North Carolina Education Lottery 200
A beautiful evening was had for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series to race under the lights at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The track is a mile and a half and is home “field” to most of the NASCAR team shops. The stage lengths were 30 laps for the first and second stage and 74 laps for the final stage.
Tanner Gray was the pole winner and Corey Heim, last week’s winner, joined him on the front row. Ben Rhodes won this race last season and started this one from 13th. Ty Majeski, Rajah Caruth, and Layne Riggs rounded out the top five. Points leader, Christian Eckes, started the race in 34th. Lawless Alan, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Tyler Ankrum, and Christian Eckes were sent to the rear. This race was the first race of the Triple Truck Challenge for the series.
Speed For Honeycutt
Tan. Gray had a great start to the race as he bolted out front. However, Chase Purdy made an aggressive move that did not work and fell to seventh. He had a great run out of turn two but could not fit into turn three with two trucks already there. Heim passed Tan. Gray for the lead with a great run off turn two.
Eckes and Ankrum began their fight through the field from the rear as they looked fast early in the race. Dean Thompson ran Jack Wood into turn 2 and Wood got loose. Eckes complained that he was losing power quickly.
Kaden Honeycutt passed Riggs, Majeski, and Tan. Gray in consecutive laps to move into the top two. He was easily the fastest truck in the closing laps of the stage.
Eckes team in the pits prepared to make a battery change after the stage. Heim won the stage with a hard-charging Honeycutt in second.
Chaos ensued on the pits as Tan. Gray was the first out, but Riggs charged out of his box and into Majeski who shoved Caruth into the grass. Caruth had to go back down the pits to repair damage from the incident on pit road. Meanwhile, Earnhardt’s team lost a tire on pit road.
Big Trouble in Little Pit Road
A physical restart to the race left Honeycutt on the outside where he lost a position – or three. Tan. Gray snatched the lead with Heim swiping to take it back. Heim grabbed the lead back with speed again off of turn 2.
However, Honeycutt did not give up – he passed Riggs back after his early stage slip up. Daniel Dye got sideways under Wood and lost some positions. Then, he managed to get the truck back under him and moved forward, passing Wood and swinging on Nick Sanchez.
Majeski caught Thompson but was unable to get beside him. Eckes resolved his issues as it was reported that his alternator was disconnected.
Dye dove beneath Taylor Gray and easily made the pass to get into the top ten. Caruth passed Grant Enfinger for 15th. Heim took the green and white flag to get his second stage win of the night. Honeycutt was hit with a pit road penalty as he dragged a gas can around the track to the back stretch.
The Pit Road Woes Continue
Heim shot out in front, but, there was a hard crash on the restart lap when Ankrum hit the wall and Thad Moffitt ran straight into him. Then, Ankrum got loose off of the nose of Brett Moffitt.
The lengthy caution had many teams contemplating fuel strategy with some thinking they could make it to the end of the race. Heim reclaimed the lead upon the restart. A crazy restart was had behind him with three and almost four wide action from second to the back.
Matt Crafton got into the speedy dry and made contact with Matt Mills. Crafton got into the wall and cut his right front tire. Another extended caution left the restart with 47 to go. Eckes charged past Purdy and into the lead where he wasted no time as he drove right into the lead, passing Purdy.
Honeycutt was still making moves late as he passed Connor Jones. Heim seemed to channel his inner Kyle Busch as he passed his way into the top ten in no time. He continued his speed as he passed Stewart Friesen for fifth. Purdy caught Eckes but pushed too hard and could not make the pass. Honeycutt caught the top two as they continued to battle side by side.
Suddenly, Purdy got into the wall and cut a tire, bringing out another caution. Honeycutt had a major issue on pit road when his tire changers air gun came unhooked. They had to scramble to get another air gun and lost a lot of time. Heim’s crew barely got the lug nuts onto the tire before Heim took off.
10 to Go!
Eckes had a huge jump on the restart, Caruth slid into second, and Sanchez into third. Sanchez quickly disposed of Caruth and Eckes moved into the lead with eight to go. Friesen and Heim also made the pass on Eckes. Heim moved into second place past Friesen.
Mills moved into the top five as he passed Eckes while Tan. Gray got sideways but saved it. Sanchez set his sights on the checkered flag as he led the last eight laps to win the race at Charlotte.
Heim finished in second, Friesen in third, Enfinger in forth and Mills in fifth.
However, following post-race inspection, Heim was disqualified when three loose lug nuts were discovered on his truck.
Marvin’s Moment
We had a great truck race at Charlotte. The drivers were aggressive all night and the fast trucks seemed to make their way to the front. I always enjoy watching any racing at Charlotte, which always puts on a good show. That was a huge win for Sanchez’s car chief as he celebrated his 700th race, and his birthday! What a win for the team in the North Carolina Education Lottery 200!
