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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Results.

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

    2. Carson Hocevar, 28 laps led

    3. Ryan Preece

    4. Zane Smith, two laps led

    5. Grant Enfinger, one lap led

    6. Chandler Smith

    7. Corey Heim

    8. Ty Majeski, 14 laps led

    9. Colby Howard

    10. Christian Eckes, one lap led

    11. Parker Kligerman

    12. Matt DiBenedetto

    13. Ben Rhodes

    14. Tyler Ankrum

    15. Matt Crafton, one lap down

    16. Tanner Gray, one lap down

    17. Bret Holmes, one lap down

    18. Kaz Grala, one lap down

    19. Timmy Hill, one lap down

    20. Stewart Friesen, one lap down

    21. Derek Kraus, one lap down

    22. Hailie Deegan, one lap down

    23. Dean Thompson, one lap down

    24. Kaden Honeycutt, one lap down

    25. Chase Purdy, two laps down

    26. Jack Wood, two laps down

    27. Bayley Currey, two laps down

    28. Jesse Little, two laps down

    29. Tyler Hill, four laps down

    30. Blaine Perkins, four laps down

    31. Lawless Alan, four laps down

    32. Mason Maggio, eight laps down

    33. Spencer Boyd, 10 laps down

    34. Brennan Poole, 11 laps down

    35. Armani Williams – OUT, Too slow

    36. Brett Moffitt – OUT, Engine

    Bold indicates Playoff contenders

    Playoff standings

    1. Zane Smith – Advanced

    2. Chandler Smith – Advanced

    3. John Hunter Nemechek – Advanced

    4. Ben Rhodes – Advanced

    5. Stewart Friesen – Advanced

    6. Ty Majeski – Advanced

    7. Grant Enfinger – Advanced

    8. Christian Eckes – Advanced

    9. Carson Hocevar – Eliminated

    10. Matt Crafton – Eliminated

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Results.

    1. Grant Enfinger, 13 laps led

    2. Ben Rhodes

    3. Zane Smith

    4. Stewart Friesen

    5. Corey Heim

    6. Tyler Ankrum

    7. Layne Riggs

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

    9. Matt Crafton 

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

    11. Matt DiBenedetto

    12. Johnny Sauter

    13. Hailie Deegan

    14. Derek Kraus

    15. Jesse Little

    16. Christian Eckes

    17. Timmy Hill

    18. Chandler Smith, 13 laps led

    19. Austin Wayne Self

    20. Kaz Grala

    21. Carson Hocevar, 34 laps led

    22. Taylor Gray, one lap led

    23. Tanner Gray

    24. Chris Hacker

    25. Jack Wood

    26. Blaine Perkins

    27. Chase Purdy, one lap down

    28. Jake Garcia, one lap down

    29. Dean Thompson, three laps down

    30. Chad Chastain, three laps down

    31. Kris Wright, three laps down

    32. Colby Howard – OUT, Accident

    33. Josh Reaume – OUT, Too slow

    34. Lawless Alan –  OUT, Accident

    35. Blake Lothian – OUT, Driveshaft

    36. Spencer Boyd – OUT, Accident

    *Bold indicates Playoff contenders.

    Playoff standings

    1. Grant Enfinger – Advanced

    2. Zane Smith +50

    3. Ben Rhodes +36

    4. Stewart Friesen +28

    5. John Hunter Nemechek +24

    6. Chandler Smith +24

    7. Ty Majeski +19

    8. Carson Hocevar +7

    9. Matt Crafton -7

    10. Christian Eckes -7

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

  • Chandler Smith wins 2022 Truck Series regular-season finale at Pocono

    Chandler Smith wins 2022 Truck Series regular-season finale at Pocono

    After losing the lead to Ryan Preece with less than 20 laps remaining, Chandler Smith executed a restart with 14 laps remaining and a draft from teammate Corey Heim to his advantage as he reassumed the lead and fended off Preece to win the CRC Brakleen 150 at Pocono Raceway on Saturday, July 23.

    The 20-year-old Smith from Talking Rock, Georgia, led three times for a race-high 49 of 60-scheduled laps as he capped off the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular season stretch with his second victory of the season and added momentum in his pursuit for his first NASCAR national touring series championship.

    With on-track qualifying that was set for Friday canceled due to rain, the starting lineup was determined through a qualifying metric from NASCAR’s rulebook. As a result, Zane Smith, the regular-season points leader, started on pole position while Chandler Smith joined Smith on the front row.

    Prior to the event, Josh Reaume dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his truck.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Zane Smith and Chandler Smith dueled for the top spot entering the first turn as Chandler Smith used the inside lane to rocket his No. 18 Charge Me Toyota Tundra TRD Pro to the lead. Through the Long Pond straightaway, Zane Smith settled in the runner-up spot behind Chandler Smith while Carson Hocevar was in third ahead of Stewart Friesen, Christian Eckes, Derek Kraus, John Hunter Nemechek and Ty Majeski. 

    Just as Zane Smith started to challenge Chandler Smith for the lead, the first caution flew when rookie Jack Wood got loose entering the second turn and spun his No. 24 GMS Racing Chevrolet Silverado RST, though he was dodged by the oncoming field.

    As the event restarted on the fourth lap, the field fanned out to multiple lanes entering the first turn as Chandler Smith retained the lead ahead of Zane Smith’s No. 38 Fr8 Auctions Ford F-150 while Hocevar and Eckes battled for third ahead of Kraus, Friesen and Nemechek.

    Two laps later, the caution returned when Dean Thompson spun his No. 40 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Silverado RST in Turn 1. During the caution period, some like Ty Majeski and Grant Enfinger, who was encountering radio issues to his No. 23 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RSt, pitted while the rest led by Chandler Smith remained on the track.

    With five laps remaining in the first stage, the event proceeded under green. At the start, Chandler Smith took off with the lead on the outside lane while Eckes rocketed his No. 98 Cub Records Toyota Tundra TRD Pro into the runner-up spot. Behind, Hocevar fended off Nemechek for third place before Zane Smith and Friesen took Nemechek three-wide past the Tunnel Curve for spots in the top five. 

    As the on-track battles continued through the frontstretch and around the Tricky Triangle, the caution returned during the following lap when Todd Bodine, who was making his 800th NASCAR national touring series career start, got pinched in between Hailie Deegan and Blaine Perkins entering the first turn. The contact sent Bodine’s No. 62 Camping World Toyota Tundra TRD Pro around and into the outside wall as Jack Wood and Tyler Hill piled into Bodine’s Toyota. The wreck and damage were enough to conclude Bodine’s historic NASCAR career in the garage.

    The wreck involving Bodine was enough for the first stage scheduled for Lap 15 to conclude under caution as Chandler Smith captured his second stage victory of the season. Eckes settled in second followed by Hocevar, Friesen, Derek Kraus, Zane Smith, Nemechek, Tyler Ankrum, Matt Crafton and rookie Corey Heim. With his sixth-place result, Zane Smith clinched the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular season championship.

    Under the stage break, some led by Kraus and Zane Smith pitted while the rest led by Chandler Smith remained on the track.

    The second stage started on Lap 18 as Chandler Smith and Hocevar occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out, Smith retained the lead on the outside lane followed by Eckes and Friesen while Hocevar was being overtaken by Heim, Ankrum, Crafton, Ryan Preece, Matt DiBenedetto and Nemechek, all of whom were running on the outside lane through the Pocono turns.

    Through the first 20 scheduled laps, Chandler Smith was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Eckes followed by Friesen, Heim and Ankrum while Preece, Crafton, DiBenedetto, Nemechek and Hocevar were in the top 10. Derek Kraus was back in 11th ahead of Tanner Gray, Majeski, Jesse Little and Grant Enfinger while Colby Howard, Austin Hill, Timmy Hill, Chase Purdy and Blaine Perkins were in the top 20. Meanwhile, names like Zane Smith, Ben Rhodes and Hailie Deegan were mired outside of the top 20.

    By Lap 25, Chandler Smith extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Eckes. Meanwhile, Heim moved his No. 51 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro into third place while Friesen and Preece were scored in the top five. Crafton and Enfinger, both of whom occupied the final two spots to the Playoffs, were in seventh and 19th while Ankrum and Kraus, the first two competitors scored outside of the top-10 cutline, were in sixth and 11th.

    A few laps later, names like Heim, Friesen, Preece, Hocevar, Kraus, Austin Hill, DiBenedetto and Tanner Gray pitted under green. By Lap 28, Chandler Smith surrendered the lead to pit for four fresh tires and fuel while Eckes cycled to the lead. 

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 30, Eckes captured his first stage victory of the season. Ankrum settled in second following a side-by-side battle between Crafton and Nemechek. Majeski, Colby Howard, Chase Purdy, Zane Smith, Jesse Little and Enfinger were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, some led by Eckes pitted while the rest led by Chandler Smith remained on the track.

    With 25 laps remaining, the final stage started under green as Chandler Smith and Ryan Preece occupied the front row. At the start, Chandler Smith retained the lead on the outside lane followed by Preece, Heim, Hocevar, Hill and Kraus as the field fanned out through the Long Pond straightaway.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Chandler Smith was leading by four-tenths of a second over Preece while Heim, Hocevar and Austin Hill retained their spots in the top five. Kraus was in sixth ahead of Nemechek, DiBenedetto, Eckes and Ankrum while Crafton and Enfinger were in 13th and 17th.

    Shortly after, the battle for the lead ignited as Preece, who was dealing with a left-rear tire rub, dueled and overtook Chandler Smith for the top spot in Turn 1. Just as the battle between Preece and Smith continued, the caution returned with 18 laps remaining when Spencer Boyd spun from Turn 3 to the frontstretch as he also dropped debris on the frontstretch. During the caution period, Zane Smith pitted to fix a throttle issue along with Rhodes, who opted for fresh tires, while the rest led by Preece remained on the track.

    With 14 laps remaining, the event proceeded under green. At the start, Heim pushed teammate Chandler Smith back to the lead while Preece fell back to second. Meanwhile, Hocevar overtook Heim for third place as Nemechek joined the battle followed by Austin Hill, Kraus and Majeski.

    Two laps later, Kraus, who was running in seventh place, started to have smoke come out of the left-front fender of his No. 19 NAPA Chevrolet Silverado RST as he reported a power steering failure to his truck. Despite the issue, he continued on the track and the event remained under green.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Chandler Smith continued to lead by half a second over Preece’s No. 17 RaceChoice.com Ford F-150 followed by Heim, Hocevar and Nemechek while Austin Hill, Eckes, Kraus, Majeski and Tanner Gray were in the top 10. By then, Crafton was in 13th, Zane Smith recovered to 15th ahead of Ankrum and Enfinger was back in 18th behind Colby Howard.

    With five laps remaining, the top-six competitors were separated by less than two seconds as Chandler Smith remained as the leader by four-tenths of a second over Preece and seven-tenths of a second over teammate Heim. Behind, Hocevar, Nemechek and Hill engaged in a three-truck battle for fourth place while Kraus, Tanner Gray, DiBenedetto, Zane Smith, Crafton, Ankrum and Enfinger were in ninth, 10th, 12th, 13th, 15th, 16th and 17th, respectively.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Chandler Smith was leading by two-tenths of a second over Preece. While Preece kept Smith close to his front windshield, he could not gain any late momentum through the Trick Triangle’s turns as Smith managed to cycle his way back to the frontstretch and claim his second checkered flag of the season by more than two-tenths of a second.

    With the victory, Smith recorded his fourth Camping World Truck Series career victory, his first at Pocono and his first win since winning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March. He also recorded the seventh Pocono victory for Kyle Busch Motorsports. By collecting his second checkered flag of the season along with two stage victories throughout the regular season stretch, Smith and his No. 18 KBM Toyota team led by former championship-winning crew chief Danny Stockman Jr. will commence the 2022 Playoffs in second place in the Playoff standings with 2,022 behind Zane Smith, who holds 2,037 with his regular-season title.

    Photo by Jeff Clemons for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “God’s good,” Smith said on FOX. “We’ve been going through a little bit of a struggle here recently, but just when we needed to shine, we started shining. I can’t thank [Kyle Busch Motorsports]. This Charge Me Toyota Tundra was fast today. It was really good. It was a little tight. [I] Had problems getting through the gears. Also, thank you to the No. 51 team. Just can’t thank the good Lord. This is awesome! [The victory is] Big because we didn’t have a lot of Playoff points going into the Playoffs and today, we got one stage win, won the race, so I think we’re gonna be looking pretty sharp going to [Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park].”

    Preece, who made his seventh Truck start of the season and won in his latest series start at Nashville Superspeedway in June, settled in the runner-up spot while Nemechek, Heim and Hocevar finished in the top five. Completing the top 10 were Austin Hill, Majeski, Eckes, Kraus and Tanner Gray. 

    With their finishes of 15th and 17th, Matt Crafton and Grant Enfinger secured the final two spots to the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs. Kraus, who finished ninth, was the first competitor to miss the top-10 cutline to the Playoffs by 17 points.

    “After a day like today, it’s a little bit frustrating,” Enfinger said. “First and foremost, got to say thank you to everybody that stuck behind us. Everybody at GMS Fabrication. They built a brand new truck for here. We never were able to see what it did, so everything that happened to us today was on us. We’re gonna take it back, we’re gonna learn from it. We’re not gonna get down. The good thing about this regular season is it’s over and we made it to the off-season. We’ve learned a lot throughout this year. We’re getting transitioned again. [Crew chief] Jeff Hensley did a great job on the [pit] box, battling through the stuff that was self-inflicted. I’m frustrated right now, but we’re not gonna get down. We’re gonna work hard and be ready for [Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park].”

    “We had a very, very good truck,” Crafton said. “It was really good on short run. We had a way better truck than where we finished, but you need to be aggressive on the starts and I couldn’t put myself in any bad situations. You have to put yourself in bad situations on restarts to be able to get the spots. I would have to wait for everything to settle down and then, pass people, earn it instead of being a wild man on restarts. We just had to keep [Kraus] in grasp right there and hopefully, we didn’t get a new winner. [The team] worked really hard.”

    “[There were] A couple races that we could’ve improved on where we were better,” Kraus said. “Overall, it’s what happened. I don’t know what happened when the power steering went away. Just parts failure. Just move on, hang our heads high and we’ll go on to the next 10 [Playoff] races.”

    Zane Smith, Ben Rhodes, John Hunter Nemechek, Chandler Smith, Stewart Friesen, Ty Majeski, Carson Hocevar, Christian Eckes, Grant Enfinger and Matt Crafton have made the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs. All 10 competitors will embark on a seven-race postseason stretch and contend for this year’s Truck title.

    Derek Kraus, Tyler Ankrum, Matt DiBenedetto, Tanner Gray, Colby Howard, Timmy Hill, Chase Purdy, Lawless Alan, Hailie Deegan, Dean Thompson, Jack Wood, Spencer Boyd, Kris Wright, Blaine Perkins were among the remaining competitors whom did not make the Playoffs.

    There were five lead changes for three different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 20 laps.

    Results.

    1. Chandler Smith, 49 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    2. Ryan Preece, six laps led

    3. John Hunter Nemechek

    4. Corey Heim

    5. Carson Hocevar

    6. Austin Hill

    7. Ty Majeski

    8. Christian Eckes, five laps led, Stage 2 winner

    9. Derek Kraus

    10. Tanner Gray

    11. Chase Purdy

    12. Matt DiBenedetto

    13. Zane Smith

    14. Stewart Friesen

    15. Matt Crafton

    16. Tyler Ankrum

    17. Grant Enfinger 

    18. Colby Howard

    19. Ben Rhodes

    20. Tate Folgeman

    21. Max Gutierrez

    22. Lawless Alan

    23. Kaz Grala

    24. Dean Thompson

    25. Kaden Honeycutt

    26. Jesse Little

    27. Kris Wright

    28. Timmy Hill

    29. Blaine Perkins

    30. Tyler Hill

    31. Armani Williams, one lap down

    32. Spencer Boyd, one lap down

    33. Hailie Deegan – OUT, Brakes

    34. Josh Reaume, five laps down

    35. Jack Wood – OUT, Accident

    36. Todd Bodine – OUT, Accident

    The 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs is set to commence next Friday, July 29, at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, which marks the series’ return to the venue since 2011. The event is scheduled to commence at 9 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Kyle Busch capitalizes in final Truck Series start with a victory at Sonoma

    Kyle Busch capitalizes in final Truck Series start with a victory at Sonoma

    Kyle Busch made the most of his final NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start of the season by winning the inaugural DoorDash 250 at Sonoma Raceway on Saturday, June 11, following a two-lap shootout to the finish.

    The two-time Cup Series champion from Las Vegas, Nevada, led four times for a race-high 45 of 75 laps and was able to pull away from teammate Chandler Smith at the start of a two-lap shootout to the finish and beating Zane Smith by more than a second to record his first Truck Series victory of the 2022 season at Sonoma, California.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Carson Hocevar, who was still recovering from his final lap accident at Gateway from a week ago, notched his first pole position after clocking in a fast lap at 91.135 mph in 78.609 seconds. During his pole-winning lap, however, Hocevar got loose and smacked the wall in Turn 10. The incident along with unapproved adjustments forced Hocevar to start the event at the rear of the field in a backup truck along with Stefan Parsons. With Hocevar dropping to the rear of the field, teammate Ross Chastain, who was making his 100th Truck Series career start, and Kyle Busch occupied the front row, with Chastain’s qualifying time occurring at 90.492 mph in 79.167 seconds while Busch’s was at 90.428 mph in 79.223 seconds.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Chastain rocketed with the lead follows by Kyle Busch as the field battled dead even through the first three turns and entering the return of the Chute corner through Turns 4 to 7. Through Turns 8 through 11 and when the field returned to the start/finish line, Chastain led the first lap while Ty Majeski challenged Busch for the runner-up spot ahead of Tyler Ankrum and Alex Bowman.

    Through the first five laps of the event, Chastain was leading by nearly three seconds over Kyle Busch followed by Majeski, Bowman and Ankrum while John Hunter Nemechek, Stewart Friesen, Parker Kligerman and Matt DiBenedetto were in the top 10. Austin Dillon was in 11th followed by Zane Smith, Hailie Deegan, Christian Eckes and Derek Kraus while Ben Rhodes, Chandler Smith, Kaz Grala, Lawless Alan and Timmy Hill occupied the top 20.

    On the following lap, Friesen spun after locking up his front tires and slipping sideways while battling Kligerman in the top 10 in Turn 7. The race, however, proceeded under green as Chastain continued to lead by two seconds over Kyle Busch. 

    At the Lap 10 mark, Chastain remained as the leader by less than two seconds over Kyle Busch while Majeski, Bowman and Ankrum remained in the top five. Meanwhile, Carson Hocevar, who started at the rear of the field while battling a broken right tibia, was up in 23rd place as he had Daniel Suarez on standby to relieve him.

    The following lap, Hocevar pitted and the driver swap occurred as Suarez hopped into the No. 42 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Silverado RST. By then, Stefan Parsons took his truck to the garage after he was trailing smoke. The switch, however, cost the No. 42 team two laps while Chastain retained the lead by one-and-a-half seconds over Busch.

    Just past the Lap 15 mark, Chastain stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Kyle Busch followed by Majeski, Bowman and Ankrum while Nemechek, Enfinger, Kligerman, DiBenedetto and Zane Smith were in the top 10.

    Shortly after, Friesen pitted his No. 52 Halmar Toyota Tundra TRD Pro followed by the leader Chastain as Kyle Busch moved into the lead. Harrison Burton also pitted. Then with the field approaching the final two laps of the first stage, Kyle Busch pitted his No. 51 Yahoo! Toyota Tundra TRD Pro along with Bowman while Majeski moved into the lead. 

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 20, Majeski claimed his first stage victory of the season after fending off a last-lap challenge from Ankrum. Nemechek settled in third place followed by Enfinger, Kligerman, DiBenedetto, Derek Kraus, Zane Smith, Austin Dillon and Hailie Deegan. 

    Under the stage break, a majority of the field led by Majeski pitted while the rest led by Chastain remained on the track. During the pit stops, Harrison Burton reported being down a cylinder despite continuing. Following the pit stops, Deegan was penalized for an equipment going over the wall early along with Kris Wright and DiBenedetto, both of whom were penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation. Tanner Gray was also penalized for equipment being thrown from his pit box while Todd Bodine was penalized for speeding on pit road. Meanwhile, Suarez cycled his way to be only a lap behind the leaders.

    The second stage started on Lap 25 as Chastain and Kyle Busch occupied the front row. At the start, Chastain cleared Busch and the field from the outside lane to retain the lead entering the first two turns. Then in Turn 7, Enfinger, who was in the top 10, locked up his front tires, ran over the curb and spun in the middle of the field. With the field scrambling to avoid hitting Enfinger, the race proceeded under green as Enfinger continued without sustaining any damage. 

    Back at the front, Kyle Busch moved into the lead after overtaking Chastain in Turn 11 while Bowman was in third place ahead of Ankrum and Friesen. During the following lap, the caution returned when Christian Eckes, who was the fastest during Friday’s practice session, made contact with Nemechek as he spun and hit the wall in Turn 8. The caution cycled Suarez to the lead lap.

    When the race proceeded under green on Lap 30, Kyle Busch pulled ahead of Chastain and the field to lead through the first two turns and entering Turns 3 and 3A. Through the 11-turn circuit and back to the start/finish line, Busch remained the leader despite having Chastain close behind in his rearview mirror. Behind, Ankrum was in third ahead of Bowman and Majeski while Friesen and Ben Rhodes battled for sixth place. Kligerman was in eighth while Kraus and Nemechek were in the top 10.

    By Lap 35, Kyle Busch continued to lead by nearly two seconds over Chastain followed by Ankrum, Bowman and Majeski while Friesen, Rhodes, Chandler Smith and Kraus were in the top 10. Not long after, Kraus surrendered his spot in 10th place to pit as Zane Smith moved into the top 10. 

    Two laps later, Matt Crafton spun his No. 88 Menards Toyota Tundra TRD Pro in Turn 8 after getting hit by Todd Bodine, who locked up his front tires prior to entering the corner.

    Through Lap 40 and with the event surpassing its halfway mark, Kyle Busch stabilized his advantage to more than three seconds over Chastain, who had Ankrum pressuring him for the runner-up spot while Bowman and Majeski were scored in the top five.

    Two laps later, a handful of competitors led by Zane Smith pitted under green while Kyle Busch continued to lead. Another lap later, however, Busch surrendered the lead to pit followed by Ankrum, Bowman, Chastain, Majeski and Kligerman while Ben Rhodes moved into the lead.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 45, Rhodes claimed his eighth stage victory of the season. Chandler Smith settled in second followed by Chase Purdy, Kaz Grala, Austin Dillon, Suarez, Timmy Hill, Dean Thompson, Deegan and Bodine.

    Under the stage break, some led by Rhodes pitted while the rest led by Kyle Busch remained on the track.

    With 26 laps remaining, the final stage started as Kyle Busch and Chastain occupied the front row. At the start, Kyle Busch fended off Chastain to lead through the first two turns while the field scrambled and jostled for positions entering Turns 3, 4 and 7. Back to the start/finish line, Busch was leading by a tenth of a second over Chastain while Majeski, Bowman, Friesen, Kligerman, Zane Smith, Nemechek, Tanner Gray and DiBenedetto were in the top 10.

    Five laps later, Bodine spun his No. 62 Camping World Toyota Tundra TRD Pro in front of Dean Thompsons entering Turn 3. The race, however, continued under green as Kyle Busch remained the leader by less than a second over Chastain.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Kyle Busch stabilized his advantage to nearly a second over Chastain while Majeski, Bowman and Kligerman were in the top five. Way behind the leaders, Crafton pitted as smoke was lightly billowing out of his No. 88 Menards Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, an issue that started through the esses and was enough to have his truck pushed behind the wall.

    With 15 laps remaining, Kyle Busch was leading by less than two seconds over Chastain. Behind, Bowman was in third place, trailing by more than three seconds, while Majeski and Kligerman were in the top five. Just then, the caution flew when DiBenedetto, who was making a move beneath Friesen for 10th place entering Turn 11, ran into the tire barrier and into Friesen with both spinning in the turn as a tire barrier was knocked on its side.

    During the caution period, nearly the entire field led by Kyle Busch pitted as Busch exited first followed by Chastain, Majeski, Bowman, Chandler Smith and Nemechek. Back on the track, however, Rhodes, who did not pit, remained on the track and assumed the lead along with Kraus and Chase Purdy, both of whom did not pit. Following the pit stops, Bowman was penalized for equipment interference.

    Down to the final 11 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Rhodes took off with the lead through the first two turns while Kyle Busch battled and overtook Kraus for the runner-up spot while on fresh tires. As the field jostled for positions, Rhodes locked up his front tires and Kraus got turned and spun in Turn 7 as Kyle Busch reassumed the lead. 

    Then during the following lap, the caution returned when Deegan blew a right-rear tire, slipped sideways and smacked the wall entering Turn 1, thus sustaining significant right-side and rear-end damage to her No. 1 Monster Energy Ford F-150.

    With seven laps remaining, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Kyle Busch rocketed with the lead as teammate Chandler Smith moved his No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass Toyota Tundra TRD Pro into the runner-up spot through the first two turns. Through Turns 3 and 3A, Rhodes went off the course and reported a flat tire as the field continued to jostle for positions under green. 

    Two laps later, Kyle Busch was leading by six-tenths of a second over teammate Chandler Smith. Behind, Zane Smith overtook Majeski to move into third while Chastain was in fifth ahead of Kligerman and Suarez. Shortly after, the caution flew for a heavy wreck entering Turn 1 that started when Friesen got Josh Bilicki sideways as Bilicki clipped the inside wall before he smacked the outside wall hard along with Friesen. In the process, Bowman and Lawless Alan sustained damage to their respective trucks after getting into Bilicki. The incident was enough for the event to be drawn into a red flag period for nearly 13 minutes.

    When the red flag lifted and the race restarted for a two-lap shootout, Kyle Busch cleared the field and retained the lead while teammate Chandler Smith fended off Zane Smith to retain second place. Through Turn 7, Zane Smith move his No. 38 CMR Ford F-150 into the runner-up spot ahead of Chandler Smith while Busch continued to lead.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Kyle Busch was leading by more than a second over Zane Smith and more than two seconds over teammate Chandler Smith as the field jostled for positions. Behind, Dean Thompson spun, but the race remained under green flag conditions. With Zane Smith unable to mount a challenge for the final time through the 11-turn circuit, Kyle Busch navigated his way back to the finish line for his first checkered flag of the season.

    With the victory, Kyle Busch, who is a two-time Cup winner at Sonoma, notched his 62nd career win in the Camping World Truck Series and his first victory on a road course circuit in the Truck Series. The victory also extended Busch’s current winning streak in the Truck Series to 10 consecutive seasons with this season marking his 17th Truck season with at least one victory.

    “I appreciate Yahoo! and everybody that has made this partnership possible with Toyota and [Toyota Racing Development],” Busch said on FS1. “This Tundra TRD Pro was awesome today. I’m really proud to drive it. We had a struggle at Charlotte a couple weeks ago, but today was really good. Awesome adjustments by [crew chief] Mardy [Lindley] and all the guys here to get us in position to be able to win today. Yesterday was ugly. I wasn’t sure about it. I didn’t feel good about the truck, but they worked on it all night long and we made some brake changes. We made some chassis changes and these guys never stop. As hard as it might seem sometimes, I know the efforts there. Super effort here. Ready to go celebrate.” 

    Zane Smith settled in second place for his sixth top-five result of the season followed by Ty Majeski, who notched his fifth top-five result of the 2022 season. Chastain came home in fourth place while Chandler Smith fell back to fifth place.

    “[The day] didn’t start out too good,” Zane Smith said. “Took a huge swing at our MRC Ford Performance F-150. Luckily, it went the right way. It’s really hard to do in a racing situation, so props to my team, but I hate finishing second. Especially to [Kyle Busch]. I feel like just racing with [Chandler Smith], he got out too far out front and I think that last lap was the fastest lap of the race for me. I just wished I was a little closer so I had a shot at him.”

    Suarez earned a strong sixth-place effort while subbing for the injured Carson Hocevar while Kligerman, Nemechek, Ankrum and DiBenedetto finished in the top 10. Jack Wood was the highest-finishing rookie competitor in 16th place.

    “[Today] was busy, man,” Suarez said. “It was very busy. I was hoping to go one lap down, but when we went two laps down, I was like, ‘Man, it’s gonna be a long recovery’. I was hoping to recover quicker on that, but the truck had speed. I was hoping for long runs so I can be able to make some ground, but overall, the team did a very good job. Very thankful I was able to help. We were able to get some stage points in stage number 2 and then finish in the top six. That was a pretty decent day. I wished we could have won. The truck was capable of winning the race, but we just ran out of time.”

    There were 10 lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 17 laps. A total of 26 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

    With four races remaining of the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular season stretch, Ben Rhodes leads the regular-season standings by five points over Chandler Smith, 12 over Zane Smith, 14 over John Hunter Nemechek. 45 over Ty Majeski and 47 over Stewart Friesen.

    Zane Smith, Ben Rhodes, John Hunter Nemechek, Chandler Smith and Stewart Friesen are tentatively locked into the 2022 Truck Playoffs based on winning at least once throughout the season while Ty Majeski, Christian Eckes, Carson Hocevar, Grant Enfinger and Matt Crafton are above the top-10 cutline based on points. Tanner Gray trails the top-10 cutline by 33 points, Matt DiBenedetto trails by 36, Derek Kraus trails by 39, Tyler Ankrum trails by 50 and Chase Purdy trails by 91.

    Results.

    1. Kyle Busch, 45 laps led

    2. Zane Smith

    3. Ty Majeski, four laps led, Stage 1 winner

    4. Ross Chastain, 19 laps led

    5. Chandler Smith

    6. Carson Hocevar (*subbed by Daniel Suarez)

    7. Parker Kligerman

    8. John Hunter Nemechek

    9. Tyler Ankrum

    10. Matt DiBenedetto

    11. Grant Enfinger, one lap led

    12. Harrison Burton

    13. Tanner Gray

    14. Kaz Grala

    15. Chase Purdy

    16. Jack Wood

    17. Austin Dillon

    18. Ben Rhodes, six laps led, Stage 2 winner

    19. Colby Howard

    20. Todd Bodine

    21. Blaine Perkins

    22. Brad Perez

    23. Spencer Boyd

    24. Dean Thompson

    25. Lawless Alan

    26. Kris Wright

    27. Derek Kraus, one lap down

    28. Timmy Hill, two laps down

    29. Alex Bowman – OUT, Accident

    30. Josh Bilicki – OUT, Accident

    31. Stewart Friesen – OUT, Accident

    32. Hailie Deegan – OUT, Accident

    33.  Jade Buford – OUT, Transmission

    34. Matt Crafton – OUT, Transmission

    35. Christian Eckes – OUT, Accident

    36. Stefan Parsons – OUT, Oil cooler

    Next on the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule is Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway for the second annual running of the Clean Harbor 150. The event is scheduled to occur on Saturday, June 18, at 9 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Byron scores a dominant victory in Truck return at Martinsville

    Byron scores a dominant victory in Truck return at Martinsville

    From the rear of the field to the front and straight to Victory Lane, William Byron made a triumphant return to the winner’s stage in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series after surviving a carnage-filled event to dominate and win the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 200 at Martinsville Speedway on Thursday, April 7.

    The 24-year-old Byron from Charlotte, North Carolina, led three times for a race-high 94 of 200 laps, including the final 84, as he fended off Johnny Sauter, Kyle Busch and the field through the final 36 laps to claim his first Truck victory in six years while piloting the No. 7 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST for Spire Motorsports, which recorded its first victory in the Truck circuit.

    With on-track qualifying initially scheduled for Thursday canceled due to inclement weather, the starting lineup was determined through a calculated formula factoring in the results from the previous event along with the fastest laps and points positions. With that, Zane Smith, winner of the previous Truck event at Circuit of the Americas, started on pole position as he shared the front row with Kyle Busch, who was making his third of five scheduled Truck starts. 

    Prior to the event, Modified competitor Dillon Steuer dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to his No. 20 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST. 

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Zane Smith fended off Ben Rhodes and Kyle Busch to retain the lead for a full lap as he led the opening lap. Behind, Rhodes, who attempted a three-wide move at the start, moved in front of Busch for the runner-up spot while Chandler Smith and John Hunter Nemechek settled in the top five.

    Seven laps into the event, the first caution flew when Kris Wright and rookie Jack Wood collided on the frontstretch, with the latter ramming into the former that was spinning. 

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 13, Zane Smith and Rhodes briefly dueled through the first two turns until Smith cleared the field through the backstretch while Stewart Friesen moved up to third place. Just then, the caution returned when the No. 40 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST piloted by Dean Thompson came to a stop on the frontstretch, which soon after came on fire inside the cockpit as the driver hopped out. Eventually, the fire situation was enough to terminate Thompson’s run early.

    Ten laps later, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Zane Smith retained the lead while Friesen and Rhodes battled for second in front of Kyle Busch and Chandler Smith. Behind, Christian Eckes was up in sixth place followed by Grant Enfinger and John Hunter Nemechek, who was losing spots on the track.

    Through the first 30 laps of the event, Zane Smith was leading by more than a second over Friesen followed by Rhodes, Kyle Busch and Chandler Smith while Eckes, Enfinger, Nemechek, Derek Kraus and Matt Crafton were in the top 10. 

    Three laps later, Johnny Sauter and Hailie Deegan made contact while battling for 22nd place entering the frontstretch, which resulted in Deegan sustaining a tire rub, but the race proceeded under green.

    Nearing the Lap 40 mark, the caution returned when Spencer Boyd stalled his No. 12 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST near the exit of the backstretch due to a loss of fuel pressure.

    Under caution, some led by Kyle Busch pitted while the rest led by Zane Smith remained on the track. During the pit stops, Matt Crafton was penalized for speeding on pit road. In addition, Tate Fogleman was penalized for pitting outside of his pit box.

    With six laps remaining in the first stage, the race restarted under green. At the start, Zane Smith retained the lead once again while Rhodes challenged Friesen for the runner-up spot. As the field scrambled for positions behind, Smith continued to lead. 

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 50, Zane Smith claimed his third Truck stage victory of the season. Friesen fended off Rhodes to retain the runner-up spot while Nemechek, Enfinger, Eckes, Kraus, Tanner Gray, Chase Purdy and Tyler Ankrum were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, some led by Zane Smith pitted while the rest led by Ben Rhodes remained on the track.

    The second stage started on Lap 60 as teammates Rhodes and Eckes occupied the front row. At the start, Rhodes, competing on worn tires, cleared the field on the inside lane through the backstretch and retained the lead while Kyle Busch and Eckes battled for second. Just as Busch prevailed, Carson Hocevar went to work on Eckes for more followed by Ty Majeski, Matt DiBenedetto, Johnny Sauter and William Byron.

    By Lap 70, the caution returned when Boyd stalled his truck for a second time in the event, this time between Turns 1 and 2.

    At the Lap 75 mark, the race restarted under green. At the start, Rhodes fended off Kyle Busch to retain the lead once again while Byron, who moved into the top five, battled and overtook Hocevar for third place in front of Eckes.

    On Lap 78, the caution returned when Lawless Alan spun following contact with Tate Fogleman in Turn 2. Under caution, some led by Busch and Byron pitted while the rest led by Rhodes remained on the track.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 85, Rhodes fended off Hocevar to retain the lead while Eckes, Ty Majeski and Matt DiBenedetto battled in the top five and in front of sixth-place Zane Smith. 

    At the Lap 90 mark, Rhodes extended his advantage to more than a second over teammate Eckes while Hocevar, Majeski, Zane Smith, Nemechek, Matt DiBenedetto, Parker Kligerman, Enfinger and Colby Howard were in the top 10. By then, Byron was in 13th while Busch was mired outside of the top 20.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 100, which marked the halfway point of the event, Rhodes, who managed to complete the event’s first half without pitting once, claimed his third stage victory of the season. Teammate Eckes settled in second ahead of Hocevar, Zane Smith, Nemechek, Majeski, DiBenedetto, Kligerman, Enfinger and Taylor Gray.

    Under the stage break, some led by teammates Rhodes and Eckes pitted while the rest led by Byron and Chandler Smith remained on the track. During the pit stops, Hocevar overshot his truck while pitting. Following the pit stops, Zane Smith, who led the first 55 laps, was penalized for speeding on pit road. 

    With 92 laps remaining, the final stage started under green. At the start, Byron retained the lead ahead of Chandler Smith and the field through the first two turns and the backstretch. Shortly after, however, the caution flew when Kaden Honeycutt, who replaced Matt Jaskol in the No. 46 G2G Racing Toyota, got sideways after making contact with Austin Wayne Self. He then made contact against the trucks of Tanner Gray and Blake Lothian before getting hit by Dillon Steuer and coming to rest sideways in Turn 2.

    Eight laps later, the race restarted under green. At the start, Byron fended off Chandler Smith to retain the lead while the field fanned out to three lanes through the backstretch. 

    Another five laps later, the caution flew again when Kris Wright and Dillon Steuer wrecked in Turn 4.

    With 73 laps remaining, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Byron rocketed away with another strong restart while Chandler Smith and Johnny Sauter dueled and battled for second, with the latter prevailing. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch was in fourth while Matt Crafton and Stewart Friesen battled for a spot in the top five.

    Six laps later, the caution flew again when Rhodes, who was racing in the top 10, attempted to make a bold move on teammate Eckes for position, and then made contact that sent Eckes into Friesen’s No. 52 Halmar Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. As a result, Friesen, who was in seventh place, spun in Turn 3, though he continued without sustaining any significant damage.

    When the race restarted with 62 laps remaining, Byron launched ahead with another strong start to retain the lead while Sauter settled in second ahead of Chandler Smith, Kyle Busch, Crafton, and Nemechek.

    Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Byron was leading by nearly a second over Sauter followed by Kyle Busch, Chandler Smith and Crafton while Nemechek, Ty Majeski, Rhodes, Enfinger and Kraus were in the top 10. Zane Smith was up in 11th place followed by Eckes, Ankrum, Kligerman, DiBenedetto, Chase Purdy, Carson Hocevar, Friesen, Hailie Deegan and Lawless Alan.

    Six laps later, the caution flew when Jesse Little spun entering Turn 2 off the front nose of Tate Fogleman, which he was then hit by Bret Holmes as Kris Wright rammed into the side of Little in a billow of smoke. Under caution, some like Zane Smith, DiBenedetto, Hocevar, Colby Howard and Deegan pitted while the rest led by Byron remained on the track.

    With 36 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Byron retained the lead followed by Sauter and Kyle Busch while Nemechek battled and overtook teammate Chandler Smith to move into fourth place on fresh tires. Behind, Crafton was in sixth ahead of Rhodes, Enfinger, Kraus and Majeski. 

    Six laps later, Byron stabilized his advantage to less than a second over Sauter while Busch, Nemechek and Chandler Smith trailed by less than two seconds. Shortly after, Chase Purdy limped to pit road with a flat tire.

    With 20 laps remaining, Byron extended his advantage to more than a second over Sauter while Busch, Nemechek and Chandler Smith remained in the top five. Rhodes was in sixth ahead of Crafton, Enfinger, Majeski and Zane Smith while Kraus, Ankrum, Eckes, Friesen and DiBenedetto were in the top 15. 

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Byron, who carved his way through lapped traffic, continued to lead by more than a second over Sauter followed by Kyle Busch and Nemechek while Rhodes was in fifth in front of Chandler Smith.

    With five laps remaining, Byron remained the leader by more than a second over Sauter while third-place Kyle Busch trailed by two seconds. Behind, Nemechek and Rhodes trailed by less than three seconds while Chandler Smith trailed by more than four seconds.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Byron stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Sauter. Remaining uncontested at the front, Byron was able to navigate his way around the paperclip-shaped short circuit for a final time and claim the checkered flag for his first grandfather clock trophy.

    In addition to claiming his first NASCAR national touring series victory at Martinsville, Byron recorded his eighth career victory in the Truck Series and first since winning the 2016 finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway when he drove for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Byron also recorded the first Truck victory of the season for Chevrolet.

    “It was a lot of fun,” Byron said on FS1. “Great crowd here at Martinsville. I’ve never won a race at Martinsville. [I] Struggled here when I was in late models. Just awesome to get the win tonight. Great truck. HendrickCars.com, Chevrolet. Thanks to Spire [Motorsports]. All the guys back at their shop, they don’t have a lot of guys, but they do alright. It was fun to work with [crew chief] Bono [Manion]. [I] Had a little help from [Cup crew chief] Rudy [Fugle]. He knows the truck really well. Yeah, just awesome. Thanks to Mr. [Hendrick] for letting me come do it. Pretty awesome. I’m excited.”

    Sauter, the 2016 Truck Series champion who competes on a part-time basis between ThorSport Racing and G2G Racing, settled in second place for his highest on-track result since finishing second at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in February 2020.

    “It was fun,” Sauter said. “It’s been a while. Just so proud of everybody at ThorSport. This is our first in-house chassis, in-house body complete. I called for an adjustment early in the race to just tighten it up a little bit and at the end it was just too much. This is the way it’s supposed to be. This is what this whole deal is about: to go for wins. To start shotgun on the field and finish second, that’s a solid day. I knew it was gonna be good. I knew on Lap 2, we had something we could race with. I’ve been doing this long enough to know. I wish I didn’t call for that adjustment. Who knows, you think that’s enough but all in all a solid night. The goal was to win and we just came up one spot short.”

    Kyle Busch came home in third place in his third of five Truck starts this season while Nemechek and Rhodes finished in the top five. 

    Chandler Smith, Crafton, Enfinger, Zane Smith and Tyler Ankrum completed the top 10 on the track. Ty Majeski, Christian Eckes, Stewart Friesen, Derek Kraus and Matt DiBenedetto finished in the top 15 wile Hocevar and Hailie Deegan, who confronted Lawless Alan following the event, finished 17th and 19th.

    There were nine lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured 11 cautions for 71 laps.

    With his fifth-place result, Ben Rhodes leads the regular-season standings by four points over Chandler Smith, 21 over Zane Smith, 25 over Stewart Friesen and 44 over both John Hunter Nemechek and Christian Eckes.

    Results.

    1. William Byron, 94 laps led

    2. Johnny Sauter

    3. Kyle Busch, one lap led

    4. John Hunter Nemechek

    5. Ben Rhodes, 47 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    6. Chandler Smith, two laps led

    7. Matt Crafton

    8. Grant Enfinger

    9. Zane Smith, 55 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    10. Tyler Ankrum

    11. Ty Majeski

    12. Christian Eckes

    13. Stewart Friesen

    14. Derek Kraus

    15. Matt DiBenedetto

    16. Parker Kligerman

    17. Carson Hocevar

    18. Colby Howard

    19. Hailie Deegan

    20. Lawless Alan

    21. Tanner Gray

    22. Tate Fogleman

    23. Timmy Hill

    24. Bret Holmes, one lap down

    25.  Chase Janes, one lap down

    26. Taylor Gray, two laps down

    27. Jesse Little, two laps down

    28. Blake Lothian, two laps down

    29. Chase Purdy, three laps down

    30. Kris Wright, five laps down

    31. Austin Wayne Self – OUT, Brakes

    32. Dillon Steuer – OUT, Accident

    33. Spencer Boyd – OUT, Electrical

    34. Kaden Honeycutt – OUT, Accident

    35. Jack Wood – OUT, Accident

    36. Dean Thompson – OUT, Electrical

    Next on the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule is the series’ second annual running of the Pinty’s Truck Race at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course, which will occur on April 16 at 8 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Zane Smith notches a thrilling, double overtime Truck victory at COTA

    Zane Smith notches a thrilling, double overtime Truck victory at COTA

    A month after experiencing the biggest victory of his career at Daytona International Speedway, Zane Smith captured another thrilling win to his racing resume after winning the second running of the XPEL 2250 at Circuit of the Americas on Saturday, March 26.

    The 22-year-old Smith from Huntington Beach, California, captured both stage victories and rallied from a first turn spin under the final 10 laps to overtake Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch and Stewart Friesen during the second of two overtime attempts in Turn 11. Following the chaos, Smith rocketed away from the field and a series of carnages ensuing behind to become the first repeat winner of the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season.

    With on-track qualifying occurring on Friday, Sheldon Creed claimed the pole position with a pole-winning speed at 90.985 mph. Creed, however, dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his No. 20 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST. Also dropping to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments included John Hunter Nemechek, Kris Wright, Kaz Grala, Logan Bearden, Lawless Alan, Jack Wood, Blaine Perkins, Tate Fogleman, Brad Perez, Will Rodgers, Matt Joskol, Matt DiBenedetto and Matt Crafton, who was forced to serve a pass-through penalty through pit road at the start of the event.

    With Creed dropping to the rear of the field, Zane Smith, who posted a fast qualifying speed at 90.790 mph, led the field to the start of the event alongside Alex Bowman, who was piloting the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST.

    During the pace laps, Ty Majeski remained on pit road as his crew was working on a brake pressure issue to his No. 66 ThorSport Racing Toyota Tundra TRD Pro.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Bowman gained an early advantage through the incline and the first turn as he led early in the event over Zane Smith while Kyle Busch bolted his way into third place. With the competitors fanning out and scrambling for positions through the first two turns and a brief decline before entering a series of left and right turns (Turns 3 through 10), Bowman continued to lead. Then in Turn 11, Austin Wayne Self locked up his brakes and collided into Tayler Gray as both competitors spun. Despite the incident, the race proceeded under green.

    With the first of 42 laps complete of the 3.4-mile, 20-turn circuit, Bowman was out in front by three-tenths of a second over Zane Smith followed by Kyle Busch while Stewart Friesen and Parker Kligerman were in the top five. Christian Eckes was in sixth ahead of Carson Hocevar, Ben Rhodes, Tyler Ankrum and Sheldon Creed.

    During the second lap, Busch moved his No. 51 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro to the lead over Bowman’s No. 7 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST. Meanwhile, Creed took his truck to the garage due to a mechanical issue.

    Through the first five laps of the event, Kyle Busch continued to lead by nearly three seconds over Kligerman while third-place Bowman trailed by more than four seconds. Zane Smith remained in fourth ahead of Friesen while Carson Hocevar, Ben Rhodes, Rhodes Derek Kraus and Chandler Smith were in the top 10. Behind, John Hunter Nemechek was in 11th ahead of Tyler Ankrum, Grant Enfinger was in 14th, Matt DiBenedetto was in 16th ahead of Chase Purdy, Hailie Deegan and Kaz Grala. Meanwhile, Matt Crafton was mired back in 29th ahead of Brad Perez.

    Not long after, Deegan was forced to serve a pass-through penalty on pit road for cutting through the esses.

    Nearing the Lap 10 mark, pit stops under green occurred as Busch surrendered the lead to pit followed by Bowman, Nemechek, Chandler Smith, Hocevar, Enfinger, Grala, Chase Purdy, Colby Howard, Gray, Crafton and Deegan while Kligerman took the lead. Once Kligerman pitted on Lap 10, Zane Smith took the lead followed by Friesen.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 12, Zane Smith claimed his first stage victory of the season. Friesen settled in second followed by Rhodes, Kraus, Ankrum, DiBenedetto, Timmy Hill, Eckes, Kyle Busch and Kligerman.

    Under the stage break, some led by Zane Smith pitted while the rest led by Kyle Busch remained on the track.

    The second stage started on Lap 14 as Kyle Busch and Kligerman occupied the front row. At the start, Busch and Kligerman dueled for the top spot before Busch cleared Kligerman entering a series of left and right turns. Then in Turn 11, Kligerman took the lead beneath Busch, who was being pressured by Bowman. Busch, however, reassumed the top spot over Kligerman through the Turn 12 braking zone as he started to pull away.

    Shortly after, the caution flew when Dean Thompson came to a stop in Turn 8 as he needed a wrecker to return to pit road. 

    Three laps later on Lap 17, the race proceeded under green. At the start and with the field fanning out entering the first two turns, Busch rocketed away with the top spot ahead of Kligerman and Bowman. Then in Turn 11, Gray spun for a second time while running in the top 10 as the field scattered. Four turns later, Grala spun while running in Turn 12. Despite the incidents, the race proceeded under green as Busch continued to lead by more than a second over teammate Nemechek followed by Bowman, Kligerman and Hocevar while Chandler Smith, Matt Crafton, Friesen, Zane Smith and Chase Purdy were in the top 10.

    On Lap 20, the caution flew when Purdy made contact with Crafton, which spent both competitors spinning in Turn 19 as Crafton ended up getting his No. 88 Menards Toyota Tundra TRD Pro stuck in the gravel trap. The incident was one that left Crafton bitter towards Purdy.

    Under caution, a majority led by Busch pitted while the rest led by Nemechek remained on the track.

    With the event surpassing its halfway mark on Lap 21, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Nemechek pulled his No. 4 ROMCO Toyota Tundra TRD Pro ahead with the top spot though the first two turns followed by Zane Smith and Kraus while Rhodes was in fourth ahead of DiBenedetto. Not long after, Nemechek and Zane Smith dueled for the lead entering Turn 12.

    Then in Turn 15, Zane Smith made contact with Nemechek, which sent Nemechek around as Smith assumed the lead. Behind, Crafton expressed his displeasure towards Purdy over the previous incident by spinning him in Turn 13.

    Back at the front, Zane Smith was out in front ahead of Kraus while Rhodes was in third ahead of DiBenedetto and Chandler Smith. Following his spin, Nemechek pitted but was then penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 26, Zane Smith collected his second stage victory of the event and of this season. Rhodes settled in second followed by Kraus, Kyle Busch, Chandler Smith, DiBenedetto, Friesen, Hocevar, Timmy Hill and Kligerman.

    Under the stage break, a majority of the field pitted as Busch emerged with the lead.

    With 13 laps remaining, the final stage started. At the start, teammates Busch and Chandler Smith dueled until the former managed to clear his teammate and the field through the first two turns and entering a series of left and right-hand turns (Turns 3 through 10). 

    The following lap, the caution returned when Hailie Deegan stalled in Turn 8 with damage to her No. 1 Monster Energy Ford F-150 as a result of colliding into Jack Wood, who wrecked with Kris Wright earlier.

    Down to the final 10 laps, the event proceeded under green. At the start, Busch mounted ahead with the top spot as Carson Hocevar made his way into second place in his bid to battle Busch for the victory.

    With the battles continuing around the 20-turn circuit, DiBenedetto suddenly stalled on Turn 17 due to a broken driveline. Then shortly after, the caution flew when Zane Smith got bumped and spun by Eckes in Turn 1 along with Kris Wright, who was trying to avoid Smith.

    With seven laps remaining, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Busch launched ahead with another strong start entering the first turn before Stewart Friesen tried to force Busch off the track in a bid for the lead. Busch, however, was able to maintain the lead over Friesen, who overtook Hocevar for second, and the field in Turn 3 through Turn 10. Then in Turn 12, Austin Wayne Self spun while the race proceeded under green.

    When the field returned to the start/finish line, Busch continued to lead by four-tenths of a second over Friesen while Bowman, who made bold moves through the esses during the restart, was up in third place followed by Kligerman and Chandler Smith. Grala, following his early spin, was in sixth followed by Rhodes, Hocevar, Nemechek and Eckes while Crafton was in 11th ahead of Colby Howard, Zane Smith, Kraus, Timmy Hill and Tyler Ankrum.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Busch extended his advantage to more than a second over Friesen while third-place Bowman trailed by more than two seconds. During the following lap, Bowman overtook Friesen for second place as he was left to track and challenge Busch for the lead and the win.

    Then with three laps remaining, Derek Kraus got bumped by Ankrum and spun in Turn 1. Not long after, Eckes spun in Turn 12 following contact with Hocevar, but the event proceeded under green. Then the caution flew when Matt Jaskol stalled his truck in Turn 2. The caution was enough to send the event into overtime. 

    In the first overtime attempt, Busch maintained the lead while Bowman fended off Friesen and Kligerman to remain in second place while also challenging Busch for the lead. Behind in Turn 1, Kris Wright spun following contact. Two turns later, Purdy spun, but the race proceeded under green. Then, the caution returned when Kaz Grala and Colby Howard spun across the esses with Grala getting stuck in the Turn 4 gravel pit. 

    During the second overtime attempt, Busch muscled away with the lead while Friesen challenged and overtook Bowman for second place. Behind, Zane Smith battled and overtook Kligerman for fourth place while Nemechek was in sixth ahead of Rhodes. 

    Then in Turn 11, Bowman collided against Friesen and Busch while engaged in a three-wide battle for the lead. This allowed Zane Smith to bolt to the lead as Bowman retained second ahead of Friesen, who had a tire rub and was losing ground towards the front. Then in the Turn 12 braking zone, Friesen went wide and was off the course. During the following turn, Kligerman got loose, which allowed Busch to move into third place behind Bowman while Zane Smith continued to lead.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Zane Smith was leading by nearly two seconds over Bowman, who was soon overtaken by Nemechek while Busch was mired back in fourth place ahead of Ben Rhodes. 

    With a series of carnages ensuing behind the front-runners, Zane Smith was long gone with the lead as he was able to navigate his way smoothly around the 20-turn circuit with a clear race track in front of him, return to the final frontstretch to the finish line and claim the checkered flag by more than three seconds over John Hunter Nemechek.

    In addition to becoming the first repeat winner of this season, Smith notched his fifth NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career victory, his second of the season with Front Row Motorsports and his first on a road course event. In addition, Front Row Motorsports’ No. 38 Ford F-150 team led by crew chief Chris Lawson went to Victory Lane at COTA for a second consecutive season after winning the inaugural event with Todd Gilliland in 2021.

    “Truck races are crazy,” Smith said on FS1. “You’re never out of it until you’re out of it. Man, what a statement from this team. That’s so crazy to go back-to-back here at a road course like this. Huge thank you to them. It’s been a wild effort they’ve put in this year. That was a wild one, but never over til it’s over.”

    Behind, Nemechek rallied from a spin early in the event involving race winner Zane Smith to settle in second place ahead of teammate/boss Kyle Busch, who led a race-high 31 of 46 laps, but was unable to grab his first road course victory in the Truck circuit. Following the event, Busch and Bowman met and exchanged words over the racing and the contact on pit road.

    “The season has been frustrating for sure,” Nemechek said on MRN. “We never give up at [Kyle Busch Motorsports]. We never give up as an organization. I didn’t have the fastest truck today. We struggled most of the day. I got spun by Zane [Smith]. I’m a little ticked off there. That’s two weeks in a row that we’ve got screwed by [Smith]. On to next week. I’m going to run the Richmond Xfinity race [with Joe Gibbs Racing]…Hopefully, we can keep this ship righted the right way and take this and carry the momentum. It’s way better finishing second than 24th, 25th, 24th in the first three [races]. Still got a lot to go, a lot to learn and a lot to build on, but a long season ahead.”

    We had a great race all day,” Busch said on FS1. “I really appreciate everyone at [Kyle Busch Motorsports] and their hard work and everyone there who does a good job building such fast trucks. I felt like we deserved that one, but it doesn’t matter if you deserve it or not. It’s just a matter if you get it. You have to be the first one to the checkered flag to win these things and we just weren’t.”

    Rhodes came home in fourth place while Chandler Smith finished in the top five. Eckes, Ankrum, Hocevar, Friesen and Enfinger completed the top 10 on the track. Notably, Crafton settled in 13th ahead of Grala, Kligerman fell back to 19th place ahead of newcomer Brad Perez and Bowman slipped to 25th place with a wounded truck.

    There were 10 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 12 laps.

    With a fifth-place result, Chandler Smith continues to lead the regular season standings by 15 points over Ben Rhodes, 23 over Stewart Friesen and 31 over Zane Smith and Tanner Gray.

    Results.

    1. Zane Smith, 11 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    2. John Hunter Nemechek, one lap led

    3. Kyle Busch, 31 laps led

    4. Ben Rhodes

    5. Chandler Smith, one lap led

    6. Christian Eckes

    7. Tyler Ankrum

    8. Carson Hocevar

    9. Stewart Friesen

    10. Grant Enfinger

    11. Lawless Alan

    12. Derek Kraus

    13. Matt Crafton

    14. Kaz Grala

    15. Kris Wright

    16. Chase Purdy

    17. Tanner Gray

    18. Tate Fogleman

    19. Parker Kligerman, one lap led

    20. Brad Perez

    21. Will Rodgers

    22. Timmy Hill

    23. Spencer Boyd

    24. Colby Howard

    25. Alex Bowman, one lap led

    26. Taylor Gray

    27. Austin Wayne Self, one lap down

    28. Logan Bearden – OUT, Fuel pump

    29. Dean Thompson, six laps down

    30. Ty Majeski, seven laps down

    31. Matt DiBenedetto – OUT, Rear gear

    32. Jack Wood – OUT, Dvp

    33. Matt Jaskol – OUT, Electrical

    34. Hailie Deegan – OUT, Accident

    35. Blaine Perkins – OUT, Transmission

    36. Sheldon Creed – OUT, Drivetrain

    Next on the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule is the series’ lone event of the season at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia, which will occur on April 7 at 8 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Crafton to make 500th Camping World Truck Series career start at Las Vegas

    Crafton to make 500th Camping World Truck Series career start at Las Vegas

    A record-setting milestone start is in the making from Matt Crafton, three-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion and driver of the No. 88 ThorSport Racing Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. By taking the green flag in this weekend’s event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Crafton, who enters his 22nd consecutive season of Truck competition, will achieve his 500th consecutive career start in the Truck circuit.

    A native of Tulare, California, Crafton made his inaugural presence in the Truck Series during the season finale at California Speedway in October 2000. By then, he had achieved the 2000 Featherlite Southwest Series championship. Driving the No. 88 Chevrolet for SealMaster Racing, Crafton started 17th and finished ninth. 

    The following season, Crafton took over the No. 88 Chevrolet for SealMaster Racing as a full-time Truck Series competitor. He commenced his first full-time season with a 27th-place result in the season-opening event at Daytona after retiring midway into the event due to an engine failure. He then went on to record 11 top-10 results throughout the 24-race schedule, including two season-best sixth-place results at Martinsville Speedway in April and at Pikes Peak International Raceway in May, before settling in 12th place in the final standings.

    After recording a total of 17 top-10 results between 2002 and 2003, with his best points result being 11th place in 2003, Crafton joined Kevin Harvick Inc. as driver of the No. 6 Chevrolet Silverado. He finished 19th during the season-opening event at Daytona, but proceeded to finish in the top five for the first six times in his career. His best results were a pair of third-place finishes at Bristol Motor Speedway in August and at Phoenix Raceway in November. To go along with a total of 17 top-10 results throughout the 25-race schedule, Crafton finished in fifth place in the final standings. By then, he surpassed 100 career starts in the Truck Series.

    Crafton, who was released by KHI at season’s end, rejoined ThorSport Racing for the 2005 Truck Series season as the team rebranded from SealMaster Racing during the previous season. In his return to ThorSport, he started on pole position for the first time in his career at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September. He also recorded two top-five results, a season-best fourth-place result at the Indianapolis Raceway Park in August and a total of 10 top-10 results before finishing in ninth place in the final standings. 

    From 2006 to 2007, Crafton achieved a total of five top-five results and 20 top-10 results, including three third-place results, as he notched an eighth-place result in the final standings in 2007. Four races into the 2008 Truck season, Crafton dodged a last lap collision between Kyle Busch and Johnny Benson Jr. to earn a career-best second-place result at Martinsville Speedway in March. Then two races later at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, he fended off the field during a two-lap shootout to score his first NASCAR Truck Series career victory in his 178th series start, which marks the most starts for a competitor prior to a first victory in the Truck circuit. In a season where he etched himself as a first-time NASCAR winner, Crafton also earned a total of nine top-five results and 12 top-10 results throughout the 25-race schedule before finishing in fifth place in the final standings.

    Despite going winless in 2009, Crafton endured a successful, consistent season, where he earned two poles, five runner-up results, 11 top-five results, 21 top-10 results, an average-finishing result of 6.7 and a career-best runner-up result in the final standings behind four-time champion Ron Hornaday Jr. By then, Crafton surpassed 200 career starts in the Truck Series. 

    After finishing in fourth place in the final standings during the 2010 season, where he also earned a pole, 10 top-five results and 20 top-10 results, Crafton snapped a two-year winless drought at Iowa Speedway in July 2011 and claimed his second Truck Series career victory after leading the final 12 laps while fending off Austin Dillon. While he earned an additional pole from the previous season, Crafton, however, earned less top-five and top-10 results from 2010 (five and 13), as he settled in eighth place in the final standings in 2011.

    The 2012 season featured a manufacturer change from Chevrolet to Toyota for Crafton and ThorSport Racing as the California veteran recorded a pole, eight top-five results, 14 top-10 results, an average-finishing result of 9.8 and a sixth-place result in the final standings. At Las Vegas Motor Speedway in September, Crafton had the lead late in the event until he was overtaken by Nelson Piquet Jr. on the final lap and settled in a close runner-up result.

    Crafton commenced the 2013 season, his 13th as a full-time Truck competitor, with three consecutive top-10 results, including a runner-up result behind teammate Johnny Sauter at Martinsville in March. Then at Kansas Speedway in April, Crafton notched his third career win in the Truck Series after leading the final 30 laps and holding off Joey Coulter. The victory vaulted Crafton to the top of the driver’s standings. From there, Crafton and the No. 88 ThorSport Racing Toyota Tundra team displayed a superb consistent season by finishing in the top 10 during the following 12 scheduled events. By then, he surpassed 300 consecutive career starts in the Truck Series. He then finished no lower than 17th during the following five events as he maintained the points lead. Entering the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November with a 46-point advantage over Ty Dillon, Crafton clinched his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship by starting his engine and rolling his truck out on the track for the pace laps. Despite being involved in a late incident and settling in 21st place in the final running order while on the lead lap, Crafton locked up his first title by 40 points over Dillon and became the first competitor to complete every lap of a Truck Series season. To go along with a first NASCAR title for himself and for ThorSport Racing, Crafton recorded seven top-five results, 19 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 7.9 throughout the 22-race schedule.

    The 2014 Truck Series season was an historic season for Crafton, who earned multiple victories in a season for the first time in his career and repeated as a champion. After finishing 13th during the season-opening event at Daytona, he persevered during a two-lap shootout to claim his fourth career victory at Martinsville in March. Four races later, he utilized fuel strategy to claim his fifth career win at Texas Motor Speedway in June. By September, Crafton was leading the driver’s standings and went on to claim his second consecutive Camping World Truck Series championship on a strength of 13 top-five results, 17 top-10 results and a career-best average-finishing result of 7.0. Overall, Crafton became the first NASCAR competitor to win back-to-back Truck Series championships.

    Crafton began his quest for a record-setting third consecutive Truck title during the 2015 season, which marked his 15th consecutive full-time season in the series, by finishing eighth at Daytona before notching his sixth career win at Atlanta Motor Speedway in late February. During the following eight scheduled events, he collected three additional victories at Kansas, Texas and Kentucky Speedway as he remained as the points leader. Over the next 12 events, Crafton won at Martinsville in late October and earned seven results in the top 10 as he remained in the championship battle between himself, Erik Jones and Tyler Reddick. Two late accidents and finishes outside of the top 20 at Talladega in October and at Phoenix Raceway in November, however, were enough to prevent Crafton’s opportunity in making history with a third consecutive title as he slipped into third place in the final standings. Nonetheless, Crafton went on to record his sixth victory of the season (a career best) during the finale at Homestead as he walked away from the 2015 season with four poles, 13 top-five results, 18 top-10 results, and an average-finishing result of 7.7 in 23 races.

    In 2016, Crafton earned back-to-back victories for the first time in his career after winning at Dover Motor Speedway and at Charlotte Motor Speedway in back-to-back weekends in May. He also earned an additional nine top-10 results throughout the 16-race regular season stretch as he emerged as one of eight competitors to qualify for the inaugural 2016 Truck Playoffs. Throughout the Playoffs, Crafton utilized consistency, including four results in the top 10 to transfer all the way to the Championship Round and contend for the title at Homestead in November. During the finale, however, Crafton finished seventh on the track, four spots behind title rival Johnny Sauter, as Sauter claimed the championship while Crafton settled in second place in the final standings. Overall, Crafton earned two victories, a pole, eight top-five results, 16 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 10.9 throughout the 23-race schedule.

    Crafton commenced the 2017 Truck Series season on a harrowing note after he was involved in a multi-truck wreck while leading on the final lap at Daytona, where he was clipped by teammate Ben Rhodes on the backstraightaway as Crafton’s No. 88 Toyota went airborne and barrel-rolled in the air before landing back down on all four wheels and coming to rest against the infield wall. He rallied from the incident by finishing second at Atlanta. Nine races later, Crafton snapped a 27-race winless drought by claiming his first victory of the season and the 14th of his career at Eldora Speedway in July. The Eldora win along with nine results in the top 10 throughout the 16-race regular season stretch were enough for the two-time champion to qualify for the 2017 Truck Playoffs. Despite earning five top-10 results throughout the Playoffs and reaching the Championship Round for a second consecutive season, Crafton ended up in sixth place during the finale at Homestead and in fourth place in the final standings behind Christopher Bell, Sauter and Austin Cindric. Crafton, though, was able to achieve a victory, a pole, five top-five results, 16 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 9.3 throughout the 23-race schedule as he even surpassed 400 consecutive career starts in the Truck Series. 

    Swapping to a new manufacturer from Toyota to Ford, Crafton endured an up-and-down season in 2018, where he earned a season-best runner-up result at Dover in May along with seven top-five results, 13 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 11.2 throughout the 23-race schedule. Despite making the 2018 Truck Playoffs, he was eliminated from championship contention following the Round of 6 and settled in sixth place in the final standings.

    Commencing the 2019 Truck season with a fifth-place result at Daytona, Crafton produced a consistent regular season stretch that included 14 results in the top 10 to secure the eighth and final spot to the Playoffs. He then returned to the Championship Round at Homestead in November after finishing in the top 10 in all but two Playoff events. Then at Homestead, Crafton finished in second place behind race winner Austin Hill, but managed to finish ahead of title rivals Ross Chastain, Brett Moffitt and Stewart Friesen to score his third Camping World Truck Series championship. With the result, Crafton, who recorded three poles, seven top-five results, 18 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 8.8 in 2019, became the first competitor to achieve a championship in a winless season since Austin Dillon made the last accomplishment during the 2013 Xfinity Series season. His three championships moved him into a tie with Jack Sprague for the second-most championships in the history of the Truck Series and one shy behind four-time champion Ron Hornaday Jr. 

    Campaigning in his 20th consecutive full-time season as a NASCAR Truck competitor, Crafton achieved four top-five results during the first nine scheduled events before snapping a 67-race winless drought and collecting his 15th career victory at Kansas Speedway in July. He went on to earn three additional results in the top five before the 2020 Truck Playoffs commenced. From the Round of 10 to 8, Crafton recorded six consecutive results in the top 10, but missed the cutoff to the Championship Round by three points as he settled in fifth place in the final standings.

    Reuniting with Toyota as his manufacturer in 2021, Crafton initiated the season with a 15th-place result at Daytona despite being involved in a multi-truck wreck on the final lap. He rallied with four top-10 results during the following seven races before finishing no higher than 15th during the next three. Crafton, nonetheless, was able to claim three consecutive top-six results before qualifying for the Playoffs. Finishing no lower than 14th throughout the Playoffs, he managed to return to the Championship Round at Phoenix Raceway in November. During the finale, however, Crafton finished 12th on the track and in fourth place in the final standings.

    The 2022 Truck Series season marks Crafton’s 22nd consecutive season of competition, where he is coming off a 27th-place result at Daytona after being involved in a late multi-truck wreck.

    Through 499 previous Truck starts, Crafton has achieved three championships, 15 victories, 16 poles, 130 top-five results, 300 top-10 results, nearly 2,700 laps led and an average-finishing result of 11.2.

    Crafton is schedule to make his 500th Camping World Truck Series consecutive career start at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Friday, March 4, with the event scheduled to occur at 9 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 to reach 1,000 starts at the Roval

    Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 to reach 1,000 starts at the Roval

    A significant milestone is in the making for Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 car in the NASCAR Cup Series, currently driven by two-time reigning series champion Kyle Busch. By taking the green flag in this weekend’s Cup event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course for the Bank of America Roval 400, the No. 18 car competing under the JGR banner will reach 1,000 starts in NASCAR’s premier series.

    The No. 18 car serves as the first car fielded by Joe Gibbs Racing in NASCAR when the team made its debut in the 1992 Daytona 500 led by Washington Football Team head coach Joe Gibbs. By then, Interstate Batteries was sponsoring the car while Dale Jarrett, a second-generation competitor from Hickory, North Carolina, was serving as the team’s first competitor. Jarrett and the No. 18 team achieved two top-five results and eight top-10 results throughout the 29-race schedule before finishing the team’s first season in 19th place.

    The following season, Jarrett and the No. 18 Interstate Batteries car opened the season in style by winning the season-opening Daytona 500 as Jarrett recorded the first NASCAR win for Joe Gibbs Racing. Jarrett went on to record a total of 13 top-five results and 18 top-10 results before he finished in fourth place in the final standings. In 1994, Jarrett won at Charlotte Motor Speedway in October and he notched four top-five results and nine top-10 results in 30 of the 31-race schedule, where he did not make the field at North Wilkesboro Speedway in October, before he concluded the season in 16th place in the final standings.

    Following the 1994 season, Jarrett moved to Robert Yates Racing while Terry Labonte, the younger brother of the 1984 Cup champion Terry Labonte, took over as driver of JGR’s No. 18 Interstate Batteries car for the 1995 Cup season. Eleven races into the season, Labonte scored his first Cup career win in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte in May and he became the second competitor to win in NASCAR’s premier series for JGR. Ironically, JGR’s No. 18 car made its 100th Cup career start when Labonte won his first career race at Charlotte.

    Ultimately, Labonte achieved two additional victories throughout the 1995 season: Michigan International Speedway in June and again at Michigan in August. He also achieved two poles, seven top-five results and 14 top-10 results before he concluded the season in 10th place in the final standings.

    From 1996 to 1998, Labonte and the No. 18 team won a total of four races and racked up 25 top-five results and 50 top-10 results, with Labonte’s best final result in the standings being a sixth-place result in 1998. By then, JGR’s No. 18 car surpassed 200 Cup starts. After winning five races and concluding the 1999 season in second place in the final standings behind Jarrett, Labonte and the No. 18 team notched four victories, 19 top-five results and 24 top-10 results before claiming the 2000 NASCAR Cup championship by 265 points over Dale Earnhardt. The championship was a first for both Labonte and Joe Gibbs Racing in NASCAR. 

    In 2001, Labonte and the No. 18 team were unable to defend their title after winning only two races, recording 20 top-10 results and concluding the season in sixth place in the final standings. By then, JGR’s No. 18 car surpassed 300 Cup starts. The following season, Labonte and the No. 18 team recorded only one victory throughout the 36-race schedule before finishing the season in 16th place in the final standings. By then, Joe Gibbs Racing achieved its second Cup championship with Tony Stewart and the No. 20 Home Depot team.

    In 2003, Labonte and the No. 18 team rallied by winning twice throughout the 36-race schedule and racking up four poles, 12 top-five results and 17 top-10 results before concluding the season in eighth place in the final standings. For the next two Cup seasons, however, Labonte and the No. 18 team went winless. They also achieved one pole, nine top-five results and 18 top-10 results, with Labonte’s best points result being 12th place in 2004. By then, JGR’s No. 18 car surpassed 400 Cup starts.

    For the 2006 season, J.J. Yeley, a native from Phoenix, Arizona, and a former USAC competitor who competed for JGR as an Xfinity Series competitor, assumed driving responsibilities of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet while Bobby Labonte made the move to Petty Enterprises. In his first full Cup season in the No. 18 car, Yeley struggled on the track as he only achieved three top-10 results before he finished in 29th place in the final standings. Following the 2006 season, JGR’s No. 18 team reached 500 Cup career starts.

    Yeley and the No. 18 team rebounded the following season by notching a second-place result in the 2007 Coca-Cola 600 in May, three top-10 results and a pole position at Michigan International Speedway in June before concluding the season in 21st place in the final standings. Following the 2007 season, Joe Gibbs Racing changed manufacturers from General Motors to Toyota.

    In 2008, JGR welcomed Las Vegas, Nevada’s Kyle Busch as the newest driver of the No. 18 Toyota Camry sponsored by M&M’s/Mars Inc. and Interstate Batteries. It only took the first four races into the season until Busch achieved his first victory with the team at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March. Busch’s win at Atlanta was historical with Toyota achieving its first victory in the Cup Series. Through the first 26 races of the season, Busch won eight races, recorded 17 top-10 results and led the standings for the majority of the season. When the 10-race Playoff stretch started, however, Busch struggled with on-track consistency and only notched four top-10 results before concluding the season in 10th place in the final standings.

    Following the 2009 season, where Busch won four races and finished in 13th place in the final standings after missing the Playoffs, JGR’s No. 18 car surpassed 600 Cup starts. Busch and the No. 18 team went on to win a total of seven races from 2010 to 2011. At Texas Motor Speedway in November, Michael McDowell drove JGR’s No. 18 M&M’s Toyota after Busch was not allowed to compete in the Cup and Xfinity events at Texas throughout the weekend due to intentionally wrecking Ron Hornaday Jr. in the Truck Series race at the track on Friday night. 

    After the 2012 season, where Busch won only once throughout the season and missed the Playoffs while JGR’s No. 18 car surpassed 700 Cup starts, Busch and the No. 18 team rallied in 2013 by winning four races before finishing in fourth place in the final standings. The fourth-place result in the 2013 standings marked the highest result for JGR’s No. 18 car in the standings since winning the 2000 championship. Busch and the No. 18 team went on to win only once and finish in 10th place in the 2014 final standings.

    JGR’s No. 18 Toyota team started the 2015 season on a rocky note when Kyle Busch suffered a massive compound fracture on his right leg and fractured his left foot following a harrowing multi-car wreck in the Xfinity Series season opener at Daytona International Speedway in February. The injuries prevented Busch from competing in the early portions of the season. As a result, the No. 18 car was piloted by two-time Truck Series champion Matt Crafton, two-time Cup winner David Ragan and four-time Truck winner Erik Jones through the first 11 races of the season. Following the Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway in May, Busch made his return to racing the following week at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the All-Star Race. After finishing in sixth place in the All-Star Race, Busch finished in 11th place the following race, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. Ironically, Busch’s first points race of the 2015 season at Charlotte occurred as JGR’s No. 18 car made its 800th Cup start.

    Though Busch completed his first points race of the 2015 Cup season at Charlotte, he needed a win and enough consistent runs to make the top-30 cutoff mark in the standings by September and when the regular-season stretch concluded before the 16-car Playoff field would be determined. Busch and the No. 18 team achieved their first goal of winning at Sonoma Raceway in June. After finishing 17th at Daytona the following event, Busch and the No. 18 team went on a three-race winning span. The four victories along with five additional top-10 results throughout the summer were more than for Busch and the No. 18 team to remain inside the top-30 mark in the standings and make the Playoffs.

    Following a consistent run in the Playoffs, Busch and JGR’s No. 18 team were one of four driver/team pairings to make it all the way to the Championship Round at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November and with an opportunity to win the 2015 Cup championship. During the finale, Busch led 41 laps and pulled away in a late shootout to win the finale and his first title in NASCAR’s premier series. With Busch becoming the first competitor since Richard Petty to win a Cup title despite not competing the entire season and recording the first Cup title for Toyota, JGR achieved its fourth Cup championship overall and its first since the 2005 season with Tony Stewart.

    From 2016 to 2018, Busch and the No. 18 team achieved 17 wins. 53 top-five results and 75 top-10 results. In addition, Busch made the Championship Round in all three seasons, with a best result of second place in 2017 and finishing no lower than fourth place. Following the 2018 season, Busch surpassed 900 Cup career starts. He had also achieved a victory across every active track.

    In 2019, Busch and the No. 18 team achieved five victories, 17 top-five results and 27 top-10 results throughout the 36-race schedule. By winning the season finale at Homestead in November as a title contender, Busch achieved his second Cup championship and he became the 16th competitor to win multiple titles in NASCAR’s premier series. In addition, Joe Gibbs Racing achieved its fifth Cup title, third with the No. 18 car.

    This season, through 31 races, Busch and the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota have recorded 12 top-five results and 17 top-10 results, though the driver and the team remain winless. Currently, Busch is in ninth place in the Playoff standings and is 21 points below the top-eight cutline to advance to the Round of 8 in the Playoffs.

    Catch Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 milestone start in the Bank of America Roval 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course on Sunday, October 11, at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC. 

  • ThorSport Racing places three trucks in the top five

    ThorSport Racing places three trucks in the top five

    It was a solid night for ThorSport Racing as they placed three trucks in the top five at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Pole-sitter Johnny Sauter was second, Matt Crafton fourth and birthday boy Ben Rhodes was fifth.

    Sauter qualified on the NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series pole for the first time since Texas of 2018. The Wisconsin native had a strong showing early before falling back late in the race. Sauter was able to finish third in the first stage and 10th in the second stage to earn some playoff bonus points. He was also able to lead seven laps in Stage 1. While those were the only laps he led, Sauter was able to get back in the mix late in the going and challenged Kyle Busch for a little while.

    As the laps were winding down, Sauter was trying different lines to catch the eventual race winner Busch, but failed to do so and wound up second.

    “We had a great truck in practice today, obviously qualified well,” Sauter told MRN Radio. “When the green flag dropped, I thought, man this thing is a rocket and then we just went loose, sideways loose. We made a lengthy pit stop there. Nothing you could do. We had to pull spring rubbers and make adjustments, so we lost a lot of track position and got a lot of it back, and I couldn’t get going on restarts tonight. Last year, I was great, but this year, I was spinning the tires. I guess we got to go somewhere in between that.”

    “Just proud of Joe (Shear Jr., Crew Chief) and all of these guys. I thought I had something for Kyle there and I was squeezing in on them there and kept running the third grove down there and he moved up there and took my line away. Then we got tight for a little bit and ended up loose again. So, I’m not exactly sure (what happened). All in all, a good effort from what I thought we were going to have tonight and we came a long way.”

    For Crafton, it was all about tire management. He was running third just a few laps before the finish. However, he was passed by Austin Hill and that relegated Crafton to fourth.

    “We had a lot of tire wear tonight,” Crafton said to MRN Radio. “We were really free all night and just had to tire manage. It was actually a lot of fun. I kind of fell back on restarts, but I was like man, every time I went hard on the restart, it just killed the left-rear tire and then I got really free. Not a great run, but a decent run for this Menards Ford F-150.”

    Rhodes came home with a quiet fifth-place finish. Rhodes was somewhat satisfied with the finish considering the handling issues he experienced during the race.

    “I guess so,” Rhodes said to MRN Radio about the finish. “Considering the day we had, we struggled and we have to get better on a lot of things. We came in and lost spots on every single stop and we were on the splitter the whole race. I couldn’t really go until four laps until the end of the stage. It took me 30 laps for the tires to come up and barely getting it off the splitter, and then at the end, it never even came off of it. I just felt like I had my hands tied behind my back the whole race and wasn’t able to show what we had.”

    “Every time we would make up ground, we would lose it again. It’s just a really hard-fought fifth-place finish for our Carolina Nut Ford F-150. I wish it wasn’t this hard-fought. We worked pretty hard on the birthday here but for as hard as we worked, I wished we would have had a first-place finish. Some nights you have finishes like this and struggles like this. Just as a whole, we need to get better as a team and I think if we do that, we capitalize on these mistakes and we’ll be up there competing for wins with no problem.”

    The other ThorSport contender Grant Enfinger was involved in a wreck on Lap 89, which took him out of the race and he had to settle for a 31st place finish.

  • Austin Hill wins the race, Crafton collects his third championship

    Austin Hill wins the race, Crafton collects his third championship

    After a 90-minute rain delay, the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race got underway shortly after 9:30 p.m. ET. While Austin Hill didn’t qualify on the pole, he most certainly had the fastest truck of the night, winning both stages and ultimately winning the race. Hill took the lead from Matt Crafton with 22 laps to go to secure his fourth win of the season.

    “This Truck was on rails all night,” Hill said to MRN Radio. “We started off just a little on the tight side. Scott (Zipadelli, Crew Chief) made some awesome adjustments there and got the Truck a little bit better. That pit stop, I kind of took it a little too easy coming down to pit road, I think that hurt us just a tad coming back out third. I had to work extra hard to get back up there and get the lead. Can’t thank Toyota enough. Chiba Toyopet Toyota Tundra was really good all night long. TRD, United Rentals can’t thank those guys enough.”

    “To be able to win this race and lock down the Toyota manufacturer championship means a lot to me. So, I’m glad I could help Toyota out with that.”

    Early rain showers pushed the race back for a couple of hours, before finally getting underway shortly after 9:30 p.m. ET. The starting grid was set by owner points with Stewart Friesen on the pole.

    Before the race got started, the No. 15 of Anthony Alfredo had an oil leak on his Truck. With that issue, Alfredo was never able to make a lap and was credited with a last-place finish. Stages were broken up in 30/30/74 laps to make up the 134-lap race.

    Stage 1: Lap 1- Lap 30

    Nothing too crazy happened in the first stage to affect the race but there was some great racing action between the Championship 4 drivers. Ross Chastain led the first 28 laps of the first stage before Hill took the lead with just a few laps to go and won the stage. Championship 4 driver Chastain was second, Friesen was third, Brett Moffitt was fourth and Matt Crafton finished sixth in Stage 1.

    However, while the Championship 4 drivers finished in the top-10 none of them collected any stage points.

    Stage 2: Lap 35- Lap 60

    Like Stage 1, the second stage almost went green the whole way. The first real incident of the night came on Lap 50. The No. 49 of Ray Ciccarelli’s Truck had fluid coming out of the back end which prompted officials to throw the yellow flag.

    From that point on, the stage remained green and Hill once again picked up the stage win. Crafton was second, Chastain was third, Moffitt was fourth and Friesen finished fifth in Stage 2.

    Stage 3: Lap 67- Lap 134

    It was crunch time for the Championship 4 drivers as Stage 3 began with 67 laps to go. While Chastain and Friesen certainly had the best Trucks early on in the night, Crafton’s Truck started to come to life near the end.

    Pit stops broke out with 38 to go. Both Chastain and Friesen pit. Crafton and Moffitt elected to come down pit road one lap later to stay on the lead cycle. Race leader Hill pitted with 35 to go. After pit stops, Crafton cycled back out into the lead five laps later. However, Hill retook the lead with 22 to go and led the rest of the way, taking the checkered flag to win.

    As much as Crafton wanted to win the race and the championship, the bigger picture was to collect his third Truck Series championship in 453 starts. The Tulare, California native is now tied with former series champion Jack Sprague.

    “We didn’t win the battle, but we won the war,” Crafton excitedly said. “It was such a sweet deal to put this Ford Menards F-150 into victory lane. I know it’s Fords last time here championship weekend and nothing sweeter than to put the Ford into the championship. Ford and everybody has worked so hard here.”

    Knowing Crafton could win the race at one point in the race, he quickly realized it was all about winning the championship.

    “That was really hard to do,” he added. “I wanted to race the 16 (Hill) so hard. He definitely was a little faster than us there at the end. I knew what it was about and hoisting this big trophy at the end of the night, that’s what we’re here to do and that’s what we did.”

    With Crafton locking up his third Truck Series championship, he becomes one of the few drivers to do so in Truck Series history.

    “Oh, it’s awesome. Like I said, one step closer to the great Truck Series guy Ron Hornaday. We can battle with them again next year and maybe we can get number four.”

    Quite possibly lost in the shuffle was the Owner Series Championship. Four drivers were also battling for that as well. In the end, however, it was newly announced Kyle Busch Motorsports driver Christian Eckes who helped the team secure its seventh owner’s championship in the team’s existence.

    “I struggled for most of the race, honestly,” Eckes said to MRN Radio. “Got a little better out there in front. Rudy (Fugle, Crew Chief) made a great call, able to lead some laps and come home third. It’s awesome to get another championship with these guys. Just ready for 2020.”

    Hill led five times for 56 laps en route to the fourth win of his career. There were three cautions for 14 laps and 12 lead changes among six different drivers.

    Official Results

    1. Austin Hill – led 56 laps, won both stages
    2. Matt Crafton – led nine laps, 2019 Truck Series Champion
    3. Christian Eckes – led 26 laps, won Owners Championship for KBM
    4. Ross Chastain – led 36 laps
    5. Brett Moffitt – led three laps
    6. Johnny Sauter
    7. Grant Enfinger
    8. Todd Gilliland
    9. Sheldon Creed
    10. Parker Kligerman
    11. Stewart Friesen
    12. Ben Rhodes
    13. Harrison Burton
    14. Joe Nemechek – one lap down
    15. Gus Dean – led four laps, one lap down
    16. Tanner Gray – one lap down
    17. Jesse Little, one lap down
    18. Tyler Dippel – one lap down
    19. Austin Wayne Self – one lap down
    20. Natalie Decke1r – one lap down
    21. Jordan Anderson – two laps down
    22. Tyler Ankrum – 2019 Truck Series Rookie of The Year, two laps down
    23. Tyler Hill- two laps down
    24. Colby Howard – two laps down
    25. Danny Bohn – two laps down
    26. Codie Rohrbaugh – four laps down
    27. Cory Roper – five laps down
    28. Jennifer Jo Cobb- six laps down
    29. Angela Ruch – seven laps down
    30. Josh Bilicki – OUT, Electrical
    31. Ray Ciccarelli, OUT, Oil Line
    32. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, Engine, Did Not Start

    Up Next: The 2019 Truck Series season is officially over after race No. 23. The next on-track action will be the 2020 season opener at Daytona on Friday, Feb. 14.