Forty trucks will take the track under cloudy skies this Saturday afternoon. The stages for today’s event are 20-20-54.
The trucks are lined up neatly for the first few laps. I imagine they were told in the driver’s meeting to keep in mind there’s another race scheduled to follow the truck race. They are all driving very tamely – quite unlike the truck series I love.
The gimmick camera shots have begun on lap 6 of 94. The inside lane has finally moved three trucks ahead of the outside lane, but nothing else is happening other than them driving around the track.
NASCAR needs to look at some options that will encourage drivers to take chances throughout the event. I’m thinking something along the lines of points for laps led that can be collected and redeemed for championship points or something.
On lap 12 of 94 they have spread into three lanes momentarily. They quickly returned to two lanes. FS1 seems to be copying the bad video ideas of NBCSN with the gimmick shots and the split screens.
Stage one is over. Ben Rhodes is at front at the end of it.
Restarting on lap 25 of 94 John Hunter ‘JHN’ Nemechek (4) and Matt Crafton (88) on the front row.
Caution on lap 28 of 94 for a spin and crash by Bryan Dauzat (28).
A few pit; most stay out.
Restarting on lap 33 of 94 – same two out front – JHN and Crafton.
Crafton gets the lead.
Crafton gets bumped sending him below the yellow lines on lap 26 of 94 and he drops back through the field.
Sheldon Creed (2) wins stage two. They tried to do a little racing on that stint. Their lack of earlier racing showed up when they tried to race. It looked a bit fumbly – like it caught several people off guard and they were scrambling trying to figure out what to do.
Restarting on lap 47 of 94 with Chase Purdy (23) and Austin Hill (16) up front. Purdy stayed out. Somehow though Purdy stayed out and Hill pitted, nascar.com is showing Hill as the leader. Weird.
A third lane has formed in the top lane. It quickly disperses into the second lane when it doesn’t get much traction quickly.
Caution on lap 57 of 94 for a big wreck. The 16 gets turned from the second row, into the truck on the outside and they both turn in front of the field causing a major smash-up.
Todd Gilliland (38) turned the 16 who turned into the 21 who was in the outside lane and the melee was on as they bounced back in front of the field collecting lots of trucks. The 23 bumped Gilliland hard getting him squirrelly and which caused him to hit Austin Hill off-center.
Zane Smith (21), Chandler Smith (18), Jason White (33), Johnny Sauter (13), Lawless Alan (45), Austin Hill (16), Tate Fogleman (12), Parker Kligerman (75), Tanner Gray (15), Austin Wayne Self (22), Kris Wright (02), Drew Dollar (51), Derek Kraus (19), Hailie Deegan (1), Jennifer Jo Cobb (10), and Clay Greenfield (11) were collected.
Too bad some of the usual suspects remain undamaged. Could be an interesting race if more of the usual crew were out.
Red flag is out at 1430 eastern. 1439 eastern – the yellow flag is out. FS1 says 19 trucks were involved in the crash. They showed the list at 1448 after Zane Smith’s interview from the care center
Restarting on lap 63 of 94 with Todd Gilliland (38) and Sheldon Creed (2) on the front row.
The front half of the field is single file on lap 65 of 94.
A second line has formed on the outside on lap 74 of 94.
Big crash on lap 75 of 94 as Grant Enfinger (98) got in front of Sheldon Creed (2) then tried to block him when Creed went further outside attempting to pass which then turned Enfinger in front of the field collecting the 52 of Stewart Friesen (52), Carson Hocevar (42), Willie Allen (25), Hailie Deegan (1), and Clay Greenfield (11). Creed (2) got a little piece of a spinning Stewart Friesen (52).
Restarting on lap 82 of 94 with Todd Gilliland (28) and Matt Crafton (88) on the front row.
On lap 84 of 94 there are four trucks lined up on the outside – led by Crafton – and the rest are single file on the inside.
On lap 88 of 94 the whole field is single file after JHN almost turned Crafton with a bad push.
On lap 91 of 94 Crafton (88) is trying to get a second line going up top – unsuccessfully.
The rest of the field forms a second lane on lap 92 of 94 led by Chase Purdy (23) who takes the lead. There are now three lanes.
Gilliland (38) turns Purdy into the field bringing out the caution on lap 92 of 94.
Restarting in overtime on lap 97 of 99 with Todd Gilliland (38) and Ben Rhodes (99) up front followed by JHN (4), Crafton (88), Bret Holmes (32), Tate Fogleman (12), Sheldon Creed (2), Codie Rohrbaugh (9), Tyler Hill (56), Cody Roper (04), and Danny Bohn (30).
Both trucks on the front row 99 and 38 are getting strong pushes.
JHN’s push is more stable, stronger so
Crash before they cross the finish line.
JHN gets turned coming to the finish line.
JHN crashed crossing the line. Tate Fogleman heads to the infield care center after getinng out of his truck as the race winner.
Creed (2), Crafton (88), and Ben Rhodes (99) crash.
Tate Fogleman (12) slides across the finish line first and is shown as the winner. Tyler Hill (56) finishes second sliding alongside Fogleman.
Crafton swatted JHN on the butt, during JHN’s tv interview, and gave him a thumbs up as he passed. The gesture was big on the sarcasm.
Crafton said “…what comes around goes around sometime you know” after delineating the number of times JHN had run into him throughout the race. Crafton said he expects it on the straightaway, but in the corners – “..he’s smarter than that…”.
The majority of the event was a group of trucks driving in a circle. The intensity was ramping up a little when the first crash occurred. They settled down a bit after that wreck. The intensity began to build again about ten laps later leading to another wreck. The shuffling of the field on the cautions allowed the mixture to get more interesting and made for a better finish to the race. So one of the take-aways for me is that NASCAR needs to find a means to mix up the field intermittently and to find a means by which the vehicles from the back that are mixed into the front are actually competitive – capable of winning – and the usual suspects aren’t ‘untouchable’. If this were a Cup race most of the field would’ve been afraid to race JHN, Creed, and any of the other playoff teams balls out. As a result the playoff drivers tend to mostly get a bit of a free ride for all of the playoff races which makes it boring. It’s more exciting if the guys who are normally at the back of the field really have the opportunity to win and have the freedom to race as hard as they need to in order to win.
Motorsport News:
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- NASCAR Announces 2022 Xfinity & Truck Series Schedules.
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- Las Vegas post-race penalties announced; Rodney Childers suspended for Talladega.
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- Greg Zipadelli filling in for suspended Kevin Harvick crew chief Rodney Childers at Talladega.
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- Spencer Boyd Adds Xfinity Race at Charlotte ROVAL to his Racing Schedule.
- Justin Allgaier Driving for Spire Motorsports at Talladega.
- Multiple Hendrick Motorsports Cars Experience Late Race Woes at Las Vegas.
- Inspection complete at Las Vegas.
- Greg Zipadelli to Crew Chief for Kevin Harvick at Talladega.
- Marc Miller Out For VIR Due To Ruptured Achilles Tendon.
- Graham Rahal: ‘Consistency Has Definitely Been Our Thing’ in 2021 IndyCar Season.
- Denny Hamlin Starts on Cup Pole at Talladega.
- Justin Allgaier Holds Pole for Xfinity Race at Talladega.
- Ben Rhodes Begins on Talladega Truck Pole.