for his family-owned team in the No. 42. Future upcoming star Chandler Smith will be making his NASCAR debut for Kyle Busch Motorsports driving the famed No. 51. Tyler Hill returns in the No. 56 for Hill Motorsports. Lou Goss will try to make his first NASCAR attempt in the No. 74 and team owner Josh Reaume will pilot the No. 87 Nemco Motorsports Chevrolet.

With the Truck Series having a span of 12 races at Iowa dating back to 2009, the winner’s list includes Mike Skinner, Austin Dillon, Matt Crafton, Timothy Peters, Ryan Blaney, James Buescher, Erik Jones, William Byron, John Hunter Nemechek and Brett Moffit.

Qualifying is important at Iowa with most of the winners coming from the top 10 starting positions. Only two winners have started outside the top 10, Matt Crafton who started 11th in 2011, and Moffitt who started 16th in last year’s race.

Only two drivers have won twice at the track. Timothy Peters did it in 2012 and 2013. Erik Jones is the only driver that has won two consecutive races, in 2014 and 2015.

The race winner has come from the pole four times, in 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2015.

The Truck Series will hit the track Saturday morning for the first practice at 9:30 a.m. ET. The final practice is set for 11:30 a.m. ET. Qualifying is slated for 5:35 p.m. ET live on Fox Sports 2.

The M&M’s 200 race is scheduled to start shortly after 8:30 p.m. ET live on Fox Sports 1 and MRN Radio. It will consist of three stages that will be broken into 60/120/200 laps to make up the 175-mile race distance.
June 13, 2019
Bell Scores Three-Peat, Wins at Iowa

Yogi Berra’s oft-used saying, “It’s never over ’til it’s over,” was certainly appropriate for Christopher Bell in Saturday’s U.S. Cellular 250 at Iowa Speedway.

Certainly, Bell had the strongest car, leading 94 of 257 laps. However, Bell’s chance to win at Iowa appeared to be in jeopardy during the first overtime restart.

Veteran racer Justin Allgaier made a bold, outside, four-wide pass to nab the lead from Bell in Turn 1. While the field raced toward the stripe, the caution came out for a hard crash involving Matt Tifft and Max Tullman.

Following a somewhat lengthy red flag period, Allgaier held the top spot in the final restart of the race. As the late Benny Parsons would’ve summarized, Bell, who restarted fourth, appeared to have been shot out of a cannon.

Suddenly, Bell found himself back in position for the win. The points leader caught Allgaier while knocking on his rear bumper on lap 256. Racing off Turns 3 and 4, Bell was alongside Allgaier before these two gritty racers traded paint along the frontstretch.

Eventually gaining the top spot, Bell pulled away from Allgaier to score his fourth win of the NASCAR XFINITY Series season and his third in a row.

“When it’s your day, it’s your day,” Bell observed. “I’ll take them any way I can. It’s special to win for these guys. My crew chief Jason (Ratcliff) kept making the car better and better. This thing was so good. The races are hard to win.”

Impressively, Bell has bested some of NASCAR’s top drivers like Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, and series stalwart Allgaier.

When asked about his bold, aggressive pass for the win, the 23-year-old Norman, OK native may have offered some candor.

“I mean, I haven’t seen it,” Bell said. “The spotter was yelling ‘clear.’ If I’m clear, it was clean.”

Naturally, second place finisher Allgaier expressed some displeasure following the race, coming oh-so-close at sweeping the season at Iowa.

“I’m salty,” Allgaier remarked. “At the end of the day, we raced clean all day. We raced clear here in the spring. It’s disappointing to get run over like that. It’s disappointing. As racers, we’re disappointed to finish second.”

Despite coming one position short, Allgaier led the Chevrolet contingency and was ahead of the last lap carnage.

Ultimately, Bell and Allgaier took the top two spots, with Kyle Benjamin, Ross Chastain, John Hunter Nemechek, Elliott Sadler, Ryan Reed, Ryan Truex, Cole Custer, and Chase Briscoe coming home with top-10 finishes.

Following some exciting short track action at Iowa, the NASCAR XFINITY Series kicks off “Road Course August” with the Zippo 200 at Watkins Glen International on Saturday, August 4th at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.

July 28, 2018
Full weekend schedule for Pocono and Iowa

Staff Report | NASCAR.com

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will both be in action at Pocono Raceway this week and the NASCAR Xfinity Series will be at Iowa Speedway. Check out the full schedule below, which is subject to change.

Note: All times are ET

POCONO
Friday, July 27
Noon-12:55 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice, No TV (Follow live)
2-2:55 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series final practice, No TV (Follow live)

PRESS PASS (Watch live)
11 a.m.: Kids Drive NASCAR
11:15 a.m.: Grant Enfinger, Justin Haley and Brett Moffitt

IOWA
Friday, July 27
5:05-5:55 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series first practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Follow live)
6:35-7:25 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series final practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Follow live)

POCONO
Saturday, July 28
9-9:50 a.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series first practice, CNBC/NBC Sports App (Follow live)
10 a.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series qualifying, FS1 (Follow live)
11:40 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice, CNBC/NBC Sports App (Follow live)
1 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Gander Outdoors 150 (60 laps, 150 miles), FS1 (Follow live)
4:10 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Busch Pole Qualifying, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Follow live)

PRESS PASS (Watch live)
8:15 a.m.: Jimmie Johnson
8:30 a.m.: Aric Almirola
10:30 a.m.: Bubba Wallace and Richard Petty
10:45 a.m.: Jeffrey Earnhardt
2:30 p.m.: Post-NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race
5 p.m.: Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying

IOWA
Saturday, July 28
3:05 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series qualifying, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Follow live)
5:20 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series U.S. Cellular 250 presented by The Rasmussen Group (250 laps, 218.75 miles), NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Follow live)

POCONO
Sunday, July 29
2:30 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Gander Outdoors 400 (160 laps, 400 miles), NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Follow live)

PRESS PASS (Watch live)
11:30 a.m.: Gander Outdoors
5:30 p.m.: Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race

MORE: How to find NBCSN

July 26, 2018
Four Takeaways From The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race At Iowa
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series visited Iowa Speedway this past weekend located in Newton, Iowa. As always, the trucks put on quite the show no matter where they race and the M&M’s 200 certainly didn’t disappoint.

Here are four takeaways from the ninth race of the season.
1. Trucks Put On A Stellar Show At Iowa: As almost all races in the Truck Series, the NASCAR Truck Series put on another great showing at the .875-mile racetrack. There was quite a bit of action throughout the race that had people talking. But the one that had people talking the most was Noah Gragson’s dive-bomb move coming to the checkered flag. Social Media lit up after the Las Vegas, Nevada driver tried making the move coming to the checkered but unfortunately ended up bouncing off the wall, and had to settle for a second-place finish. The 19-year-old referenced the dive-bomb, like a “video game style” move. Despite falling .333 seconds short and only taking the lead for a split second, Gragson was happy about the outcome and thanked ‘NASCAR: Inside Line video game’ for trying that pass.
2. DGR-Crosley Brand Shines With Top Five Finish: Another race, another solid finish for the No. 54 team who is owned by former NASCAR Cup Series driver, David Gilliland. Originally, Bo Lemastus was supposed to be the driver of the truck this past weekend, before the team made the swap on Thursday afternoon. Gilliland placed ninth in the second stage and was even up front for a restart late in the going, but ultimately wound up with a fourth-place finish. This was the team’s third top-five finish of the season.
3. Myatt Snider Quietly Earns Top-10 Finish: After a rough outing at Texas Motor Speedway last weekend, Snider placed the No. 13 Carolina Nut Company Ford in the top-10. It was his first top-10 of the year since earning a sixth at Martinsville in April. Since then, Snider has finished outside the top-10 and had somewhat struggled due to other circumstances. This was his third top-10 finish of the season for the Thorsport Racing driver. He currently sits ninth in the point standings.
4. Matt Crafton Continues To Struggle: The 2018 season has been one to forget so far for the two-time Truck Series champion. While it’s not bad by no means, they certainly can be better and have been better in years past. So far, Crafton has only notched three top fives and four top-10 finishes. But a stat that stands out the most is no wins, two DNF’s and an average finish of 13.7. The best finish the No. 88 driver has this year is second at Dover. Crafton’s last win came at Eldora Speedway and we are four races away from the dirt race. If they don’t get a win soon, it will have been one year since he has won.
June 19, 2018
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Power Rankings-Iowa
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series continued their mid-west swing this past weekend by visiting the .875-mile track located in Newton, Iowa.

It was the ninth race of the 22-race season and with the season getting into the hot summer months, the M&M’s 200 sure didn’t disappoint in a thriller finish with the Truck Series regulars continuing to put on a great show.

Here’s a look at this weeks power rankings.
1. Brett Moffitt – Moffitt earned another huge victory this past weekend in the corn state of Iowa. It a hometown victory for the Grimes, Iowa native. While winning in your hometown is sweet, the No. 16 Hattori Racing team continues to search for sponsorship for the rest of the season. Nothing would be sweeter to see the team who has worked hard this season secure a full-time sponsorship for the rest of the 2018 season to compete for the Truck Series championship. After starting 16th, he worked his way up to eighth in the first stage. Moffitt continued to work his way up in the second stage by finishing third. After a late race caution and strategy being played, he took the lead on lap 125 and held on for the final 76 laps to collect the third win of his career and the second of 2018.
  - Previous Week Ranking: Not ranked
2. Johnny Sauter – Sauter slips back one spot in this week’s rankings by finishing fifth. He still remains win-less at Iowa Speedway after 12 starts. While it wasn’t a bad night by any means, he was able to battle for the lead multiple times but never quite got the hang of the No. 21 GMS Racing Chevy and he never led a lap. However, he finished fifth and eighth in both stages, respectively. Sauter still remains a powerhouse in the series and the one to beat every week. He leads the series standings over Noah Gragson by 71 points.
  - Previous Week Ranking: 1st
3. Noah Gragson – Gragson will be the talk of the week after his thrilling move late in the M&M’s 200. After fighting hard all night and finishing sixth, and fourth respectively in both stages, he found himself contending and challenging for the win with five laps to go. Gragson continued to rally and get to the back bumper of eventual race winner Brett Moffitt. In fact, he made a dive bomb move or a “video game style” as Gragson referenced going into Turns 3 and 4 on the final lap. Gragson almost made it stick, but ended up bouncing off the wall yards before the finish line and ended up .333 seconds short for his second win of the career. An A for effort in the continuously growing popularity of the 19-year-old.
  - Previous Week Ranking: Not Ranked
4. Jesse Little – For everything that went on last night and this season, it’s hard to overlook a team who continues to impress people quietly. This season Little had only competed in three races prior to Iowa. In two of those races, he earned two top-10 finishes at Atlanta and Dover by finishing eighth and ninth. He upped that finish and earned the best finish of his career so far by finishing in the sixth position, earning his third top-10 of the year in the limited schedule that he has been running. But as seen in the series, under the right circumstances and situations, Little could provide to be an upset winner whenever the trucks race. And whenever the race team gets that victory, it will be a huge win for the small underfunded No. 97 team.
  - Previous Week Ranking: Not Ranked
5. Harrison Burton – Burton rounds out the power rankings this week after a strong showing at Iowa. The 17-year-old proved his talents once more this past weekend. He topped the practice charts in the final practice and continued that momentum by earning his first ever Truck Series pole. Burton led early in Stage 1 by leading the first 30 laps and that would be the only 30 laps he led for the rest of the night. In the first stage, Burton wounded up finishing third. However, problems with the ECU unit mounted after the first stage and resulted in putting him deep in the field for the second stage. That didn’t stop him, however, as he worked his way up to finish sixth in the second stage. Just like his teammate, Gragson, Burton found himself competing for the win late in the going. Ultimately after some issues early on, he found himself third at the scoring pylon earning his career-best Truck Series finish. Burton continues to shine early in his career.
  - Previous Week Ranking: Not Ranked
Fell Out
1. Matt Crafton – An accident on lap 135 saw Crafton’s left front tire blow out and resulted in him finishing in the 26th position. The No. 88 Menards team continues to struggle to find that first win of the season.
2. Grant Enfinger – Enfinger was involved in the first wreck and had a bit of damage, thus relegating him to an 11th place finish.
3. Justin Haley – Haley wasn’t quite as sporty this week as he finished 16th, four laps down.
4. Stewart Friesen- Friesen was also involved in the same incident as Crafton, but managed a ninth-place finish.
June 18, 2018
Justin Allgaier Beats the Heat and Wins the Xfinity Race at Iowa Speedway

It was a hot day at Iowa Speedway for the American Ethanol E15 250, but one driver was hotter than the track. Justin Allgaier driving his No.7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet didn’t feel anything but elation as he wheeled into victory lane.

Allgaier swept all three stages of the race claiming his second NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the year. Today’s win also marked his seventh career victory. He dominated today’s race leading 182 of 250 laps.

In Victory Lane Allgaier commented, “We had a great car today, these guys did a fantastic job I can’t thank everyone at JR Motorsports enough. We’re in the middle of a cornfield, how can you not enjoy this? Man is it cool to win one especially at Iowa.”

In Stage 1 Austin Cindric, starting from the pole position, appeared to be the car to beat. There was only one caution for Garrett Smithley who had a tire go down. It seemed like Cindric would lead every lap of this stage. However, with two laps remaining, Allgaier made his move and took the stage win.

Stage 2 would run caution free with Allgaier in the lead. Although others were jockeying for positions Allgaier proved dominant leading every lap and winning the stage.

The final stage would bring the best battles of the day. There were two minor cautions, one for Chad Finchum tagging the wall and the other for the spinning car of Brandon Hightower. The battle for the lead would get intense, even going three wide at points. Christopher Bell, in his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, did everything he could to get the lead from Allgaier. On the last lap, Bell would try one final time but would come up short taking second place.

After the race, Bell commented,” We had a very good Rheem Camry, just not good enough to get him (Allgaier).”

Coming home in third place was Daniel Hemric in his No.21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Cole Custer and Brandon Jones would round out the top five. Riley Herbst finished sixth in his first ever NASCAR Xfinity Series start. Ty Majeski, Tyler Reddick, Matt Tifft, and Kaz Grala finished seventh through 10th, respectively.

Elliott Sadler leads the Xfinity Series standing with 504 points over Cole Custer who has 500 points. Hemric is in third with 497 points, Reddick is in fourth with 473 points and Bell with 471 points rounds out the top five.

The Xfinity Series is off next week but will be heading to Chicagoland Speedway on Saturday, June 30.

June 17, 2018
Christian Eckes Rebounds From Early Wreck In Series Debut at Iowa

Up and coming NASCAR star, Christian Eckes made his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut Saturday night driving the No. 46 Kyle Busch Motorsports Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra at Iowa Speedway.

On Lap 32, the second caution of the night was brought out due to an incident on the backstretch involving Austin Hill, Grant Enfinger, and Christian Eckes. The Mobil 1 driver had slight damage from the wreckage, but that didn’t stop the talented breakout star from making his way forward.

In the last thirty laps in Stage 1, he managed to fight his way to the 10th position after the early incident. Some pit strategy was played by the 46 team and others. Eckes was on older tires than the rest of the field but salvaged a 14th place finishing position in the second stage.

With some track position and strategy that continued to play out, he fought his way up as high as fifth in the final stage. At the end of the night, he brought home the KBM machine in the eighth position for his first ever top-10 finish in the series. Not bad for the 17-year-old rookie who made his national series debut.

“It started out a little rough,” Eckes said. “Not sure what happened on the backstretch there but we got in a wreck and had to fight back all day. Everybody on this 46 Mobil 1 team did a great job today getting me where I needed to be. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the finish that I really wanted at the end, but a top-10 finish in my debut is definitely a positive.”

June 17, 2018
Brett Moffitt Wins In A Thriller At Iowa

Hometown hero Brett Moffitt was able to collect win number two of the 2018 season after a last lap thriller Saturday night at Iowa Speedway.

“We had to fight all day,” Moffitt said after the race. “Qualified where we didn’t want to and first stop, we had a lug nut get caught between the wheel and the hub. And so we went all the way back there. The guys worked hard. They executed at the end and to have this Destiny Homes Toyota in victory lane is unreal. You know, it was certainly faster at the end and I was just fortunate enough to hold them off.”

Harrison Burton and Matt Crafton set the front row early on in the day after qualifying for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series M&M’s 200. Sixty laps in Stages 1 and 2 and 80 laps in the final stage made up the 200 lap running of the event.

Burton started off Stage 1 strong leading most of the way. The very first caution slowed the race on Lap 24, where Todd Gilliland scrapped the wall in Turn 2. After the restart on Lap 30, another caution came out when Grant Enfinger, Christian Eckes, Austin Hill and Ben Rhodes were involved in a melee on the backstretch slowing the pace once more.

As the stage was winding down, there was a five-way battle for the lead which included Crafton, John Hunter Nemechek, Stewart Friesen, Burton, and Johnny Sauter. However, Nemechek was able to take the lead and held on to win the first stage.

Stage 2 began on Lap 68 and went to Lap 120. Kansas race winner, Noah Gragson, took the lead on the restart and held on for a short while as there was once again multiple battles for the lead. The fourth caution came out just past the halfway mark for Gilliland, who once again bounced off the wall ultimately ending his day.

“A mistake by me,” Gilliland said. “We were really free and just got into (Turn) 1 a little too deep and I was running up, and got a little too free and wrecked. We blew a right front. Something was messed up. I don’t know, I’m not sure if I just hit something, caught a part or what, but just hate it. That was my fault, should have been running top five right now and I guess there’s nothing else you can do, except learn from it.”

This was the only incident in Stage 2 and Friesen ran away with the stage win.

The final stage went back to green with 71 laps to go and Atlanta race winner, Brett Moffitt took the lead. One caution slowed the final stage, as Matt Crafton’s left front tire went down and was unable to turn going into the Turn 1, taking out several others. Crafton and Nemechek’s night was done as they suffered the most damage from the wreck.

A restart came with 56 laps to go and Moffitt was able to take off like a rocket ship leading almost of the stage. With less than 30 to go, Gragson was starting to reel in the race leader.

As the race came to an end with less than five laps to go, a three-way battle for the win heated up with Moffitt, Gragson, and Burton. On the last lap, Gragson tried making a dive bomb move on Moffitt and took the lead for a split second but ended up bouncing off the wall coming to the line, allowing Moffitt to collect his second win of the season in a last-lap thriller.

There were six cautions for 44 laps and eight leaders among eight lead changes. Moffitt led once for 76 laps for the third win of his career.

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series continues their mid-west swing by visiting Gateway Motorsports Park next Saturday night.

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June 16, 2018
Matt Crafton’s Blown Tire Causes Mulit-Car Wreck in Stage 3 at Iowa

On Lap 135, Matt Crafton’s left front tire cut down going into Turn 1 causing a multi-vehicle incident during Stage 3 of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series M&M’s 200 at Iowa Speedway. Drivers involved in the accident included Stewart Friesen, Ben Rhodes, previous race winner John Hunter Nemechek, and Dalton Sargeant.

Prior to the incident taking place, Crafton’s No. 88 Menards Ford and the No. 52 Halmar Racing machine made slight contact with each other, thus giving Crafton a left front tire rub. Laps later, the tire finally let go causing a major accident.

“I blew a left front tire,” Crafton said. “Just got caught back with the 52 (Friesen) and blew a left front tire.”

John Hunter Nemechek was also taken out of the race after leading the race twice for 15 laps.

“I don’t know how Crafton ended up with a left front rub,” Nemechek said. “I had no idea. We could tell who was rubbing to the outside getting in to (turn) 1, put us four wide and I tried backing out of the situation and it just wasn’t enough. I hate it for all my guys. He (Crafton) came up and blew a left front, kept coming up and put us in the fence. So overall, disappointed. But have another shot at tomorrow. We were fast and I was driving my butt off. That was a lot of fun.”

Crafton finished 26th and Nemechek 27th.

June 16, 2018
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Preview-Iowa
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series heads to the midwest again this weekend, as the series regulars head to Iowa Speedway. This is the second standalone event of the season for the series.

Currently, there are 35 trucks on the preliminary entry list this weekend for the annual M&Ms 200.

Fifteen drivers will be making their first track debut. These include Camden Murphy, Austin Hill, Cory Roper, Todd Gilliland, Reid Wilson, Myatt Snider, Bobby Reuse, Brett Moffitt, Tanner Thorson, Dalton Sargeant, Justin Fontaine, Christian Eckes, Stewart Friesen, Bo LeMastus and Bayley Currey.

Note: Christian Eckes will be making his Truck Series debut driving the No. 46 Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra for Kyle Busch Motorsports.

Here’s a look at who might be challenging for the win this weekend at the small .875-mile track.
1. Johnny Sauter – It should be no surprise that Sauter, once again, tops the chart this week but it’s hard to overlook someone who has done so much in a sport that’s called, ‘What Have You Done for Me Lately?’ Lately, he has earned season win number four last week at Texas Motor Speedway. It’s also hard to stop someone who has been on a roll and carrying so much momentum this season. However, Iowa will be a little challenge and a curve-ball this week for the No. 21 GMS Racing. Sauter has no wins in 11 races, but he does have seven top fives and eight top-10 finishes, along with an average start of 9.8 and an average finish of 7.4. His last five finishes have been second, 10th, 17th, 18th, and fourth, respectively. But if he does pull out the win this Saturday night, it shouldn’t be surprising due to the fact that he’s been the Kevin Harvick of the Truck Series.
2. John Hunter Nemechek – John Hunter Nemechek returns to pilot the No. 8 Nemco Motorsports Chevy. He is high on the list this week because Nemechek is the recent race winner of the event. In last year’s race, he started fifth and led just six laps. He also finished seventh and third, respectively in both stages. Nemechek has also led 59 laps in total at the track, including obtaining a 5.5 average start and an average finish of 11.5. Other finishes include 12th, 23rd (DNF), and 10th in his four starts at the track. He also has one top-five finish and two top-10 finishes. Nemechek will certainly be a challenger for the win this week at Iowa.
3. Stewart Friesen – After last week’s performance, it’s hard to not count Friesen out to contend for the win. He and his No. 52 Halmar Racing is slowly but surely, becoming more and more of a contender each week in challenging for race wins. Friesen came up .092 seconds short of his first win to Johnny Sauter. This will be his first-ever start at Iowa Speedway this weekend.
4. Todd Gilliland – Gilliland will be making his first ever Truck Series start at Iowa, but he does have previous starts and experience at the racetrack. His starts came in the NASCAR K&N Series as well as the ARCA Racing Series. In last year’s race, Gilliland started fourth and won after dominating the whole race by leading 147 laps. He has also made one start in the ARCA Racing Series driving for Venturini Motorsports starting 11th and finishing ninth. Gilliland has already proven himself as a contender for the win and if the opportunity strikes, he could end up in victory lane this weekend. What a win that would be for the recent high school graduate.
5. Matt Crafton – Crafton will be making his 12th career start at Iowa this weekend and is still searching for the first win of the 2018 season. At Iowa, he has made 11 career starts and posted one win which came in 2011, seven years ago. He also has five top-five finishes and along with 10 top-1os. Crafton has also led 89 laps throughout his career at this place and has an average start of 9.7 and an average finish of 6.3. However, in the recent outing, he did not finish after getting involved in a late-race crash and salvaged a 19th place finish. While it seems as though the No. 88 Menards Ford F-150 is still searching for speed this season if they play their cards right and right calls happen, Crafton will earn his first win of the season and lock himself into the Playoffs.
Iowa Speedway has seen 11 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series ever since the series went there in 2009. Erik Jones and Timothy Peters have been the only repeat winners. Other winners include Mike Skinner, Austin Dillon, Matt Crafton, James Buescher, William Byron and defending race winner, John Hunter Nemechek. Qualifying will be important if you want to collect a race win as previous race winners have started, fifth twice, first, second, and third.

Stages will be broken up into 60/120/200.

The Truck Series will have a one day show with first practice beginning at 9:35 a.m. ET on Fox Sports 1 and final practice at 11:00 a.m. ET on Fox Sports 2. Qualifying is slated for Saturday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. ET on FS2.

Race coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1 and MRN Radio, with the green flag scheduled to drop at 7:19 p.m. ET, approximately.
June 14, 2018