Brett Moffitt winless “Four” no more after Kansas; Clean Harbors 200 recap
Brett Moffitt won Saturday’s NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series Clean Harbors 200, ending a 24-race winless streak and locking him into the Championship Four.
Moffitt’s win was his 12th career Truck victory and his first since winning at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in August 2019. Moffitt is now the first driver to be locked into this year’s Championship Four race at Phoenix and makes it three consecutive berths for Moffitt in the Truck Series.
Moffitt led 15 laps and took the lead with two laps to go, but not without controversy. Moffitt raced with teammate Zane Smith, who led 37 laps, in a battle that culminated with an incident on the backstretch with two laps to go. Moffitt went down to block Smith as Smith came up to side draft Moffitt, resulting in contact that caused Smith to spin entering turn three, which drew the first overtime attempt.
On the first overtime attempt, Moffitt received a good push on the inside line, which vaulted him ahead of Grant Enfinger, who restarted to the outside of him. Moffitt faced a challenge from Sheldon Creed on the final lap, but it was not enough and Moffitt hung on to claim the win.
Moffitt’s win is his 12th career Truck victory and locks him into his third consecutive Championship Four berth in the Truck Series.
Sheldon Creed, who finished second, won stages one and two and led the most laps (61) but faded from second to outside of the top 5 as the 65-lap green flag run progressed. Creed gained positions with choosing the inside lane on the final restart, which proved to be the favorable lane.
The top 10 finishers were as follows: Brett Moffitt, Sheldon Creed, Austin Hill, Grant Enfinger, Chandler Smith, Christian Eckes, Timothy Peters, Matt Crafton, Derek Kraus and Trevor Bayne.
Timothy Peters made his first Truck start since the October 2019 Talladega race. Peters was filling in for Stewart Friesen in the No. 52 Halmar Racing Toyota, as Friesen fulfilled a prior commitment to race in Pennsylvania.
Trevor Bayne scored his second consecutive top 10, following up a second-place finish at Talladega with a tenth-place finish at Kansas.
Zane Smith finished 11th, on the lead lap, after spinning on the backstretch while racing for the lead with two laps to go.
Hailie Deegan finished 16th, one lap down, which is the best Truck debut for a female drive, besting Johanna Long’s 17th-place finish at IRP in July 2010.
For the Championship Four, Zane Smith currently holds the fourth spot by seven points over fifth place Grant Enfinger. Matt Crafton sits 11 points behind in sixth, while Ben Rhodes sits 29 behind in seventh and Tyler Ankrum sits 52 behind in eighth after a fiery lap 39 wreck took him out of the race. The wreck also involved Ben Rhodes and eight other trucks in the process.
The next race for the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series is the October 25 SpeedyCash.com 400 at Texas Motor Speedway (12 p.m. ET; TV: FS1; Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
