The drivers of the Camping World Truck series survived the chaos at Talladega Superspeedway last weekend. This weekend, they head to the last wild card of the season – the short track known as Martinsville Speedway.
In qualifying earlier Saturday morning, the young gun Cole Custer (#00 Haas Automation Chevy), who saw his chances of victory go for a spin in the spring at Martinsville, took the pole position. Surprisingly, two of the more dominant truck drivers at the “paper clip”, Johnny Sauter (#98 Smokey Mountain Toyota) and Matt Crafton (#88 Menards Toyota), were outside the top ten to start the race.
As the race got underway, the opening half was dominated by the man on the pole, Cole Custer. He would drive away and lead ninety of the opening one hundred laps, only handing off the lead once to Gray Gaulding (#54 Krispy Kreme Toyota) under a caution where he pitted.
However, the second half of the race would prove more challenging for Custer. He would get caught speeding on pit road, sending him to the rear of the field. Meanwhile, at the front, John Hunter Nemechek (#8 Toyota) and Matt Crafton battled for the race lead.
As the race came to its thrilling conclusion, a nearly endless string of cautions would take drivers out of contention lap by lap, leaving it to be a battle between Nemechek and Crafton. In the end, Matt Crafton would take the win in the Kroger 200 at Martinsville, a big moment for his championship hopes.
Meanwhile, coming home in second would be John Hunter Nemechek, while Crafton’s teammate Cameron Hayley (#13 Carolina Nut Co. Toyota) in third. In the championship hunt, Crafton would recover from his struggles at Talladega, now trailing points leader Erik Jones (#4 Toyota) by ten points.
The championship in the Truck Series is down to three races, with the next one coming next Friday in the Lone Star State. Be sure to tune in for more Camping World Truck Series racing from Texas Motor Speedway on Friday night on FS1.
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