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  • 2020 Xfinity Series Playoff outlook after Kentucky

    2020 Xfinity Series Playoff outlook after Kentucky

    For the second time this season, the NASCAR Xfinity Series ran a doubleheader feature on two consecutive dates, this week being at Kentucky Speedway. When both races were complete, the series featured a new winner to this season as Austin Cindric rallied from a season highlighted with near misses to win his first two races of 2020.

    For Cindric and his No. 22 Team Penske Ford Mustang team, it all started on Thursday, July 9, when he outlasted fellow competitor Chase Briscoe through a handful of late restarts and cautions to record his elusive first victory of this year’s Xfinity season and his first on an oval-shaped circuit. Then, he came roaring back on Friday, July 10, with a dominating victory, leading more than half of the 200-scheduled laps and the final 43, to win his second consecutive race in a similar fashion to his first two career victories in August 2019 between Watkins Glen International and at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. 

    Cindric’s breakthrough win at the Bluegrass State, now, guarantees six regulars into the 2020 Playoffs, a list that include points leader Chase Briscoe, Noah Gragson, rookie Harrison Burton, Justin Haley and Brandon Jones. The second half of the 12-car Playoff field remains to be determined with the Playoffs within sight, though not scheduled.

    With solid third- and fourth-place finishes at Kentucky, Ross Chastain and his No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet Camaro team are the highest of those above the cutline with no recorded victories through the first 15 races of this season. The results, nonetheless, have Chastain with six top-five results and 276 points above the cutline.

    Behind, Justin Allgaier rallied from a harrowing last-lap accident in the first Kentucky event that sent him to the hospital to post a strong fifth-place result the following day. While he, too, continues to pursue his first win of the year and since November 2019 at Phoenix, Allgaier and his No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro team are 184 points above the cutline.

    The two Kentucky races produced strong results for Michael Annett and rookie Riley Herbst. For Annett, it started with a fifth-place result on Thursday and he came back the following race to finish eighth. The results kept Annett and his No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro team 136 points above the cutline. For Herbst, a pair of top-10 results were much needed for the Las Vegas rookie, who has had an up-and-down season prior to Kentucky. It all started on Thursday, where Herbst made a late charge to finish in the runner-up spot, which tied his best result in the series since finishing second to teammate Harrison Burton at Auto Club Speedway on Leap Day. For Friday, Herbst was in position for another strong run when he was hampered with a late pit road speeding penalty. His 10th-place result was not only the eighth of this season, but it was also enough to keep him and his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Supra team 69 points above the cutline.

    That leaves Ryan Sieg and Brandon Brown in sole possession of the final two spots to the Playoffs. For Sieg, it was an up-and-down week that started with a ninth-place result on Thursday. The ninth-place result marked his first top-10 result since Darlington Raceway in May followed by eight consecutive results of results outside the top 10, finishing no higher than 12th during the eight previous races and despite winning two stages in two consecutive races at Homestead-Miami Speedway in June. Everything, however, changed the following Kentucky race on Friday, when suspension issues and a 35th-place result has Sieg and his No. 39 RSS Racing Chevrolet Camaro team just 57 above the cutline. For Brown, finishes of 27th and 13th have him 14 points above the top-12 cutline.

    The first trailing outside the cutline is Myatt Snider, who finished 15th on Thursday but 31st the following race at Kentucky after a crash. With a full season under his belt between RSS Racing and Richard Childress Racing, Snider remains in contention and within sight of the top-12 cutline by 14 points. Behind, Jeremy Clements recorded strong results in both Kentucky races, where he finished 12th on Thursday and came back to finish 11th on Friday after leading the first 11 laps. The top-10 results in both Kentucky races have the South Carolina native trailing the top-12 cutline by 30 points and with an opportunity to reach his second career Playoffs since 2017. The top-10 results at the Bluegrass State have tallied Clements’ top-15 results of 2020 to nine as his average result of 18.1 through the first 15 Xfinity races is his personal best. In addition, through the first 15 races, Clements has led a total of 12 laps, which ties his most laps led in a season, (2011 and 2017), with an opportunity to surpass the mark and establish a new record of laps led in a season.

    Among those still pursuing the cutline include Alex Labbe, rookie Jesse Little, Josh Williams, B.J. McLeod, rookie Joe Graf Jr. and Vinnie Miller.

    The NASCAR Xfinity Series will return for its upcoming race at Texas Motor Speedway on July 18, which will air at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

  • Snider to compete rest of 2020 Xfinity Series season full-time

    Snider to compete rest of 2020 Xfinity Series season full-time

    Eight races into the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, Myatt Snider will compete on a full-time basis in the series for the rest of this season while splitting driving responsibilities between the No. 21 Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress Racing and the No. 93 Chevrolet Camaro for RSS Racing.

    The 25-year-old native from Charlotte, North Carolina, was originally slated to compete in seven Xfinity races with RCR and multiple races with RSS Racing, totaling 20 races. With the announcement of his full-time campaign, Snider will return for this weekend’s doubleheader feature at Homestead-Miami Speedway on June 13-14. He will compete in all but three Xfinity races for RSS Racing for the remainder of this season as he will drive for RCR at Pocono Raceway on June 28 and the final two series races of the season at Martinsville Speedway on October 31 and at Phoenix Raceway on November 7.

    Snider’s announcement will make him eligible for the post-season championship battle in the series since he has started in every scheduled race through June 6.

    Snider has spent the last four years working his way through the ranks of NASCAR from the ARCA Menards Series to the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series. He scored his first ARCA career win at Toledo Speedway while driving for Cunningham Motorsports in 2016 before competing on a part-time basis with Kyle Busch Motorsports in the 2017 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series season. In 2018, he competed on a full-time basis in the Truck Series for ThorSport Racing, where he earned eight top-10 finishes, finished ninth in the final standings and claimed the Rookie of the Year title. Last season, he embarked to Europe to compete in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series – ELITE 2 Division for Engineering Racing. In 13 races, Snider finished in the top 10 in all but two races, including two runner-up results, and settled in sixth in the final standings before returning to the United States of America.

    In his first eight Xfinity Series races this season, Snider has recorded one career pole, coming from the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway in February, and has finished in the top 10 twice, (10th at Charlotte and a career-best fifth at Bristol while driving for RCR). His best result with RSS Racing has been an 11th-place finish at Auto Club Speedway in February.

    The first NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway will air on June 13 at 3:30 p.m. on FOX while the second will air the following day, June 14, at noon ET on FS1.

  • NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Preview-Gateway

    NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Preview-Gateway

    After a crazy week in NASCAR’s third division, the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series will head to the World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

    The track was formerly known as Gateway Motorsports Park and is located in Madison, Illinois. Earlier in the season, World Wide Technology bought the track naming rights. There were 33 trucks on the preliminary entry list, however, the No. 30 of Brennan Poole has withdrawn from the race and the No. 0 of Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing has yet to be announced.

    After being suspended on Tuesday afternoon, ThorSport Racing has announced that part-time driver Myatt Snider will occupy the No. 13 for this weekend while Johnny Sauter is serving his suspension.

    Also, it appeared as if Greg Biffle, who won at Texas a couple of weeks ago, could be in the race, but he later found out that he was not eligible for The Triple Truck Challenge. Biffle had three starts at Gateway with one win and two top fives along with two poles at the track.

    Here’s a top five look at who might wheel it into victory lane Saturday night.

    1. Ben Rhodes – Rhodes has had a strong couple of finishes in the past few weeks and is carrying that momentum right on through. Since Martinsville, Rhodes has finished second, 10th at Texas, sixth at Dover, second at Kansas and fourth at Charlotte He had a transmission failure at Texas and previously finished second at Iowa. At Gateway, Rhodes’ first outing was in 2016, three years ago. In his first start, he started on the pole and finished second after leading four laps. The second year, he finished eighth while Rhodes finished 19th last year. Despite the finish last year, he has been finishing better in recent races. Rhodes average finish at Gateway is 9.7.

    2. Todd Gilliland – Gateway could be the place where Gilliland might break through for a first career win. He did not fare well here in his first outing after starting fourth and finishing 21st. But he finished fourth in Stage 1 and fifth in Stage 2. Last year’s race was a better turnaround for the No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports team. Gilliland started eighth, finished third in Stage 2, and wound up second even after being involved in an incident mid-race. This time around, Gilliland will be piloting the “KBM-060, a brand-new chassis,” according to the KBM press release. Look for the Sherrills Ford, North Carolina driver to finish one spot better on Saturday night.

    3. Brett Moffitt – After a crazy turn of events following post-race inspection at Iowa, Moffitt was declared the new race winner. This happened after Ross Chastain who had been declared as the winner failed inspection. Last year’s champion could continue that winning streak at Gateway Saturday night. Moffitt has just one start, that came last year. Despite the finishing results not showing his strong efforts, the Grimes, Iowa native finished sixth in Stage 1 and fifth in Stage 2, respectively. He even led 18 laps, but finished a disappointing 14th. Moffitt and his new GMS Racing team will look forward to continuing their winning ways this weekend.

    4. Myatt Snider – Snider will be back in a truck for the first time since Martinsville earlier this season. He has one other start that came at Daytona, where Snider finished 21st after crashing out on Lap 62. He only has one start at Gateway, coming last year where he finished fourth, despite not earning a stage finish in the top-10. This weekend, however, despite unfortunate circumstances, the Charlotte, North Carolina driver will try to make the best of his ability to shine and turn a negative into a positive.

    5. Chandler Smith – After impressing the NASCAR world last weekend at Iowa, Smith returns to the Kyle Busch Motorsports team this weekend at Gateway. However, he will be competing in the No. 46 Toyota Tundra instead of the famed No. 51. Smith will also be having extra track time and doing double duty on Saturday by also competing in the ARCA Menards Series prior to the Truck Series race.

    Also on the entry list, we see the return of Christian Eckes who will be back in the No. 51. Cody McMahan will drive the No. 1 of Beaver Motorsports and Bryant Barnhill will be in the No. 34 for Josh Reaume. Ross Chastain will also look to rebound from a disappointing Iowa weekend in the No. 45 and Lou Goss is entered in the No. 174.

    After a four year hiatus, the Truck Series returned to the 1.250-mile paved track in Madison, Illinois in 2014. Since then, the track has seen five different winners and will see their sixth on Saturday night. Before the four year hiatus, however, World Wide Technology Raceway has seen 18 races with its first race in 1998.

    There’s a who’s who of winners that have won here.

    Rick Carelli was the first winner in 1998 and Greg Biffle won in 1999. Other winners include Jack Sprague, Ted Musgrave, Terry Cook, Brendan Gaughan, David Starr, Todd Bodine, Johnny Benson, Ron Hornaday, Mike Skinner, Kevin Harvick, Bubba Wallace, Cole Custer, Christopher Bell, John Hunter Nemechek and Justin Haley. The last five winners have gone on to competitively compete in the Xfinity Series.

    Surprisingly enough, Ted Musgrave has been the only repeat winner at Gateway, winning in 2001 and 2005.

    Qualifying is also important, as the lowest a race winner has ever come from was 14th set by David Starr back in 2004. The highest a race winner has ever come from was the pole position, three times, Musgrave in ’01 and ’05, and Harvick in 2010 before the track went on a hiatus.

    It will be a one day and night show for the Truck Series at Gateway. The first practice will be live on Saturday at 10:35 a.m. CT while final practice is scheduled at 12:35 p.m. CT. Qualifying can be seen live on Fox Sports 2 at 6:30 p.m. CT/7:30 p.m. ET.

    The CarShield 200 is set to take the green flag shortly after 9 p.m. CT/10 p.m. ET, Saturday night, live on Fox Sports 1 and MRN Radio.

  • Myatt Snider Earns Truck Series Rookie of the Year

    Myatt Snider Earns Truck Series Rookie of the Year

    Say goodbye to the rookie stripes, as Myatt Snider is a rookie no more after this season. Well, at least for the Truck Series. The 24-year-old locked up the 2018 Rookie of the Year award after a 14th place finish in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race Friday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

    Snider has three top fives and eight top-10 finishes to round out the season, along with a couple of stage wins. He talked about how excited he was to win the title.

    “Yeah, absolutely,” Snider told MRN Radio. “We started off really loose and loose off. I don’t think I’ve ever been this loose in my life. The whole crew at Thorsport Racing made some awesome adjustments. We made wholesale changes there and they got it handling really good.”

    “Toward the end, I could actually really drive it and we learned a lot tonight, and hope things go well for next year. Just so proud of everybody on the team. They brought me a great Tenda Ford Performance F-150. So happy to have all of our great partners to help us out tonight like Louisiana Hot Sauce. It’s a great night.”

     

  • NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Preview-Bristol

    NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Preview-Bristol

    “It’s the final countdown!” as the band Europe would sing.

    The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series makes their final stop at Bristol Motor Speedway before the playoffs begin next weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. While one driver will be crowned regular season champion, three other drivers currently sit on the bubble of making/not making the playoffs.

    Currently, there are 38 drivers entered on the preliminary entry list that will make up the 32 truck field Thursday night at Bristol.

    Here’s a look at what to expect and who might end up in the UNOH 200.

    1. John Hunter Nemechek – Nemechek has competed in the past four starts at Bristol. He and the No. 8 NEMCO Motorsports team have collected two top fives and four top-10 finishes. Nemechek has an average start of 12.5 and an average finish of 5.0. In the past five races, he finished third twice, eighth, and sixth. He has competed in the Truck Series event since 2014 and has completed 100 percent of the laps. Nemechek scored the victory at Martinsville this past April which is another short track, somewhat similar to Bristol. He finished 10th in Stage 2 in the 2017 race.
    2. Christopher Bell – Last year’s Truck Series champion returns to the field Thursday night at Bristol driving the No. 51 Hunt Brothers Pizza Toyota for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Bell has competed in two races at Bristol earning a seventh-place finish twice after starting fifth and second. He finished fourth and fifth respectively in both stages last year. KBM, however, has won here three times with Kyle Busch, who will not be able to compete in this year’s race due to restrictions. Harrison Burton was scheduled to drive the No. 51 but had to withdraw due to illness. Bell will fill in for Burton and will be tough to beat Thursday night at Bristol driving the famed No. 51.
    3. Johnny Sauter – Sauter will be crowned regular season champion just by starting the race. Even though he knows he’ll be the regular season champion, he’ll still be hungry for that first Bristol win. It will be his first win since Texas in June if he can pull it off. Sauter has competed in 10 races at the famous Bristol Motor Speedway. His first start came back in 2003 driving the No. 9 for Christopher Beckington but failed to finish that year due to an engine issue. However, Sauter returned to a Truck back in 2009 driving for Mike Curb until 2015. In the past two races, he has competed for GMS Racing. For Sauter, however, it’s been a mixed bag of results at the “World’s Fastest Half-Mile.” He has four top fives and six top-10 finishes, along with seven laps led and one DNF. With those stats, he has an average start of 12.4 and an average finish of 9.6. His best finish at Bristol was second back in 2011 after starting 12th. In the previous race, he finished eighth and seventh respectively in both stages.
    4. Parker Kligerman – If someone could upset this weekend, it could very well be the No. 75 Henderson Motorsports team of Parker Kligerman. Kligerman has four starts at Bristol with a best finish of second coming in 2012 for Red Horse Motorsports. In last year’s race, however, driving the No. 75, he finished eighth. During the span of his four starts, Kligerman has earned one top five and three top-10 finishes. For Charlie Henderson’s team, the No. 75 has competed at Bristol every year since 2012 with Caleb Holman as the driver until 2016. Their best finish came with Kligerman last year by finishing eighth. They currently have one win in the series which came last fall at Talladega. Their other best finish came this year at Charlotte, where he finished seventh.
    5. Ben  Rhodes – Rhodes has three starts at Thunder Valley. His best finish came last year where he finished fifth. In total, Rhodes has one top five and two top-10 finishes with one lap led. He has an average start of 7.3 and an average finish of 14.7. He finished seventh and fourth in both stages in 2017. Look for Rhodes to be up front and contend for the win.

    Playoff Bubble Drivers

    1. Grant Enfinger – Enfinger has one start which came in the 2017 race. He started seventh and finished fourth giving him his first top five at the track. If he continues to win stages or perhaps wins the race, he’ll be good to go for the Playoffs.
    2. Stewart Friesen- Like Enfinger, Friesen has been running somewhat consistently and is having his best year to date. He sits seventh in the Playoff standings with five Playoff points. He should be fine if there are no new winners. However, Friesen’s track stats don’t look all that great. He has two races, but no finishes inside the top 10. In 2017, he failed to finish due to an overheating problem and wound up 29th. In 2016, Friesen finished 16th. He can’t afford to have any of these issues during the race or he’ll be in jeopardy of missing the Playoffs.
    3. Matt Crafton – Crafton is the most experienced driver in the field. He’s competed at Bristol since 2003 and has 15 starts. During that span, he’s earned four top fives and nine top-10 finishes, along with 129 laps led and one DNF. His best finish came in 2017 and 2009, where he finished second. In 2016, he failed to finish with an engine problem. If Crafton can avoid any issues in Thursday’s night race and have no mechanical problems, he’ll also be locked in on points and be able to chase for his third championship.

    Outside Looking In

    1. Myatt Snider- Snider will be making his first ever Bristol start in the Truck Series driving the No. 13 Carolina Nut Company Ford. However, he has competed at Bristol before driving in the CARS Late Model Stock Tour Series. In fact, he won last year’s race at Bristol after starting on the pole and leading 80 laps. Snider also competed in this year’s Tour Series event at Bristol and finished third. He could very well end up in victory lane tomorrow night and solidify himself in the playoffs picture, possibly knocking out his teammate, Matt Crafton.
    2. Cody Coughlin – Coughlin has competed in one race here but did not finish in the top-10.
    3. Dalton Sargeant – It will be Sargeant’s first race back at Bristol since 2015, where he finished 10th after starting 18th. He has one NASCAR K&N Pro Series East start but finished 26th due to a crash.
    4. Todd Gilliland – Perhaps one driver who could spoil the spotlight is the No. 4 KBM driver, Todd Gilliland. He’ll be making his first Truck Series start at Bristol, but does have previous experience at the track. Gilliland has competed at Bristol in the K&N Pro Series East three times. During those three starts, he finished ninth, eighth, and won the event in 2018 after leading 64 laps.

    The Truck Series has competed at Bristol Motor Speedway since 1995. In those twenty starts, there have been 15 different race winners. Those winners include Joe Ruttman, Rick Carelli, Ron Hornaday, Jack Sprague, Travis Kvapil, Carl Edwards, Mike Skinner, Mark Martin, Johnny Benson, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Timothy Peters, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney and Ben Kennedy.

    Of those drivers, two have been able to repeat. These include Kyle Busch and Ron Hornaday with Busch having the most wins at five, and he is also the previous race winner.

    The lowest a driver has ever started to win the race is 12th back in 2003 by Travis Kvapil. The highest a driver has ever come from to win was the pole and that has been done five times by Ron Hornaday (twice), Kyle Busch (twice) and Mark Martin.

    The field of 38 that will turn into a field of 32 will have an all-day event Thursday.

    Two practice sessions will start the day for the truckers. First practice is scheduled for 9:05 a.m. ET while final practice takes place at 11:05 a.m. ET, both on Fox Sports 1. Qualifying is slated later in the afternoon at 4:10 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1.

    Race coverage begins on FOX and MRN Radio at 8:30 p.m. ET with the approximate green flag at 8:45 p.m. ET.

     

  • Four Takeaways from the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race at Pocono

    Four Takeaways from the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race at Pocono

    The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series visited the 2.5-mile racetrack located in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, Pocono Raceway. It was the 14th race of the season and there are now only two races left until the Playoffs begin at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

    Here are four takeaways from the Gander Outdoors 150.

    1. Kyle Ties Hornaday On All-Time Wins List – Kyle Busch was finally able to tie Ron Hornaday on the all-time wins list this past weekend. Both now have 51 wins in the series, but Busch reached 51 wins in just 145 starts, quicker than Hornaday. Busch dominated most of the race by winning the pole and leading 43 of the scheduled 60 laps. By not being able to gain any stage points due to him being a Cup Series driver, Busch was able to play strategy by pitting late in the stage in order to gain track position for the restarts. He almost got passed for the lead late in the race but held on to win in his final Truck Series start of the year. When Busch returns next year and the years beyond, the sky will be the limit on how many more wins he’ll get before wrapping up his career.
    2. Stages are too short, at least for Pocono – In Saturday’s race, the stages were broken up into 15/30/60. For a track that doesn’t produce much passing, there wasn’t a whole lot of activity during the stages as they were very short. The first stage went its maximum distance, but the second stage was 10 laps with the final stage going green with 25 to go. The drivers agreed in Friday’s media availability that the race was too short in order to produce more passing or make it a more exciting race. The race featured only nine lead changes, but that all came when the stage was winding down as drivers pitted early for track position. Other than that, the field was spread out. Busch and Erik Jones finished with a margin of victory of 1.4 seconds back. However, anyone after that was five, six, seven seconds back and so on. Perhaps Pocono is a track the Truck Series shouldn’t race on or possibly it’s the number of laps in the race, but something should be done in order to see a more competitive race.
    3. Noah Gragson Misses Race – Friday night on Gragson’s Twitter page, he reported that he was feeling sick but was going to race regardless of how he was feeling. However, on Saturday morning prior to qualifying, Noah was too sick to qualify the truck and eventually, too sick to compete in the race. With him missing a race, NASCAR granted him a medical waiver so that he will be able to compete in the Playoffs. Erik Jones, the 2015 Truck Series Champion, filled in for the ill Gragson. Jones placed second.
    4. Playoff Points Race Gets Tighter – With just two races left before the Playoffs began, the fight for the final three positions gets even tighter following Pocono. Enfinger, Friesen, and Crafton continue to be winless this year and will more than likely have to point there way in, if there aren’t any new winners. Enfinger has two playoff points while Friesen has four. Crafton has none. Myatt Snider is also on the outside looking in. With a much deserved off week this week, these four drivers, among others, are working hard to contend for the 2018 Truck Series championship. When the Truck Series returns to Michigan after an off week, drivers will be on their game and make more daring moves to get into the Playoffs. Nonetheless, the run for the championship continues to be exciting and no one really knows yet who the final four drivers will be at Homestead-Miami in November.
  • NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Preview-Chicago

    NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Preview-Chicago

    After another exciting race at Gateway last weekend, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series continues its season and reaches the halfway point at Chicagoland Speedway.

    Last year, this race was held prior to the eight race Playoffs and decided the regular season champion. However, this year, it is now a summertime race but it is still an important race as stage points and a race win are still up for grabs.

    Currently, there are 33 trucks entered on the preliminary entry list.

    Here’s who to expect on might end up in victory lane in Friday nights Overton’s 225.

    1. John Hunter Nemechek – Nemechek will pilot the No. 8 NEMCO Motorsports truck this weekend. He’ll be hungry for a win after exiting the race late last week at Gateway due to an issue. Chicago could be the place where he will break the drought and end up in victory lane. In three races, Nemechek has an average start of 13.7 and an average finish of 7.3. In that time span, he had one win which came in 2015 and he finished 14th and seventh in the last two races. Nemechek will be a prime contender in this week’s race if all the cards fall in the right place.
    2. Johnny Sauter – How could one ever overlook a four-time winner this year going for win number five? Sauter has nine starts dating back to 2009 and is the previous race winner.  He also has an average start of 9.1 and an average finish of 8.0 and has led 106 laps. Sauter earned a pole here back in 2014 where he finished 14th. In last year’s race, the No. 21 GMS Racing team finished second and fourth in the first two stages, respectively, before taking the lead on Lap 123 en route to victory after leading the final 28 laps.
    3. Myatt Snider – While Snider only has one start at Chicago which came last year after finishing 10th, he’ll have his Thorsport Racing teammates to lean on for advice, especially two-time champion, Matt Crafton, who has nine starts. He is also carrying momentum from last week’s fourth-place finish, which was his first top five of the year. .
    4. Todd Gilliland – After turning 18 a few weeks ago, Gilliland has been consistent with his finishes, despite not finishing at Iowa and being relegated to 29th. It will be his first start at Chicago, but it is also another 1.5-mile track where he does have experience. At Charlotte, he finished 10th with a sixth-place finish the following week at Fort Worth, both 1.5-mile tracks. It will be a little bit of a learning curve with it being his first start, but if past finishes say anything, Gilliland will be a contender for the win. He will also be competing in Thursday night’s ARCA race.
    5. Stewart Friesen – Friesen has been a solid contender this year in the Truck Series. If not for issues late in previous races this year, he could have had multiple race victories in 2018. At the 1.5-mile race tracks, he finished sixth at Atlanta, fifth at Las Vegas after leading 31 laps, third at Kansas (led six laps), sixth at Charlotte, won the pole and finished second at Texas while leading 13 laps. He has certainly been a contender for the win this year at these tracks, but for whatever reason, can’t quite get the No. 52 truck to victory lane yet. If he wins this weekend, not only will it be his first win, but it could be the first of many this season and he could be a prime contender at Homestead for the championship.

    The trucks have competed at Chicagoland nine times with five different winners, those being Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, James Buescher, Nemechek, and Sauter. Busch is the only repeat winner at the track with five wins.

    The trucks will have two practice sessions scheduled for Thursday afternoon. The first practice takes place at 5:30 p.m. ET and the final practice will be held at 6:35 p.m. ET with no live TV coverage.

    Qualifying is slated for Friday afternoon at 5:40 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 2.

    Race coverage begins at 8:30 p.m. ET and with the approximate green flag taking place at 9:19 p.m. ET, both on Fox Sports 1 and MRN Radio. Stages will be broken up into 35/70/150 laps.

  • NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Power Rankings-Gateway

    NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Power Rankings-Gateway

    The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series visited Gateway Motorsports Park this past weekend for race number 10 of 22 for the series.

    Just like last week’s finish at Iowa, the Truck Series regulars once again didn’t disappoint in the Eaton 200. Here’s a look at this weeks power rankings.

    1) Johnny Sauter – Sauter tops the power rankings this week with a third-place finish. While he didn’t win at Gateway, Sauter was a force to be reckoned with throughout the race. Despite not leading any laps, he placed in the top-10 in both stages and finished third after having a shot at the win in a late race restart. This was his ninth top-five finish of the year. Previous Week Ranking: 2nd

    2) Todd Gilliland – After last week’s troubles at Iowa in a crash, the Kyle Busch Motorsports driver and recent high school graduate, Gilliland, was able to celebrate a career-best finish of second. The 18-year-old driver started eighth but battled handling issues in Stage 1. He made a pit stop during the first caution and worked his way up to 12th for the first stage. Stage 2 was much better as he stayed inside the top-10 and finished third. When all was said and done, Gilliland placed the No. 4 Royal Canin Toyota second for his best career finish. Previous Week Ranking: Not Ranked

    3) Noah Gragson –  Gragson had the truck to beat in Saturday night’s race. With a strong qualifying effort of third, the Las Vegas Nevada driver finished second and fourth, respectively, in both stages. He had a dominant truck as Gragson led twice for 63 laps. However, late-race cautions hurt his chances for a shot at the win. In a restart with six to go, he drove into Turn 1 a little too wide and had to pit for tires with another late caution. Ultimately, Gragson had to settle for a 10th place finish and will have to wait another week to grab his second win of the season. Previous Week Ranking: 3rd

    4) Myatt Snider – Snider quietly posted his first top-five finish of the year. His team qualified 14th. After some varying pit strategy and cautions fell in their favor, Snider and his No. 13 Thorsport Racing team finished fourth. This puts him ninth in the standings and one spot below the cut off line. He now heads to Chicago for his first Truck Series start there, but he does have experience there racing in the ARCA Racing Series. Previous Week Ranking: Not Ranked

    5) Jesse Little – Just like Snider, Little had another quiet night inside the top-10. The small funded No. 97 team started ninth and finished ninth, and seventh, respectively in both stages. At the end of the night, Little finished seventh for his fourth top-10 of the year. Previous Week Ranking: 4th

    Fell Out of Power Rankings:

    1) Brett Moffitt – Moffitt had a strong truck throughout most of the race, however, with two to go for the restart, after the inside line had trouble restarting, Little had accidentally got lose and got into the No. 16 team who had spun out after that contact. Moffitt had to settle for a disappointing 14th place finish. The team is searching for sponsorship and is still unsure if they will be at Chicagoland this weekend.

    2) Harrison Burton- Burton did not compete in this weeks race due to age restriction and requirements

  • Myatt Snider Enjoys Best Finish Of The Year at Gateway

    Myatt Snider Enjoys Best Finish Of The Year at Gateway

    The 2018 Truck Series season has been a challenging one so far for the No. 13 Thorsport Racing driver, Myatt Snider.

    Starting off with Daytona, he was caught up in a wreck and finished 24th. The following week at Atlanta, Snider was able to finish inside the top-10, finishing seventh. Before Iowa, his last finish inside the top-10 was at the snow-delayed Martinsville race where he finished sixth.

    Excluding Iowa, Snider has not had the season he wanted with finishes of 15th twice and a 23rd place at Texas due to another accident. However, it seems as though his season starting to turnaround little by little.

    At Iowa, the team qualified 17th and placed 10th, earning his third top-10 finish of the year. And at Gateway this past weekend, it looks as though the team continues to gain momentum, getting better finishes.

    This week at Gateway, after qualifying in the 14th position, Snider stayed in the top 15 for both stages, finishing 15th and 13th, respectively. After benefiting from some late race cautions and staying out under one caution, the No. 13 Thorsport Racing team found themselves inside the top five and challenging for the win.

    Ultimately, Snider and his No. 13 The Carolina Nut Co. Ford finished fourth, earning his first ever top-five finish of the year.

    With that finish, he sits ninth in the point standings.

    “We got a lot of positions on that last restart,” Snider said. “It was a great job by my whole Carolina Nut Co. Ford F-150 team. We kept adjusting on it – we didn’t have the strongest truck all night, but my guys did everything they could to work on it and help it out. The fact that we worked our way up to fourth makes [this finish] even sweeter at Gateway. It was a good points day for us.”

  • Several Truck Series Veterans Leave Daytona Disappointed; Hopeful For Turnaround At Atlanta

    Several Truck Series Veterans Leave Daytona Disappointed; Hopeful For Turnaround At Atlanta

    The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series kicked-off its 23rd year of competition and its eighth year racing at Daytona International Speedway. Some drivers left Daytona happy, but others like Matt Crafton (still searching for his first win at Daytona) left unhappy. Others included Noah Gragson, John Hunter Nemechek, Myatt Snider, Stewart Friesen, Cody Coughlin and Brett Moffit.

    Thorsport Racing – Two of its entries were involved in multiple incidents at the 2.5-mile superspeedway. On Lap 74, Snider was collected in a six-truck crash. He barely made it through the crash but was caught at the last second by Nemechek. After finishing seventh in Stage 1, Snider’s night was done early and he was relegated to a 24th place finish after finishing in the top 10 last year.

    “I almost got through the wreck, but John (Hunter Nemechek) ended up coming down the track and we made contact,” Snider said.  “Then, I was in the grass and dug the splitter in and tore the nose off. We had a really good truck – the guys at ThorSport brought me a really good Liberty Tax Ford F-150, and I’m really proud of the work they’ve all done, especially for how quick we had to get things turned around before the season started. It’s a great group of guys, I just hate that all of their hard work ended up getting torn up like that.”

    Matt Crafton was involved in a five-truck crash late in the race on Lap 83. With the incident, Crafton is still searching for his first Daytona win and it will have to wait another year, as he wound up finishing 19th. Despite not getting the finish he wanted, Crafton is looking forward to Atlanta next weekend.

    “Tonight just wasn’t our night,” he said.  “We had the pit road issue early, and then we had an issue with something under the hood – never could quite figure that out. Then, there at the end, we got turned and had to make multiple trips down pit road to repair the damage on the rear. Overall though, this Menards Ford F-150 was good. Even after the pit road penalty, I knew we could make our way back to the front whenever we wanted, we just had to play it smart. Unfortunately, we just didn’t get to make that move. We will regroup and head to Atlanta next week – hands down one of my favorite tracks.”

    Cody Coughlin found himself in a new team this season driving the No. 2 JEGS Chevy for GMS Racing. Things started off well as he started 10th and finished there in Stage 1 while finishing fourth in Stage 2. However, at Daytona, you have to some luck in order to be there at the end to capitalize on it. Unfortunately, Coughlin was collected in the first wreck of the night off Turn 4. At the end of the night, the scoring pylon showed the No. 2 in 17th.

    “Well, we had a good run going tonight and a really fast JEGS.com Chevrolet Silverado,” Coughlin said. “We just had terrible luck. It’s hard to overcome two flat left rear tires and having to start at the tail of the field a lot due to those issues. Hopefully, we can get this luck turned around for next weekend at Atlanta (Motor Speedway).”

    Noah Gragson who is now in his second year at Kyle Busch Motorsports also had unfortunate luck after having a strong run. Gragson posted a fifth place qualifying effort Friday afternoon giving him a good starting position. But at Daytona, it’s not where you start, it’s where you finish. The first two stages saw him finish ninth and 14th, respectively. On Lap 56, the No. 18 Safelite Tundra was involved in a multi-vehicle wreck which thus ended their night early with a 23rd place finish.

    “In Daytona, a lot of the luck is not in the drivers’ hands — it is what it is. We qualified really good — Rudy Fugle and the guys on this No. 18 team built a really fast Safelite AutoGlass/Switch Toyota Tundra during the offseason,” Gragson said.  “I’m thankful for the opportunity to be driving for this team. This is not the way we wanted to start our season, but we can go to Atlanta next week with our heads held high that we had a lot of speed and I’m confident that we’ll have speed again next weekend in our first mile-and-a-half race of the year.”

    Hunter Nemechek finished 25th after being taken out on Lap 74, Stewart Friesen (27th) on the same lap and Brett Moffit was shown 26th.

    While some teams are already ahead and look forward to Atlanta Motor Speedway next weekend, other teams are behind and will be playing catch up.