By Summer Bedgood, Managing Editor
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — In the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway Friday night, Brett Moffitt seemed poised to make a run at the victory.
Unfortunately for him, another driver — Austin Hill — would prove to be more formidable.
Moffitt, a 27-year-old driver for GMS Racing, earned his best finish of the season, ending the race in the runner-up spot after leading 21 of the 134 laps and winning the first stage.
Brett Moffitt takes the opening stage at Kansas. It’s his second stage win of the season. pic.twitter.com/WI9KFYfsGY
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) July 24, 2020
The driver of the No. 23 truck spent most of the race in the top five, and was even leading with less than 40 laps to go, but was unable to hold off the No. 16 truck of Hill over the course of the final laps.
Instead, Moffitt spent most of the remainder of the race fighting for second with ThorSport Racing driver Grant Enfinger — and ultimately prevailed, earning his third top-five finish in nine races this season.
“I wish I could have been a little more efficient getting by Grant,” Moffitt said post-race. “We had an up-and-down day. We had a fast Destiny Homes Chevy Silverado but this tire combination both times we’ve ran it now, at Vegas and here, I’ve just been extremely free. So we need to figure out exactly what’s going on there with our trucks. Our whole organization was, and I think a lot of the field was, so I think it’s happening to everybody. We need to figure out a way to tighten it up for tomorrow. I feel like on the mid-to-long run, we had a shot at winning had I been able to get by Grant quicker. We just were too free firing off to keep the 16 behind us there.”
Friday night’s race was part of a double-header at Kansas Speedway, with the second race taking place on Saturday.
In terms of the Playoffs, Moffitt is relatively safe. He is 45 points above the cutoff line with three races left in the regular season, including Saturday’s E.P.T 200.
Saturday’s race will begin at 1:30PM ET and will be broadcast on FS1 and MRN Radio.
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Photo by Chris Graythen | Getty Images