The 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season kicked-off tonight at
Daytona International Speedway tonight and it sure didn’t disappoint. NASCAR
also debuted their new segment races as well.
18-year-old Kaz Grala and teammate Johnny Sauter set
the front row in qualifying and led the field to green. Grala was able to get
out in front as Christopher Bell was helping him from behind. It didn’t take
long for the big one to happen as the crash took place on lap two near turn one.
At least 13 drivers were taken out in the early crash. The replays showed that,
the 29 of Chase Briscoe got into the back of the 18 (Noah Gragson) and set off the chain reaction
crash.
Grala and Bell led the field back to the restart on
lap 10. Both continued to battle side by side down the backstretch until Grala
pulled in front of his teammate Sauter. With help from Spencer Gallagher, Bell
was able to get back into the lead on lap 14 in turn three. The lead continued to
shuffle all the way until last lap of segment one. Christopher Bell tried to
make a move on the outside to win stage one, but got loose after Gallagher
pushed too aggressively and Bell spun out off turn four. Bell’s truck lifted
off the ground and collected Brett Moffit as well.
This allowed Johnny Sauter to win stage one and pick
up 10 championship points. Timothy Peters, Ben Rhodes, Kaz Grala, Chase
Briscoe, Spencer Gallagher, Korbin Forrister, Scott Lagasse. Jr, Joe Nemechek
and John Hunter Nemechek all rounded out the top 10 to collect championship
points. Moffit was placed under the new five-minute damage vehicle policy after
his crash. Which is new to the 2017 NASCAR season. This means any vehicle who
doesn’t get their machine fixed in under five minutes and up to speed, will be
disqualified from the race. Moffit’s crew was unable to fix the truck in under
five minutes and was disqualified.
Grala and Sauter restarted the race on lap 26, which
set the green flag for stage two. Sauter easily got in front as the inside lane
got a bad restart. Stage two was a calm race until toward the end, when John
Hunter Nemechek was bumped by his dad Joe Nemechek. This almost spun John
Hunter out on the backstretch. Johnny Sauter was able to hold off the field for
stage win number two and collect another 10 points.
Timothy Peters and Christopher Bell led the to the
green flag for stage three on lap 46. Bell took the lead down backstretch with
help from Sauter. The lead changed hands once again multiple times during the
race. Ben Rhodes took the lead for a while with help from Scott Lagasse.Jr on
lap 51. Pit stops began with 33 to go, with Sauter, Grala, Gallagher and others
pitting for fuel only.
Bell took the lead in the process with Rhodes on the
high side. Just three laps later, Bell got sideways off turn four and collected
Korbin Forriester in the process. The leaders hit pit road with Briscoe winning
the race off pit road by taking fuel only.
The lead cycled back to Sauter and Grala with 24 to go
for the restart. Sauter went down to the bottom lane after the restart. The
race calmed a bit with 17 to go as the pack went single file. Just as the race
got calmed down, John Hunter Nemechek got loose and hit the wall on the
backstretch, which brought out the fifth caution of the race.
Sauter and Grala remained the leaders as the race went
back to green with two to go. Sauter once again dropped down in front of his
teammate to assume the lead. Matt Crafton, however, took the lead for a split
second in the tri-oval. The pack formed again right before turn one as Sauter
made a three wide move for the lead. Grant Enfinger who was behind Rhodes pushed him
too aggressively which set off multicar accident down the backstretch. This
included Crafton going upside down and landing on top of Sauter’s truck.
In all of that chaos, 18-year-old Kaz Grala took home
his first ever career win in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
Grala led twice for 14 laps.
There were six cautions for 29 laps. There was also 14 lead changes among nine drivers.
An important note- All drivers who were involved in all wrecks tonight were evaluated and released from the in-field care center.
The next scheduled NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race is next Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
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