This week we have already seen two races, and we have two more to come, but this one is the first one worth points. The season opener, if you want to call it that, for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series took place Friday night, with Johnny Sauter taking home the checkered flag.
Johnny Sauter Wins His Third NextEra Energy 250
Sauter, who achieved four truck wins last year, is no stranger to Daytona wins. A win in 2016 and another win in 2013 under ThorSport Racing makes him a three-time champion after tonight.
Sitting on pole position for the NextEra Energy 250 was David Gilliland, who stayed in front for a significant part of the race. The third lap of the race saw a caution, when Travis Kvapil had smoke coming out of his car. He retired from the race shortly after. The rest of stage one had no other conflicts, giving David Gilliland the green and white checkered flag.
Stage 2 started with Gragson and Sauter on the front row. This stage saw no yellow flags, with Johnny Sauter winning stage two. Majority of the grid pitted under stage caution. During this, Matt Crafton spun out doing a full 180, not making any contact with anyone or anything.
The final stage of the race saw much more conflict than the two before. During commercials, a 6 car incident happened, involving Jo Cobb, Enfinger, Kligerman, Coughlin, Sargeant and Gragson. Jennifer Jo Cobb hit the inside wall nearly head on during this accident. She walked away from the accident, but did not get checked out of the infield care center during the broadcast.
With 36 laps to go, Noah Gragson and Bo Lemastus both spun out. In a separate incident, on the same lap, Kligerman blew a tire.
We went green once again with 32 laps to go. This time, John-Hunter Nemechek was in the lead. After a couple of laps around, Nemechek’s right rear tire started smoking. Nemechek had plans to pit, but his car gave up on him. On Lap 28, his tire completely went, causing himself, Myatt Snider, Stewart Friesen and Brett Moffitt to wreck.
9 laps later, Crafton, Greenfield, Bryan Dauzat and Korbin Forrister crashed. This had a long cleanup, bringing out a red flag at one point. We were able to see clean racing for the final 15 laps. With 9 to go, Sauter gained the lead. He was able to hold onto the lead for the win. On the final turn, Spencer Davis and Jordan Anderson both spun out.
The action packed Speedweek only reached it’s halfway point after this race ended, with two more races left. Tomorrow, the Xfinity series starts up with the Powershares QQQ 300, and the legendary Daytona 500 on Sunday.
Main Photo:
Embed from Getty Images
