Defending series champion Crafton takes over lead, others take step back
JOLIET, Ill. — In the shadows of the garage area, Ryan Blaney stood over the engine that had blown a cylinder during Saturday night’s Lucas Oil 225 at Chicagoland Speedway and stared blankly while shaking his head.
The blown engine combined with some bad timing on a late caution led to a 12th-place finish for the driver of the No. 29 Ford for Brad Keselowski Racing. It also caused Blaney, who entered the race 13 points behind Johnny Sauter in the standings, to slip to 16 points out of first place.
It was a night when the points standings got shuffled thanks to situations that played out in the final 40-45 laps. Blaney and Johnny Sauter were both victimized by late-race mishaps. Meanwhile, Matt Crafton rode to the front of the standings in part by managing to stay out of trouble.
Before all the mayhem occurred Blaney had pulled to within eight points of the lead on NASCAR.com’s live standings. When informed of this, Blaney raised up from looking under the hood and calmly shook his head yet again.
"We had an engine problem," Blaney said. "That’s part of racing. These are the things that you have to overcome. We can bounce back from this; there’s still seven races to go."
Blaney, who had run in the top five for the first 110 laps of the race, had a truck that was capable of second place on a night when Kyle Busch ran through the entire field on more than one occasion en route to the victory. And after finishing fourth in Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race, Blaney was on course for quite the doubleheader in a city where the Cubs’ Ernie Banks made double dips famous.
But it wasn’t meant to be as the race started to unravel for him on Lap 111. That’s when Blaney came to pit road along with the race leader Austin Dillon. One lap later, Todd Shafer spun on the infield grass to bring out a caution. The top five were still out on the track, and after the caution, Blaney found himself a lap down.
By Lap 138, Blaney’s cylinder was going bad, and he had no chance to make up the ground he lost on that fateful pit stop.
Earlier, around Lap 108, Sauter came to pit road, but after that stop, he had to serve a pass-through penalty for speeding. That sequence sent him on the way to a 14th-place finish and relinquishing the points lead to ThorSport teammate Crafton. Sauter is now five points behind.
Interestingly, though, it was Crafton who offered some hope for Blaney and Sauter by saying it’s too early to start counting points.
"We had to do a points race last year, and it was one of the most miserable things that I had to do," Crafton said. "Those sleepless nights that you’d wake up and say, ‘Oh my God, am I going to lose this?’ "
"(This year) we’re just going to go to each and every race and try to win each and every damn race.
I’ve won one (championship). I have zero pressure. I’m having a great time knowing that I have a truck to win every week."
Blaney and Sauter could both easily say the same thing if it weren’t for the late-race problems. And they might be able to say it again if situations play out differently the next time the trucks take the track, which is next Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the UNOH 175 (1 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1).
And while Crafton might not be counting points, fans of the Camping World Truck Series certainly can. Chicagoland proved to be a good time to start a little scoreboard watching.
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