NASCAR Camping World Truck Series racing returns to Gateway Motorsports Park tonight for the Villa Lighting delivers the Eaton 200 presented by CK Power.
Last year, John Hunter Nemechek won at Gateway, making it his fourth career-win. The track has seen a lot of young rising stars in their Victory Lane. Before Nemechek, Christopher Bell was the winner in 2016, Cole Custer in 2015 and Bubba Wallace in 2014. Nemechek already has one win under his belt so far this year, could Gateway be where he gets his second?
Ted Musgrave is the only driver in history to win two times at Gateway Motorsports Park and 2006 and 2007 are the only years that a manufacturer won back-to-back.
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First Timers At Gateway Motorsports Park
As the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series heads to the 10th race of the season, there have been a lot of firsts for drivers along the way.
This weekend is no different.
Of the 34 drivers entered, so far, 11 of them have never raced at Gateway before.
They are – Myatt Snider, Bobby Reuse, Brett Moffitt, Dalton Sargeant, Justin Fontaine, Christian Eckes, Riley Herbst, Chad Finley, Stewart Friesen, Zane Smith and Jesse Little.
Snider, Sargeant and Fontaine are all rookies – Todd Gilliland, another NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver in his rookie year, is the only one who has raced at Gateway before. It was his second career race in 2017 where he started fourth and finished 21st because of a transmission issue. This weekend will be his second visit to Gateway Motorsports Park.
Iowa Native Becomes an Iowa Winner
It was hot and humid on Saturday at Iowa Speedway but that didn’t stop Brett Moffitt, an Iowa native, from fighting for his spot in Victory Lane at the M&M’s 200 sponsored by Casey’s General Store.
Harrison Burton, who started at the pole for the first-time in his career in only his 10th career start in the series, finished with a career-best third-place result.
The race was completely up for grabs when a crash on Lap 135 took out four top contenders. Matt Crafton’s left front tire went flat and caused him to slide up the track into John Hunter Nemechek. Nemechek won at Iowa last year and had just claimed Stage 1 of the race. Ben Rhodes had big damage to his truck in the wreck as well.
Stewart Friesen got caught up in the mess but came out of it with only a few minor issues.
That incident allowed Moffitt, who started 16th, to take over and win his second race of the 2018 season. Moffitt, third in the standings, also gained points and shortened the gap between him and second-place Gragson to only 14 points.
Johnny Sauter remains the points leader with 419 points followed by Gragson and Moffitt. Friesen and Grant Enfinger close out the top five.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Points Standings
Points | |||
1 | Johnny | Sauter | 419 |
2 | Noah | Gragson | 348 |
3 | Brett | Moffitt | 334 |
4 | Stewart | Friesen | 308 |
5 | Grant | Enfinger | 308 |
6 | Matt | Crafton | 300 |
7 | Ben | Rhodes | 291 |
8 | Justin | Haley | 278 |
9 | Myatt | Snider | 247 |
10 | Dalton | Sargeant | 239 |
11 | Cody | Coughlin | 234 |
12 | Austin | Hill | 204 |
13 | Austin | Wayne Self | 173 |
14 | Wendell | Chavous | 167 |
15 | Justin | Fontaine | 159 |
16 | Jordan | Anderson | 156 |
17 | Todd | Gilliland | 155 |
18 | Jesse | Little | 135 |
19 | Joe | Nemechek | 132 |
20 | Spencer | Davis | 126 |
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