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Tag: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series

  • Christopher Bell Hopes to Turn Strong Run into Championship at End of the Year

    Christopher Bell Hopes to Turn Strong Run into Championship at End of the Year

    Christopher Bell has had a great 2017 season so far. The No. 4 JBL Toyota Tundra driver has four wins, 10 top fives and 14 top 10 finishes, with an average finish of 6.6 and 592 laps led. If Bell carries this kind of consistency into the postseason playoffs, he’ll for sure be a lock into the final four. Bell was among the final four drivers last year at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where he ended up finishing eighth, third in the playoff standings. He believes that this is an important factor in capturing his first championship.

    “Well last year I felt like we were able to really capitalize on consistency,” Bell said. “We got a win in the middle part of the year at Gateway last year, but overall we just weren’t able to consistently compete for wins, but we were able to knock down those top-fives, those top-eights and that’s essentially what got us all the way to Homestead.”

    However, the 2017 season has been a night and day difference for Bell.

    “This year it’s been a little bit different progress,” Bell said. “We’ve been able to compete for wins a lot more often and win a lot more races and hopefully we can continue that and win our way to Homestead.”

    A new addition to the 2017 NASCAR season was added back in January, which is called playoff points. Any driver finishing in the top 10 during a stage or winning stage, race, earns a different amount of points. But Bell has a different mindset about how the playoff points will affect how this year’s champion will be decided.

    “Well, that’s going back to what I said earlier, I don’t think it changes our mind at all,” Bell said. “We’re going to go out there and try and compete for wins and know that we’ve got those bonus points in our back pocket, but don’t rely on them. The biggest thing is just no mistakes. If you get through with no mistakes, especially where I’m at and where Johnny (Sauter) is at, we’re in pretty good shape through this first round and assuming some of these guys back here don’t win, we should be okay through the second round too. But we want to win races. All of us want to win races and so that’s what we’re going to try and do.”

     

  • Enfinger’s Eventful Day Ends with Top-Five at Thunder Valley

    Enfinger’s Eventful Day Ends with Top-Five at Thunder Valley

    BRISTOL, Tenn. — NASCAR’s annual midweek day of racing at Bristol Motor Speedway had barely commenced when penalties from Michigan resulted in Grant Enfinger losing points he earned just days earlier. By night’s end, he brought his truck home to a fourth-place finish in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series UNOH 200 and salvaged some of those lost points.

    Following the LTi Printing 200 at Michigan International Speedway, Enfinger was hit with two penalties, resulting in a double-encumbered finish. The first penalty was the result of a post-race ride-height violation, and the second was a safety violation for crew chief Jeff Hensley for an “improperly affixed” weight. The subsequent 10-point penalty resulted in him going from 14 points back of teammate Ben Rhodes, to 24 behind.

    But his performance through the day and evening at Thunder Valley demonstrated bridging the gap might not be a tall task. He finished 11th and seventh in the day’s practice sessions, and qualified his car seventh for the race.

    While Enfinger didn’t race “under the radar,” as he did finish top-10 (fifth and ninth) in both the first and second stage, he never posed a threat to Kyle Busch’s dominance, as had teammate Matt Crafton. But he drove his way through traffic, both lead and lapped, and drove it to a fourth-place finish as the checkered flag waved.

    “ We had a decent restart there at the end, and we really had a good Champion Power Equipment Tundra all day,” Enfinger said. “We weren’t great. The 46 (Kyle Busch) – he’s really good at this racing stuff. He made us all look bad. But a solid run for us. We’ll take it. We need a little bit more, but very, very proud of everybody on this ThorSport Racing team. We had to battle through some adversity this week, but we still got some more to come, so we’ll keep fighting strong.”

    Enfinger leaves Bristol seventh in points. Unfortunately, teammate Rhodes, who currently occupies the cutoff spot, out-pointed him, in spite of a fifth-place finish. He trails Rhodes by 26 with two races to go in the Truck Series regular season.

  • Kyle Busch Rallies from Speeding Penalty to Win Bristol Truck Race

    Kyle Busch Rallies from Speeding Penalty to Win Bristol Truck Race

    BRISTOL, Tenn. — While Kyle Busch was the dominant driver, he had to overcome a speeding penalty, which he did with ease, ran down and passed Matt Crafton, and even held him off on an overtime restart to win at Thunder Valley.

    Busch was busted for speeding under the second stage break caution and restarted at the tail-end of the field on the ensuing restart. He made quick work of the field, catching and passing Crafton for the race lead with 33 laps to go to score his 49th career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory in 140 career starts.

    Crafton finished second and John Hunter Nemechek rounded out the podium.

    Grant Enfinger and Ben Rhodes rounded out the top-five.

    Johnny Sauter, Christopher Bell, Parker Kligerman, Austin Cindric and Brandon Jones rounded out the top-10.

    RACE SUMMARY

    Busch led the field to the green flag at 10:44 p.m. He led every lap of the first stage on his way to winning it on Lap 56.

    Cindric took the lead under the caution and restarted the race leader. A lap after the Lap 64 restart, however, Crafton got to his corner panel and loosened him. Taking the lead on Lap 65. But Busch ran him down, and lapped traffic allowed him to pass Crafton exiting Turn 2, retake the lead and win the second stage on Lap 121.

    He was busted for speeding, which set up the run to the finish.

    NUTS & BOLTS

    The race lasted one hour, 13 minutes and five seconds, at an average speed of 88.829 mph. There were six lead changes among four different drivers and five cautions for 31 laps.

    Bell leaves with a 42-point lead over Sauter.

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  • Kyle Busch takes Bristol Truck pole

    Kyle Busch takes Bristol Truck pole

    BRISTOL, Tenn. — Kyle Busch will lead the field to the green flag this evening after winning the pole for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series UNOH 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 46 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota scored the pole with a time of 14.827 and a speed of 129.413 mph. Christopher Bell will start second with a final round time of 14.920 and a speed of 128.606 mph. Johnny Sauter will start third with a final round time of 14.959 and a speed of 128.271 mph. Noah Gragson will start fourth with a final round time of 14.961 and a speed of 128.253 mph. Brandon Jones will round out the top-five starters with a final round time of 15.001 and a speed of 127.911 mph.

    Matt Crafton, Grant Enfinger, Cody Coughlin, Ben Rhodes and Jesse Little will round out the top-10 starters.

    Kaz Grala and Justin Haley will round out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying.

    Chris Windom and Mike Senica failed to make the race.

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  • Kyle Busch Fastest in Final Truck Practice at Bristol

    Kyle Busch Fastest in Final Truck Practice at Bristol

    BRISTOL, Tenn. — Kyle Busch topped the chart in final NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice at Bristol Motor Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 46 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota was the fastest with a time of 14.706 and a speed of 130.477 mph. Ben Rhodes was second in his No. 27 ThorSport Racing Toyota with a time of 14.801 and a speed of 129.640 mph. Christopher Bell was third in his No. 4 KBM Toyota with a time of 14.816 and a speed of 129.509 mph. Matt Crafton was fourth in his ThorSport Toyota with a time of 14.816 and a speed of 129.509 mph. Johnny Sauter rounded out the top-five in his No. 21 GMS Racing Chevrolet with a time of 14.844 and a speed of 129.264 mph.

    Brandon Jones, Grant Enfinger, Parker Kligerman, Cody Coughlin and Justin Haley rounded out the top-10.

    Bell posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 124.808 mph.

    First Truck Practice Results

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  • Coughlin Fastest at Bristol in First Truck Practice

    Coughlin Fastest at Bristol in First Truck Practice

    BRISTOL, Tenn. — Cody Coughlin topped the chart in first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice at Bristol Motor Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 13 ThorSport Racing Toyota was the fastest with a time of 14.828 and a speed of 129.404 mph. Kyle Busch was second in his No. 46 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota was second with a time of 14.832 and a speed of 129.369 mph. Johnny Sauter was third in his No. 21 GMS Racing Chevrolet with a time of 14.863 and a speed of 129.099 mph. Matt Crafton was fourth in his No. 88 ThorSport Toyota with a time of 15.006 and a speed of 127.869 mph. Austin Cindric rounded out the top-five in his No. 19 Brad Keselowski Racing Ford with a time of 15.039 and a speed of 127.622 mph.

    John Hunter Nemechek, Brandon Jones, Justin Haley, Noah Gragson and Ryan Truex rounded out the top-10.

    Grant Enfinger, who clocked in the 11th-fastest single lap, posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 125.682 mph.

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  • Enfinger’s Season After 13 Races

    Enfinger’s Season After 13 Races

    BRISTOL, Tenn. — Grant Enfinger’s first full season in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series has him just on the outside, vying for a playoff spot, with three races remaining in the 2017 regular season.

    Ask him how he’d rate his season, he’d say, “it depends on where in the season you ask me.”

    “If you’re asking me right now, probably a C,” he said. “We’ve been an A at certain parts of the season, and we’ve been an F at certain parts of the season.”

    His season started with him pushing teammate Ben Rhodes with two laps to go in the NextEra Energy Resource 250 at Daytona International Speedway. Exiting Turn 2, Rhodes got loose, turned down into teammate Matt Crafton and triggered a 12-truck wreck. Enfinger wound up 16th.

    He rebounded the following week with an eighth-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway but was a non-factor in a 17th-place finish at Martinsville Speedway.

    After an 11th  place at Kansas Speedway, Enfinger went on a run of five top-10 finishes and four top-fives. That run consisted of a seventh at Charlotte Motor Speedway, a bottom-step podium finish at Dover International Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway, a fifth at Gateway Motorsports Park and a fourth at Iowa Speedway.

    “We got through the first three or four races and weren’t where we really wanted to be, and then we started to gain a lot of momentum, and had some really good finishes and had some really good trucks,” he continued.

    This five-race hot streak came to an end when he collided with teammate Rhodes, only half a lap into the second stage of the Buckle Up In Your Truck 225 at Kentucky Speedway.

    Enfinger bounced back with a fourth-place finish at Eldora Speedway, bringing him to his highest points position of the season to date.

    After finishes of 13th at Pocono Raceway and eighth at Michigan International Speedway, he now sits seventh in points, 14 back of teammate Rhodes, who currently occupies the final playoff spot.

    Doing so won’t be easy, given that, as he notes, his team is without the consistency that carried them for the aforementioned five-race stretch.

    “In the last couple of races, we’ve struggled,” Enfinger added. “We just haven’t had the finishes we’ve needed, but we’re looking to get back on track here at Bristol.”

  • NASCAR sets further cap on Cup interloping in XFINITY and Truck

    NASCAR sets further cap on Cup interloping in XFINITY and Truck

    Come next season, there’ll be further limits to the number of races Cup drivers may run in the lower tiers.

    NASCAR announced today that starting in 2018, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers, with more than five years of driving experience, will be limited to seven non-playoff race starts in the XFINITY Series and five in the Camping World Truck Series. For playoff races, all Cup drivers, regardless of experience, will be barred from running any of the playoff races. The latter rule is also in play for all four XFINITY Series Dash 4 Cash races.

    This cap is down from 10 XFINITY starts and seven Truck starts that was put in place for this season.

    Rumors on possible changes had circulated since the possibility of changes were hinted at by XFINITY Series Managing Director Wayne Auton at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 21. NASCAR Executive Vice-President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio a few days later that talks on the matter were “pretty far down the line.”

    The guidelines were implemented because of fan feedback on Cup interlopers in XFINITY and Truck competition, according to NASCAR Senior Vice-President of Racing Operations Jim Cassidy.

    “Any time we implement a change, we’re going to monitor it closely and make sure we’re measuring the level of success or making sure that if there’s an opportunity to make it even better, then we will,” Cassidy told NASCAR.com. “In this case, we really like what we’ve seen and in talking with all the other stakeholders that we would normally talk to, this has been a very popular subject over a long period of time.

    “We’re certainly excited to see what happens during the playoffs, but based upon the feedback that we’ve had, we were fortunate enough not to have to wait till the playoffs to come up with this next round of limitations. It’s good, it’s working in all respects, and this next layer just provides additional opportunity to focus on those drivers coming up through.”

  • 75 percent of ThorSport Racing collected in second stage wreck

    75 percent of ThorSport Racing collected in second stage wreck

    SPARTA, Ky. — An eight-place finish by Matt Crafton and 15th by Cody Coughlin salvaged what almost turned into a rotten night for ThorSport Racing after three-quarters of their stable, including Crafton, were involved in a multi-truck wreck early in the second stage of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Buckle Up In Your Truck 225 at Kentucky Speedway.

    Entering Turn 3 on the lap 42 restart, first stage winner Ben Rhodes was running below the No. 45 of TJ Bell when he got loose and spun out. He did roughly a 135° spin before hitting Bell with his left-rear corner, sending him up the track and into the path of Crafton, who made slight contact with the wall.

    After Rhodes made contact with Bell, his truck did another half spin before pounding the wall right-rear first. Teammate Grant Enfinger, who made the choice to go high to avoid the spinning Rhodes when he was still on the bottom, slammed into his rear-end.

    “I was underneath the 4 (Christopher Bell) trying to make a move. Then I saw him start to come down on me so I started backing out, and as we were going down to the groove we just all ran out of room,” Rhodes said. “I was trying to give everybody as much room as I could. Just unfortunate. I know all the restarts everybody was going as hard as they can. They were four-wide in front of me, so I was trying to do what I could with what I had. Just unfortunate we couldn’t come out a little bit better for our Safelite team. We had a lot of people here tonight to watch the race. Sorry I let them down. Just a big mistake on my part. Miscalculated it, and just need to re-evaluate our situation this year and try to get us in the playoffs.”

    Crafton leaves Kentucky fourth in points, 89 back of Johnny Sauter, with Rhodes and Enfinger tailing him in fifth and sixth. Coughlin leaves 13th in points.

  • Bell Takes Late Lead and Holds Off Challenger to Win Truck Race at Kentucky

    Bell Takes Late Lead and Holds Off Challenger to Win Truck Race at Kentucky

    SPARTA, Ky. — An early spin didn’t stop Christopher Bell from returning to the front to claim victory in the Buckle Up In Your Truck 225 at Kentucky Speedway.

    He took the lead from John Hunter Nemechek with a pass to the high-side in Turn 3 and held off Brandon Jones right down to the final lap to score the victory.

    “This is pretty special,” Bell said after the race. “We had our ups and downs. Practice didn’t go very well, but we had a really fast Tundra, and (crew chief) Rudy Fugle made great calls from the pit box after I made a mistake and spun out.”

    RACE RECAP

    After rain delayed the original start by roughly three hours, Johnny Sauter led the field to the green flag at 10:39 p.m. Matt Mills brought out the first caution on Lap 22 when he got loose, overcorrected and hit the outside wall exiting Turn 4.

    On the ensuing restart on Lap 27, ThorSport Racing teammates Ben Rhodes and Grant Enfinger “sandwiched” Sauter going into Turn 1 to take the lead, with Enfinger taking the sole lead. The caution flew a second time on the same lap when Bell went spinning in Turn 3.

    Rhodes took the lead from his teammate on the following restart on Lap 32 and drove on to win the first stage.

    Noah Gragson, who pitted under the first caution, assumed the race lead.

    Back to green on lap 42, the caution flew on the same lap for a multi-car wreck in Turn 3, which collected three of the four ThorSport trucks.

    After that wreck, the rest of the stage proceeded under green, with Gragson winning it.

    Myatt Snider exited pit road with the race lead. He lost the lead on the ensuing restart to Bell.

    The race didn’t make it a lap before Gragson was turned by Austin Cindric on the frontstretch, bringing out the sixth caution.

    When the next run settled into a longer green run, Bell came up on lapped traffic. John Hunter Nemechek took advantage of this and took the lead from Bell on Lap 94.

    It was interrupted by a solo spin by Snider with 44 laps to go.

    Bell took the lead on the ensuing restart with 37 to go when the caution flew for a two-truck wreck in Turn 3, setting up the run to the finish.

    NUTS & BOLTS

    The race lasted one hour, 59 minutes and 47 seconds at an average speed of 112.703 mph. There were 10 lead changes among eight different drivers and eight cautions for 42 laps.

    Sauter leaves with a 28-point lead over Bell.

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