After a week off, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series was back in action Saturday afternoon at Richmond Raceway for the sixth race of the season. Ben Rhodes, who finished second at the Bristol Dirt, won the pole by a metric qualifying system, with Austin Hill starting second. The “Choose Cone Rule” returned for this race. The rule allows drivers to pick a lane before the race begins.
Rhodes led the opening two laps before his teammate Grant Enfinger passed him for the lead on the third lap. Towards the back, Kyle Busch was moving up through the field. He took the fourth spot from Hill on lap 32 and then third from Raphael Lessard. On lap 46, Busch moved into second place, passing Ben Rhodes. Meanwhile, John Hunter Nemechek was not far behind. Nemechek took over the second spot from Busch with thirteen laps to go before challenging Enfinger for the lead. Enfinger would hold on to win stage one, his first stage win of the season.
The leaders went to pit road as Kyle Busch beat Grant Enfinger off pit road for the lead. Matt Crafton would pit two times during the caution for his crew to fix both the front and rear suspension. The race resumed on lap 80 to start stage two.
Busch did a great job timing the restart to quickly get ahead of Enfinger. Five laps into the restart, Hailie Deegan moved up the track and made contact with Tate Fogleman. Fogleman’s truck would hit the wall at turn three to bring out the race’s second caution. Fogleman let Deegan know how he felt about the crash. Most of the leaders stayed out during the caution. The race would resume on lap 99.
A lap into the restart, Nemechek passed Busch for the lead after restarting third. On the same lap, Jennifer Jo Cobb spun at turn four to bring out the third caution. No one went to pit road during the caution, and the race resumed on lap 105. On the same lap, both Grant Enfinger and Ben Rhodes passed Busch for second and third, dropping Busch to fourth. Nemechek led the last 35 laps to win stage two. He has now won six of twelve stages this year.
Everyone went to pit road during the caution, with Nemechek beating Rhodes off pit road. The final stage got underway on lap 151. Just like what happened in last week’s Xfinity Series race, the cautions came without running ten laps. On lap 153, Derek Kraus cut a left rear tire and hit the wall to bring out the race’s fourth caution. He went to pit road to change tires while everyone else stayed out. The race resumed on lap 159.
One lap into the restart, Chase Purdy was in a four-wide battle with Deegan, Hill, and Bohn. Deegan backed off, and Purdy came down and hit her before making contact with the wall to bring out the sixth caution of the afternoon. Purdy and Deegan went to pit road while everyone else stayed out. The race resumed on lap 166, with Nemechek still in the lead.
On the same lap, Norm Benning spun Jennifer Jo Cobb and made slight contact with the inside wall to bring out the race’s seventh caution. Cobb went to pit road while everyone else stayed out. The race resumed on lap 172, and Nemechek got a significant jump to maintain the lead over Zane Smith. Five laps later, Jennifer Jo Cobb returned the favor and hit Norm Benning to bring out the eighth caution of the day. NASCAR parked Cobb and called her to the hauler. Chandler Smith, Johnny Sauter, and Austin Wayne Self pitted during the caution. The race resumed on lap 181.
Two laps into the restart, Dawson Cram had help from Austin Wayne Self and spun at turn four, bringing out the race’s ninth caution. Tyler Ankrum was the only driver to pit during the caution. The race resumed on lap 188, with Nemechek still leading the race. On lap 194, Kyle Busch made his way up to third after passing Todd Gilliland. Two laps later, Austin Wayne Self hit Codie Rohrbaugh, sending him hard into the wall at turn one for the race’s tenth caution.
Some of the leaders went to pit road with Nemechek beating his boss Kyle Busch off pit road. After electing to stay out along with Johnny Sauter, Chandler Smith, and Danny Bohn, Matt Crafton was the new leader. The race resumed with 42 laps to go. Smith dove to the bottom to create a three-wide battle for the lead. He would take first place, while Tyler Ankrum moved to second, and Sauter settled for third. Three laps later, Kris Wright got loose in the backstretch and hit Zane Smith before hitting the inside wall as out came the race’s eleventh caution.
Deegan, Gray, and Lessard pitted during the caution while everyone else stayed out. The race resumed with 29 laps to go. Tyler Ankrum quickly lost the second position to Nemechek, and a lap later lost the third position to Kyle Busch. Smith led an additional two laps before Nemechek passes him for the lead. Smith would also lose the second spot to Kyle Busch.
On lap 243, Smith lost the third position to Tyler Ankrum while both Nemechek and Busch checked out. Austin Hill nearly took out Sheldon Creed with five laps to go, but Creed saved his truck. Upfront, Nemechek led the last 26 laps to win his second race of the season and the fourth straight win for Kyle Busch Motorsports.
The rest of the top ten finishers were Tyler Ankrum third, Chandler Smith fourth, Johnny Sauter fifth, Todd Gilliland sixth, Ben Rhodes seventh, Grant Enfinger eighth, Sam Mayer ninth, and Austin Hill tenth. John Hunter Nemechek led 114 laps, the most in the race. There were seven cautions for 79 laps and nine lead changes.
The Truck Series will be off next weekend before heading to Kansas Speedway on Saturday, May 1st, at 7:30 pm on FS1.
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