Defending NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Zane Smith started his season just like he did last year, winning the season-opening NextEra Energy 250 at Daytona International Speedway.
Unlike last year, when he won the race in overtime, this event was instead shortened due to rain, with only 80 laps being completed. Smith passed Corey LaJoie a few laps prior to the delay and was declared the winner.
Tanner Gray finished second, followed by Christian Eckes, Colby Howard and Grant Enfinger to round out the top five.
Eckes Takes Stage One
Eckes, in his first race with McAnally-Hilgemann Racing, was able to come away with the stage one victory, but it wasn’t without two different cautions on laps two and seven, respectively, for rain in the area.
Once the rain finally cleared and the field went green for the rest of the stage, Eckes was able to hold off the field, including Ty Majeski, who was side-by-side with Eckes before getting loose off of turn 4 and slipping back to sixth due to the loss of momentum.
Multi-Truck Wreck Plus Rain Results in Red Flag
On lap 29, Clay Greenfield snapped loose in the middle of the tri-oval and corrected back into the pack. Gray, Daniel Dye, Bret Holmes and Matt DiBenedetto only collected cosmetic damage, but Hailie Deegan, Dean Thompson and Greenfield all had to drop out of the race due to too much damage.
DiBenedetto and Deegan had contended early in stage one, finishing third and fourth, respectively, making the crash that much more painful for their teams.
The wreck occurred just as more mist had hit the track. Between the rain and fluid spilling out of Thompson’s wrecked No. 5, NASCAR threw the red flag to clean and dry the track before going back to racing with six laps to go in the stage.
Ankrum Wins Stage Two as Friesen Ignites Another Wreck
When the race restarted after the red flag, the six-lap sprint to the green-checkered stage end was intense as drivers pushed each other around the 2.5 mile track, causing several drivers to lose the rear end of their trucks. The FOX Sports 1 broadcasters were wondering how long they could continue getting away with the aggressive pushing.
Not long.
On the final lap of stage two, Ben Rhodes, who arguably had the fastest truck of the night, surged ahead on the outside lane and looked to pass the leader of the outside line, second-place Stewart Friesen. Friesen,…
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