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NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Preview-Kentucky
After a week off for the Fourth of July holiday, the real fireworks get back on track Thursday night for the Buckle Up in Your Truck 225 at Kentucky Speedway.

The Truck Series was at Chicagoland Speedway two weeks ago where we saw last year’s champion take home the trophy. It was Moffitt’s second win of the 2019 season, which occurred on the 1.5-mile speedway, the same as Kentucky.

The Playoffs continue to be on the horizon and with five races left, there are some drivers who continue to be winless in the series. Believe it or not, only four series regulars have taken home a trophy. Other than Moffitt, Austin Hill won at Daytona and Johnny Sauter won at Dover. Ross Chastain had victories at Kansas and Gateway but sits 10 points out of the top-20. Chastain should easily make it into the Playoffs, but we’ve seen crazier things happen.

Despite only having four series regulars winning this year, there are other big names who have not won yet. Those include series points leader Grant Enfinger, Stewart Friesen, Matt Crafton, Ben Rhodes, Harrison Burton, Todd Gilliland and Sheldon Creed, who are all on the outside looking in. With that said, however, those names could break through at Kentucky this Thursday night.

There are currently 34 Trucks entered on the preliminary entry list for 32 spots.

Here are five drivers to keep an eye on in Thursday night’s Buckle Up in Your Truck 225.
1. Matt Crafton – Kentucky could be the place where Crafton breaks his long two-year winless streak. He is the most experienced driver with the most active starts at 20, ever since the first race here in 2001. The No. 88 ThorSport Racing driver has just one win here that occurred in 2015 when he started on the pole and led 43 laps that night. Otherwise, he has six top fives and 15 top-10 finishes with one DNF. Crafton’s average finish is 9.9 with 79 laps led overall. The Tulare, California driver has finishes of third in 2018, eighth in 2017 and 2016, a win in 2015 and sixth in 2014. He doesn’t have any stage wins, but Crafton finished sixth in Stage 1 and ninth in Stage 2 in the 2018 race. Keep an eye on the No. 88 Menards driver who hopes to snap his winless streak Thursday night.
2. Ben Rhodes – The ThorSport train continues with Ben Rhodes. Rhodes is the previous race winner at Kentucky after leading 38 laps last year. It was a hometown win for Rhodes, as he resides in Louisville, Kentucky just 57 minutes away from Kentucky Speedway. However, prior to his win, Kentucky Speedway had not been too kind to Rhodes. He crashed out of the race in 2017, finishing 27th, and finished 13th in his first race in 2016. The Kentucky native has an average finish of 13.7 with an average start of 5.7. It will mark one year since Rhodes has not won a race in the Truck Series. He currently sits somewhat comfortable in the standings, in fifth, 98 points behind first. He’ll need a win or a finish in the top 10, or top five, to contend in the Playoffs.
3. Stewart Friesen – Speaking of being close to winning, Friesen has a decent chance of getting his first win Thursday night. He finished second to Rhodes in last year’s race after leading 37 laps. He has Stage finishes of seventh and fourth in the 2018 race, but no stage top-10 finishes in 2017. The Canadian finished 12th in his first outing two years ago. Look for Friesen and his No. 52 Halmar Racing team to be a contender in Thursday night’s race at Kentucky.
4. Brandon Jones – The Joe Gibbs Racing Xfinity Series regular returns to the famed No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports truck this week. The Atlanta, Georgia native has four starts at Kentucky Speedway and has finished in the top-10 in every start since 2015. Jones has had great results with a best finish of second in 2017. His other finishes include fourth in 2018, seventh in 2016 and 10th in 2015, which equal an average finish of 5.8. The No. 51 truck has not seen victory lane since Texas last month when Greg Biffle earned a popular victory. At Kentucky, the truck has not been to victory lane since 2014 when team owner Kyle Busch brought it to victory lane. Jones will try to put that No. 51 truck back in the winner circle this weekend.
5. Todd Gilliland – Gilliland has just one start which came in last year’s race. The No. 4 KBM driver finished seventh after starting second and led just one lap. Gilliland has a stage finish of third and sixth in both stages that came in the 2018 race.
Other drivers on the entry list include Codie Rohrbaugh in the No. 9, Spencer Davis in the No. 11, Dylan Lupton in the No. 15, Tyler Ankrum in the No. 17 and Brennan Poole returns with his No. 30 machine. Josh Bilicki will compete in the No. 34, Chad Finley returns to the track in the No. 42, Jeb Burton in the No. 44, Ray Ciccarelli in the No. 49, Tyler Hill in the No. 56 and Clay Greenfield in the No. 68.

Ben Rhodes and Noah Gragson are the only stage winners since 2017.

Kentucky Speedway has seen 21 races and counting since their first race back in 2000. A list of winners include Greg Biffle who won the first race 19 years ago, Scott Riggs, Mike Bliss, Carl Edwards, Bobby Hamilton, Dennis Setzer, Ron Hornaday Jr (2006, 2009, 2011), Mike Skinner, Johnny Benson Jr, Todd Bodine, James Buescher (2012 and 2013), Ty Dillon, Kyle Busch, William Byron and Christopher Bell.

The race winner has come from the pole three times set by Matt Crafton in 2015, Kyle Busch in 2014 and Ron Hornaday Jr in 2009. The lowest a race winner has ever come from was 22nd by Ty Dillon in 2013 and Hornaday Jr in 2006.

It will be an all-day show for the Truck Series with first practice at 9:35 a.m. ET and final practice at 11:05 a.m. ET with no TV coverage. Qualifying is scheduled to take place at 4:05 p.m. ET live on Fox Sports 1.

The Buckle Up in Your Truck 225 can be seen live on Fox Sports 1 and MRN Radio with the green flag flying shortly after 7:30 p.m. ET. Stages will be broken up into 35/70/150 laps to make up the 225-mile race.
July 10, 2019
Four Takeways from the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race at Kentucky
The NASCAR Truck Series visited Sparta, Kentucky for the 12th race of the scheduled 22 race season in a triple-header weekend.

The series had a first-time winner while some familiar faces had their issues.

Here are four takeaways from the Buckle Up In Your Truck 225.
1. Ben Rhodes Captures Hometown Win – Rhodes was able to capture a win in his hometown Thursday night after winning Stage 1 and leading 38 laps after taking no tires on the final pit stop. They were finally able to have a mistake-free race for once and put all the pieces together. If the No. 41 ThorSport Racing team continues to do that for the rest of the season including the Playoffs, they could very well be the fourth driver for the Championship 4.
2. Johnny Sauter Has Forgettable Weekend – It was not the night the 2016 Truck Series champion wanted at Kentucky. He didn’t quite have the truck to contend for the win and didn’t do well in both stages, finishing ninth and 10th, respectively. His night was also hampered by two pit road penalties sending him back to finish 15th. It was a forgettable race, to say the least, but Sauter leaves Kentucky with the points lead by 42 over Noah Gragson.
3. Kyle Busch Motorsports Places All Trucks In The Top-10 – Kyle Busch Motorsports had a solid night at Kentucky placing all their trucks in the top-10. For starters, Noah Gragson claimed another pole this season and won the second stage for his seventh stage win of the year. After a bad pit stop under yellow prior to Stage 3, Gragson rallied back to finish eighth. Next up is Brandon Jones who piloted the famed No. 51 Truck finishing in the fourth spot after starting sixth. He finished fourth and second, respectively in both stages. Jones’ next and final race will be at Las Vegas in the Playoffs. Finally, Todd Gilliland made his first Truck Series start at Kentucky starting in the second spot alongside his teammate. He was able to finish one spot better than his teammate Gragson, which was seventh.
4. Short Turnaround for the Truckers – By having a Thursday night race at Kentucky, the truckers will have a short turnaround and will have to put their focus on what will be the biggest show of the year for the Truck Series at Eldora. The Eldora Dirt Derby is one the most popular races on the Truck Series circuit and it could be a jump start for a young driver’s career should a rookie win the race. Millions of fans visit the track for the race or watch the race on TV. There’s a lot of pressure on the regular series drivers as there will be a mix of drivers from NASCAR Cup stars to dirt track stars. It’s a list of whos who on the entry list. It will be interesting to see how the young rookies are able to tackle the tough and rough .500 mile racetrack in Rossburg, Ohio.
July 16, 2018
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Power Rankings-Kentucky
The Buckle Up In Your Truck 225 at Kentucky Speedway was the 12th race of the season for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. It was another race that didn’t disappoint this season and a race that saw a hometown hero win.

Here’s a look at this week’s power rankings.
1. 1. Ben Rhodes – Rhodes finally got the monkey off his back this past weekend at Kentucky by collecting his first ever career win. Rhodes was always in contention for the win earlier this year, but it seemed like something always got in the way such as mechanical issues, engine problems and more. This weekend the No. 41 ThorSport team was finally able to put together a mistake-free race and parked it in victory lane. Although, it didn’t come without a little bit of chaos. On the last round of pit stops, Rhodes’s crew chief called him down to pit road and it surprised Rhodes as he had to slam on his brakes, and get to pit road speed. However, a quick fire erupted from Brett Moffitt’s pit and almost made Rhodes miss his pit stop, but he was able to find it just in time. He held off Stewart Friesen who was on two fresh tires and went on to win in his hometown. He won Stage 1 and finished third in Stage 2. Previous Week Ranking: 4th
  2. Matt Crafton – Crafton was able to secure a third-place finish for his fourth top-five finish of the year. After having a somewhat dismal year so far it continued in qualifying when the two-time champion got loose and had to chase it up the track. This caused Crafton to start 30th. But, it didn’t take him long to make his way through the field. He finished sixth in Stage 1 but slipped back in Stage 2 to finish ninth. He was in position to win should his teammate Rhodes or Friesen make contact with each other, race each other, or if a late race caution were to come out. Ultimately, Crafton had to settle for third but will need to win as he is a bubble driver sitting seventh in the points standings. He could get it done on Wednesday night at Eldora as he is the previous race winner. Previous Week Ranking: Not Ranked
  3. Stewart Friesen – Friesen has been a standout star this year in the Truck Series after only running part-time in 2017. So far in 2018, he has collected four top fives and seven top-10 finishes. Thursday night continued to prove that he is a challenger for the win and possibly the championship. After starting 14th, Friesen seventh in Stage 1 and fourth in Stage 2, respectively. Friesen took the lead a few laps later from Parker Kligerman on the restart and led 37 laps. He made 21 quality passes and ran an average position of fifth. Friesen had the lead on lap 88 and held on for 35 laps until the final pit stop, where he took two fresh tires in hopes of chasing down eventual race winner Rhodes. At the end of the day, Friesen finished second but the dirt track standout star heads to one of his favorite tracks Wednesday night at Eldora. In last year’s race, he qualified on the pole and led the majority of the race, leading 93 laps, but had to settle for second. It will be interesting to see how Friesen and Crafton do battle on the dirt track in Rossburg, Ohio. Previous Week Ranking: Not Ranked
  4. Noah Gragson – Gragson will have to wait another week to win, but he could make his way into the Playoffs. In Thursday’s race, Gragson started on the pole, his fourth of the year. He led the majority of Stage 1 until Gragson was held up by Bo LeMastus which eventually cost him the stage win. He finished second after leading 31 laps. The second stage proved better for Gragson as he retook the lead on Lap 43, led all of Stage 2 and went on to win his seventh stage of the year. During the pit stop before the final stage, however, the No. 18 Safelite team took a little extra time as needed and this sent him back to 13th on the restart. Gragson couldn’t recover from that and finished eighth to earn his ninth top-10 of the year. He sits second in points, 42 points behind Johnny Sauter. Previous Week Ranking: 3rd
  5. Grant Enfinger – Enfinger has improved his finishes at the 1.5-mile racetrack in Sparta. His first ever Truck Series race here was in 2016 when he started 17th and finished 12th. Despite finishing 28th in last year’s race due to an accident, he was able to rebound in this year’s outing. Enfinger started fifth and ran fifth in Stage 1 as well as in Stage 2. After the cycle of pit stops and penalties handed down to several drivers, Enfinger finished sixth for his eighth top-10 of the year. He sits fifth in the standings -123 points behind. Previous Week Ranking: Not Ranked.
Fell Out:

1. Brett Moffitt – Moffitt didn’t have the race outing he had hoped for despite winning at Chicago the previous week. He finished 18th and didn’t finish in the top 10 in any of the stages.
2. Johnny Sauter – Sauter had a dismal and forgettable race at Kentucky. He finished ninth and 10th in both stages, respectively, but two pit road penalties late in the race cost him a shot for a reasonable finish. Ultimately this sets him back to 15th.
3. Justin Haley – The Gateway winner struggled a little bit this past weekend. No stage points, but he quietly earned a top-10 finish. Haley is locked in the Playoffs and sits eighth in the regular season standings.
July 15, 2018
Truex Jr. captures his fourth win of the season at Kentucky

Defending Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. captured his fourth win of the season in the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky. Truex started from the pole and dominated the race by leading five times for a race-high of 174 laps.

“Thanks to everybody for their support and making all this possible – Toyota, TRD (Toyota Racing Development), Bass Pro Shops, 5-hour ENERGY, Furniture Row, Denver Mattress, Auto-Owners Insurance, of course, being our primary tonight and so many people that make this possible. I’m just the lucky guy who gets to drive the car. Pretty exciting night for us and two in a row at a race track is pretty cool,” Truex said.

Just like his win last season, Truex also swept the first two stages of the race. The victory marked the second in a row for Truex on the 1.5-mile track. In two years of stage racing in Kentucky, Truex has won each stage at the facility.

“You never know how these races are going to play out. You never know what is going to happen and we had such a strong Toyota tonight. They weren’t going to beat us,” Truex said.

Ryan Blaney finished second, Brad Keselowski third, Kyle Busch fourth and Kevin Harvick finished fifth.

“It’s not a win. It’s a positive, that’s for sure. I hate it. I thought we were in a good spot there restarting fourth and Martin struggled a little bit the first couple laps and I thought I could get by him, but just couldn’t quite get a run on him. His car came in and mine kind of faded a little bit and he won the race. That stunk. I thought we had a shot at it tonight, but I’m really proud of the gains we made all race though, to be honest with you,” Blaney said about his runner-up finish.

Busch holds the series points lead by 59 over Harvick. Truex Jr. is in third, 110 points back, Joey Logano fourth (-151) and Keselowski fifth (-169).

The next NASCAR Cup Series race is Sunday July 22 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon.

Unofficial Race Results
Kentucky Speedway
Saturday, July 14th
1. Martin Truex Jr.
2. Ryan Blaney
3. Brad Keselowski
4. Kyle Busch
5. Kevin Harvick
6. Kurt Busch
7. Erik Jones
8. Aric Almirola
9. Kyle Larson
10. Joey Logano
11. Paul Menard
12. Clint Bowyer
13. Chase Elliott
14. Jimmie Johnson
15. Daniel Suarez
16. Denny Hamlin
17. Jamie McMurray
18. David Ragan
19. Matt Kenseth
20. William Byron
21. Ryan Newman
22. Austin Dillon
23. Chris Buescher
24. Michael McDowell
25. Kasey Kahne
26. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
27. Bubba Wallace
28. Ross Chastain
29. Ty Dillon
30. AJ Allmendinger
31. Corey LaJoie
32. BJ McLeod
33. Landon Cassill
34. Timmy Hill
35. Jesse Little
36. Garrett Smithley
37. Matt DiBenedetto
38. JJ Yeley
39. Alex Bowman

July 15, 2018
Friday the 13th Proves Lucky for Christopher Bell with the Xfinity Win at Kentucky

Friday the 13th is a day known for superstition. For Christopher Bell, however, it would turn out to be his lucky day.

Bell drove his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to victory in the Xfinity Series ALSCO 300 at Kentucky Speedway Friday night to score his third series career win in only 25 starts. He started out his day, however, with a little bad luck when he spun during qualifying and had to start the race from the rear of the field. But he battled the entire race so that he could be in contention for the win at the end.

“Your job is to just go out there and drive the race car as fast as you can,” Bell said. “My guys have been doing a great job all night picking up spots. I’m just really proud of this team. It’s a ton of fun to be here and I am thankful I get to stand in Victory Lane one more time.”

Stage 1 would go flag to flag green without any cautions. Pole sitter Cole Custer led at the start of the stage but it didn’t take driver Kyle Busch long to make his way into the top spot, and he would go on to be the stage winner.

Stage 2 also ran flag to flag without any caution periods. John Hunter Nemechek had a great run going and took the top spot from Busch. Driver Ty Majeski tapped the wall but it did not bring out the yellow flag and Nemechek would go on to win this stage gaining his first Xfinity stage win.

The final stage, unlike the first two, would see several cautions. Busch had a good pit stop which put him back into the top spot for the start of the stage. It was looking as if Busch would be the car to beat but as the saying goes, “cautions breed cautions,” which is primarily what happened. Restarts were crazy with drivers trying to gain any advantage they could. The cautions consisted mainly of two car incidents with one driver making contact with another and that driver ending up tapping the wall. Late in the race, Daniel Hemric was able to get around Busch for the lead and he would not lead again. Justin Allgaier was able to get up to the front to lead as well but with 16 laps to go Bell took the lead and won the race. Hemric brought his No.21 Richard Childress Racing Chevy home in second place.

“Unbelievable, frustrated on my end. I’m just not getting the job done for everybody at RCR,” a disappointed Hemric said after the race. “I wish I had the opportunity to undo a couple of things there on my end, but I just didn’t do my job.”

Taking third place was Busch in his No.18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

“Good for a teammate to win, obviously for Christopher and those guys for their chances this year,” he said. “The NOS Energy drink Camry was a top three car all day today, I thought it was a top one car. The No. 42 car was probably the best car overall. We came home third, but that’s not what we are here for. We need to win these things so, next time.”

Justin Allgaier and Cole Custer would round out the top five. Tyler Reddick, Nemechek, Ryan Reed, Paul Menard, and Austin Cindric finished sixth through 10th, respectively.

Elliott Sadler leads the Xfinity Series standings with 608 points while Hemric is shown in second, also with 608 points. Custer is in third with 605 followed by Bell in fourth with 591 points and Allgaier rounds out the top five with 569 points.

The Xfinity Series heads next to New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday, July 21.

July 13, 2018
Martin Truex Jr. soars to Busch Pole in Kentucky qualifying

Lee Spencer | NASCAR Wire Service

SPARTA, Ky. – Martin Truex Jr. didn’t need a dress rehearsal to put on a pole-winning performance at Kentucky Speedway on Friday.

His lack of mock qualifying runs in practice did not affect the ultimate result – his first Busch Pole on the 1.5-mile track.

The defending winner of the Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart executed the fastest lap in Round 3 to win the pole for Saturday night’s race at the 1.5-mile track (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

For Truex, the pole was his fourth of the season, the most among Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series competitors.

“It wasn’t a perfect lap by any means but it was good enough,” said Truex after posting a speed of 188.890 mph (25.588-seconds). “We worked in race trim the whole time and honestly, our qualifying run, we only got one in during practice and it wasn’t very good. We hit traffic.

“We really had to guess on the set-up for here. The first round, I was a little bit off. Some of it was driver, some of it was car. We put our heads together, came up with a plan and everybody stepped it up. It feels good. Starting up front is key, so that first pit stall will be good for here and hopefully, we can back up what we did last year tomorrow night. It’s going to be tough, but it’s going to be fun.”

Last weekend’s first-time winner Erik Jones was second, followed by Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch and Paul Menard. Ryan Blaney, Clint Bowyer, Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman, Daniel Suarez and Aric Almirola completed the top 12 in time trials.

Harvick topped the first session with a speed of 187.859 mph. Jones, Austin Dillon, Keselowski, Menard, Kyle Busch, Suarez, Bowyer, Newman, Blaney, Truex and Almirola completed the top 12 speeds. Chris Buescher was the first driver on the chart to run three laps in the first session but managed the 15th-fastest speed.

Truex posted a fast lap of 188.976 mph in Round 2 to lead the 12 drivers that advanced to the final round. Kyle Busch, Almirola, Keselowski, Jones, Newman, Bowyer, Kurt Busch, Harvick, Blaney, Menard and Suarez also advanced. With less than a minute to go in the round, Chase Elliott, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Austin Dillon made a second attempt but it was all for naught.

“The car hasn’t drove bad from time to time,” said Elliott, who will start 16th. “It just hasn’t drove as fast as we like. We’ll make it work.”

Four drivers failed to make a qualifying attempt because of trouble in pre-qualifying inspection. Those included Denny Hamlin, Matt DiBenedetto, Timmy Hill and Jesse Little — all of whom will start at the end of the 39-car field.

Seven-time series champ Jimmie Johnson will also have a starting spot deep in the field. He failed to advance out of the first of three qualifying rounds, and his Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet will set sail from 27th place Saturday night.

RELATED: Qualifying results

Contributing: Staff reports

July 13, 2018
Matt Crafton Earns Third Place at Kentucky

After a somewhat uncharacteristic like season, two-time champion Matt Crafton, earned a much deserved third place Friday night at Kentucky Speedway.

Wednesday at Eldora will mark one year since he has not won in the Truck Series. But he could break through and continue the ThorSport winning ways.

Crafton didn’t have a great qualifying effort (30th) for the Buckle Up In Your Truck 225 and had to fight his way up and work his way through traffic on a track that’s tough to pass. In Stage 1, he finished sixth with a ninth-place finish in Stage 2.

At the end of the night, he earned his fourth top-five finish of the year, finishing third. But Crafton will need to win if he wants to run for the championship as he sits eighth in the Playoff standings.

“Yeah, that thing (Truck) was really fast in that first stage,” Crafton said. “Just fought a little bit free in the first stage, but it was fast. We drove to sixth and then we put the right sides on it, and for whatever reason, we got really lose. And then we put four on it right there at the end, and then it came to life. (Carl Joiner) JR, I don’t know what he did, but it finally got a lot better on entry in (Turn) 3 and I could manage, and get into there.

“All in all, not a bad day for this MENARDS Ford F-150 and great job for ThorSport.”

July 13, 2018
Stewart Friesen Close But No Cigar

Stewart Friesen has been close many times this season to victory lane and it looked like Friday night at Kentucky Speedway could be the night. Unfortunately, he had to settle for a runner-up position for his fourth top-five of the year and his second runner-up finish.

He qualified in the 14th position but had to go to the back for unapproved adjustments and ultimately started 30th. However, it was no issue for Friesen as he fought through the field. In the first stage, Friesen finished seventh with a fourth in the second stage.

His time to shine came in the final stage with 74 to go. Friesen passed race leader Parker Kligerman on Lap 88 and led for 35 laps. On the final pit stop, he took two tires while eventual race winner Ben Rhodes took no tires.

After the pit stops, Friesen cycled to second and found himself chasing down Rhodes. However, the two tires weren’t enough for the No. 52 Halmar Racing driver. Track position was key, as he to had settle for a second-place finish.

However, not all is lost though, as the dirt track star heads to one of his favorite tracks next Wednesday at Eldora.

“Yeah, I got to thank everyone at GMS Racing,” Friesen said. “They rallied and helped our team, swapped motors there right before the race. I didn’t have a lot of time to do it. These guys rallied and just came up one short there, but great teamwork. We got a great (Chevy) Silverado. Thanks to Chris Larsen and Halmar International for letting me to compete at this level. It’s a dream come true. Just didn’t get on pit road like I needed too there on that stop and that was it.”

July 13, 2018
Ben Rhodes Gets Hometown Win at Kentucky

After almost missing his pit stall during the final pit stops due to a fire from Brett Moffitt’s pit, the Louisville, Kentucky native finally broke through to earn his first ever win in his hometown state of Kentucky at Kentucky Speedway.

The stages were broken up into 35 for Stage 1 and 2, while the final stage was 80 laps.

The first yellow of the night came on the very first lap for Tyler Matthews of the No. 83 who spun out and hit the wall in Turn 2. That was the only caution of the stage as it remained green throughout the stage. When the stage started to wind down with three to go, the No. 54 of Bo LeMastus held up race leader Noah Gragson, who eventually lost the stage win to Ben Rhodes. Rhodes ended up winning the stage.

Stage 2 began on Lap 42 and went to Lap 70.

Gragson got out front on the restart with help from his teammate, Brandon Jones. No incidents happened in Stage 2 as it was clean and green, and Gragson went on to win his seventh stage of the year. During the pit stop, the No. 18 crew had troubles and was sent back to 13th for the restart.

The final stage was restarted with 74 laps to go and the action started to pick up.

After taking two tires only, Parker Kligerman was the race leader. Stewart Friesen chased him down and passed him on Lap 88. Not much happened throughout those laps, but pit stops began with 30 to go.

The race leaders started to pit with 26 to go and there were multiple penalties handed out. Myatt Snider was hit for driving through too many pit boxes, Bo LeMastus too fast entering, and Johnny Sauter had two penalties (too fast entering, commitment line violation) and Austin Hill was penalized for too fast entering.

During this period, eventual race winner, Ben Rhodes came down to pit but almost missed his pit stall as a quick fire erupted from the No. 16 pit. Rhodes took no tires and just fuel only, while Friesen took two tires.

These two ultimately battled for the race win, but at the end of the day, it was Kentucky native Ben Rhodes picking up his first career win and Ford’s first win of the season.

“It caught me off guard honestly,” Rhodes said. “We got so behind on these restarts and they’re just so crazy here. You have to be on your game and unfortunately, depending on the circumstances and teammates working together, whatever it may be, we got behind.

“I mean, excellent call by him (crew chief). He caught me a little off guard. I was slamming on the brakes as hard as I could through (Turns) 3 and 4 and got it slowed down in time. I was a little worried. But man, just a huge thank you to Ford Performance, Carolina Nut, Thorsport Racing, Alpha Energy Solutions, all my fans that came out here, all my supporters and friends, family. Unbelievable, I just don’t have any words.”

“Maybe we can go to Eldora,” he said. “I’m on ice there though, so I’ll have to take some notes from (Matt) Crafton and see if we can get around there. I think we need to keep this Thorsport going.”

Rhodes led four times for 38 laps, won Stage 1 and finished third in Stage 2.

There were five leaders among twelve lead changes with three cautions for 14 laps.

July 12, 2018
Full schedule for Kentucky tripleheader

Staff Report | NASCAR.com

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will be in action for a national series tripleheader at Kentucky Speedway. Check out the full schedule below, subject to change.

Note: All times are ET.

Thursday, July 12
9:05-9:55 a.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice, No TV (Follow live)
11:05-11:55 a.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series final practice, No TV (Follow live)
4:05-4:50 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series practice, NBC Sports App only (Follow live)
5:10 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series qualifying, FS1 (Follow live)
6:05-6:50 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity final practice, NBC Sports App only (Follow live)
7:30 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Buckle Up in Your Truck 225 (150 laps, 225 miles), FS1 (Follow live)

PRESS PASS (Watch live)
12:30 p.m.: Justin Haley, Bo LeMastus, Brett Moffitt
12:45 p.m.: Ben Rhodes
3:15 p.m.: Cole Custer, Daniel Hemric, Tyler Reddick
9:45 p.m.: Post-NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race

Friday, July 13
12-12:50 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, NBCSN (Follow live)
2-2:50 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice, NBCSN (Follow live)
5:05 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series qualifying, NBCSN (Follow live)
6:40 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Busch Pole Qualifying, NBCSN (Follow live)
8 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series Alsco 300 (200 laps, 300 miles), NBCSN (Follow live)

PRESS PASS (Watch live)
10:45 a.m.: Ryan Blaney
11 a.m.: Erik Jones
11:15 a.m.: Alex Bowman
1:15 p.m.: Kyle Busch
3:15 p.m.: Martin Truex Jr.
7:15 p.m.: Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying
10:15 p.m.: Post-NASCAR Xfinity Series race

Saturday, July 14
7:30 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart (267 laps, 400.5 miles), NBCSN (Follow live)

PRESS PASS (Watch live)
10:45 p.m.: Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race

July 11, 2018