Column By: SHANE CARLSON / RPW – ST. LOUIS, MO – The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series keeps their momentum rolling this weekend after a dramatic ending in Iowa Speedway.
Brett Moffitt held off a last lap dive-bomb attempt from Noah Gragson to win his second race of the season and third of his career. Even with the win, the Hattori Racing Enterprises No. 16 team finds themselves in a precarious sponsorship predicament with no guarantees to be on the racetrack beyond this weekend.
Moffitt is currently third in the standings with his two victories and on the verge of missing the playoffs if his team is unable to secure sponsorship to keep racing.
The Truck Series is at Gateway Motorsports Park this weekend, where the series has been racing since 1998 minus the years 2011 through 2013. Last year, John Hunter Nemechek took the checkered flag.
The only driver to win this race on multiple occasions is Ted Musgrave, who did it in 2001 and 2005. Nemechek is the only former Gateway winner entered in the race, so there is a high probability that a Gateway first-timer will be victorious on Saturday night.
Chevrolet has seven wins as a manufacturer, which leads Toyota’s five and Ford’s two wins. Dodge also has three wins.
Race Info
Track: Gateway Motorsports Park
Race: Villa Lighting delivers the Eaton 200 presented by CK Power
Date: Saturday, June 23
Time: 8:30 p.m. ET
Length: 160 laps, 200 miles
TV: FOX Sports 1
Radio: Motor Racing Network
My Pick to Win is…
Grant Enfinger
No. 98 Champion Power Equipment Ford F-150
ThorSport Racing
Enfinger is having a largely unnoticed solid year. Mostly unnoticed because it hasn’t been flashy and he hasn’t led a ton of laps or won yet, but Enfinger seems to be in it for the long haul. He has scored six top-10s in his nine starts this season, with a season-best of fourth three times. ThorSport has never won this race as an organization and Ford hasn’t won as a company at this track since 2002, so if Enfinger could get it done Saturday night, it would be a big deal.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Power Rankings
- Johnny Sauter: Fought his truck’s setup all weekend in Iowa, but still battled to a fifth-place finish. That’s what champions do.
- Brett Moffitt: The Iowa native wins at his home track and still doesn’t know if it will be enough to have his team run past this weekend. He has to be asking himself what else he can possibly do.
- Noah Gragson: Gragson went for the win in a video game-type move last week and came up just short, but earned a lot of respect in the process. People are starting to take him a little more seriously now that he’s consistently at the front of the field.
- Stewart Friesen: Friesen looked like he was going to be in contention to win until he was involved in an accident. He was able to remain on the racetrack and salvage a ninth-place finish.
- Ben Rhodes: Rhodes has struggled lately, with finishes of 16th and 17th in his last two starts, respectively. He hasn’t shown the speed to win but neither have any of his ThorSport teammates.
