Column By: JOHN DOUGLAS / RPW – HAMPTON, GA – Hattori racing is owned by a former racer name Shige Hattori.
A former racer in his own right, Hattori decided to enter the world of NASCAR as an owner in 2014 at the XFINITY Series level but has since moved to the truck series with past drivers including Ryan Truex and Ross Chastain.
In 2018, Brett Moffitt was slated to pilot Hattori’s No. 16 machine after a late exit by Truex to the Xfinity Series. This did not slow things down for Hattori’s team as they headed to Atlanta on Saturday.
Starting 10th in his Aisin Toyota Tundra, Moffitt contended all day long inside the top 10.
Entering the race’s final stage, Moffitt was still running strong but the dominance of Kyle Busch was beginning to take hold. Leading a majority of the laps in the race’s final stage, Busch looked set to capture another in a long line of truck series victories. That was not to be the case.
The race’s final caution brought about pit stops as the race went into overtime. According to Busch in a statement on twitter, a slow right front tire change led Busch’s crew chief, Marcus Richmond, to call an audible two-tire stop. By the time they realized what had happened, Busch was sitting on the apron of turn one with a missing left rear tire.
With Busch’s chances of victory dashed, a scramble on the final restart ensued. Moffitt put his truck to the inside of Myatt Snider’s No.13 and dove into turn one, taking the lead and driving on to the team’s first ever victory in the Camping World Truck Series.
“It’s unbelievable to even be in a race car at this point, let alone in victory lane,” said Moffitt after climbing from his truck. “I knew the 13 was a sitting duck and I just wanted to get a good restart. Hopefully they got into a battle behind me and they did. It’s pretty surreal.”
This marks Moffitt’s second win in the Truck Series with his first coming last year at Michigan.
