BROOKLYN, Mich. — Post-race review and analysis from the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Michigan International Speedway.
Who Won?
Brett Moffitt. The Truck Series closer lived up to form once again, sneaking into contention over the course of the day and surging ahead of Johnny Sauter off of Turn 4 on the final lap to claim his fourth victory of 2018. Moffitt led 76 laps in his Iowa Speedway win, but in the other three victories he’s led a combined 24 laps.
Who Claimed the Stages?
Stewart Friesen and Grant Enfinger. The two winless playoff contenders attempted to maximize points gained, extending their advantage on the playoff bubble and distancing themselves from sixth-place Matt Crafton in case there’s a surprise winner at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Top Stories
The Truck Series’ Top Three Make Their Presence Known
The Corrigan Oil 200 saw multiple drivers make their way to the front and contend as the Truck Series field ebbed and flowed. But when the time to close the race out came, a set of familiar faces made their way to the top of the field.
With the laps winding down Johnny Sauter, Brett Moffitt, Noah Gragson and John Hunter Nemechek found themselves competing for the victory. Take out the part-timer in Nemechek and you’re left with arguably the top three drivers on the tour.
Sauter leads the point standings leaving Michigan after a strong, consistent four-win campaign. Moffitt hasn’t been able to match Sauter’s consistency, but the Iowan has a quartet of wins himself for Hattori Racing. Gragson doesn’t have the win total of the top two, but has proven to be the closest thing to Sauter’s equal in consistency while bolstering his playoff point total with seven stage wins.
All eight drivers that make the Truck Series playoffs will be contenders, and four teams will have a shot at the title when the series closes out the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway. But Sauter, Moffitt and Gragson are positioned a step ahead of the field with the postseason set to begin after Thursday’s race at Bristol.
Like their Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series counterparts, the Truck Series field have quietly established a Big Three. Which begs a familiar question – which one is the best?
After his latest surge to victory, Moffitt believes it to be him.
“I’ve felt all year long that we’re a potential champion team,” he said. “We just need to cross all our ‘T’s’ and dot all our ‘I’s’ and the biggest thing is execution.
“We’ve had the speed all year and we’ve worked well together all year and we’ve made out trucks better throughout the race in minimal, minimal time so the biggest thing is just going to be executing on the Playoffs and when we get to Homestead, go have a perfect day.”
Gilliland Looking Beyond Playoff Hopes
Todd Gilliland wants to steal a late victory in the regular season and make the playoffs.
But the rookie’s not worrying about that right now. His long-term goals are much different.
“I think a lot of people are focused just on making the playoffs, but there are (seven) more races after that,” Gilliland told Kickin’ the Tires. “As a team I don’t think we’re close enough yet to try to focus on getting that one win.
“We just need to focus on getting more consistent every week. If we had finished top five a few weeks in a row, then it would be a bit different. But this is our best finish in a while, and we need to take the positives out of it still.”
Gilliland had a close call with victory lane in the Irish Hills of Michigan. Driving the No. 4 Toyota for Kyle Busch Motorsports, Gilliland kept himself in contention throughout the day and even rose to the lead on Lap 85 of 100.
For a fleeting moment, the prospect of Gilliland winning and securing a playoff spot seemed feasible. It appeared that the second-generation driver could overcome the points lost to missed races early in the year because he was under the age of 18 and snag a season-altering triumph.
But in the end the fateful run wasn’t meant to be. Gilliland lost the lead to eventual winner Johnny Sauter on Lap 88 and faded back to fifth by race’s end.
“I was just way too tight, kind of the whole race,” he said. “My first run I started off really good, and was just kind of riding there. I got stuck behind some guys. But the farther I got back in traffic, the tighter it (would) get, just really numb on the front tires.”
Saturday’s loss means that Gilliland will need a win at Bristol to make the playoffs. But there were positives to be gained. He ran solidly throughout the event, looked capable of contending for the win and finished within sight of Noah Gragson – KBM’s top series regular.
That’s where Gilliland wants to find himself every week. With experience, the young start believes he can achieve it.
“I know my team is just as good as (Gragson’s),” he said. “I know our trucks are just as good as his. It’s just about gaining that experience and putting a whole race together. Our pit crew did a great job (today). We beat him on pit road, I feel like I beat him onto pit road.
“It’s just the little things that make the one or two spot difference that we’re missing and I think he’s got most of the time.”
Friesen’s Frustration
When Stewart Friesen emerged from his No. 52 Chevrolet at the end of Saturday’s race, he did so with understandable frustration.
Once again he’d had a fast ride – perhaps the quickest in the field. Yet somehow another potential victory had slipped away.
This time the loss was attributable to a mistake on pit road. Friesen was wrapping up his final pit stop on Saturday when his fuel man gave him a push to get back onto pit road. The move resulted in a penalty for improper fueling, sending the dirt modified ace to the tail-end of the field for the race’s final restart in Lap 84.
Friesen attempted to battle back, and rose within sight of the top five as the race ticked under 10 laps remaining. But afterward the Canadian got loose under Ben Rhodes and his No. 52 shot out sideways.
He made the save, but the lost time resulted in a disappointing eighth-place finish.
“The pit guys, as Kyle Busch has said numerous times, make probably more money than they’re worth,” a frustrated Friesen told Kickin’ the Tires. “They just don’t seem to read the rules. You can only do one job at a time, and the fuel guy decides to start pushing, too. That’s where the penalty is. It’s pretty black-and-white.
“That sucks, but on the positive side we had a badass fast Halmar Silverado. We’re still on the cusp of a playoff run, so there’s plenty of room to grow.”
Friesen has been one of the breakout stories of 2018, benefitting from an alliance with GMS Racing and rising into championship contention after a relatively quiet run in 2017. The 35-year-old has tallied six top-fives and 10 top-10s in 15 starts this season, won five stages and led 159 laps.
The consistent speed has pushed Friesen into position to claim a spot in this season’s playoffs. He’s guaranteed a postseason place if there are no surprise winners in the regular season finale at Bristol Motor Speedway, and even if a position on points disappears, Friesen holds a 39-point edge on Matt Crafton for what would become the last playoff spot.
Halmar-Friesen Racing is set for the team’s postseason debut. The pieces for a title fight are there.
“Without a doubt we can contend in the playoffs,” Friesen said. “We’ve been really consistent in the second half of the regular season. We’ll build off of that and keep digging.”
But despite numerous close calls, the victories haven’t come. Friesen believes that needs to change for him to hoist up the trophy at season’s end.
“I think wins are going to be the biggest thing,” he said of the playoffs. “To win races and execute will be huge.
“We just can’t seem to do that so far, for whatever reason. We’ll keep trying. ”
Fans Fuel Top 15
Saturday’s race at Michigan served as the site of Jordan Anderson’s relaunched “Fueled By Fans” campaign – a crowdsourcing operation that allows the underdog’s supporters to help fund his No. 3 team in exchange for their name to be placed on his machine’s rear deck lid. Anderson emerged from the event with a 13th-place finish, his second best result of the year.
The thing is, Anderson thought he could have finished even better.
“I didn’t realize until the end how high we finished,” Anderson told Kickin’ the Tires. “We ended up 13th, and we lost four or five spots on the last few laps. We had these tires on for something like 70 laps so they were just hanging on at the end.
“It’s a great result for our team, and I’m proud to be associated with them.”
Anderson, 27, launched his own Jordan Anderson Racing team at the beginning of 2018 after a half-decade spent driving for other owners.
The year began with an unexpected surge when the South Carolinian finished ninth in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway, but in the months since his small organization had fallen into the traditional form of a new team. Anderson’s consistency has kept the team 25th or better in each race, but prior to Michigan the group’s ceiling seemed to be just outside of the top 15.
A group of difficult outings in Texas, Iowa and St. Louis started the summer off on a challenging note for Anderson, but in the weeks since the dark horse has found consistent pace and improvement. In the three races prior to Michigan he tallied finishes of 17th, 19th and 16th, with Ryan Newman’s 30th-place run in a one-off run at Eldora Speedway serving as the lone setback. Throw in Saturday’s 13th-place result, and the team’s results show consistency and improvement.
“It’s definitely encouraging to see where we’re at eight months into our existence as a team,” Anderson admitted. “If we can keep doing what we’re doing now, and the people that are helping us can see our growth and continue to help us do it, it’ll be exciting to think of where we can be next year.
“The last three years I’ve been unable to drive for one team and keep the consistency going. Every year I’ve driven for somebody different. So to have this team going and have everyone helping us make it happen is big. I’m encouraged by the momentum, and hope we can keep it going for the rest of the year.”
Make no mistake, the traditional struggles of motorsports are still affecting Anderson’s operation. Finding sustainable funding for growth has been a challenge — hence the Fueled by Fans initiative.
“Sponsorship definitely gets tight this time of year,” Anderson said. “We’re trying to keep the momentum going so when the offseason comes, we can make our trucks better. I noticed for some reason in the past month an overwhelming amount of people were hitting me up on Twitter and saying, ‘Hey, when are you going to bring Fueled by Fans back? We want to get back on the truck.’
“I decided alright, let’s make it happen. The response just blew me away. We filled up the deck lid.”
After the initial success of the program’s return, Anderson’s continuing it on to Bristol next Thursday. It’s a move that he finds rewarding and worth the effort – even if it’s going to bring him more work.
“I’ve got a different truck for Bristol,” he said. “So I get to rewrite everybody’s names on the Bristol truck.”
Other Notes
- Hidden just outside of the top 10 was an impressive run from Austin Wayne Self. The Texan held his ground over the final run to the checkered flag to finish 11th – his best run of 2018. Self has finished 16th or better in nine of his 15 starts this season.
- After just missing the playoffs on points last season, Grant Enfinger can rest easy this year. His 53-point edge on Crafton means that the Alabamian will need to do little more than start a Bristol to make the postseason even if there’s a surprise winner.
- Bad news for every playoff hopeful outside of the current postseason grid – they’re all going to have to win at Bristol to make a playoff appearance happen. The closest driver to Crafton on the bubble is Myatt Snider, who sits a fun 94 points back in ninth.
- Tate Fogleman finally put together a complete race in his third-career start, finishing a career-best 15th for Young’s Motorsports.
Bearden Breakdown: Corrigan Oil 200
BROOKLYN, Mich. — Post-race review and analysis from the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Michigan International Speedway.
Who Won?
Brett Moffitt. The Truck Series closer lived up to form once again, sneaking into contention over the course of the day and surging ahead of Johnny Sauter off of Turn 4 on the final lap to claim his fourth victory of 2018. Moffitt led 76 laps in his Iowa Speedway win, but in the other three victories he’s led a combined 24 laps.
Who Claimed the Stages?
Stewart Friesen and Grant Enfinger. The two winless playoff contenders attempted to maximize points gained, extending their advantage on the playoff bubble and distancing themselves from sixth-place Matt Crafton in case there’s a surprise winner at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Top Stories
The Truck Series’ Top Three Make Their Presence Known
The Corrigan Oil 200 saw multiple drivers make their way to the front and contend as the Truck Series field ebbed and flowed. But when the time to close the race out came, a set of familiar faces made their way to the top of the field.
With the laps winding down Johnny Sauter, Brett Moffitt, Noah Gragson and John Hunter Nemechek found themselves competing for the victory. Take out the part-timer in Nemechek and you’re left with arguably the top three drivers on the tour.
Sauter leads the point standings leaving Michigan after a strong, consistent four-win campaign. Moffitt hasn’t been able to match Sauter’s consistency, but the Iowan has a quartet of wins himself for Hattori Racing. Gragson doesn’t have the win total of the top two, but has proven to be the closest thing to Sauter’s equal in consistency while bolstering his playoff point total with seven stage wins.
All eight drivers that make the Truck Series playoffs will be contenders, and four teams will have a shot at the title when the series closes out the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway. But Sauter, Moffitt and Gragson are positioned a step ahead of the field with the postseason set to begin after Thursday’s race at Bristol.
Like their Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series counterparts, the Truck Series field have quietly established a Big Three. Which begs a familiar question – which one is the best?
After his latest surge to victory, Moffitt believes it to be him.
“I’ve felt all year long that we’re a potential champion team,” he said. “We just need to cross all our ‘T’s’ and dot all our ‘I’s’ and the biggest thing is execution.
“We’ve had the speed all year and we’ve worked well together all year and we’ve made out trucks better throughout the race in minimal, minimal time so the biggest thing is just going to be executing on the Playoffs and when we get to Homestead, go have a perfect day.”
Gilliland Looking Beyond Playoff Hopes
Todd Gilliland wants to steal a late victory in the regular season and make the playoffs.
But the rookie’s not worrying about that right now. His long-term goals are much different.
“I think a lot of people are focused just on making the playoffs, but there are (seven) more races after that,” Gilliland told Kickin’ the Tires. “As a team I don’t think we’re close enough yet to try to focus on getting that one win.
“We just need to focus on getting more consistent every week. If we had finished top five a few weeks in a row, then it would be a bit different. But this is our best finish in a while, and we need to take the positives out of it still.”
Gilliland had a close call with victory lane in the Irish Hills of Michigan. Driving the No. 4 Toyota for Kyle Busch Motorsports, Gilliland kept himself in contention throughout the day and even rose to the lead on Lap 85 of 100.
For a fleeting moment, the prospect of Gilliland winning and securing a playoff spot seemed feasible. It appeared that the second-generation driver could overcome the points lost to missed races early in the year because he was under the age of 18 and snag a season-altering triumph.
But in the end the fateful run wasn’t meant to be. Gilliland lost the lead to eventual winner Johnny Sauter on Lap 88 and faded back to fifth by race’s end.
“I was just way too tight, kind of the whole race,” he said. “My first run I started off really good, and was just kind of riding there. I got stuck behind some guys. But the farther I got back in traffic, the tighter it (would) get, just really numb on the front tires.”
Saturday’s loss means that Gilliland will need a win at Bristol to make the playoffs. But there were positives to be gained. He ran solidly throughout the event, looked capable of contending for the win and finished within sight of Noah Gragson – KBM’s top series regular.
That’s where Gilliland wants to find himself every week. With experience, the young start believes he can achieve it.
“I know my team is just as good as (Gragson’s),” he said. “I know our trucks are just as good as his. It’s just about gaining that experience and putting a whole race together. Our pit crew did a great job (today). We beat him on pit road, I feel like I beat him onto pit road.
“It’s just the little things that make the one or two spot difference that we’re missing and I think he’s got most of the time.”
Friesen’s Frustration
When Stewart Friesen emerged from his No. 52 Chevrolet at the end of Saturday’s race, he did so with understandable frustration.
Once again he’d had a fast ride – perhaps the quickest in the field. Yet somehow another potential victory had slipped away.
This time the loss was attributable to a mistake on pit road. Friesen was wrapping up his final pit stop on Saturday when his fuel man gave him a push to get back onto pit road. The move resulted in a penalty for improper fueling, sending the dirt modified ace to the tail-end of the field for the race’s final restart in Lap 84.
Friesen attempted to battle back, and rose within sight of the top five as the race ticked under 10 laps remaining. But afterward the Canadian got loose under Ben Rhodes and his No. 52 shot out sideways.
He made the save, but the lost time resulted in a disappointing eighth-place finish.
“The pit guys, as Kyle Busch has said numerous times, make probably more money than they’re worth,” a frustrated Friesen told Kickin’ the Tires. “They just don’t seem to read the rules. You can only do one job at a time, and the fuel guy decides to start pushing, too. That’s where the penalty is. It’s pretty black-and-white.
“That sucks, but on the positive side we had a badass fast Halmar Silverado. We’re still on the cusp of a playoff run, so there’s plenty of room to grow.”
Friesen has been one of the breakout stories of 2018, benefitting from an alliance with GMS Racing and rising into championship contention after a relatively quiet run in 2017. The 35-year-old has tallied six top-fives and 10 top-10s in 15 starts this season, won five stages and led 159 laps.
The consistent speed has pushed Friesen into position to claim a spot in this season’s playoffs. He’s guaranteed a postseason place if there are no surprise winners in the regular season finale at Bristol Motor Speedway, and even if a position on points disappears, Friesen holds a 39-point edge on Matt Crafton for what would become the last playoff spot.
Halmar-Friesen Racing is set for the team’s postseason debut. The pieces for a title fight are there.
“Without a doubt we can contend in the playoffs,” Friesen said. “We’ve been really consistent in the second half of the regular season. We’ll build off of that and keep digging.”
But despite numerous close calls, the victories haven’t come. Friesen believes that needs to change for him to hoist up the trophy at season’s end.
“I think wins are going to be the biggest thing,” he said of the playoffs. “To win races and execute will be huge.
“We just can’t seem to do that so far, for whatever reason. We’ll keep trying. ”
Fans Fuel Top 15
Saturday’s race at Michigan served as the site of Jordan Anderson’s relaunched “Fueled By Fans” campaign – a crowdsourcing operation that allows the underdog’s supporters to help fund his No. 3 team in exchange for their name to be placed on his machine’s rear deck lid. Anderson emerged from the event with a 13th-place finish, his second best result of the year.
The thing is, Anderson thought he could have finished even better.
“I didn’t realize until the end how high we finished,” Anderson told Kickin’ the Tires. “We ended up 13th, and we lost four or five spots on the last few laps. We had these tires on for something like 70 laps so they were just hanging on at the end.
“It’s a great result for our team, and I’m proud to be associated with them.”
Anderson, 27, launched his own Jordan Anderson Racing team at the beginning of 2018 after a half-decade spent driving for other owners.
The year began with an unexpected surge when the South Carolinian finished ninth in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway, but in the months since his small organization had fallen into the traditional form of a new team. Anderson’s consistency has kept the team 25th or better in each race, but prior to Michigan the group’s ceiling seemed to be just outside of the top 15.
A group of difficult outings in Texas, Iowa and St. Louis started the summer off on a challenging note for Anderson, but in the weeks since the dark horse has found consistent pace and improvement. In the three races prior to Michigan he tallied finishes of 17th, 19th and 16th, with Ryan Newman’s 30th-place run in a one-off run at Eldora Speedway serving as the lone setback. Throw in Saturday’s 13th-place result, and the team’s results show consistency and improvement.
“It’s definitely encouraging to see where we’re at eight months into our existence as a team,” Anderson admitted. “If we can keep doing what we’re doing now, and the people that are helping us can see our growth and continue to help us do it, it’ll be exciting to think of where we can be next year.
“The last three years I’ve been unable to drive for one team and keep the consistency going. Every year I’ve driven for somebody different. So to have this team going and have everyone helping us make it happen is big. I’m encouraged by the momentum, and hope we can keep it going for the rest of the year.”
Make no mistake, the traditional struggles of motorsports are still affecting Anderson’s operation. Finding sustainable funding for growth has been a challenge — hence the Fueled by Fans initiative.
“Sponsorship definitely gets tight this time of year,” Anderson said. “We’re trying to keep the momentum going so when the offseason comes, we can make our trucks better. I noticed for some reason in the past month an overwhelming amount of people were hitting me up on Twitter and saying, ‘Hey, when are you going to bring Fueled by Fans back? We want to get back on the truck.’
“I decided alright, let’s make it happen. The response just blew me away. We filled up the deck lid.”
After the initial success of the program’s return, Anderson’s continuing it on to Bristol next Thursday. It’s a move that he finds rewarding and worth the effort – even if it’s going to bring him more work.
“I’ve got a different truck for Bristol,” he said. “So I get to rewrite everybody’s names on the Bristol truck.”
Other Notes