Snider Survives to Finish Third at Talladega

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer

Attrition always seems to be the name of the game at Talladega Superspeedway. Saturday’s fred’s 250 powered by Coca-Cola was no different. One driver who survived the mayhem was Kyle Busch Motorsports’ Myatt Snider.

Being at the right place and at the right time helped Snider avoid the destruction that took place throughout the field. Multiple times throughout the race, his No. 51 Louisiana Hot Sauce Toyota Tundra was just ahead when ‘The Big One’ broke out. Ultimately, Snider was just ahead of the final ‘Big One’ that wiped out all but a handful of trucks. With the race ending under caution, he was relegated to a third-place finish.

Despite the varying strategies and jockeying of position, Snider was up front throughout the entirety of the race. He finished fifth and third in both stages. Snider briefly took the lead, being in front of the pack for just a lap.

Snider equated his crazy day to a rollercoaster ride,

“Well if you ever go to an amusement park and been on a rollercoaster that’s pretty much what it’s like. We had a crazy day. My KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) Louisiana Hot Sauce Toyota Tundra was really fast all day. We had good speed and were able to draft really well. It was just a wild race. We had a little bit of an incident there with the 13 (Cody Coughlin) – I don’t know exactly what happened but it looks like he got up into me or I got down on him. It happened so fast so – I’m just proud of these guys for giving me great pit stops and a great truck and a great sponsor. Just a great result and happy for this whole team.”

One major accident that Snider did find himself in the middle of took place on lap 70. As the field shuffled Cody Coughlin out of line, Snider ended up in the middle of a three-wide situation. At the same time that  Coughlin’s No. 13 Ride TV / JEGS Toyota Tundra slid up the track, Snider’s Tundra began to bobble.

Snider eventually contacted Coughlin, sending the No. 13 Toyota into Chris Fontaine in a scary incident. Coughlin ended getting airborne before landing on Fontaine’s windshield. Fontaine was shaken after the incident, but walked to the ambulance under his own power.

This was Snider’s first top-five finish and third top-10 in just his seventh career start. Snider’s top-five also moves the KBM No. 51 into the Round of Six in the 2017 Owner’s Playoffs with 19-points to spare on GMS Racing’s No. 24. After the reseeding, the No. 51 will likely be third in Owner Points behind both the KBM No. 4 and the GMS No. 21.

Now Snider will have to wait until Texas Motor Speedway for his next opportunity behind the wheel in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.