2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race Twenty-One Martinsville

It’s a cloudy day in Martinsville during the pre-race festivities. 40 trucks are in today’s field. The final four for the championship will be decided today. 2020 Series Champion Sheldon Creed (2) is currently in fourth position. Below the cut line are Stewart Friesen (52), Chandler Smith (18), Carson Hocevar (42) and Zane Smith (21). Cup driver Kurt Busch is in the FS1 booth with former driver Michael ‘Mikey’ Waltrip and broadcaster Vince Welch. The stages for today’s race are 50-50-100.

Todd Gilliland (38) gets the early lead.

On lap 5 FS1 is using a bumper-cam shot. They’re bored already? Lap 9 we’re looking at some driver’s hands and out the windscreen at the bumper of some truck. They’re bored already.

Hailie Deegan (1) pits under the green flag on lap 27 of 200 with a flat.

Caution on lap 45 of 200 for a spin by Cory Roper (04).

Looks like this stage will end under caution. It’s a double-header day, so NASCAR doesn’t have time to waste on this race. The trucks always seems to get short shrift when they’re racing before the Xfinity or Cup series.

Todd Gilliland (38) wins stage one under caution.

Restarting on lap 56 of 200.

Caution on lap 65 of 200 for a spin by Jack Wood (24) who had help from Cory Roper (04).

Restarting on lap 71 of 200.

Todd Gilliland (38) holds off John Hunter ‘JHN’ Nemechek (4) for a few laps to get the early lead. JHN tried to muscle Gilliland then apparently remembered whom he was racing and did the smart thing and backed off. Gilliland is reckless behind the wheel.

Caution on lap 80 of 200 for debris. It looks like a metal pipe rolling on the track.

Restarting on lap 86 of 200.

Caution on lap 87 of 200 for a crash involving Josh Reaume (34) and Bret Holmes (32). Josh had some sort of issue and drifted back through the field. He was punted by Tanner Gray (15) and spun in front of Holmes. Ryan Truex (40) was also collected in the incident.

Restarting on lap 95 of 200.

Stewart Friesen (52) is gouging his way toward the front.

Todd Gilliland (38) wins stage two.

Restarting on lap 110 of 200.

Zane Smith (21) gets the early lead after a battle with Carson Hocevar (42).

Caution on lap 115 of 200 for a spin by Jennifer Jo Cobb (10).

Restarting on lap 123 of 200 with Zane Smith (21) and Carson Hocevar (42) again starting on the front row.

Zane eventually gets the lead after a few door-to-door laps with Hocevar.

Caution on lap 130 of 200 for a crash by John Hunter ‘JHN’ Nemechek (4) with assistance from Austin Wayne Self (22). JHN tried to come across Austin Wayne Self’s nose, after spending some time bumping Self’s bumper. JHN turned himself when he cut short across Austin Wayn Self’s front left bumper crashing into the outside wall. His truck won’t re-fire. He was going to get out of the truck and his crew chief told him to stay in the truck. The push truck pushed him a while, but it still won’t re-fire. He finally gets out of the truck on lap 134 of 200. He’s out of the race.

Mikey is saying JHN was going straight – that he had to come up a bit to make the corner. I guess in Mikey’s option JHN’s brake pedal no longer worked as he approached the corner forcing him to keep going instead of slowing up to return to his position behind Austin Wayne Self. John Hunter had a choice and chose to try to show his displeasure with Austin Wayne Self and cost himself a finish.

Restarting on lap 140 of 200 with Zane Smith and Hocevar up front again.

Caution on lap 141 of 200 for a spin by Chris Hacker (45).

Restarting on lap 147 of 200.

Zane Smith (21) gets the early lead.

Caution on lap 148 of 200 for a spin by Sage Karam (3).

JHN says he got hooked by the 22. He says he’s “been preaching respect all year and these guys don’t have any”. Seriously, who does he think he is? He doesn’t respect anyone else and doesn’t deserve respect. His behavior in this situation proves that point.

Carson Hocevar (42) has to restart at the tail-end of the longest line due to jumping the previous restart.

Restarting on lap 154 of 200 with Zane Smith (21) and Cory Heim (51) on the front row.

Zane Smith gets the early lead.

Chandler Smith is blocking TG for all he’s worth on lap 156 of 200. Gilliland passes him anyway.

Caution lap 157 of 200 for a spin by Parker Kligerman (75).

Restarting on lap 163 of 200 with Zane Smith (21) and Todd Gilliland (38) on the front row.

Zane Smith gets the early lead.

Stewart Friesen (52) is fighting his way through the top five and hanging onto his truck after getting loosened from behind.

Gilliland is dogging Zane Smith’s bumper. Alex Hayden of MRN says he doesn’t think Gilliland will rough up Zane Smith since Gilliland is already out of the championship fight. He’s performing a bump and run on lap 173 of 200 just after Hayden finished saying that. Alex did say he’s been wrong before. I thought when he was saying that, he’s apparently never watched Todd Gilliland drive.

Caution on lap 177 of 200 for Johnny Sauter (13) spinning with the help of Parker Kligerman (75). Payback for Parker’s spin on lap 157 of 200 which was courtesy of Sauter.

Restarting on lap 183 of 200 with Todd Gilliland (38) and Zane Smith (21) up front.

Gilliland streaks away leaving Zane Smith to battle door-to-door with Stewart Friesen (52). Sheldon Creed got into the outside wall and is falling through the field getting pinched by 17.

Caution on lfap 184 of 200 for spins by Matt Crafton (88), Corey Heim (51), Tate Fogleman (12). Crafton was spun by teammate Grant Enfinger (98). Josh Berry (25) was collected.

Sheldon Creed pits under caution on lap 188 of 200.

Restarting on lap 192 of 200 with Todd Gilliland (38) and Zane Smith (21) on the front row. 2nd place Stewart Friesen chooses to stay in the inside lane for the restart.

Gilliland gets the early lead.

Caution on lap 196 of 200 as Corey Heim (51) turns Dawson Cram (41) into the outside wall.

Overtime.

Once they started racing in the third stage the race has gotten interesting.

Restarting in overtime with Todd Gilliland (38) and Stewart Friesen (52) on the front row. 2nd place Zane Smith (21) goes to the inside behind Gilliland.

Zane Smith take them three-wide. Â Stewart Friesen turns Gilliland. Â Caution comes out after the white flag with Zane Smith is out front.

<!– 1500 –> Zane Smith wins to advance to the championship.

Ben Rhodes (99) advances to the championship four.

Matt Crafton advances to championsnip four.

JHN advances to championship four.

Sheldon Creed does not advance.

MRN is saying NASCAR hasn’t made it official.

Sheldon Creed is out of his car and goes to Matt Crafton’s window to chat.

NASCAR makes it official, Zane Smith wins.

Zane said he “pissed the 16 off earlier in the race so he appreciated the push the 16 gave him on the restart”.

Zane got teary when talking about the fact he doesn’t have a job for next year yet. He walked away from the reporter who followed him and asked another question.

Creed (2) says Crafton (88) drove into the 98 of Grant Enfinger which sent the 2 up the track and into the wall and sent him back to the 23. He says he has a lot of respect for Crafton. He’s gutted to miss the final four. He said its a frustrating way to end that and not a lot of respect. He said he was trying to race them fair and gain points the fair way in case something like this happened and zane won. He said Matt called him a punk and he laughed at it. He said he would talk to Matt during the week and work things out.

Crafton said he wheel-hopped and ran into the back of the 98. He said he told Sheldon he didn’t wreck him. Crafton said he figured the 98 ran through him in retaliation for the wheel-hop, but he didn’t wreck Sheldon at all.

Trip Bruce, Stewart Friesen’s (52) crew chief, and Junior Joiner who is Matt Crafton’s (88) crew chief are having words and begin shoving. Folks are trying to keep them separated.

Stewart Friesen said he wasn’t trying to wreck Todd Gilliland he was trying to lean back and got into Gilliland and ended up wrecking himself. He says its a crappy way to short-track race.

The 2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Final Four are:

- - John Hunter Nemechek (4)
  - Matt Crafton (88)
  - Ben Rhodes (99)
  - Zane Smith (21)

The first two stages were a waste of time. Nothing really happened. The racing began in the third stage and ramped up as the laps wound down. I appreciated the on-track battling by drivers contending for the win, not a championship berth. It makes the race much more interesting. It seemed NASCAR did not mandate a hands-off policy at the end of the race allowing them to actually race. I doubt the same will hold true for the Xfinity and Cup series. Even though the driver I was most pulling for in this race was a victim of a non-championship contender racing hard for the win, I still prefer it. I want the NASCAR champion to prove he’s capable of handling anything on track. Overall the championship contenders have a large financial advantage over the non-contenders which provides them with a better vehicle. At the very least they could be forced to race and prove themselves and their skill with that vehicle that is the best money can buy. I appreciate other series that provide the same vehicle to all the teams and it’s up to the driver to go prove himself the best in the field. Since NASCAR chooses not to do that, instead allowing a small number of teams with a lot of money to control most aspects of the series, the least they can do is to allow the under-financed teams to take advantage of circumstances that puts them in contention for a win, whenever it occurs, including during the playoffs.

In summation, two boring stages, followed by one stage of racing that intensified as the event continued. The third stage looked more like the Truck series racing that made me a fan of the series. I want to see more hard racing from the trucks. I want to see more seasoned adults getting a chance to drive for the top teams in the top equipment. I want to see less, zero, non-talented, inexperienced kids in the top trucks. John Hunter Nemechek failed in the truck series, so he used his connections to get an Xfinity series ride. He failed in Xfinity series, so he used connections to get a Cup series ride. He failed in the Cup series so he used his connections to get the best ride in the truck series. I find that despicable. I would like to see talent count for more in NASCAR. Far too often lately we see talent count for nothing and the entitled get all the best opportunities.

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2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race Twenty-One Martinsville

Next Race: Phoenix

GO 2 and 88!!!!