TALLADEGA, Ala.: With only Martinsville (Va.) Speedway left to determine the final four for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship picture, upset wins by both Christian Eckes and Tate Fogleman in the first two races of the Round of 8 is going to rise the temperature of the competition to a near boiling point.
John Hunter Nemechek was within sight of being guaranteed a spot in the Championship 4 during a wreck-filled third stage, but a block by the Kyle Busch Motorsports driver complicated his situation and opened the door for Fogleman and Tyler Hill to battle for the checkered flag a few feet away.
“It was crazy,” said Fogleman, whose margin of victory was .052 seconds. “I missed that first big wreck, got through the second one, and it felt like things were finally starting to go right finally on a superspeedway. I’d never finished a superspeedway race before. I had a good feeling about it.
“We lined up third there (for the final restart in overtime), and I knew we just had to be aggressive… I got a push from behind, and we were able to do it.”
While Young’s Motorsports embraced their second career Truck Series win as an organization, other Playoff teams left the 2.66-mile superspeedway with frustration and even anger.
Points are tight and the Martinsville paper-clip has been accustomed to throwing the Playoff grid into the spin cycle.
Currently, Nemechek leads Ben Rhodes by just point – but neither are locked in the Championship 4.
As far as the bubble, Stewart Friesen, Chandler Smith, Carson Hocevar and Zane Smith have three weeks to refocus and hope for the best.
Friesen is in the best spot of the bubble bunch. Currently fifth in the championship standings, he is 36th points behind Sheldon Creed in fourth.
“We had a fast Halmar Toyota Tundra,” offered Friesen. “Unfortunately, not much we could do when the 2 (Creed) got into the 98 (Grant Enfinger) right in front of us in the corner.
“On to Martinsville. We’re fifth in the points and definitely not out of this yet. ”
Chandler Smith needed a win in the opening round of the Playoffs to keep his championship hopes alive and unless chaos erupts at Martinsville, the Kyle Busch Motorsports pilot will likely need to institute another Hail Mary approach to propel him to Phoenix.
“We had a good Safelite AutoGlass Toyota Tundra, and we were setting up the strategy to have ourselves a strong finish,” offered Smith. “The big wreck happened in front of me, and I thought I had it missed and the 22 just came from out of nowhere and got us.
“I have to give credit to all my guys for not giving up and getting the truck repaired enough to continue on in the race and gain a bunch of spots. There’s no quit in this team and we’re going to go to Martinsville in a few weeks and give it everything we have.”
With just two races remaining in their 22-race schedule, the Truck Series returns on Sat., October 30 as part of a doubleheader with the NASCAR Xfinity Series for the United Rentals 200.
