Phoenix Truck Results – November 10, 2017

Perfect Arizona weather and a championship battle have brought some fans to the track. A big crowd is on hand for the NASCAR Truck Series race!

Stage 1

Green flag, Bell gets the jump and leads by a car length into turn 1. Late braking by Gragson, on the outside! He pulls even with him through the center. Bell gets loose on the exit, Gragson takes the lead out of turn 2. Bell must have taken it easy on the entry to turn 1.

Lap 10, Bell has a run off turn 4. He pulls to the inside down the front straight. Bell completes the pass on the bottom in turn 1.

Bell drives away. He wins stage 1 and also clinches his spot in the Championship 4.

Stage 1 Results: 1. Christopher Bell; 2. Noah Gragson; 3. Matt Crafton; 4. Ben Rhodes; 5. John Hunter Nemechek; 6. Johnny Sauter; 7. Austin Cindric; 8. Todd Gilliland; 9. Grant Enfinger; 10. Ryan Truex;

Stage 2

The field hits pit lane. The top 9 trucks all took just two tires. Bell and Gragson, first in, first off. Stewart Friesen restarts 10th, the first truck with 4 new tires.

Bell picks the outside lane this time around. He’s clear, well before turn 1. Gragson gets to his bumper in turn 3. No contact, he was within a foot. Gragson again made up a lot of lost ground, under braking.

10 to go in stage 2, Bell leads by 1.5 seconds. Jesse Little was one car length from finishing stage 1 a lap down. Now in stage 2, he runs 12th!

5 to go, Cindric is fighting like hell to hold his top 5 position. The back end is stepping out on the exit of every corner. Sauter is all over his rear bumper. Both drivers are racing for a championship.

Caution! Grant Enfinger is in the wall. He blew a right front tire at the entry to turn 1, the car just went straight.

This one will finish under caution, Bell wins stage 2. Now, Matt Crafton has also clinched a spot in the Championship 4. Austin Cindric and Ben Rhodes are now tied for the final Championship 4 position.

Stage 2 Results: 1. Christopher Bell; 2. Noah Gragson; 3. Justin Haley; 4. Dalton Sargeant; 5. Ben Rhodes; 6. Kaz Grala; 7. Johnny Sauter; 8. Ryan Truex; 9. John Hunter Nemechek; 10. Todd Gilliland;

Stage 3

Pit lane is open. Bell and Gragson take 4 tires. A few teams took 2. Hiccup by the Cindric crew, he looses several seconds in the pits.

Green flag, KBM trucks are even through 1-2. Gragson hangs with him on the bottom. He cuts through the shortcut at the dog leg. Gragson to the lead at the entry to turn 3!

Cindric also took the short cut through the dog leg. At the same time, Truex was pinching the entry to turn 3. He was pinching because he knew Cindric would need all the room he could get. Cindric pokes his nose in there, forcing some room as they rub fenders. But, Truex holds the position and Cindric lifts.

40 to go, Gragson leads Bell by 2 full seconds.

Lap 115, Norm Benning was riding, well off the pace and in the high lane through turns 1-2. Meanwhile, Jesse Little was coming fast. Benning ran a diamond his exit.

Little was on the normal racing line, trying to ride it all the way to the wall on exit. Benning was 10 mph slower. No idea why he was coming down off the wall, pinching the exit. It’s not like he was going to overshoot the exit. He left 15 feet between his truck and the outside wall. Pinching that much, for what appears to be, no reason at all. Little made contact as he went by, door to door contact.

Obstacles on the race track! That’s the kind of thing that happens when there’s a huge speed difference and fast closing rate.

Related: Sometimes ‘the right’ to be on the NASCAR circuit should be revoked

30 to go, Josh Reaume is coasting to pit lane, no power. Caution, Reaume has finally coasted to a stop on the apron.

Ben Rhodes and Austin Cindric hit pit lane. These trucks are 4th and 5th in the playoff standings.

Green. WOW! Cindric dove to the inside of Ben Rhodes down the front straight. It was going to be a 3 wide entry to turn 1. However, they didn’t get that far.

Rhodes threw a block, Cindric was already there. Rhodes bounces off the inside wall and back across the race track. Crafton comes along with absolutely no where to go! All 3 of these tracks are playoff drivers. Big hit for Rhodes and Crafton, teammates.

“I believe NASCAR should park them. — He don’t know how to race,” crew chief of the #27, Eddie Troconis states of Austin Cindric.

“I told Ben, ‘the #19 better not finish Homestead,’ ” Matt Crafton states after exiting the infield care center.

Green, Bell and Gragson are even in turn 1. Gragson might have had a push to his back bumper on his way into the corner. Gragson washes off the bottom and slides up the banking into Bell. They both take the shortcut, side by side for the lead.

Trouble at the back! They were 5 wide through the dog leg, for 10th. 4 of them were under the yellow line, taking the shortcut. The entry to turn 3 operates as a funnel. The track significantly narrows, somebody had to give. Nobody did, it turned into a pinball effect. Truex, Little and Sargeant all tangled, all totaled.

10 to go. Green flag. Bell runs wide in turn 1. They run even through the dog leg. They rub doors in turns 3-4. Still side by side, another whole lap.

Bell is pinching him at the entry to turn 1, still side by side. Gragson pushes into his left side door, trying to push him up the track so allow a wider entry to turn 1. Still side by side! This is some great racing.

Red flag #2! Bell pinched Gragson down a bit at the exit of turn 4. Gragson had his left sides under the yellow line. Bell was ahead by a foot or two. Gragson got loose on the bottom. The backend came around and he backed it into the fence. I think he’s just a victim of aerodynamics. At the same time, Bell pinched him a bit, rubbing his door into Gragson’s right front. Aero + contact was enough to step the boundaries of traction limits.

Gragson bounces of the outside wall and comes back across the track, in front of traffic. Justin Haley comes along, with nowhere to go, big contact. Haley hit him directly in the door as Gragson was parked at a 90 degree angle down the front straight. It lifted both right side tires off the ground, from impact.

Bell continued along. However, Gragson made contact with him as he slid up the track, it ran Bell up the banking as well. Bell ran out of race track on the exit. He pancaked the right side of the truck. Tires are smoking, fenders rubbing.

Bell is holding 1st. Johnny Sauter is up to 2nd. Bell dives to pit lane at the last second! Johnny Sauter is handed the lead of this race! John Hunter Nemechek will start 2nd. He has to win to transfer into the final 4.

Green, Sauter picks the inside line. Sauter takes the lead out of turn 2. He has opened a gap to 2nd. Nemechek puts a late braking attempt in place. No chance, he was 8 truck lengths back.

Sauter wins the crazy truck race at Phoenix Raceway!

Author: Shane Walters

Championship 4
NASCAR Truck Series

1. Johnny Sauter
2. Christopher Bell
3. Matt Crafton
4. Austin Cindric

Phoenix Truck Video Highlights
November 10, 2017

Phoenix Truck Results
November 10, 2017

Related: Truck Series starting lineup

1. Johnny Sauter
2. John Hunter Nemechek
3. Cody Caughlin
4. Chase Briscoe
5. Kaz Grala
6. Stewart Friesen
7. Todd Gilliland
8. Christopher Bell
9. Austin Cindric
10. Bayley Currey
11. Jason Hathaway
12. Robby Lyons
13. Jordan Anderson
14. Justin Haley
15. Noah Gragson
16. Josh Reaume
17. Dalton Sargeant
18. Jesse Little
19. Ryan Truex
20. Ben Rhodes
21. Matt Crafton
22. Norm Benning
23. Austin Hill
24. Grant Enfinger
25. Austin Wayne Self
26. Ray Ciccarelli
27. Jennifer Jo Cobb
28. Mike Harmon
29. Joe Nemechek
30. TJ BEll
31. Ted Minor
32. Mike Senica

Links

Phoenix Raceway | NASCAR | Shane Walters