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Tag: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series

  • Grala Wins Carnage-Filled Truck Race at Daytona

    Grala Wins Carnage-Filled Truck Race at Daytona

    A few hours after earning his first pole in NASCAR, Kaz Grala was in the right place on the final lap to drive through a field of wrecking trucks to win the season-opening NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona International Speedway.

    With two laps to go, Johnny Sauter, who won stages 1 and 2, jumped down in front of Grala on the ensuing restart and led the field into Turn 1. Exiting Turn 2, Sauter jumped from the bottom line to the top to block the advance of Matt Crafton. After moving down, the outside line pushed Crafton to the lead. Sauter worked his way alongside Crafton in Turn 1 but found himself sandwiched in between Crafton on the bottom and Ben Rhodes on top.

    Exiting Turn 2, Rhodes, who was receiving a bump draft from Grant Enfinger, got loosened by his teammate, turned down and clipped Crafton’s truck. His truck did a 180 spin and the combination of air rushing under the back of his car and being hit by Sauter lifted his truck into the air, flipped it in a corkscrew motion and landed on all four wheels.

    Twelve trucks were involved in the final lap wreck.

    Grala, who was behind Crafton when he was clipped by Rhodes, was leading when the caution flew and declared the race winner.

    He was so overrun with elation, he could barely answer how he won the race.

    “Oh I wish you could tell me,” he exclaimed to Hermie Sadler in victory lane. “Oh my gosh. Yeah, I didn’t know what I was doing. I don’t know how to do a doughnut. I don’t know how to do a victory lap like that. I just know *can’t make out* That was freaking awesome! I can’t believe we won Daytona! This completely changes our season and the way that we can play it. This is huge for our organization and for myself, for Jerry, for GMS, Keith Lewis. I can’t even believe this.”

    Sadler asked him about his final 20 laps where he fell back and worked his way through the field.

    “My radio chord came out on lap 79. So I drove almost to the end of the race no…Oh my God, someone flipped! (Referring to Crafton’s flip on the final lap as he watched a replay of it in victory lane) I drove almost the rest of the race without a radio on and barely through the green-white-checker, I got a radio on. Honestly, I got lucky coming out of (Turn) 2 there. I just didn’t lift and lucky everything went crazy around me. (I) hope everybody’s alright there, but oh I’m so happy with (how) that played out. I can’t even believe it.”

    On the second lap of the event, there was a 17-truck wreck that was triggered by Chase Briscoe catching Noah Gragson at the wrong time, loosened him and turned him into the wall. Gragson came back down the track and clipped Austin Cindric, sending him into the outside wall. The rest of the trucks scattered and ran into one another, trying to avoid other spinning trucks in a plume of smoke.

    There a few other smaller wrecks scattered through the race, including one involving race leaders Christopher Bell and Brett Moffit coming to the line at the end of stage 1.

    This Camping World Truck Series race was the first NASCAR points-paying race to utilize stages, or segments, in any of its three national series.

    The first stage was rather competitive with four lead changes in the first 20 laps, eight of which were run under caution.

    The second stage was more collected with the field riding single-file for most of the 14 laps run under green (six under the caution from the end of stage 1). Other than a half-spin by John Hunter Nemechek in Turn 3 on lap 38, which didn’t bring out a caution, nothing threatened to break up the flow of the race until the end of stage 2 on lap 40.

    Timothy Peters exited pit road first and restarted as the race leader. It only took Sauter two laps to work his way back to the lead, which he swapped with Rhodes a few laps later. The caution flew with 30 laps to go for a four-truck wreck.

    With 23 to go, the field formed up into a single-file train hugging the bottom line. This was broken up by Nemechek spinning out on the backstretch with six to go, setting up the two-lap shootout and final lap wreck.

    The race lasted one hour, 55 minutes and 38 seconds at an average speed of 129.720 mph. There were 14 lead changes among nine different drivers and six cautions for 29 laps.

    Grala leaves Daytona with a 14-point lead over Sauter.

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  • NASCAR Streamlines Penalty Structure

    NASCAR Streamlines Penalty Structure

    The old multi-tiered penalty structure in NASCAR is now a simplified dual-tiered structure and the consequences for failing inspection are more defined.

    Instead of a six-step penalty grid, P1 through P6, the penalty structure is now a two-step grid that ranges from Level 1 (L1) to Level 2 (L2).

    The lower level deals with minimum heights, weights, the Laser Inspection Station (LIS), gear ratios and lug nut violations, when 17 or fewer are secured. The higher level concerns “major safety violations,” telemetry or traction control usage, breaching of the testing policy and tampering with the “holy trinity” elements of the car: engine, fuel and tires.

    L1 infractions call for a penalty of 10 to 40 points in all three national touring series.

    In the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, in addition to the points penalty, an L1 infraction results in a fine of $25,000 to $75,000 and a one to three-race suspension for the crew chief or team member(s) responsible for the infraction. L2 infractions in the Cup Series carry a 75-point deduction, call for a six-race suspension and a $100,000 to $200,000 fine.

    In the XFINITY Series, fines are scaled back to $10,000-$40,000. But it carries the same one to three-race suspension for a crew member responsible for the infraction as it does in Cup. An L2 violation in XFINITY has a $50,000-$100,000 fine but carries the same six-race suspension as Cup.

    An L1 violation in the Camping World Truck Series results in a one or two-race suspension and a $5,000 to $20,000 fine. An L2 violation results in a four-race suspension and a $25,000 to $50,000 fine.

    Post-qualifying failure of the LIS results in disallowance of time. Post-race failure is an L1 violation resulting in a loss of 35 points, a three-race suspension for the crew chief and $65,000 fine.

    A missing lug nut results in a $10,000 fine for the crew chief. Two missing doubles the fine and leads to a one-race suspension. Three or more is an L1 penalty with a $65,000 fine and three-race suspension for the crew chief and 35-point deduction.

    Per Zack Albert of NASCAR.com, “‘Encumbered’ finishes…will remain in effect this season for post-race L1 and L2 violations. The rules allow a victory to stand in the event of an infraction, but a winning team will be stripped of the benefits associated with the win.”

    The series directors now have discretion to issue a list of pre-race penalties ordered by severity: “Loss of annual ‘hard card’ credential, loss of practice time, loss of pit selection position, tail of the field penalty, a green-flag pass-through on pit road after the initial start, a green-flag stop-and-go in the pits after the start, and lap(s) penalty,” per Zack Albert of NASCAR.com.

    NASCAR will continue taking select cars and trucks to their R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina for their weekly Tuesday inspection after every race.

    NASCAR issued the update to the deterrence system for all three national touring series to move officiating towards penalizing infractions that occur during a race weekend.

    “Our goal was to be able to, more like football or basketball or any sporting event to where we could officiate and police within the event,” Elton Sawyer, NASCAR vice president of officiating and technical inspection, said to NASCAR.com. “I think the real message is that we want to get these infractions, the smaller infractions, we want to get them corrected at the race track.

    “It’s very similar to a 15-yard penalty. If you can get three 15-yard penalties and you can still win the game or drive down and score a touchdown, then good for you. If we can issue these penalties and you lose pit selection or you start at the back or a drive-through (penalty), and you can still come back and win the race, well then we feel like what that infraction was, the penalty fits the crime.”

  • Analyst Kligerman on taking part-time ride: ‘Why not?’

    Analyst Kligerman on taking part-time ride: ‘Why not?’

    ABINGDON, Va. — Asked why he’d take a part-time ride despite his work as an analyst, Parker Kligerman responded “Why not.”

    Speaking to the media at the shop of NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team Henderson Motorsports, Kligerman expounded on his reason for taking the aforementioned limited ride.

    “It’s fun. I still enjoy racing,” he said. “Even though I have a day job, I say this is my weekend job. For me, it only helps that job, and vise-versa. The coolest thing is just getting to go race and have fun.”

    He added that his crew chief Chris Carrier was instrumental in “why this came together the way it did.”

    “[Chris and I have] always talked about trying to get back together to go racing after our ARCA days,” he added.

    “When this whole deal came together late last year, it made sense.”

    With his role as an analyst for NBC, “partial makes sense.”

    Secure rides in any of the three national touring series haven’t come easy for the driver of the No. 75 Henderson Motorsports Toyota, who’s sharing the ride with Caleb Holman. Since his first NASCAR start for Team Penske in the XFINITY Series at Kansas in 2009, he’s run only three complete seasons in any series. He was hired to drive the No. 30 for Swan Racing in the now Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, but found himself out of a ride when the team terminated operations eight races into the season. Towards the end of 2014, he was hired as a driver analyst by NBC Sports.

    While it’s his primarily focus. He’s also “tickled to death” that he can do his “day job” with all his traveling and still run eight to 10 races a season.

  • NASCAR Implementing New Policy on Damaged Race Vehicles

    NASCAR Implementing New Policy on Damaged Race Vehicles

    Say goodbye to the days of damaged cars and trucks returning to the track down double and triple-digit laps looking like modified cars.

    As first reported by Lee Spencer of Motorsport.com and Kenny Bruce of NASCAR.com, the sanctioning body is implementing new procedures affecting wrecked vehicles in all three national touring series this season, called the Damaged Vehicle Policy.

    Teams may no longer replace damaged body parts that are the result of contact or an accident. Repairs, such as fixing sheet metal, will still be permitted. They only have five minutes to do repairs, however. If the repairs take more than five minutes or the car goes to the garage, the car is retired from the event and won’t be allowed to return.

    If a car on the clock is busted for speeding, 15 seconds is docked from their five-minute time. Also, if a car on the clock requires more crew members than the six NASCAR allows over the wall to make repairs, the car will be removed from the race.

    Teams may correct mechanical or electrical failures, that aren’t a result of a wreck or contact, on pit road or in the garage without penalty or being subject to the five-minute clock.

    Damaged cars are still required to maintain minimum speed.

    Previously, teams could spend as much time as desired to repair their cars and send them back out onto the track, provided they continued to meet minimum speed. This often led to cars returning to the track with either no hood covering, thus looking like a modified, or covered all in black parts with no sponsor decals.

    “We have a lot of cars that are going back on the track that end up in 38th position, for instance, that probably don’t need to be out there from a safety and competition aspect,” said Scott Miller, NASCAR senior vice president of competition. “Because they always tend to bring out more yellows with stuff falling off.”

  • The White Zone: Let’s see where these new ‘enhancements’ go

    The White Zone: Let’s see where these new ‘enhancements’ go

    Alright NASCAR, you’ve peaked the interest of this skeptic and I’m curious to see where these new “enhancements” lead us this season and beyond.

    If you haven’t heard by now, the sport announced some rather radical changes – or “enhancements,” which is one of a few new buzzwords that are now part of our lexicon – which, in short, include segment-based race events for all three of the national touring series.

    It was confusing as hell to learn and I just barely understand it now. I plan to better understand it by the time I head to Atlanta Motor Speedway to work my first race this season.

    But for now, it sounds like an idea that’s worth giving a chance. So let’s give it a chance.

    If you haven’t already jumped straight to the comment section to call me a “paid shill for NASCAR,” hear me out.

    I’ll start right off the bat by saying it’s gimmicky and contrived. This is something I’d expect to see done in the All-Star Race. In fact, some elements of this have been done in the All-Star Race such as the segments.

    I also wish NASCAR wouldn’t have added these “enhancements” to events like the Daytona 500, the Coca-Cola 600 and the Bojangles’ Southern 500. These three events are the crown jewel races and should stay gimmick-free, especially Darlington Raceway, who’s tagline is “the tradition continues.” Yeah, nothing says tradition like a 500-mile race at a track like Darlington with a bunch of contrived elements.

    Most of all, Cautions should only be thrown when there’s an actual hazard on the track and not just to bunch up the field to jive up the race. This was my biggest grievance with the caution clock. It wasn’t designed to stop frequent hazards. It was meant to disrupt the flow of the race every 20 minutes, just for the sake of it, and have a restart, just for the sake of it. I won’t call it manipulation by NASCAR as others have because that implies the sanctioning body had nefarious purposes for implementing it. It was simply an element they implement with the intention of making the racing better, but it caused more backlash than it was worth.

    Taking factors such as these into consideration, it’s not hard to see why some people don’t care too much for the “enhancements” being made to the sport.

    But now let’s talk about why these changes had to happen.

    We can’t avoid the elephant in the room. NASCAR’s television ratings in 2016 were lousy.

    This past season alone, 21 of 36 races suffered a decline in ratings from the year before and 22 suffered a decline in viewership from the year before. Fifteen races suffered double-digit declines in one or both measures. Finally, 11 of the final 12 races (excluding rainouts) suffered an all-time or decade-plus low in ratings or viewership (all figures are courtesy of Sports Media Watch).

    This past season wasn’t an aberration either. It’s been the latest in a downhill slide from NASCAR’s peak ratings in the mid-2000’s, at a point when the sport was second to the National Football League in ratings.

    The sport suffered heavy as a result of the Great Recession of 2007-2008 and it took years to get back on solid footing.

    The impact is also being felt at the turnstiles.

    Not long ago, NASCAR races were packed to the brim with devoted fans who would happily sit for hours in the stands to watch an event.

    Now, only the Daytona 500 and the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway sellout, and even that has come with people saying those weren’t really “sold out.”

    Most weeks, the stands are roughly 65-80 percent for a Cup Series race. But it’s when the series ventures to tracks such as Indianapolis Motor Speedway that the drop in attendance is more spotlighted. At a venue with a permanent seating capacity of 235,000, we’ve had numbers recently as low as 50,000 and 30,000 according to last year’s estimates.

    It also doesn’t help that stock car racing at The Brickyard is dull.

    Which brings me to my next point: The times when the racing just isn’t good….Yeah, that’s a major problem.

    Today’s NASCAR is slanted towards downforce-centric tracks, such as the mile and a half’s. Stock cars are best suited to run on short tracks and high-banked, high-speed ovals such as Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.

    Because of this unbalanced favoring of downforce-centric tracks, the racing is hit or miss at some tracks, such as Atlanta, and is completely nonexistent at others, such as Texas Motor Speedway.

    With higher downforce, passing goes to a higher tier.

    It also doesn’t help that we’ve engineered the failures out of the cars to the point that they’re indestructible. Even back markers rarely retire from a race now with a mechanical failure.

    The two paragraphs above are how you get Martin Truex Jr. leading a whopping 392 of 400 laps on his way to winning last years Coca-Cola 600.

    Now whereas people such as myself must watch every lap of that woodshed whipping because I was in the media center covering the race, others have the option of DVR’ing the event and fast-forwarding through the beatdown and skipping to the finish.

    Scott Fowler of The Charlotte Observer said it best in his column on today’s announcement.

    “I know several people – and not all of them are young – who make a consistent habit of watching entire NASCAR races in 10 minutes.

    “They record the whole race, then watch the replay at 60 times the usual speed. They don’t stop the recording unless they see smoke, which means a crash, which means an interesting restart.

    “Then they stop the recording for one last time with 20 laps to go in the race. They watch those laps at normal speed, see who won and switch over to ‘The Walking Dead.’”

    In other words, people don’t feel as if they’re missing anything by simply DVR’ing the event and fast-forwarding through it to the end. Formula 1 has reached this point. There’s a saying that the race is to the first turn and that’s not entirely wrong. If you beat the field down into Turn 1, you’ve pretty much won the race nine times out of 10 in F1.

    Don’t get me wrong. I love F1, but I’m not going to act like it has the most compelling racing in the world.

    Now anecdotes doesn’t necessarily equate to proof, true. But Fowler has covered sports, especially in Charlotte, for longer than I’ve been alive. So I’ll take his word that he’s telling the truth. And I’ve heard these same complaints made by fans, young and old, on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio for a number of years now.

    Bottom line: The races are, or were, marathon events and with an upcoming generation that now has the attention span equivalent to a goldfish, the days of just sitting in the stands and watching those marathon events will be relics of the past. My generation isn’t content with just sitting in the stands at Bristol Motor Speedway and watching whatever happens like I was (before joining the media corp). My generation isn’t content with just watching a 24-hour endurance race like the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Most of all, my generation isn’t content with waiting for the climax of the race. They need some assurance that what’s being built up will lead to a great payoff.

    Whether or not these “enhancements” will work will be shown in a matter of time.

  • Finley Factor: Is This What We Really Want?

    Finley Factor: Is This What We Really Want?

    On Monday evening, NASCAR held a press conference that announced dramatic changes to its race and points format.

    Races will now be split into three different segments, with the top 10 drivers in the running order receiving regular season points at the end of the first two segments. There are now playoff points, which will carry through to the playoffs. No more Chase name, now it’s just “the playoffs” (Which, granted, is a good thing).

    Brian France said at the beginning of the press conference, “I’m proud of the unprecedented collaboration from our industry stakeholders, each of whom had a common goal – strengthening the sport for our fans.”

    Is this what we really want as NASCAR fans?

    It wasn’t a desperately needed change. No current race fans were clamoring for scheduled cautions and points being rewarded mid-race, but that’s what they got. Regular season points have become more irrelevant to the season at large due to how many are awarded now, and adding in playoff points just makes a convoluted system even more convoluted.

    The saddest part of Monday evening’s press conference was that the goal of these “enhancements,” appealing to a younger, casual audience, will not succeed because of constant fundamental changes to the sport.

    Casual fans like to sit down on any given Sunday and watch fast cars go around in circles. They don’t want to listen to commentators try and calculate where their favorite needs to finish at in this segment relative to another driver in order to make it to the next round of the playoffs. Simplicity is the key of the game.

    One thing I like about the current playoff system is that simplicity. You win a race, you’re (practically) in the playoffs. You win a race in the playoffs, you advance to the next round. You make it through and win at Homestead, you win the championship. It’s that simple. If NASCAR could have held off from fundamentally changing the sport, in a few years fans would grow accustomed to the change and the fan base would more than likely be on the upswing again.

    But coming together every couple of years and fundamentally changing aspects of the sport has probably done more harm to NASCAR than just about any other factor. It reaches a point where a NASCAR fan has to really be involved and study the sport to get the maximum enjoyment out of it instead of just tuning in on Sunday.

    By the time most fans have figured out the sport, a change in the points system, car template, whatever, here comes NASCAR making a huge change to the fundamentals of the sport. If a fan of football in the 1970s went into a coma and came out of it last week to watch Sunday’s NFL games, the game may have changed dramatically (as far as the action on the field), but the fundamentals of the sport would still be intact enough to where said fan could keep up. Every game has four quarters for 15 minutes apiece, the basic team make-up is the exact same, the best team in the NFC faces the best team in the AFC to determine the world champion in the Super Bowl, etc. If the same were to occur to a NASCAR fan from the ’80s, it would be so substantially different to where said fan would have to spend hours online trying to make heads or tails of it.

    NASCAR brass will point to all manner of excuses as to why the ratings are falling and grandstands are being torn down, such as the weather or the wide assortment of entertainment options or the economy or whatever. The reality of the situation is that if a product is good enough and familiar enough, there will be fan demand regardless of the situation. I’m a big Green Bay Packers fan. The NFL routinely sells out games in the snow or in single digit degree weather at Lambeau Field because there is still a demand for the product. There was never a noticeable problem for the NFL during the 2008 financial collapse like there was for NASCAR. Part of that may be due to the over-reliance on corporate sponsorship, but that wouldn’t explain declining attendance and TV rating numbers in the years since.

    Some may say I’m comparing NASCAR too much to the NFL or other prominent stick-and-ball leagues. NASCAR itself has been trying to evolve into a variation of these sports for years now. If they want to make NASCAR like these other leagues, they need to be compared to them. It isn’t a one-way street.

    These changes aren’t going to change much in the grand scheme of things due to the Chase structure. The best teams will rise and perform in the Chase as they have for the last four years. But these “enhancements” serve as a quintessential example of unneeded NASCAR change. If these are the last major changes for the next 10 or so years, that would be great. But at the rate NASCAR constantly changes its structure, I wouldn’t bet on it.

    Watering a plant five times a day or moving it out of its pot isn’t going to make a flower bloom. It takes time, patience, and stability for it to bloom. Let’s hope NASCAR figures this out someday.

  • Tweaks to the rules for the 2017 season

    Tweaks to the rules for the 2017 season

    When teams roll into the garage at Daytona in a few weeks, they’ll be met with slight adjustments to the regulations.

    NASCAR sent out a memo over the weekend detailing changes for the 2017 season for all three national touring series. The changes include limits on tire allocation (for select races), allowance of use of a driver biometric device and reduction in restrictor plate and spoiler size.

    The tire allocation limit applies to all three series. The allocation in the Monster Energy Cup Series affects 13 of 36 events this season and each event will will have one less set of tires, sans the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway which will have two fewer.

    The events affected are the Daytona 500, both Phoenix races, both Martinsville races, both Bristol races, both Kansas races, Kentucky and Chicagoland.

    Both Talladega races, Sonoma, Daytona in July, both New Hampshire races, Watkins Glen and the Bojangles’ Southern 500 will have an additional set of tires for teams, however.

    All Cup teams will be required to start every race on the tires they used in qualifying.

    Drivers in all three series will be permitted to wear a wrist-worn health tracking device. It must operate on an internal power source, such as a battery, may not transmit data or connect to the vehicle in any manner. Drivers may use certain models made by Garmin, Misfit, Polar, Samsung, Tom Tom and Jawbone.

    The size of the spoiler (minus the plate races) for the 2017 season in the Cup Series will be 2.35 inches, down from 3.5 inches used for all but three non-plate races (which used a 2.5 inch spoiler).

    For the plate races at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, the size of the restrictor plate openings will be reduced by 1/64th of an inch, trimmed from 57/64 to 7/8th of an inch. It applies only to the Cup and XFINITY Series.

    The previously optional roof hatch is now mandatory for the plate races in both Cup and XFINITY.

    All Cup cars must carry a roof-mounted camera assembly for every race, regardless if they’re being used by the broadcast partner.

  • Texas undergoing repave prior to next race

    Texas undergoing repave prior to next race

    Come this April, one track will have a completely new surface and slightly different profile.

    Texas Motor Speedway announced plans for a complete repave of the 1.5 mile quad-oval racing facility where completion is expected, barring any weather delays, before the start of the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race weekend on April 9. The repave includes a new asphalt racing surface, “an expansive French drainage system on the frontstretch and backstretch,” according to the release by the speedway, and a four-degree reduction in banking in Turns 1 and 2. Turns 3 and 4 will remain unchanged.

    This is the track’s second repave in its 20-year history and first since 2001.

    The repave came as a result of races being delayed as a result of water seeping out of cracks in the track and improper drainage. Both Cup races were delayed by rain and track drying efforts. Weather delays and track drying halted last year’s Firestone 600 IndyCar Series race 71 laps in and the remainder of the event was pushed from June 12 to August 27.

    “The old pavement no longer dried as quickly because through the years of use and weather, the asphalt became porous, kind of like a sponge,” said Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage. “Even if we only had a brief shower it was taking us far too long to get the track dried in order to get on to the racing. We owe it to the fans to present the best possible race track so they will be assured of seeing NASCAR and INDYCAR races even if we face some brief inclement weather. This will accomplish that goal.”

  • Atlanta repave coming after next race

    Atlanta repave coming after next race

    One old surface will bid farewell when the checkered flag waves this upcoming season.

    Atlanta Motor Speedway announced today that the Hampton, Georgia racing facility will undergo a complete repave of its racing surface following the upcoming Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race weekend. Work will commence in late March and is expected to be completed in mid-April, according to a statement released by the speedway.

    The current surface has been in place since 1997 when it was reconfigured from a 1.5 mile oval to a 1.54 mile quad-oval, flipping the start/finish line from what’s now the backstretch to what’s now the frontstretch.

    Unlike the last repave, however, a new layer of asphalt will be the only substantial change to the racing surface. The quad-oval layout and 24-degree banking will remain the same.

  • Byron wins the race, Sauter takes the title in Miami

    Byron wins the race, Sauter takes the title in Miami

    William Byron took the lead in the closing laps to close out the season with a victory, but it was Johnny Sauter, one of the elder statesman of the series, who beat the competition to finally add a championship to his resume.

    Byron scored the pole for the race and led the 20 laps before ceding the lead to Matt Crafton. He didn’t make much noise for most of the race until the final caution flew with 24 laps to go. He came out second behind Tyler Reddick, who exited pit road with the race lead.

    He stayed hot on Reddick right from the final restart with 20 to go and took the lead exiting Turn 2 with 10 to go to drive on to victory.

    “It feels awesome,” Byron said. “It’s just – it’s incredible. I mean this team has worked so hard all year. We just had an unfortunate situation last week that we couldn’t control, but, man, they brought a good truck. Qualified on the pole.”

    It was the seventh victory in 24 career starts in the Camping World Truck Series for the driver of the No. 9 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota.

    “These guys just are awesome,” he added. “God, I hate leaving this – I just hate this team not being together next year. It’s just insane how good they are and so many talented people on this race team. Can’t thank KBM enough, Toyota, Kyle and Samantha (Busch, Kyle Busch’s wife), everyone at KBM, (sponsor) Liberty University – it’s just amazing.”

    He also secured Sunoco Rookie of The Year honors.

    Sauter brought his No. 21 GMS Racing Chevrolet home third, which was enough to secure him his first series championship.

    “You know, not just me, it’s the whole team, everybody at GMS Racing,” Sauter said in victory lane. “We qualified bad today. Really, we were kind of worried about it. Felt pretty good in race trim.

    “Just proud of these guys for their flawless execution tonight. Joe (Shear) made great adjustments to where I could just kind of hang on. I’m not a high line guy. So I elected to keep doing my deal and they actually found some pretty good grip on the bottom of the race track.

    “Proud to be a champion. I’m gonna do everything in our power to represent NASCAR as best we can.”

    He was asked what point he realized he had a truck that could win the title.

    “I was pretty conservative at the beginning of the race just trying to take care of it and not make any stupid mistakes,” he added. “Then there was about probably 85 laps to go, I was like ‘Okay, we’ll start picking them off here,’ and just had a solid day in the pits.

    “With about 50 to 60 to go, I was like ‘Okay, we’ve got something here,’ and we were really catching the 88. It looked like he was pushing real bad.”

    Kyle Larson, who led a race high of 76 laps, finished fourth.

    Matt Crafton, Christopher Bell and Timothy Peters finished seventh, eighth and ninth.

    Three of the four cautions were brought out by Patrick Staropoli. The other was for a spin by Stewart Friesen.

    Twenty-four trucks finished the race on the lead lap and only Ryan Truex failed to finish the race.

    The race lasted one hour, 32 minutes and 57 seconds at an average speed of 129.747 mph. There were 15 lead changes among five different drivers and four cautions for 18 laps.

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