Multiple drivers face different obstacles at Talladega
TALLADEGA, Ala. -- "Ladies and gentlemen, congratulations -- you got your money's worth," Spencer Gallagher exclaimed after the finish of an action-packed fred's 250 powered by Coca-Cola at Talladega Superspeedway. The track threw its best at the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series title contenders, with penalties, wrecks and debris shaking up the points standings several times throughout the 95 laps.
It all started with points leader Matt Crafton. The No. 88 pitted under the race's first caution and as Crafton pulled out of his pit stall, the neon yellow Menards/Fishers Nuts Toyota got into the back of the No. 99 of Bryan Silas as he turned into his own stall, doing damage to both trucks and turning around the No. 99. An additional pit stop was required to fix the damage of the No. 88, after which Crafton battled visibility issues.
"We definitely had a lot to overcome," Crafton said after the race. "We got our first pit stop, got tore up on pit road. Then after that, it was downhill. I had so much chatter on the radio. 'What do I do? Do I wait back here? I'm stuck back here.' "
After making his way back into the top three, Crafton got an unwelcome push draft from the No. 8 of Joe Nemechek. The result was a black flag from NASCAR, which sent both cars to pit road to serve a pass-through penalty.
"They're black-flagging us, and I don't get it," the No. 88 crew chief Carl Joiner said over the radio to a furious Crafton.
"Tell Joe, 'Thanks a lot, you (expletive) idiot.' "
Crafton's teammate Johnny Sauter didn't have an easier time at the restrictor-plate track. He ran over debris 20 laps into the race, and a punctured radiator caused the No. 98 to fall off the pace at Lap 25 without any warning.
"Another kick in the (expletive)," Sauter said as his team worked in the garage. Sauter came to Talladega in second place in the standings, 19 points behind Crafton, with an anything-goes attitude, saying, "If it works out, great, if not, oh well. That's just the attitude you have to have."
That attitude changed quickly.
"Championship's over, and from here on out we can just race like hell," Sauter lamented from the garage.
Even Ryan Blaney, who made his way into Sauter's second-place position in the points standings, 16 points behind Crafton, had to battle his way up the points standings. En route to his 19th top-five finish of his Truck Series career, the Brad Keselowski Racing driver earned a speeding penalty during green-flag pit stops on Lap 44, sending him a lap down after running at the front for 30 of the race's first 43 laps.
"We gained about 10 (points) on Matt so that was good," Blaney said. "We had a great … truck. I made a mistake early and sped on pit road and that kind of put us back a little bit. But we got right back up to the front really fast."
Darrell Wallace Jr., hoping for his first champagne celebration in Victory Lane after turning 21 earlier in the month, started the race in 27th, but teamed up with eventual race-winner Timothy Peters early on to move into the top 10 by Lap 4. Wallace ended the day in third place in the standings, 28 points behind Crafton after a ninth-place finish, while Peters earned the title of biggest mover toward the top of the points standings, moving into fifth from seventh, cutting 18 points off his deficit.
"Obviously we know that the championship might be out our reach, but who knows, maybe we could pull the Hornaday and win the rest 'em and be right back in it," Peters said.
After picking the wrong line on a final restart, Crafton went home with a 14th-place finish. Thorsport Racing teammate Sauter was unable to get back onto the track, finishing 71 laps down in 31st. When the dust settled at one of NASCAR's most unpredictable tracks, however, Crafton lost only three points of his buffer at the top of the leaderboard.
"At least we got out of here somewhat in decent shape," Crafton said.
As his teammate knows, Talladega could have done much worse.
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