LONG POND, Pa. –- After struggling during the first half of his rookie NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) campaign, Dalton Sargeant continues to make strides and wheeled to a career-best third place finish in Saturday afternoon’s Gander Outdoors 150 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway.
The result was the second top-10 finish for the 20-year-old in the last three races after earning a much-needed top-10 performance at Kentucky Speedway two weeks ago.
In his first season of Truck competition for GMS Racing, the Boca Raton, Fla. native hasn’t had much to boast about, however, as the second half of the season has progressed, Sargeant’s No. 25 Performance Plus Chevrolet is finding itself higher on the scoring pylon from practice to qualifying and the race.
But, by all accounts, Sargeant’s Truck Series debut at the “Tricky Triangle” was the best effort by the No. 25 GMS Racing team all season. From practice to qualifying and throughout the 60-lap race, Sargeant’s name peaked near the top and his Doug Randolph-led team was rewarded with his first top-five in 20th career Truck Series race.
“Overall, it was a really good day for us, starting up in the top-five and being able to take home a top-three finish,” said Sargeant. “Hopefully, it’s some well-needed momentum that we can kinda build off here the next couple of races. We’re really just looking to kinda get a win whether it be Michigan or Bristol to just kinda make the Chase (Playoffs). We’ve had some bad luck, made some mistakes throughout the year that have cost us pretty big.
“Overall, a really good day. Can’t be too disappointed with getting beat by Kyle (Busch) and Erik (Jones).
Despite the uptick in performance with his No. 25 team, Sargeant says there’s still more work to be done – between now and the end of the season.
“We have still have some big steps to take and to continue to improve and try to catch up to these KBM trucks and continue to grow as a team.”
When asked if he could pinpoint the reason for the surge in their on-track performance, Sargeant had a hard time responding, but said he believed the team started to turn the corner at Chicagoland Speedway in late June.
“I don’t know,” quipped Sargeant. “Overall, we made some good momentum from really at Chicago. We’ve made some big changes to our truck that have seemed to work out well not only for myself but for GMS as a whole. You just look at the 24 truck getting a win at Gateway and whatnot.
Overall, we’ve been slowly picking up some speed. Working with Doug Randolph we’ve been getting more of a feel for each other. Him knowing what I like, and we’ve been just been building off that and getting stronger each and every weekend.”
With an off week before the series heads to back-to-back races at Michigan International Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway, the two remaining races in the regular season, Sargeant is confident about what his rookie team can accomplish.
“Excited going into them. Obviously, Michigan is almost like a superspeedway race with a lot of drafting. GMS does a really great job building trucks areo-wise so. Excited about going there and working with my teammates, whether it be the 24 truck (Justin Haley) or the 21 truck (Johnny Sauter) and just trying to get out front and like I said we need a win to get into the Chase (Playoffs).”
As for Saturday’s Truck race at Pocono – Sargeant was hoping that when Erik Jones and Kyle Busch duked it out for the win – the unthinkable of them spinning would send him into the race lead and maybe the eventual victory, but what was a quick second glimmer of hope soon diminished and reality set back in with Sargeant focusing on learning from the two of the best in this business.
“I was hoping that I would have a little more for those guys,” explained Sargeant. “We had only taken two tires under that green flag stop and I believe the two of them had taken four. But overall, it was still a good race for us and I was able to learn a lot just following behind those guys for a handful of laps and seeing what they were doing and stuff.”
Whether Sargeant earns one of the coveted eight Playoff spots for the series’ first race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in September remains to be seen, Sargeant is just hoping the team’s early-season setback are behind him and strong results will eventually lead to a checkered flag.
“As a whole, I’m a little bit surprised it has taken this long, sounded Sargeant. “We’ve had some great speed all year at some of the tracks. Unfortunately, we’ve run into some bad luck or I’ve personally made some mistakes throughout these handful of races so far this year.
“I just need to continue to learn each and every race. Being able to run up front with guys like Kyle and Erik – that’s how you do it. That’s how you learn the most running around the best.
I’m just going (to) continue to run up front each and every weekend.
“Obviously, I have some great teammates to rely on, not only in the 52 truck (Stewart Friesen) but Johnny Sauter as well, Justin Haley.
“Really just trying to learn as much as I can and continue to have strong results and obviously strong results with hopefully lead into victories.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
