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  • Championship Analysis: Matt Crafton

    Championship Analysis: Matt Crafton

    In Part 3 of the Championship Analysis series ahead of the Championship 4 race at Homestead-Miami, Speedway Media takes an in-depth look at the Truck Series veteran Matt Crafton. Crafton is competing in his third Championship 4 finale and seeks his third Truck Series title in a career that has spanned over 20 years.

    It’s been a strange season, to say the least, for Matt Crafton and the No. 88 ThorSport Racing team. The ThorSport driver will be chasing his third title for the third time in the Truck Series Playoffs. When looking at the stats for this season, Crafton has only earned six top fives and 17 top-10 finishes with only 35 laps led. He’s come close a couple of times to winning but has never been able to pull it off.

    How He Got Here: Luck. It’s been all luck this past season for the California native, who is chasing his third career Truck Series championship. If it wasn’t for three stage wins, I’m not really sure if we would be talking about Crafton right now. Sure, he’s been consistently finishing in the top-10 but the 2019 season hasn’t been a stellar year for him. Crafton has shined a couple of times, though, finishing second at Fort Worth in June plus earning three poles, at Kansas, Charlotte and Talladega. However, disarray arose when the Playoffs started at Las Vegas in September. Engine issues plagued Crafton to a 30th place finish. Even then, he was facing possible elimination, but somehow made it through to live on another day. Then came Martinsville, where once again electrical issues resulted in a 23rd place finish for Crafton. However, with a sixth-place finish and enough points, the California native will be competing in his third Championship 4 race Friday night.

    Championship Chances: If Crafton can avoid having electrical issues as he has faced in the Playoffs, then he most certainly has a shot like the other three contenders. The ThorSport driver knows how to get it done in situations like these. It wasn’t all that long ago that Crafton took a beat-up truck and won the championship before the playoff system was set in stone. However, I am concerned with the team not yet winning this season which may provide a challenge for Crafton. However, knowing the crafty veteran, he has seen the ins and outs of what it takes to win the title. Being hungry for that first win in two years, he may just pull a rabbit out of the hat and notch his third Truck Series championship.

    Final Analysis: If Crafton can get another championship, it would just be another list of accomplishments added to his Hall of Fame career. At 43-years-old, he has a couple more years left in hopes to get a few more championships to his name in a career that has spanned over 20 years dating back to 2000. However, it has been noted, Crafton hopes to be like Ron Hornaday and keep contending for wins before it’s time to call it a career. 

  • Friesen wins at ISM, Truck Series Championship 4 set

    Friesen wins at ISM, Truck Series Championship 4 set

    AVONDALE, Ariz. — Stewart Friesen wins at ISM Raceway in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series in Friday’s Lucas Oil 150, as the Championship 4 are now officially set for next weekend’s title-deciding race.

    “We’ve got a badass piece for next week, too,” stated a confident Friesen, as he locked himself into next Friday’s championship race.

    After facing an opening-lap penalty for beating polesitter Austin Hill to the line on the initial start, Friesen battled his way back to the front, leading 44 laps in the 150 lap event.

    “It was a great race car,” said Friesen, who was sent to the rear of the field after getting to the stripe ahead of Hill, who spun his tires on the initial start. “We were able to pass ‘em all, pass ‘em all clean.

    “Great race car, great race team. We’ll all celebrate tomorrow, and then it’s game on.”

    The other three drivers to join him will be Ross Chastain, Matt Crafton and last year’s champion, Brett Moffitt.

    “My main concern for the day was getting us locked into the owner points as well,” Moffitt said. “We got both jobs done today.”

    Chastain declared points for the Truck series partway through the season, and now finds his team as one of the four who will race for the 2019 title.

    “Man, this is crazy — a dream come true though,” Chastain said.

    Crafton was below the cutoff line, but was strong all day and earned many points from Stage 1 and 2 to earn his way into Miami.

    “I didn’t have anything to lose and everything to gain,” Crafton said. “And that’s the way I drove it from the green flag to the checkered flag.”

    Brandon Jones was the highest finishing non-Playoff driver in the runner-up position. With roughly 30 laps remaining, he radioed to his crew to ask about Friesen’s point status. When his crew chief responded that Friesen was essentially locked in, the No. 19 driver drove more aggressively after the leader. He, however, fell short when they battled through lapped traffic.

    At the end of the night, two drivers were eliminated: Hill and Tyler Ankrum. Ankrum missed the first three races of the year but was able to make it as far as the Round of 6 before missing the final round. Even he didn’t realize he would make it this far but looked back on the year with much to learn. As he reflected on his year, he felt some races were missed opportunities but was still proud of what he was able to accomplish as one of the bigger underdogs of the field.

    “For me, I think there’s one or two races we should have won, but didn’t win,” Ankrum stated when reviewing his first full-time season as a whole. “I think Pocono is one of those. I think I could have done a lot better at Canada finishing wise. Bristol could have been a lot better with electrical issues there and then Las Vegas, burning up two pistons. Stuff like that I look back on and those things are out of my control, and I think we could have had a really good race, then we didn’t.

    “In most people’s eyes, we’ve overachieved or exceeded our expectations, which I’m really proud of. For me, personally, I’m really proud of what we’ve done here this year. Not just based off of what we’ve done on the racetrack, but also between what we’ve done as a team working really well together and become a family.”

    As for Hill, he knew he needed to stay ahead of Ankrum and Crafton. He started strong by earning the pole in qualifying earlier in the day and was able to outrun Ankrum during the race, who finished six laps down. But Crafton beat Ankrum overall both in finishing position and with points collected with 15 more points. That gave Crafton the edge over Hill by just a handful of points to push Hill below the cutoff line.

    “We were getting eaten up on the restarts, and were put in the middle 3-wide sometimes,” Hill shared after the race. “When we had a really long run, we were okay. That last run, we tried to loosen it up but it was the tightest we ever were. We just didn’t perform; we didn’t execute like we were supposed to. We had high hopes after qualifying on the pole, and we just fell back like an anchor.”

    The last race of the season will be held next weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

  • Truck Series Playoff Drivers Lose the Brawl at Martinsville

    Truck Series Playoff Drivers Lose the Brawl at Martinsville

    For those focused on the Playoff drivers in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series, it became a matter of who would be struck down next.

    Todd Gilliland prevailed at Martinsville Speedway in an overtime finish, holding off Ross Chastain, who if victorious would have been the first driver to lock himself into the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He instead now sits just 20 points above the cutoff line.

    The bright side for Chastain is he was the only Playoff driver in the top five.

    With no Playoff drivers yet locked into the final race of the season, Martinsville proved yet again that it is fully capable of shuffling the points standings, creating uncertainty, and causing drama and chaos for all the race teams. After Talladega Superspeedway last weekend, and the paperclip short track on Saturday, the Truck series has just one race left to determine who will race for a championship. How did everyone fare at the short track this weekend?

    Stage One Winner Suffers Race-Ending Damage

    The Stage 1 winner and last year’s series champion, Brett Moffitt, was involved in several incidents throughout the day. That damage eventually caused fatal issues to the engine of the No. 24 Silverado after only 122 of 200 scheduled laps. He would finish in 29th position after leading 80 laps.

    “That’s Martinsville. It’s a bummer,” Moffitt said on Fox Sports.

    “People just racing too aggressive too early. Everyone at GMS (Racing) gave me a really fast CMR Construction & Roofing Chevrolet. It’s a bummer to see them like this. This was one of those dominant trucks that we’ve had a few times this year. I felt like no matter what as long as we stayed clean, we were gonna win the thing.”

    Moffitt recognized quickly though that he dodged a bullet, as many other Playoff drivers also had issues including a “Big One” that brought out a 15-minute red flag.

    “I guess the good takeaway is that we have a nice points buffer depending on how this all plays out going into Phoenix,” said the point leader coming into today’s race and after the checkered flag dropped. “Certainly not in a must-win situation. We just gotta go have a good day at Phoenix.”

    Crafton Openly Criticizes Spec Engine for Rough Day

    Despite having a competitive truck, Matt Crafton stalled under a yellow flag during Stage 2. With pit cycles in front of him, the No. 88 ThorSport Racing Ford was forced to come down pit road for evaluation. The pit crew changed the battery, the ECU and more regarding electronic and motor concerns before being able to get back onto the track.

    “Yeah, exactly, it was horrible,” Crafton said in response to one reporter’s question. “Three of the six (Playoff) trucks out for similar issues where we’re handcuffed and forced to run. We had a phenomenal truck. When I’d fall back, I could be two tenths faster than the leaders there at the end of the race when we were tire for tire. Something out of our control, again.”

    It wasn’t too long ago when the spec engine program was under fire. Several NASCAR Truck Series title contenders faced engine failures in the final race of the first playoff elimination round at Las Vegas Motor Speedway earlier this season. Three of the four Thorsport Racing vehicles — Johnny Sauter, Crafton and Grant Enfinger — finished 29th, 30th and 31st in Vegas, respectively. Sauter and Enfinger were the two drivers eliminated from the Playoffs that round because of the finishes. Crafton slid by on points.

    On Saturday, Crafton was faced with a very similar issue and now heads to ISM Raceway where he hopes to slide by on points once again.

    Big One Collects Two Title Contenders, Nine Trucks in Total

    The “Big One” isn’t just for Daytona or Talladega. A nine-truck crash coming out of Turn 2 brought out the red flag for roughly 15 minutes. When the smoke cleared, two more Playoff drivers were caught up in the incident: Austin Hill and Tyler Ankrum.

    A slip by one of the front runners bottled up the middle of the pack on a restart. When some drivers attempted three, even four-wide passing out of Turn 2, chaos ensued. Other drivers involved included the regular-season champion Enfinger and Stage 2 winner Sam Mayer — the 2019 K&N Pro Series East champion.

    Hill took his truck to the garage and was done for the day. Ankrum tried to return to the race, but could not make minimum speed. He was eventually black flagged, and would finish the day with a DNF. They would finish 25th (Anrkum) and 26th (Hill).

    Friesen Recovers to Sixth After Late Spin

    On Lap 149, Martinsville attempted to take on another championship contender. Stewart Friesen was battling Sauter when he knocked into Friesen to send him spinning out of Turn 4. The caution would wave, and Friesen would use pit strategy and other yellow flags to climb his way up to sixth.

    Friesen didn’t hit anything, and all his competitors avoided him, so he came down pit road for fresh tires and fought his way back up to sixth. He also avoided other wrecks, including two separate incidents on the final lap.

    But looking throughout the race, it could have been a much different story. For now, he sits second in points, 35 points above the cutoff line. Currently, no driver is locked in, but he could join Moffitt to potentially lock himself in depending on how he finishes in both stages at the final Round of 6 race.

    After a wild race at Martinsville, here’s how the playoff picture looks with no drivers locked in: Moffitt (+45), Friesen (+35), Chastain (+20), Hill (+9), Crafton (-9) and Ankrum (-15). The Truck series will compete next at ISM Raceway with the Lucas Oil 150 (Friday, Nov. 8 at 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1). Two drivers will be eliminated from the playoffs at the conclusion of that race.

  • Friesen survives, wins his first career race at Eldora

    Friesen survives, wins his first career race at Eldora

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Stage 2:

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

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

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

    Final Stage:

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

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

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

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

  • NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Preview-Kentucky

    NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Preview-Kentucky

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

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

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

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

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

    Here are five drivers to keep an eye on in Thursday night’s Buckle Up in Your Truck 225.

    1. Matt Crafton – Kentucky could be the place where Crafton breaks his long two-year winless streak. He is the most experienced driver with the most active starts at 20, ever since the first race here in 2001. The No. 88 ThorSport Racing driver has just one win here that occurred in 2015 when he started on the pole and led 43 laps that night. Otherwise, he has six top fives and 15 top-10 finishes with one DNF. Crafton’s average finish is 9.9 with 79 laps led overall. The Tulare, California driver has finishes of third in 2018, eighth in 2017 and 2016, a win in 2015 and sixth in 2014. He doesn’t have any stage wins, but Crafton finished sixth in Stage 1 and ninth in Stage 2 in the 2018 race. Keep an eye on the No. 88 Menards driver who hopes to snap his winless streak Thursday night.

    2. Ben Rhodes – The ThorSport train continues with Ben Rhodes. Rhodes is the previous race winner at Kentucky after leading 38 laps last year. It was a hometown win for Rhodes, as he resides in Louisville, Kentucky just 57 minutes away from Kentucky Speedway. However, prior to his win, Kentucky Speedway had not been too kind to Rhodes. He crashed out of the race in 2017, finishing 27th, and finished 13th in his first race in 2016. The Kentucky native has an average finish of 13.7 with an average start of 5.7. It will mark one year since Rhodes has not won a race in the Truck Series. He currently sits somewhat comfortable in the standings, in fifth, 98 points behind first. He’ll need a win or a finish in the top 10, or top five, to contend in the Playoffs.

    3. Stewart Friesen – Speaking of being close to winning, Friesen has a decent chance of getting his first win Thursday night. He finished second to Rhodes in last year’s race after leading 37 laps. He has Stage finishes of seventh and fourth in the 2018 race, but no stage top-10 finishes in 2017. The Canadian finished 12th in his first outing two years ago. Look for Friesen and his No. 52 Halmar Racing team to be a contender in Thursday night’s race at Kentucky.

    4. Brandon Jones – The Joe Gibbs Racing Xfinity Series regular returns to the famed No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports truck this week. The Atlanta, Georgia native has four starts at Kentucky Speedway and has finished in the top-10 in every start since 2015. Jones has had great results with a best finish of second in 2017. His other finishes include fourth in 2018, seventh in 2016 and 10th in 2015, which equal an average finish of 5.8. The No. 51 truck has not seen victory lane since Texas last month when Greg Biffle earned a popular victory. At Kentucky, the truck has not been to victory lane since 2014 when team owner Kyle Busch brought it to victory lane. Jones will try to put that No. 51 truck back in the winner circle this weekend.

    5. Todd Gilliland – Gilliland has just one start which came in last year’s race. The No. 4 KBM driver finished seventh after starting second and led just one lap. Gilliland has a stage finish of third and sixth in both stages that came in the 2018 race.

    Other drivers on the entry list include Codie Rohrbaugh in the No. 9, Spencer Davis in the No. 11, Dylan Lupton in the No. 15, Tyler Ankrum in the No. 17 and Brennan Poole returns with his No. 30 machine. Josh Bilicki will compete in the No. 34, Chad Finley returns to the track in the No. 42, Jeb Burton in the No. 44, Ray Ciccarelli in the No. 49, Tyler Hill in the No. 56 and Clay Greenfield in the No. 68.

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

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

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

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

    The Buckle Up in Your Truck 225 can be seen live on Fox Sports 1 and MRN Radio with the green flag flying shortly after 7:30 p.m. ET. Stages will be broken up into 35/70/150 laps to make up the 225-mile race.

  • Four Takeaways from the NASCAR Ganders Outdoors Truck Series race at Iowa

    Four Takeaways from the NASCAR Ganders Outdoors Truck Series race at Iowa

    The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series returned to Iowa Speedway this weekend for their 10th race of the 2019 season.

    It was quite a newsworthy race with original winner Ross Chastain being disqualified and Brett Moffitt being declared the new winner, along with Johnny Sauter being parked by NASCAR officials for an incident with Austin Hill under caution. The Truck Series race was quite possibly one of the most talked about events in recent NASCAR memory this season.

    It was the first time in nearly 25 years that a race win has been taken away. What’s more amazing is that Moffitt became the first winner to not lead a single lap in 66 years.

    On the other hand, we had a young, up and coming phenomenon who is making a name for himself in the ARCA Menards Series and is considered a future NASCAR Cup Series star in the years to come.

    So what else happened in the event? Here’s a look at this week’s four takeaways.

    1. Chandler Smith Impressive In Rookie Debut – You’ve probably already heard a lot about Smith from this past weekend, but seriously, this kid is impressive and is the next real deal. Sure, qualifying was rained out which gave him the advantage of the pole position but he remained strong throughout the race. Smith led the first 55 laps of the event before a late stage caution forced him to come down pit road to fix his radio issues. Despite those radio issues, he continued to work his way back into the top-10 to finish fourth in Stage 2. However, another unfortunate circumstance took place at the end of the stage, as Smith was caught speeding on pit road which sent him to the back of the field. The highest position Smith was able to obtain after that was fifth, but he eventually had to settle for an eighth-place finish. Not bad for your first time out in a Truck Series start. Expect more big things to come from Smith in the future. He’s also setting the ARCA world on fire earning four career wins, 11 top fives and 14 top-10 finishes, along with seven poles over a span of 14 races. It’s quite impressive for a driver who is only 16-years-old.

    2. ThorSport Racing Continues Strong Championship Run – Despite Sauter being parked and finishing 28th, ThorSport Racing continued their run toward a championship this season. Both drivers Ben Rhodes and Matt Crafton each won a stage respectively. Crafton won the first stage and Rhodes the second. Grant Enfinger was up there as well finishing second in Stage 1 and third in Stage 2 after post-race inspection. Before Sauter was parked, he was up there as well, finishing third in Stage 1 and 10th in Stage 2. ThorSport has three of their four drivers in the top five point standings. Enfinger leads over Crafton by 47 points, with Rhodes in fifth. Sauter now sits on the cut off line in eighth, 103 points behind. He will be suspended for Gateway, but will still remain playoff eligible, despite the suspension. Now, Enfinger, Crafton and Rhodes all just need a win to help their chances even more.

    3. Johnny Sauter Suspended – Well, we’ve all been waiting for it and Sauter has been suspended for the upcoming race at Gateway this weekend but at what cost? I’ve always learned, while one is at fault for their actions, the other is too. I think it would have only been right for both drivers to be suspended this weekend to learn from their actions. Oh by the way, if you’re near Dells Raceway Park Saturday night, Sauter will be there as well, as he tweeted below.

    Change of plans…Dells Raceway Park Saturday night Dick Trickle 99! Ya know a Real Racer #DickTrickle #SupportYourLocalShortTrack pic.twitter.com/SIxEDeUIbv— Johnny Sauter (@JohnnySauter) June 18, 2019

    4. Stewart Friesen Gets Top Five Finish – Lost in all the controversy following Sunday’s race is Friesen and his No. 52 Halmar Racing team, who earned another top-five finish this season. Friesen and his team finished 10th, and sixth in both stages respectively. It was his six top-10 finish of the season and he currently sits third in the point standings, 49 points behind Grant Enfinger.

  • NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Preview- Iowa

    NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Preview- Iowa

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

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

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

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

    With that said, here are five drivers to keep an eye on in Saturday’s M&M’s 200.

    1. Matt Crafton – After having a strong run in last week’s race at Texas, finishing second to Biffle, Crafton looks to carry that momentum forward in hopes of finally snapping his two-year winless streak dating back to Eldora of 2017. Iowa could be the place to do it. The No. 88 driver has 12 starts at the Newton facility earning one win in 2011. Other career stats include five top fives and 10 top-10 finishes, 109 laps led, two DNFs and 96.6% laps completed. Up until the 2017 race, Crafton finished inside the top-10 in every race. The last two years, however, he’s had disappointing finishes, crashing out in two consecutive races that left him with finishes of 19th and 26th. Before wrecking out last year, Crafton finished second in Stage 1 and 10th in Stage 2. Keep an eye on the No. 88 ThorSport Racing team as they’ll try to break that winless drought.

    2. Brett Moffitt – Moffitt has a perfect track record of a 100% success rate, but that’s because he only has one start at the .875 mile racetrack in Iowa. His win came last year in exciting fashion. In a last-ditch effort by now Xfinity Series driver Noah Gragson, made a dive bomb move in Turns 3 and 4 in hopes of making a last lap pass on Moffitt. Gragson’s effort failed as he would take the lead for a split second, but he wound up hitting the wall and Moffitt went by him with a margin of victory by .333 seconds. This year, however, has been a bit of a challenge for the 2018 Truck Series champion who drives the No. 24 GMS Racing Chevrolet. He still has no wins but has four top fives and five top-10 finishes with one pole. Iowa could be the place where a winning streak could start up again. After all, it is his hometown racetrack as Moffitt is from Grimes, Iowa, just 48 minutes east of the track.

    3. Stewart Friesen – Friesen, driver of the No. 52 for Halmar Racing, is hoping to get the monkey off his back, especially after crashing last week. He has one start which came last year with a ninth-place finish after leading 48 laps. Friesen finished fourth in Stage 1 and won Stage 2. Friesen is looking to finally get that win that has eluded him for so long.

    4. Johnny Sauter – When looking at statistics, race fans may be surprised when they see Sauter does not have any wins at Iowa. Like Crafton, he has made every start since the track held its first Truck Series race back in 2009. Over the 12 races at Iowa, Sauter has eight top fives and nine top-10 finishes with 110 laps led and an average finish of 7.2. In the last two races, he has finishes of fifth and second. His best finish with ThorSport racing is second back in 2010, nine years ago. It will be interesting to see if Sauter and the No. 13 team can finally get a win and cross Iowa Speedway off the win checklist.

    5. Ross Chastain – Chastain continues his fight to make the Playoffs this week at Iowa. He has five starts with only one top-five finish back in 2013 driving for Brad Keselowski after starting on the pole and leading 116 laps. His other finishes include a finish of 16th in 2012, 11th in the fall race of 2012 and 13th in 2013 before he finished second later in the year and 30th last year. But, Chastain is with Niece Motorsports and has finished inside the top-10 in every Truck Series race this season including a win at Kansas last month. Chastain’s playoff run will be an interesting story to watch throughout the summer.

    There are some different names on the entry list this week. Juan Manuel Gonzalez returns to Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing to drive the No. 10. Gonzalez has no Truck starts as he attempted the Martinsville race with the same team but failed to qualify. Raphael Lessard also returns to the series to pilot the No. 17 DGR-Crosley Toyota. C.J. McLaughlin will be in the No. 33 for Reaume Racing and Mason Massey will attempt to make his first NASCAR debut. Chad Finley is back racing for his family-owned team in the No. 42. Future upcoming star Chandler Smith will be making his NASCAR debut for Kyle Busch Motorsports driving the famed No. 51. Tyler Hill returns in the No. 56 for Hill Motorsports. Lou Goss will try to make his first NASCAR attempt in the No. 74 and team owner Josh Reaume will pilot the No. 87 Nemco Motorsports Chevrolet.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

    NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Power Rankings- Texas II

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

      Previous Week Ranking: 2nd

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

      Previous Week Ranking- Not Ranked

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

      Previous Week Ranking- Not Ranked

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

      Previous Week Ranking- 4th

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

      Fell Out

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

      Previous Week Ranking- 1st

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

      Previous Week Ranking- 1st

  • ThorSport Racing places two drivers in the top five at Texas

    ThorSport Racing places two drivers in the top five at Texas

    The ThorSport Racing team started out strong at Texas Motor Speedway, winning Stages 1 and 2 in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race. But after Johnny Sauter wrecked early on and Ben Rhodes had a transmission failure, only Matt Crafton and Grant Enfinger had a realistic shot of winning the race for the team.

    Matt Crafton was the highest of the ThorSport finishers. falling 0.963 seconds short to eventual race winner Greg Biffle. Crafton started 10th and stayed in the top-10 for most of the night.

    In Stage 1, Crafton worked his way up to finish fifth in the first stage and eighth in the second stage. He remained relatively quiet in the third stage, avoiding all the wrecks which put him up front for a late race restart with 10 to go, starting on the second row.

    Crafton, who has been winless for almost two years, was chasing down Greg Biffle in the closing laps in hopes of snapping his winless streak. However, the No. 88 Menards Ford F-150 would have to wait for another race to break the winless drought.

    “Just trying to get to his (Greg Biffle) rear bumper,” Crafton told MRN Radio in his post-race interview. “With four to go, getting down into Turn 1, I just got really tight and didn’t make up the difference. Maybe I should have waited until one to go. It’s just so aero-dependent, track position just sucks. I wanted that 50 grand bad.”

    It was Crafton’s six top five of the 2019 season.

    His teammate, Grant Enfinger, also finished in the top five by placing his No. 98 in the fourth position. Enfinger finished third and fourth in both stages and led two times for 44 laps.

    “We kept getting the raw deal under caution,” Enfinger said describing his race. “I still haven’t figured that out, everyone makes mistakes I guess. I saw a yellow flag come out one of those times and I slowed down, everybody went around us. Just frustration, because we gave them everything we got. Got an incredibly fast Protect The Harvest ThorSport Racing Ford F-150. Definitely capable of winning this race tonight, just didn’t have the track position when we needed it. Don’t know if we could have done anything different. I got into some hairy spots. Got our air taken off, got pushed around a little bit but was able to save the truck and survive a wild night here, but I feel like we really gave away a chance to win.”

    The fourth place finish was Enfinger’s fifth top five of the year.

    Johnny Sauter won Stage 1 but was caught up in a wreck during Stage 2 which took him out of contention to win. Sauter earned a disappointing 13th place finish after starting on the outside pole.

    Ben Rhodes had a pretty similar night winning Stage 2, but a transmission failure plagued the No. 99 Carolina Nut Company Ford F-150 to a 21st place finish.