No. 2 gets playoff win No. 2, Nemechek advances
Sheldon Creed earned his third win of the 2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season in Sunday’s In It to Win It 200 at Darlington Raceway
Creed bested John Hunter Nemechek by 0.531 seconds after leading three times for 104 of 147 laps, including the final 80 laps.
It was Creed’s second consecutive NCWTS win and the first time since Brett Moffitt in 2019 where an NCWTS driver won two consecutive races to start the playoffs. Creed also won Stage 2.
Nemechek finished second and secured a spot in the Round of 8 – beginning September 24 at Las Vegas – with one race left in the Round of 10. Nemechek led 39 laps and won Stage 1.
Friesen contested Nemechek’s second-place run but fell short and finished third. Friesen had newer tires than Nemechek and pulled alongside him a couple of times but failed to complete the pass.
Friesen is currently fourth in points, 33 points ahead of Zane Smith, the first driver below the cutline.
The Top 10 finishers are as follows: Sheldon Creed, John Hunter Nemechek, Stewart Friesen, Todd Gilliland, Parker Kligerman, Ben Rhodes, Chandler Smith, Johnny Sauter, Zane Smith, Matt Crafton.
Playoff drivers Carson Hocevar, Austin Hill and Ben Rhodes finished 11th, 12th and 34th, respectively.
Rhodes finished 34th, seven laps down, after getting into a Lap 67 crash in turn four that also involved Jack Wood and Kris Wright. Rhodes earned one stage point, from finishing tenth in Stage 1.
There were eight cautions for 35 laps and four lead changes among three drivers in Sunday’s race.
The next race for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is the September 16 UNOH 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway (9 p.m. ET; TV: FS1; Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The defending race winner is Sam Mayer who in his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start. SRX Stafford winner and six-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Doug Coby will race the winning No. 24 GMS Racing Chevrolet Silverado in next Thursday’s UNOH 200 at Bristol.
SOURCES:
NASCAR
Racing-Reference.Info
