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Tag: NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series

  • Brandon Jones set to compete for four races with Kyle Busch Motorsports

    Brandon Jones set to compete for four races with Kyle Busch Motorsports

    NASCAR Xfinity Series regular and last week’s winner at Phoenix Raceway, Brandon Jones, is set to return to Kyle Busch Motorsports to compete in four Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series races this season.

    Jones’ schedule will open at Iowa Speedway on June 12. He then will compete at Pocono Raceway on June 27, Kentucky Speedway July 9 and his final race will be at Martinsville Speedway on October 30. During the four-race span, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver will have sponsorship by Barracuda Pumps, DuPont Air Filtration, Delta Faucet Company and Magick Woods. As always, Jones will have Menards as the associate sponsor for those races as well.

    Jones has had limited success in the NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series. He made his first series start at the age of 16 in 2013, where he competed in three races that year. The best finish of that year for Jones was 19th at Martinsville. However, the first outing with Kyle Busch Motorsports was May of 2018 when he started 13th and finished ninth. Jones has yet to grab a win in the Truck Series, but came close to doing so by finishing second twice, which came last year at Chicago and at Phoenix last fall.

    Because of his success last year in the series, Jones wanted to come back for another round of races.

    “After ending last year in the Truck Series on such a high note with almost winning Phoenix, it gives me great confidence to come back and compete at KBM,” Jones said. “Based on the tracks that we have scheduled, I feel that my chances are very strong to put the No. 51 Tundra in victory lane at all of them and check off my first truck win in the 2020 season. I am pumped to have Danny Stockman as my crew chief since we have worked together in the past and have had multiple successful runs in my early years in the XFINITY series. And, I feel that running a limited truck schedule with KBM helps have dialogue with Kyle on a weekly basis.

    “The main reason we are participating in the selected truck schedule is so that I can have some on-track laps before getting in the XFINITY car. This will be especially important when we run Martinsville Speedway since the XFINITY series has added that back to the 2020 schedules. I am really excited to have PPA/Dupont and Delta Faucets back on the truck; while pleased to be bringing on two new sponsors to the track, Barracuda Pumps and Magick Woods Vanities. Sponsors play a very important role in our sport and I believe we have a great chance to take them all to victory lane. I especially appreciate my longtime sponsor Menards for supporting me in both the XFINITY and Gander Outdoors Truck Series; I couldn’t do it without them.”

    Team-Owner Kyle Busch says Jones has been a special part of building the No. 51 Toyota Tundra team.

    “Brandon was an integral part of the 51 team bringing home the owner’s championship last year and we’re excited to have him back in the driver lineup as we try to repeat that feat this year,” owner-driver Kyle Busch said. “He was so close to victory a couple of times last year in the Truck Series and in the XFINITY Series was able to pick up a win late last year and has carried that momentum over to another win and a strong start to the season. We’re looking forward to getting him his first Truck Series victory this year.”

  • David Ragan will return to Truck Series for one race at Richmond

    David Ragan will return to Truck Series for one race at Richmond

    Announced today via DGR-Crosley retired Cup Series star David Ragan will make his return to the NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series on Saturday, April 18 at Richmond International Raceway. Ragan is scheduled to drive the No. 17 Ford Performance F-150 Ford out of the DGR-Crosley stable. This will be the first time since 2006 that Ragan has competed in the Truck Series and will be the first time he’s competed in a Truck at Richmond.

    “I’m really looking forward to racing one of DGR-Crosley’s F-150’s at Richmond,” said Ragan. “I’ve been friends with David [Gilliland] for a long time, and I see how much work he’s putting into this team and the success they’ve had early on. They have a shop full of great people and I’m glad that we could make all this happen.”

    The last time Ragan raced in a Truck was 2006 at Phoenix, where the Georgia native finished 17th after starting 20th. Ragan notes that this is something he’s planned on ever since retiring from full-time competition last year in the Cup Series.

    “It’s been a long time since I’ve raced in the Truck Series, and I’m incredibly thankful to Select Blinds for supporting me and allowing me to do this,” remarked Ragan. “This is what I wanted to do when I decided to stop racing full-time at the end of last season; I want to race in different series, with different teams. Obviously, we want to be competitive, and I have no doubt that DGR-Crosley will bring me a great truck. Richmond has always been one of my favorite tracks that we race at; hopefully, we can get the folks from Select Blinds another good finish this year and put on a good show for the fans.”

    Ragan will carry sponsorship with Select Binds.

  • Chandler Smith nabs eight races with Kyle Busch Motorsports

    Chandler Smith nabs eight races with Kyle Busch Motorsports

    Announced today via Kyle Busch Motorsports, Chandler Smith will drive the famed No. 51 Toyota Tundra in the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series with sponsorship from JBL. The Georgia native made a lot of noise early on in his Truck Series career by having outstanding performances.

    Last year Smith competed in four races and will add four more in 2020 for a total of eight races with KBM. Those eight races include Richmond International Raceway on April 18 and Dover International Speedway on May 1. During those two races, he will be a part of the annual “Triple Truck Challenge.” Then the next time Smith will be on-track in the truck will be August 8 at Michigan International Speedway, World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway on August 21, Bristol Motor Speedway on September 17, Las Vegas Motor Speedway on September 25, Talladega Superspeedway on October 3 and his final race of the year will be at Phoenix International Raceway on November 6.

    While some of these tracks may be new to Smith, he competed in four races last year and had stellar performances by achieving three top fives and four top-10 finishes with a best finish of second at Bristol last August. The KBM driver made his first start at Iowa Speedway last June and led 55 laps. During that time, the Georgia native was able to learn quickly in those four races.

    “I learned a lot about racing in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series last season in my four races and I’m thankful to everyone at KBM, JBL, Toyota and TRD for the opportunity to have an expanded schedule this year,” Smith said. “Danny Stockman (crew chief) and all the guys on the No. 51 team are already off to a great start getting a win with Kyle (Busch) at Las Vegas and having a strong run with Riley (Herbst) at Daytona. I know they are going to provide me with fast JBL Tundras every week. If I do my job and we execute as a team, I’m confident that we’ll be able to rack up a few wins and put ourselves in position to bring home another owner’s championship for KBM.”

    Team-Owner Kyle Busch says Smith reminds him a lot of former drivers Erik Jones and most recently driver Christian Eckes.

    “Chandler is one of those young drivers that come along and are able to produce speed and run up front at every level as they progress up the ladder and it was no different for him last year in the Truck Series,” owner Kyle Busch said. “He was fastest in practice for his first truck race and went out and led a bunch of laps. Although he had just four races on his schedule, he was in the mix for the win a couple of times and we feel that his first of many wins at KBM is just around the corner.

    While running a part-time schedule this year, Busch says it’s intended to prepare Smith for running full-time in 2021.

    “Much like some of the younger guys before him, Erik Jones and most recently Christian Eckes, we feel that the schedule he is running for his second year in trucks is a mix of different types of tracks and with a good portion of his races coming during the Playoffs it will help to prepare him for running for rookie of the year and competing for a championship next season.”

  • Four Takeaways from the NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series at Las Vegas

    Four Takeaways from the NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series at Las Vegas

    While there was still buzz around the Daytona finish last week, the Truck Series drivers had to turn their focus on what many call the first real race of the season last Friday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Kyle Busch was back in the field and completely dominated the race by sweeping the stages and leading the most laps. Throughout the Strat 200, there were some dicey moments, but for the most part, it was almost a caution-free race as there were only five cautions for 25 laps. Two of them were for stages, while three of them were for incidents. 

    However, there may have been other notes of interest that racing fans might have missed or the broadcast did not cover it. Here are this week’s four takeaways from the Strat 200. 

    1. Kyle Busch Back In Victory Lane – About a week ago, Busch and the No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports team announced its five-race schedule for the 2020 Truck Series season. Those races were Las Vegas, Atlanta, Charlotte, Kansas, and Chicago. It is crazy to bet against him in those races but anything can happen in the racing world. Busch was back in the field Friday night at his hometown racetrack. He didn’t qualify on the pole but had the best truck out of anyone in the race. Busch swept both stages, led 108 laps and picked up his first win of the 2020 season.
    2. Bounty Out For Busch Win – After the win, on Saturday morning, former Cup Series champion and former Truck Series owner Kevin Harvick issued a $50,000 bounty to any full-time Cup driver that can beat Busch in the next four Truck Series races. After Harvick tweeted that out, Social Media literally blew up with all kinds of comments (mainly offers from Cup drivers). Cup drivers and Xfinity drivers chimed in wanting to take Harvick’s offer. This got so much attention that the owner of the sponsor in the series Marcus Lemonis chimed in and said, “Hey Kevin, I’ll match that… I’m that comfortable Kyle Busch can’t be beat.” With that said, the bounty now has gone up to $250,000 courtesy of Lemonis who wants the event to take place on FOX. It will be interesting to see if this comes to fruition as I’m sure there will be sponsor and manufacturer conflicts for any driver that wants to take the offer. Still, this is one of the most intriguing stories that has taken place in the last 10-years in the Truck Series. It is just one of the many reasons why I love the Truck Series. It deserves more attention then it gets right now.
    3. Stewart Friesen Rallies To Ninth Place Finish – It was a difficult night for Friesen and his No. 52 team who struggled most of the night. The Canadian had a poor qualifying effort of 17th and really did not make up that much ground during the race. Friesen’s mid-race run was averaging 20th place throughout the night. He spent zero laps in the top-10 and did not collect any stage points. Friesen even was handed a penalty for improper fueling which set him back even more. However, his truck seemed to come to life late in the going and he was able to finish ninth.
    4. Off-Week – With two races under the belt, the Truck Series will have three-weeks off until the next race that takes place on Saturday, March 14. After a couple of exciting races, race fans can catch their breath as the season will really start to pick up after the Atlanta race. The Truck Series 2020 season has been off to a great start so far this year with just two races in.
  • ThorSport Racing places three trucks in the top five

    ThorSport Racing places three trucks in the top five

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Weekend schedule for Las Vegas

    Weekend schedule for Las Vegas

    This week all three series head to Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series Strat 200 is scheduled for Friday night while the Xfinity Series will take center stage Saturday with the Boyd Gaming 300. The NASCAR Cup Series will close out the weekend’s activities with the Pennzoil 400 Sunday afternoon.

    All times are Eastern.

    Friday, Feb. 21

    11:05 a.m.: Truck Series final practice – No TV

    2:35 p.m.: Xfinity Series final practice – FS2

    4:05 p.m.: Cup Series first practice – FS1

    5:05 p.m.: Truck Series qualifying – Impound/Single Vehicle/One Lap/All Positions – FS1

    7:30 p.m.: Cup Series final practice – FS1

    9 p.m.: Truck Series Strat 200 (Stages 30/60/134 Laps = 201 Miles) FS1/MRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

    Saturday, Feb. 22

    1:05 p.m.: Xfinity Series qualifying – Impound/Single Vehicle/One Lap/All Positions – FS1

    2: 35 p.m.: Cup Series qualifying – Impound/Single Vehicle/One Lap/All Positions – FS1/PRN

    4 p.m.: Xfinity Series Boyd Gaming 300 (Stages 45/90/200 Laps = 300 Miles) FS1//PRN/ SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

    Sunday, Feb. 22

    3:30 p.m.: Cup Series Pennzoil 400 (Stages 80/160/267 Laps = 400.5 Miles) FOX/PRN/ SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

    Defending Race Winners:

    Cup Series: Joey Logano

    Xfinity Series: Kyle Busch

    Truck Series: Kyle Busch

  • NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series Power Rankings-Daytona

    NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series Power Rankings-Daytona

    Friday night saw the opening season for the NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series. It was no ordinary season opener as the series is celebrating its 25th anniversary dating back to 1995.

    Every time there is a Truck Series race, you can normally expect one of two things, an exciting action-packed race or one driver who dominates the entire event. That’s what Friday night’s season opener NextEra Energy Resources 250 featured on Valentine’s day. Race fans saw a photo-finish between underdog Jordan Anderson and veteran Grant Enfinger to the finish line. Enfinger was able to just beat Anderson for the win by 0.010 seconds for the closest Truck Series finish in Daytona history. 

    While those two drivers certainly stole the show in Daytona, there were others that flew under the radar and still wound up with a great finish. Here are this week’s power rankings. 

    1. Austin Hill – Hill continued his strong Daytona performance by finishing sixth in Friday night’s race. He led 11 laps and finished seventh and fourth in both stages respectively. It wasn’t the win Hill was hoping for, but the Georgia native did a nice job of avoiding all the chaos that broke out during the race. It will be interesting to watch this team in their second year together with Hill as the driver and see if they can rattle off more wins.

    2. Grant Enfinger – No doubt Enfinger was the story of the night when all was said and done. The Alabama native finally got Daytona crossed off his checklist but it didn’t come easy for him. Enfinger had to work his way up to the front several times including getting shuffled to the back from the lead with 24 to go. At that point, a victory seemed unlikely or even a top-10 finish. But a crash with three to go set up an overtime restart with Enfinger in the lead. He had to throw a couple of blocks, one to Ross Chastain and the other to Jordan Anderson, but Enfinger got it done by .010 seconds. It was certainly a nice way to start the season as he now has secured a spot in the Playoffs. Going forward the No. 98 ThorSport Racing team can be a lot more aggressive and take more risks on-track.

    3. Johnny Sauter – Sauter had an up and down night in the No. 13 Tenda Ford F-150. He was penalized after making a pit stop after Stage 2 concluded when an uncontrolled tire rolled out of his pit stall. The Wisconsin native also barely missed the big one when his teammate Ben Rhodes spun in front of him with three laps to go. Sauter was able to miss it and brought his truck home with a seventh-place finish. The ThorSport Racing driver finished fifth and eighth in both stages while leading no laps.

    4. Jordan Anderson – We would be remiss if we didn’t talk about Jordan Anderson’s best finish of his Truck Series career. Anderson tried all he could to get the first elusive win of his career in what would have been a popular victory for the fans. By mere inches, the team owner finished second to Enfinger beating and banging to the line. Anderson found himself in second on the backstretch on the last lap and came oh so close to for his first career win. This will no doubt be a momentum builder for the No. 3 team who is now in an alliance with AM Racing.

    5. Riley Herbst – It looks like the experience somewhat paid off for Herbst and the No. 51 team. The Las Vegas, Nevada native started out on the right foot by qualifying on the pole Friday afternoon. Herbst continued his strong performance by winning Stage 1 and finishing fifth in the second stage. After the first two stages, chaos erupted for Herbst. The No. 51 driver was caught up in two accidents, one on Lap 67 and one with three to go on Lap 99. Still, Herbst wound up with a 12th place finish after leading 21 laps.
  • Decker, Kraus and Rohrbaugh earn career-best finishes at Daytona

    Decker, Kraus and Rohrbaugh earn career-best finishes at Daytona

    We’ve all heard the expression, “if you are in it, you can win it.” Although they did not get to victory lane, Natalie Decker, Derek Kraus and Codie Rohrbaugh all scored career-best finishes in the NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series career Friday at Daytona International Speedway.

    Rohrbaugh competes for his family-owned team and accomplishes so much with few resources. Previously, his best finish was last year at Martinsville Speedway where the No. 9 team finished 10th. Tonight, however, the Petersburg, West Virginia native knew he had a chance to win and he came close to a victory.

    When Grant Enfinger and Jordan Anderson were battling at the line, it almost allowed Rohrbaugh the chance to sneak by for the win. But he had to settle for a third-place finish, falling 0.084 seconds short. It was a remarkable rebound after getting turned around coming to pit road on Lap 35.

    “It got really exciting,” Rohrbaugh said to MRN Radio. “First off, thank the good Lord for giving me the opportunity. Thanks to all my family, Pat, Grandma, the guys did an incredible job at the shop all winter to get us here. Just really, really thankful.”

    The third-place finish was Rohrbaugh’s first of his career.

    Stratford, Wisconsin native Derek Kraus also had an interesting night in Daytona beginning as early as Lap 9. Kraus had to come down to pit road while running inside the top-10 after a reported issue with the truck. As it turns out, there was a potential left front tire going down on the No. 19 Toyota. Pitting took the Wisconsin native out of a good stage finish for Stage 1 as he would finish 21st.

    As the event went on, Kraus had to rally from the back and avoid some major wrecks late in the going, especially the big one with three to go. When the race went into overtime, the Wisconsin native still had a shot to win but he had his work cut out for him as he did not have any teammates to work with. Even so, Kraus still had a solid day and earned the best finish of his Truck Series career with fourth place.

    “Just surviving really,” Kraus said to MRN Radio. “We survived all night and kind of rolled in the back there, and kind of had a strategy going at the end of the race. We executed the strategy and we ended up fourth.”

    Momentum means everything to the No. 19 team of Bill McAnally.

    “This is a really big start to the season, especially for my No. 19 Shockwave Toyota Tundra,” he added to MRN Radio. “Can’t thank Shockwave enough for coming on-board for this race and I look forward to the rest of the season.”

    Kraus’ previous best finish was eighth at Dover last year.

    As for Natalie Decker, she earned the best finish by a female driver at Daytona. The feat was last accomplished by Jennifer Jo Cobb who finished sixth in 2011. Decker started 30th and finished fifth to earn the best career finish of her career.

    “It’s amazing, I’m so thankful that N29 has been with me since the beginning,” Decker said to MRN Radio. “Thank you, Carl and happy birthday, and I’m just so happy I got to have my best finish here with Niece. I just think that’s so wonderful.”

    The run wasn’t all that easy for Decker as she had to dodge some melees throughout the race.

    “Yeah, there was a big wreck right in front of us and got some flat tires just to try, and stop from it,” she added to MRN Radio. “We rode around the back and that was our plan. I just had to ride, but it was so worth it, those last two laps being able to race up front there and get a good finish.”

  • Enfinger wins in photo-finish at Daytona over Anderson

    Enfinger wins in photo-finish at Daytona over Anderson

    After an overtime restart, Grant Enfinger narrowly won in a photo-finish against Jordan Anderson coming to the line. The two drivers beat and banged off one another until the checkered flag flew at Daytona International Speedway. However, in what was the closest Truck Series race in history, the Alabama native, Enfinger, broke a two-year drought dating back to Las Vegas.

    “It would have been a good story for Jordan to win, but it was a better story for us,” Enfinger said to MRN Radio. “He gave us some good shoves there and I knew he was going to try and make a move and he did. I wasn’t confident the bottom line was going to carry or not, but I was 100% confident in my spotter Chris Lambert as he talked me through there good. I gave some shoves and tried to block his momentum, and get off of him and I kind of stalled him to eventually beat him back to the line. Just an unbelievable Ford F-150 we had here, 100th win for Ford in the Truck Series, the 25th anniversary for Duke and Rhonda Thorson. God has blessed me with an incredible opportunity and maybe this season is the year for us.”

    Tonight’s race at Daytona was the season opener for the NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series. Though race fans would have to wait a little while after the scheduled start time as a small rain shower moved through the area delaying the start of the race by more than half an hour.

    Stages were broken into 20/20/60 laps to make up the 100-lap race and rookie Riley Herbst was on the pole.

    Stage 1: Lap 1- Lap 20

    It appeared Stage 1 was going to be calm and collected with no incidents. However, a big incident occurred with five to go, as the No. 45 of Ty Majeski’s truck went upside down on its roof going into Turn 1 causing a red flag. Based on a replay, the No. 38 of Todd Gilliland made slight contact with the No. 12 of Tate Fogleman who then bumped into the No. 22 of Austin Wayne Self, while the two collected Majeski’s truck which made him flip. This incident would cause a seven-minute and 59 seconds red flag.

    A one-lap dash would set up a restart in Stage 1. Pole sitter Herbst took the stage win, while Tyler Ankrum, Christian Eckes, Brett Moffitt, Johnny Sauter, Stewart Friesen, Austin Hill, Grant Enfinger, Raphael Lessard and Todd Gilliland completed the top-10 for Stage 1.

    Stage 2: Lap 25- Lap 40

    There were no incidents in this stage as it went green the whole way. However, the No. 21 of Zane Smith had a window net down and was black flagged, and had to come down pit road to fix his issue. Then on Lap 35, the No. 9 of Codie Rohrbaugh got turned coming to pit road but saved the truck from crashing and no caution was thrown.

    Enfinger would wind up winning the second stage as Ben Rhodes, Ankrum, Hill, Herbst, Lessard, Friesen, Sauter and Sheldon Creed were the top-10 finishers in Stage 2.

    Stage 3: Lap 45- Lap 104

    There was a 20 lap green flag run taking place from Lap 45 to Lap 65. In fact, a few laps after lap 65, several drivers were thinking about making their last pit stop of the night in the coming laps. But a caution slowed the pace when the No. 00 of Angela Ruch spun in Turn 3 and caused a multi-vehicle wreck. Fogleman, Bryan Dauzat, Eckes, Smith and Brennan Poole were among the ones involved in the incident.

    A restart came with 25 to go and things were shaping up for another exciting finish at Daytona, especially in the Truck Series. The Trucks were racing hard all night and some drivers were making big risky moves in hopes of winning the race or pulling off the upset. In fact, in the first time around it looked like there was going to be a photo-finish as the trucks were three wide several rows back. As normally happens with Daytona late in the race, a caution came out for a big wreck in Turns 1 and 2.

    The No. 99 of Ben Rhodes got loose and almost took out race winner Enfinger in the process, but instead took out several other drivers including, Ankrum, Tanner Gray, Sauter, Herbst, Crafton, Gilliland, Friesen, Gus Dean, Jesse Little, Korbin Forrister and Eckes to name a few.

    Eventually, this put some drivers who had been riding around in the back the whole race up front at the end with a shot to win.

    The caution set up an overtime restart on Lap 104, just four laps past the advertised distance. On the white flag, the No. 40 of Ross Chastain had a huge run on Enfinger but Enfinger blocked and Chastain got shuffled out of the draft. The racing wasn’t done yet. This set up an unique opportunity for fan favorite and a potential upset, Jordan Anderson, who was running second with a head of momentum.

    Eagerly trying to find a way and time his moment to make the move, Anderson pulled out just a few feet from the finish line to try to pass Enfinger. Enfinger saw Anderson on the outside and the two bounced off one another, but in the end, it was the Alabama native Enfinger who took home the checkered flag just inches ahead of Anderson.

    “We had a good Ford F-150 last year,” Enfinger added to MRN Radio. “We could push pretty good, but we couldn’t lead. We tried to make improvements for Talladega, but we were terrible there. The guys at ThorSport Racing cut everything off of here. The roof, the chassis, everything in sight and we came back with a really good piece, and that was the difference. I fell into the sucker hole with 20 laps to go and I thought I lost my opportunity. Then I thought they were going to wreck, so I tried to get to an escape root to the bottom and they didn’t wreck. When it was time to go, I shot to the outside and was able to avoid that mayhem.”

    The win was Enfinger’s third win of his career and his first since Las Vegas in 2018, breaking a two-year win drought. He led four times for 41 laps and picked up six playoff points en route to victory.

    As Anderson watched the replay on pit road and his excitement was evident.

    “Grant, Grant, what are you doing door-slamming me man? I came here in 2015 and emptied my bank account to try to come down here and run. To be in a position to even go for a win at Daytona, man, I’m a kid that just wanted to go racing from South Carolina.

    “I thought we set him up good. We tried to follow Ross (Chastain) there and push him. I know he got loose, and I got up on Grant’s bumper there in (Turn) 4 and got a good run. It was like NASCAR Thunder 2003 all over again. I’m like, ‘God, I can do this!’ And I pushed him out of the way, and I thought we had it.”

    There were five cautions for 26 laps including one red flag along with 15 lead changes among seven different drivers.

    Official Results

    1. Grant Enfinger, led 41 laps, won Stage 2
    2. Jordan Anderson
    3. Codie Rohrbaugh
    4. Derek Kraus
    5. Natalie Decker
    6. Austin Hill, led 11 laps
    7. Johnny Sauter
    8. Ross Chastain
    9. Sheldon Creed, led two laps
    10. Jason White
    11. Zane Smith
    12. Riley Herbst, led 21 laps
    13. Brett Moffitt
    14. Cory Roper
    15. Matt Crafton
    16. Todd Gilliland
    17. Brennan Poole
    18. Korbin Forrister
    19. Spencer Boyd, one lap down
    20. Raphael Lessard, one lap down
    21. Stewart Friesen, one lap down, led 13 laps
    22. Christian Eckes, one lap down, Stage 1 winner
    23. Tanner Gray, OUT, Accident
    24. Jesse Little, OUT, Accident
    25. Ben Rhodes, OUT, Accident, led 17 laps
    26. Gus Dean, OUT, Accident
    27. Tyler Ankrum, OUT, Accident
    28. Angela Ruch, OUT, Accident
    29. Bryan Dauzat, OUT, Accident
    30. Tate Fogleman, OUT, Accident
    31. Austin Wayne Self, OUT, Accident
    32. Ty Majeski, OUT, Accident
  • Weekend Schedule for Daytona

    Weekend Schedule for Daytona

    This weekend the season officially begins as all three series head to Daytona International Speedway. The NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series races Friday evening and the Xfinity Series takes the stage Saturday afternoon. Sunday features the main event with the 62nd annual Daytona 500.

    Thursday, Feb. 13

    4:05-4:55 p.m.: Truck Series first practice – FS2

    5:30-5:55 p.m.:  Final Truck Series practice – FS1

    7 p.m.:  First Daytona 500 qualifying race – Bluegreen Vacations Duel 1 (60 laps,150 miles) – FS1/MRN

    8:45 p.m.:  Second Daytona 500 qualifying race – Bluegreen Vacations Duel 2 (60 laps/150 miles) – FS1/MRN

    Friday, Feb. 14

    2:05-2:55 p.m.:  Xfinity Series first practice – FS1

    3:10 p.m.:  Truck Series qualifying – FS1

    4:32-4:57 p.m.:  Xfinity Series final practice – FS1

    5:05-5:55 p.m.:  Cup Series third practice – FS1/MRN/TSN

    7:30 p.m.:  NASCAR Truck Series NextEra Energy 250 race (Stages 20/40/100 Laps = 250 Miles) FS1/MRN /SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

    Saturday, Feb. 15

    11 a.m.: Xfinity Series qualifying – FS1

    12:30-1:20 p.m.: Cup Series final practice – FS1/MRN/TSN

    2:30 p.m.: Xfinity Series NASCAR Racing Experience 300 race (Stages 30/60/120 Laps = 300 Miles) FS1/MRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

    Sunday, Feb. 16

    2:30 p.m.: Daytona 500 – (Stages 65/130/200 Laps = 500 Miles) FOX/MRN/TSN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

    Starting Lineup for the Daytona 500:

    1 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
    2 88 Alex Bowman
    3 22 Joey Logano
    4 24 William Byron
    5 10 Aric Almirola
    6 48 Jimmie Johnson
    7 6 Ryan Newman
    8 42 Kyle Larson
    9 2 Brad Keselowski
    10 4 Kevin Harvick
    11 43 Bubba Wallace
    12 41 Cole Custer #
    13 3 Austin Dillon
    14 20 Erik Jones
    15 19 Martin Truex Jr.
    16 21 Matt DiBenedetto
    17 95 Christopher Bell #
    18 1 Kurt Busch
    19 17 Chris Buescher
    20 77 Ross Chastain(i)
    21 11 Denny Hamlin
    22 8 Tyler Reddick #
    23 38 John Hunter Nemechek #
    24 13 Ty Dillon
    25 9 Chase Elliott
    26 34 Michael McDowell
    27 12 Ryan Blaney
    28 18 Kyle Busch
    29 14 Clint Bowyer
    30 36 David Ragan
    31 37 Ryan Preece
    32 66 Timmy Hill(i)
    33 16 Justin Haley(i)
    34 15 Brennan Poole #
    35 0 Quin Houff #
    36 32 Corey LaJoie
    37 51 Joey Gase(i)
    38 52 BJ McLeod(i)
    39 62 Brendan Gaughan(i)
    40 27 Reed Sorenson

    Did not qualify: Chad Finchum (No. 49) JJ Yeley (No. 54) Daniel Suarez (No. 96)

    To the rear: Blaney No. 12 (backup car), LaJoie No. 32 (backup car)