Matt Crafton Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service RICHMOND, Va. – The first truck off pit road controlled the race.  That was the story of Chandler Smith’s dominating victory in Saturday night’s Worldwide Express 250 at Richmond Raceway.  Smith took charge of the second event in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoff when he won the race off pit road under caution on lap 75—during the break between the first and second stages.  That was the ballgame. Smith led the final 175 laps through two cautions, one for the second stageRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor BROWNSBURG, Ind. – The 2022 edition of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs started on the right foot for Grant Enfinger and GMS Racing, as he scored the victory in Friday night’s TSport 200 at Indianapolis Raceway Park. With the win, Enfinger automatically advances to the second round of the Playoffs, allowing him and the team to be able to look further down the road and prepare for the tracks in the crucial Round of 8, which will determine which drivers will be racing forRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service LEBANON, Tenn. – His tires chattering with age over the final few laps, Ryan Preece held off charging Zane Smith and Carson Hocevar to win Friday night’s Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Superspeedway.  The victory was the second straight for David Gilliland Racing, after Todd Gilliland won last Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race on dirt at Knoxville Raceway in the No. 17 Ford, the same number Preece drove on Friday.  The win was an encore performance for Preece, who scored his firstRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service KNOXVILLE, Iowa—Moonlighting in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Todd Gilliland took control of Saturday night’s Clean Harbors 150 after the sun set on Knoxville Raceway.  Gilliland grabbed the lead from John Hunter Nemechek for the final time on Lap 140 of 150 and pulled away after a restart on Lap 147 to beat Nemechek to the finish line by .945 seconds and win in his first start of the season and for the third time in his career.  On the eve of Father’sRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service FORT WORTH –  It was a hard-earned, deeply-appreciated victory for Stewart Friesen in Friday night’s SpeedyCash.com 220 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway – the first win for the popular Canadian driver since November 2019. His 60 laps out front in the No. 52 Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota more than doubled his year-long total laps led and were enough to land his first win in the last 53 races and to secure his place in the 2022 Playoffs. Friesen, 38,Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Leading 108 of 134 laps, Zane Smith dominated Saturday night’s Heart of America 200 and staved off a late charge from Ty Majeski at Kansas Speedway to record his NASCAR Camping World Series-leading third victory of the season.  After a restart with eight laps left, Smith pulled away from Majeski and crossed the finish line with a comfortable 1.653 seconds to spare. The runner-up finish was a career-best for Majeski.  “It was really just an unbelievable truck,” said Smith, whoRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – Overcoming a mistake in communication, Ben Rhodes charged to the front in the closing laps of Saturday’s Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt snatched the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory from runner-up Carson Hocevar. One circuit after the final restart on Lap 146 of 150, Rhodes, the defending series champion, buried his No. 99 ThorSport Racing Toyota into Turn 1, slid to the outside of third-place finisher John Hunter Nemechek and dived to the inside of Hocevar to take the lead.Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service William Byron proved emphatically Thursday night that he hadn’t forgotten how to drive a truck. Making only his second start in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series since 2016—after a blown engine knocked him out of last year’s Nashville race—Byron parlayed perfect pit strategy into a decisive victory in the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 200 at Martinsville Speedway. In his last full season in the series in 2016, Byron won seven races before moving on to the Xfinity Series and finally to the CupRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS – Nineteen year-old Chandler Smith took the lead with two laps remaining and held off 2021 championship contender Zane Smith and the winningest driver in NASCAR national-series history, his team owner Kyle Busch, to win the Victoria’s Voice 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It was a deservedly dramatic ending for a hugely competitive race at the 1.5-mile Las Vegas track – marking the ninth consecutive truck series race won by a driver 23 years ofRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor AVONDALE, Ariz. – As the laps were winding down in Friday night’s Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix Raceway, Ben Rhodes could see the championship slipping away and he wasn’t going to settle for second place. Setting his sights on championship rival Zane Smith, Rhodes was a man on a mission, chewing up the ground between himself and Smith to catch up to the rear bumper of Smith’s No. 21 Chevrolet. After a bump in Turn 3 with nine laps to go, Rhodes sent Smith up theRead More