This week, one year ago, Brett Moffitt came into the NASCAR truck series race at Homestead in his first year with Hattori Racing Enterprises trying to take the series by storm and win his first championship.
Not only did he win the race, but he became the first Iowa native to win a championship in one of NASCAR’s three premier racing series.
On Friday, he’ll go for two in a row.
Brett Moffitt tries to go Back-to-Back at Homestead
Moffitt, along with Ross Chastain, Matt Crafton, and Stewart Friesen, will race to the checkered flag to determine the 2019 truck series champion on Friday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Last year was about proving that he belonged in the sport.
After all, he had bounced around between lesser rides and also served as a test driver for Michael Waltrip Racing. His last full season of racing came in 2015.
This year, he wants to prove that it was no fluke.
“Being able to walk away with another championship trophy this weekend would be justification for me,” Moffitt said. “To be able to win back-to-back would be pretty special with two different teams and two different crews.”
Moffitt picked up this year right where he left off with HRE last season.
Racing in the No. 24 for GMS Racing, the Grimes native has picked up four wins this season, including the first two of the playoffs, to secure the trip to the Championship 4.
The mark – for the second straight year – was the most anyone saw this year in the truck series.
Chastain was the closest to Moffitt in the regular season when it came to chasing wins. He found himself in victory lane three times – and four if you count Chastain’s victory at Iowa that was taken away due to his car being deemed to low to the ground by the series.
Under NASCAR’s current playoff system, though, it doesn’t matter what any of the drivers have done this season.
It all comes down to Friday night.
“The atmosphere is always crazy,” Moffitt said. “You have so much coming down to one race, one weekend. Between the fans and the crews and the families, everyone is there to support you.”
Moffitt made his only start at the track last season, starting fifth and leading 59 laps of the 134-lap race before winning.
“It’s a wild event and I haven’t been down there on the bad side of things, but I don’t want to start now,” Moffitt said.
Qualifying will set the lineup for the race and is scheduled to begin at 4:35 p.m. ET. Fans can see that as well as the race on Fox Sports 1. The main broadcast is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. ET.
