Ryan Truex Earns His Fifth-Straight Top 10 of 2017 at Texas

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer

Entering the WinStarOnlineGaming.com 400k at Texas Motor Speedway, Ryan Truex was coming off his fourth straight Top 10 finishes in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. This was also Truex’s second trip to the 1.5-mile speedway in Fort Worth, Texas.

In the first practice Truex placed his No. 16 H.E.B. Grocery Store Toyota Tundra 10th on the speed charts for Hattori Racing Enterprises. Crew chief Scott Zipadelli continued to make improvements on the truck as Truex was ninth in the second practice and fifth in the final practice. In qualifying he placed the truck fourth on the starting grid.

Stage 1 got off to a slow start with two quick cautions in the first 10 laps. Once the race got under green, Truex slid backwards. The newly reconfigured and repaved Texas Motor Speedway proved to be narrow.

When Stage 1 ended, Truex was in seventh. He gained four Championship Points thanks to his finish in the stage.

Stage 2 was much smoother for the Mayetta, New Jersey native. A caution-free stage saw Truex climb to sixth by the end. He gained five additional Championship Points.

The final stage was caution-filled. Under one of those cautions, Zipadelli called Truex down pit road, giving him fresh tires and making an adjustment on his Tundra.

Truex immediately began moving forward. With just under 30 laps to go, he was inside the Top 10. With 12 laps to go, Truex had moved up to the top five.

A quick caution and one green flag lap later saw Truex jump up to third.

On the final restart Truex battled with Grant Enfinger for position just behind race leaders Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe. Coming to take the white flag, chaos broke out further back.

Austin Wayne Self spun after contact with Johnny Sauter. Self then spun into the path of Timothy Peters. The contact broke the right front suspension of Peters’ No. 99 Metabo Chevrolet Silverado. It then dug into the grass on the frontstretch, launching the Chevy into the air.

NASCAR immediately threw the caution; however, it was determined that the leader had taken the white flag, making the race official. Bell was awarded the victory.

Truex ended up fourth. This is fourth top five of his Truck Series career, and 11th Top 10. This is also Truex’s fifth-straight Top 10 finish. He remains in the sixth position in the Championship Points standings, 17 points ahead of the cutoff for the Playoffs.

Truex Tweeted after the race about how close his team came,

I can taste that win. So proud of this @Hattori_Racing team, we're gonna get us one soon. Thanks @HEB @barharborfoods @seawatchint pic.twitter.com/lUTMwsw2r8

— Ryan Truex (@Ryan_Truex) June 10, 2017

Now Truex, Zipadelli, and the rest of the Hattori Racing Enterprises team will look to try to reach victory lane at Gateway Motorsports Park.