By Sarah Handy, Staff Writer
There are times in NASCAR when one driver’s on track misfortune propels another driver to victory.
That is exactly what happened when the truck series visited Chicagoland Speedway last season for the 11th event on the 2018 schedule.
Fellow competitor, John-Hunter Nemechek looked poised to win the Overton 225 but on the final lap of the event, he radioed to his team three words no team wants to hear, “I’m blowing up.”
However, that would end up not being the case, the young driver simply ran out of fuel, resulting in a seventh-place finish instead of a jubilant trip to victory lane.
Beneficiary of this outcome? Hattori Racing’s Brett Moffitt.
Moffitt would end up winning the event by an unbelievable 5.092 seconds over second-place Ben Rhodes.
The win was Moffitt’s third of the young season and fourth overall in his truck series career to that point.
Even more impressive?
The fact that Moffitt and his No. 16 team shouldn’t have even been in Joliet, Illinois racing on that Friday evening.
“We weren’t even supposed to be here”, said crew chief Scott Zipadelli post-race.
Hattori and Moffitt lacked the resources to race at the 1.5-mile track. That was until Fr8Auctions.com committed mid-week to sponsor Moffitt’s Toyota.
The final 24 green flag laps of the event were a constant battle between Nemechek and Moffitt.
When Nemechek took the white flag, he was ahead by a staggering five truck lengths, but then his fuel cell ran dry.
“This is great. We didn’t know if we were coming. To be here in Victory Lane, it’s an honor and a blessing”, said Moffitt.
“I can’t thank everyone on this team enough and Fr8Auctions that even got us here this week. Tuesday, we didn’t even know. They really extended a hand and helped us when we needed it the most.”
Moffitt would go on to win three more times during the 2018 season with those victories coming at Michigan, Phoenix and Homestead, respectively.
With his win in the season finale Ford Eco Boost 200 from Homestead-Miami Speedway, the Iowa native became the 2018 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Champion in his first full-time season in the series.
