NASCAR Camping World Truck Series teams will race 175 miles over 200 laps in the Speediatrics 200 at Iowa Speedway on Saturday, June 18th. FOX Sports 1 will start their pre-race coverage at 8 pm ET with a green flag around 8:30 pm ET with radio coverage on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.
Byron Blurs to Second Win at Texas
The record for youngest Texas winner fell for the second consecutive race after William Byron darted by Matt Crafton with five laps remaining to win the Rattlesnake 400 at Texas Motor Speedway last Friday.
Byron, 18 years, 6 months, 12 days old, surpassed last November’s winner Erik Jones at 19 years, 5 months, 7 days as the most youthful race winner at the 1.5-track.
The win marks Byron’s second of the season as he is now tied with Matt Crafton for the series win lead and vaults him to third in the points standings just 23 markers below Crafton.
In addition to his two victories, Byron has three top-fives and four top-tens. The Charlotte native ranks second among full-time drivers in several loop data categories, including: average running position (8.2), driver rating (104.1), fastest laps (100) and laps led (133).
Byron and the rest of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series now head to Iowa Speedway for Saturday’s Speediatrics 200. Byron won the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race there last May.
“We expected to run top-ten or top-five early in the season while William adjusted to the trucks and new tracks, but holy cow, two wins in the first seven races is pretty amazing,” said Byron’s crew chief Rudy Fugle. “Kansas was a lot of speed and he had to do a good job. We almost lost it there on the last restart, but he got it back. At Texas he went out and earned it. We were decent and kept getting the truck a little better, but we weren’t perfect. He found the top groove, he decided to move around, he stood on the pedal there at the end and made it happen.”
Crafton Continues Intermediate Track Success
Nothing can slow down Matt Crafton on an intermediate track.
The No. 88 Toyota Racing driver placed runner-up in Friday’s Rattlesnake 400 for his 12th top-two showing – including seven wins – and 19th top-ten finish in 21 starts at 1.5-mile ovals since 2014.
Crafton tops the Camping World Truck Series standings with a 2016 resume that boasts two wins, four top-five and six top-tens. He claims an 18-point lead over second-place Timothy Peters.
Despite a fire at his ThorSport Racing team’s headquarters in Sandusky, Ohio, Crafton will race at Iowa where he’s logged one win, five top-fives and nine top-tens in nine previous starts. He owns a 4.7 average finish at the 7/8-mile track.
Lone Star State Treats GMS Well
GMS Racing drivers Johnny Sauter and Ben Kennedy finished third and fourth, respectively, Friday at Texas Motor Speedway.
Sauter’s showing marked his third consecutive top-four performance and second straight top three.
Kennedy’s result was his first top-five finish of the season.
Sauter ranks seventh in the Camping World Truck Series points standings on the strength of his one win and four top-fives. Kennedy sits ninth.
GMS Racing’s Spencer Gallagher ranks eight in the series points standings due to his five top-tens.
Sauter is now in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Chase via his win at Daytona. Gallagher would make the Chase if the season ended today thanks to his points position.
Reddick on the Rise, Hemric Humming for Brad Keselowski Racing
Last season’s Camping World Truck Series championship runner-up Tyler Reddick continued his recent run of success with a fifth-place performance at Texas.
After failing to post a top-ten in the first four races of the season, Reddick has placed seventh or better in his last three starts. He now sits sixth in the standings and would make the Camping World Truck Series Chase if the season ended today. Reddick holds an 11-point advantage over Ben Kennedy, who is now the ‘first driver out’ of the playoffs.
Reddick’s Brad Keselowski Racing teammate Daniel Hemric has his Ford F-150 humming as well. He ranks tied with Matt Crafton for the series lead in top-tens with six and occupies the fourth spot in the points standings. Hemric would also have a Chase berth if the season ended today.
Abreu Flirts with First Win
Rico Abreu shot by second-place Matt Crafton on the last lap of Friday’s Rattlesnake 400, and looked like he could’ve caught race-winner William Byron, when he bumped the wall running the high line and faded back to a ninth-place finish.
A victory would’ve earned Abreu a berth in the eight-driver Camping World Truck Series Chase. Right now, Abreu sits 17th in the series points standings, 36 markers behind Spencer Gallagher for the last Chase berth if he cannot pick up a win.
The ninth-place showing set a career high for Abreu, whose previous top finish was tenth at Martinsville.
“This was obviously not the finish we were hoping for,” Abreu said. “I got the top going in turns three and four there, and I kept following, and following, and you can only follow for so long. We came to the white (flag) and you have to push it with the way they’ve built this new Chase format, you have to win and he’s (William Byron) already won. I wasn’t going to do something too stupid, and wreck him, because I’ve done that before. I had to go for it, and I did. I know we have the speed in our Safelite Toyota Tundra’s, and I just have a lot of drive – I’m never giving up.”
Red Horse Wrangles in Strong Texas Finishes
Timothy Peters produced another solid finish, placing sixth at Texas. His Red Horse Racing teammate German Quiroga, who was making his first Camping World Truck Series start since the 2014 season finale at Homestead, came in eighth.
Peters ranks second in the Camping World Truck Series standings, trailing Matt Crafton by 18 points.
He has finished in the top-ten of the series championship standings in each of his first seven full-time seasons with a career-high runner-up in 2010.