Posted on by Reid Spencer

For Matt Crafton, the victory couldn’t have been sweeter.

The 44-year-old reigning NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series champion held off a determined charge from 19-year-old Christian Eckes and held on to win Saturday’s e.p.t. 200 at Kansas Speedway.

In the second leg of NASCAR’s first Truck Series weekend doubleheader, Crafton broke a 67-race drought dating back to his 2017 victory on the Eldora Speedway’s half-mile dirt track. Crafton took the lead moments after a restart on Lap 113 of 134 and held the top spot the rest of the way.

RELATED: Official race results

The three-time series champion beat Eckes to the finish line by .324 seconds to secure his third win at the 1.5-mile track and the 15th of his career. Crafton had been in a close battle for one of the final playoff spots; now, he’s locked into the postseason with the victory.

“It was very, very sweet,” Crafton acknowledged, taking the checkered flag as a souvenir. “Not a lot of give-up in these guys (the No. 88 ThorSport Racing team), without a doubt. Our Ford F-150 was good, really good all day.

“It was good on that last run, as well. The 18 (Eckes) had a little bit of speed — he was making me nervous right there. I kept trying to take his line away and make him tight and loose. … At the end of the day, I can’t thank these guys enough for working so hard each and every week on this thing.”

The runner-up finish was bittersweet for Eckes, who ran a pedestrian 13th in Friday night’s doubleheader opener at Kansas.

“What a comeback for our team,” said Eckes, who applied constant pressure to Crafton in the closing laps but couldn’t find a way around him. “We sucked yesterday. You can’t sugar-coat it — we were terrible. (Crew chief) Rudy (Fugle) and the guys worked really, really hard last night and this morning to get it better.

“We still started the race a little bit off, but the track kind of came to us. It was perfect at the end. I just got a little tight behind him (Crafton).”

Grant Enfinger ran third behind Crafton and Eckes, with Tanner Gray and Ben Rhodes finishing fourth and fifth, respectively. Gray secured the first top five of his career in his 13th Truck Series start.

If Crafton picked the perfect time to win for the first time this season, the race was an unmitigated disaster for Tyler Ankrum, Johnny Sauter and Stewart Friesen, all of whom qualified for the playoffs last year. Even with the postseason field expanded to 10 drivers this season, all three are in dire jeopardy of missing the playoffs after Saturday’s race. Sauter was KO’d in a 12-truck wreck that started when Gray turned the No. 68 Toyota of Clay Greenfield across traffic on Lap 83. 

Sauter was eliminated in 33rd place and fell 43 points behind Todd Gilliland for the 10th and final playoff spot. Friesen was a victim of the same wreck, finished 34th and stands 14th in points, 71 behind Gilliland.

RELATED: Sauter, Friesen in big wreck | Moffitt, Ankrum tangle at Kansas

In a wreck involving three GMS Racing teammates, Ankrum drifted up the track on Lap 94, turned across the nose of Zane Smith’s No. 21 Chevrolet and collected the No. 23 of teammate Brett Moffitt, the 2018 series champion. Smith had swept the first two stages of the race but finished ninth after damage to the left front of his Silverado.

Ankrum, who dropped out of the top 10 after a 33rd-place finish on Friday night thanks to mechanical issues, finished 28th on Saturday and is 11th in points, 22 behind Gilliland. 

“My nose just started taking off,” Ankrum said of the wreck. “I don’t know what happened. I was fine, and I’ve never really had the nose take off — it was a really weird place.

“I had the wheel into to. Pretty embarrassing. A demoralizing weekend, honestly. If you look at ‘demoralizing’ in the dictionary, my name would probably be in it. We’ve had a fast truck all weekend. We just need to catch a break.”

Friday night’s winner, Austin Hill, ran sixth on Saturday, followed by Derek Kraus, Brandon Jones, Smith and polesitter Chase Purdy.

RELATED: Pastrana spins in final stage

Travis Pastrana, competing in his first NASCAR national series event since the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in September 2017, suffered a flat tire in the early stages of the event. During the final stage on Lap 72, Pastrana spun the No. 40 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet off of Turn 4, sliding through the infield grass. Pastrana finished 22nd.

Saturday’s Gander Trucks race was realigned from Chicagoland Speedway due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Gander Trucks will return to the track on Friday, Aug. 7 at Michigan International Speedway (6 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCA Radio).

Pit notes: The No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota driven by Brandon Jones (finished 8th) and the No. 19 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Toyota driven by Derek Kraus (finished 7th) each were found to have one lug nut missing in post-race inspection.

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on by Staff Report

Maurice Petty, the man who supplied the horsepower that propelled his brother Richard Petty to nearly all of his 200 NASCAR Cup Series victories and seven NASCAR Cup Series championships, has died. He was 81.

The man simply called “Chief” was one of the best engine builders in the history of the sport, and an often behind-the-scenes member of the Petty dynasty. Maurice was the fourth member of the family dynasty to be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame — following his older brother Richard, father Lee Petty and his cousin Dale Inman.

“Never did. Didn’t then and don’t right now,” Maurice Petty said in 2013 when asked if he’d felt passed over in previous years. “It really makes me happy, because that means I was part of all of them getting in. They’ve got all of us in now.”

Petty, born in 1939 in Level Cross, North Carolina, was the first engine builder to be inducted into the prestigious Hall of Fame. He is credited with 212 wins as an engine builder, according to Richard Petty Motorsports. The stock-car racing pioneer also served as the occasional crew chief and was later the team’s general manager.

PHOTOS: Maurice Petty remembered

“The ‘Chief’ was one of the most talented mechanics in NASCAR history,” Jim France, NASCAR Chairman and CEO, said in a statement. “He provided the power that helped Petty Enterprises define dominance in sports. While he was known for his work under the hood, Maurice played multiple “behind-the-scenes” roles, doing whatever it took to help deliver his cars to Victory Lane. On behalf of the France family, I offer my condolences to the friends and family of Maurice Petty, a true NASCAR giant.”

Maurice had a brief driving career — 26 premier series races with seven top-five and 16 top-10 finishes between 1960 and 1964 — but found his calling in the shop.

Petty, 21 months younger than his elder sibling Richard, overcame polio as a child. Both Richard and Maurice worked on their father’s pit crew as teenagers. He later consulted with Dodge upon its return to NASCAR’s premier series in 2001.

Maurice built the engines that carried his brother to 198 of his NASCAR record 200 career wins. He also built engines that put drivers such as Buddy Baker, Pete Hamilton and Jim Paschal in Victory Lane.

“I was one of the first (engine builders), so it makes you like a pioneer or something,” Petty said in 2013. “We had three or four guys helping out, but not the whole time. We did it the hard way.

“I came along and I have welded, swept the floors and I drove. I did it all up until a point — in 1964, that’s when I turned it all into building the engines.”

Upon Maurice being voted into the Hall of Fame, Richard Petty said that without his younger brother’s talents, “then there wouldn’t have been a Richard Petty or a Lee Petty or a Dale Inman accomplishing the things that (we) did accomplish.

“He is the engine man that everybody has to compete against.”

Leonard Wood, whose Wood Brothers Racing team often found itself going head-to-head with Petty Enterprises for supremacy in the sport, said Maurice “was doing just about everything right.”

“A very tough competitor who took his job very seriously,” Wood said in 2013. “You’ve got all those people you know you have to beat each and every week, but you knew when you went out that if you could beat him, you could win the race.

“All those years he built all those engines for the Pettys, his engines always ran up front; just very hard to beat.”

 

Posted on by Terrin Waack

The checkered flag fell on the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series a little before 9 p.m. ET Friday night at Kansas Speedway. Another green flag will wave Saturday afternoon around 1:30 p.m. ET. That’s less than 24 hours separating the two races, creating the first trucks doubleheader on the 2020 schedule.

Austin Hill won Friday’s event and his crew chief, Scott Zipadelli, noted the No. 16 Hattori Racing Enterprises team is allotted two hours after the first race and two hours before the second to get its Toyota ready.

RELATED: Hill cruises to first 2020 win at Kansas

“Driver, crew chief and engineer — everybody comes together as a whole to see what kind of plan you can come up with to make your truck that much better for the next day,” Hill said. “So I think it’s really cool. It gives you a second chance to go out there and redeem yourself if you did have a bad night. If you did win, you can go out there and try to do like, I think, Austin Cindric did and go 2-for-2. That’s our plan.”

Cindric did that in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Kentucky Speedway two weeks ago. The NASCAR Cup Series also had a doubleheader in back-to-back days this year — at Pocono Raceway — but Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin split the wins.

Originally, only the Cup Series was supposed to have a two-race weekend. The revamped schedules, though, happened because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Cup Series will have two more weekends like that at Michigan International Speedway and Dover International Speedway next month.

RELATED: NASCAR sets August schedule

“I’m pumped up for it,” said Grant Enfinger, the only Truck Series regular with more than one win (two) in 2020. “I was pumped up when I saw it on the schedule.”

Enfinger finished third Friday at Kansas. Brett Moffitt was the runner-up, marking the 2018 champion’s best showing this season.

“It brings huge momentum,” Moffitt said. “We had a really up-and-down night. We fired off, we won the first stage, but we were free, then got buried in traffic and didn’t score any stage points in the second stage”

Hill won Stage 2 in addition to the overall race.

The biggest difference between the events will be start time. Friday’s was at night. Saturday’s will begin in the afternoon. Heat will definitely be more of a factor in the latter event. The overall goal, however, remains the exact same: win.

“The best thing about it,” Hill said, “is we get to do it all over again tomorrow and try to go for No. 2.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

As the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series leader for seven straight weeks, Austin Hill was all but assured of making the playoffs.

On Friday night he made it official, winning the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 200 at Kansas Speedway to pick up his first victory of the season and lock up a playoff spot.

After swapping the top spot with Brett Moffitt following the final restart on Lap 88, Hill grabbed the lead for good on Lap 96 of 134 and held it the rest of the way. All told, Hill led four times for a race-high 65 laps.

RELATED: Official race results | Gander Trucks to race again Saturday

Hill’s best finish of the season followed his worst, a 30th-place result at Texas that stemmed from engine issues. Prior to the Fort Worth race, Hill had reeled off seven straight top 10s to open the season. 

“Oh, man, it’s awesome,” said Hill, who increased his series lead to 40 points over second-place Ben Rhodes. “We’ve been working so hard this season. We’ve been really consistent. Last week was a bummer, having engine troubles.

“I told the guys before coming here, ‘You know we finished fourth here last year—let’s finish three spots better.’ And I’ll be danged if we didn’t.”

The only mistake Hill made was an ill-fated attempt to secure the fourth position and top lane for the final restart. Hill hit the brakes on pit road after this stop on Lap 85, only to get hit from behind. He restarted third on the bottom but immediately began battling for the lead with Moffitt.

Thanks to the pit road snafu, Hill’s No. 16 Hattori Racing Enterprises Toyota will need some work before Saturday’s second race of a weekend doubleheader.

“Now we’ve got to go replace the bumper and get it ready to go tomorrow,” said Hill, who won for the first time in three Kansas starts and the fifth time in his career.

Moffitt and Grant Enfinger battled for the second position during the final green-flag run, with Moffitt prevailing. Hill pulled away as the two drivers fought for position behind him and crossed the finish line with a comfortable 2.928-second lead.

“Really, those last 20 laps felt like they went on forever,” Hill said. “I started thinking, ‘What am I going to do when a caution comes out?’ Am I going to choose the outside or inside lane and how hard do I drive it into the corner on old tires—just a lot of things were going through my head.

“I’m glad we didn’t have to do a green-white-checkered finish, and it just ended like it did. The United Rentals Toyota Tundra was really fast tonight. We do have some work for tomorrow. It felt like on the long run we were just way too free. I had to really pedal it through the corner, but we were good enough tonight.”

Enfinger held third, followed by reigning and three-time series champion Matt Crafton. Sunoco rookies Derek Kraus and Zane Smith were fifth and sixth, respectively, with Rhodes, Sheldon Creed, Johnny Sauter and Todd Gilliland completing the top 10.

Crafton gained one spot in the standings to ninth and now holds an 11-point cushion over Tyler Ankrum, the first driver currently out of a Playoff-eligible position. Stewart Friesen, a Playoff qualifier last year, suffered the most serious damage in the points after an unscheduled pit stop for a flat left rear tire and a 27th-place finish.

With three races left in the regular season, Friesen is 44 points behind Kraus, who holds the 10th and final Playoff position.

The Gander Truck drivers will line up again at 1:30 p.m. ET on Saturday for the second race of the doubleheader, the e.p.t. 200 at the 1.5-mile track (FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on by Press Release

CONCORD, N.C. – Rev Racing, home to NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity driver Development Program, announced an enhanced 2020 partnership agreement with Sunoco. Sunoco, known as the “Official Fuel of NASCAR” and a leading fuel provider, will increase its partnership through the remainder of the year, becoming a full-time car sponsor of Rev Racing driver, Rajah Caruth.

Caruth is currently a second-year NASCAR Drive for Diversity Development Driver, piloting the No. 6 Toyota Camry Late Model Stock Car in the Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series and the No. 99 Legends car in the Summer Shootout at Charlotte Motor Speedway as a youth development driver.

“Sunoco is excited to expand its relationship with Rev Racing and up-and-coming driver Rajah Caruth. Rajah is an incredibly talented driver, and we are proud to have the opportunity to play a part in supporting this future NASCAR star,” said Fred McConnell, Marketing Director for Sunoco. “Since its inception, Sunoco has supported Rev Racing because we believe in its important mission to provide opportunities that advance diverse drivers and team members up through the highest levels of NASCAR.”

Sunoco has been a partner of Rev Racing since 2009, when Rev Racing owner Max Siegel took over the competitive management of the NASCAR Drive for Diversity Program. Sunoco has been both a financial and product contributor with Rev Racing throughout the partnership.

“We are thrilled that our relationship with our partners at Sunoco is continuing to grow,” said Max Siegel, owner of Rev Racing. “Our goals have continued to align through the years, as it remains a unified priority to provide young, diverse drivers with the support, training and resources to advance their careers. We are proud of Rajah’s accomplishment both on and off the track and know he will be a great representative of the Sunoco brand.”

Caruth will debut the No. 6 Sunoco Toyota this Saturday, July 25th, at Hickory Motor Speedway in the “Big 10” 100 lap race set to begin at 7 pm EST.

Posted on by Data Skrive

William Byron rounded out the top 10 in the Super Start Batteries 400 Presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts at Kansas Speedway on Thursday.

The top-10 finish for Byron added 27 points to his season total. Byron is now No. 14 in the NASCAR Cup Series standings with 452 points.

Byron started in 15th position and led 27 laps in the race, holding the lead a total of three times. The third-year driver has picked up five top-five and 22 top-10 finishes in his career.

Over the course of his career at Kansas Speedway, Byron has put together one top-five finish and one top-10.

The Charlotte, North Carolina native’s starting and finishing positions compared favorably to his career averages, starting at his career mark of 15.3 and completing the race eight places ahead of his 18.5 career average finish.

Byron’s 10th-place finish was against a field of 40 drivers. The race endured 11 cautions and 47 caution laps. There were 21 lead changes.

Denny Hamlin earned the win in the race, and Brad Keselowski finished second. Martin Truex Jr placed third, Kevin Harvick secured fourth, and Erik Jones grabbed the No. 5 spot.

After Kyle Busch won Stage 1, Keselowski drove the No. 2 car to the win in Stage 2.

William Byron Driver Page | Get Byron Gear | Race Center

Posted on by Data Skrive

Tyler Reddick finished 13th in the Super Start Batteries 400 Presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts at Kansas Speedway on Thursday.

Reddick’s result added 29 points to his season total. Reddick is now No. 15 in the NASCAR Cup Series standings with 442 points.

Reddick started in 23rd position. The second-year driver has earned two top-five and seven top-10 finishes in his career.

Thursday’s race was the first of Reddick’s career at Kansas Speedway.

The Corning, California native’s starting and finishing positions compared favorably to his career averages, starting two spots higher than his career mark of 25.1 and completing the race five places ahead of his 17.6 career average finish.

Reddick’s 13th-place finish was against a field of 40 drivers. The race endured 11 cautions and 47 caution laps. Prior to the checkered flag there were 21 lead changes.

Denny Hamlin earned the victory in the race, and Brad Keselowski finished second. Martin Truex Jr placed third, Kevin Harvick secured fourth, and Erik Jones grabbed the No. 5 spot.

After Kyle Busch won the first stage, Keselowski drove the No. 2 car to victory in Stage 2.

Tyler Reddick Driver Page | Get Reddick Gear | Race Center

Posted on by Data Skrive

Cole Custer finished seventh in the Super Start Batteries 400 Presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts at Kansas Speedway on Thursday.

The top-10 finish for Custer added 30 points to his season total. Custer now ranks 19th in the NASCAR Cup Series standings with 352 points. A total of 16 drivers qualify for the the playoffs.

Custer started in 24th position. The second-year driver has one career victory, with two top-five finishes and three results inside the top 10.

The Ladera Ranch, California native began the race two spots behind his career mark of 22.2, but finished 16 places ahead of his career average of 23.1.

Custer’s seventh-place finish came against a field of 40 drivers. The race endured 11 cautions and 47 caution laps. Prior to the checkered flag there were 21 lead changes.

Denny Hamlin secured the victory in the race, and Brad Keselowski took second. Martin Truex Jr placed third, Kevin Harvick brought home fourth, and Erik Jones rounded out the top five.

After Kyle Busch won Stage 1, Keselowski drove the No. 2 car to victory in Stage 2.

Cole Custer Driver Page | Get Custer Gear | Race Center

Posted on by Data Skrive

Aric Almirola finished sixth in the Super Start Batteries 400 Presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts at Kansas Speedway on Thursday.

The top-10 finish for Almirola added 42 points to his season total. He now has 576 total points, good enough for eighth place in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Almirola started in third position. The 13th-year driver has tallied two career victories, with 23 top-five finishes and 71 results inside the top 10.

The sixth-place result for Almirola was the sixth top-10 of his career at Kansas Speedway in 16 starts.

The Tampa, Florida native’s starting and finishing positions compared favorably to his career averages, starting 18 spots higher than his career mark of 20.7 and completing the race 16 places ahead of his 21.7 career average finish.

Almirola took on 40 other drivers on the way to his sixth-place finish. The race endured 11 cautions and 47 caution laps. There were 21 lead changes.

Denny Hamlin secured the victory in the race, and Brad Keselowski followed in second. Martin Truex Jr placed third, Kevin Harvick secured fourth, and Erik Jones grabbed the No. 5 spot.

After Kyle Busch won the first stage, Keselowski drove the No. 2 car to victory in Stage 2.

Aric Almirola Driver Page | Get Almirola Gear | Race Center

Posted on by Data Skrive

Erik Jones finished fifth in the Super Start Batteries 400 Presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts at Kansas Speedway on Thursday.

Jones’ top-five finish added 37 points to his season total. Jones is now 16th in the NASCAR Cup Series standings with 440 points.

Jones started in 21st position. The fifth-year driver has earned two career victories, with 28 top-five finishes and 56 results inside the top 10.

In his career at Kansas Speedway, Jones has compiled two top-five finishes and his fifth-place result marks the fourth top-10.

The Byron, Michigan native began the race eight spots behind his career mark of 13.3, but finished 13 places ahead of his career average of 17.6.

Jones raced against a field of 40 drivers on the way to his fifth-place finish. The race endured 11 cautions and 47 caution laps. There were 21 lead changes.

Denny Hamlin earned the checkered flag in the race, and Brad Keselowski followed in second. Martin Truex Jr crossed the finish line third, with Kevin Harvick bringing home fourth place. Jones rounded out the top five.

After Kyle Busch won Stage 1, Keselowski drove the No. 2 car to victory in Stage 2.

Erik Jones Driver Page | Get Jones Gear | Race Center