Truck No. 2 Gets Win No. 2 in Milestone Race for Truck Series

In A Nutshell

In a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race that devolved into fuel mileage and varying pit strategy, it was Nick Sanchez who came out on top, taking home a rather surprising win at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday (May 24).

Sanchez took the lead with nine laps to go and had to hold off Corey Heim to take home his first win since the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. Sanchez also pockets an additional $50,000 courtesy of the Triple Truck Challenge, of which Charlotte is the first race.

Heim was by far the most dominant truck of the night (no surprise there) and finished second, but was later disqualified after NASCAR officials found three loose lug nuts on his No. 11.

The Top Truckers at Charlotte Motor Speedway

Winner: Nick Sanchez
Polesitter, Stage 2 Winner: Tanner Gray
Stage 1 Winner: Kaden Honeycutt
Most Laps Led (72 of 134 laps): Corey Heim
Biggest Mover: Christian Eckes (started 35th, finished 10th net 25 spots)
Rookie of the Race: Connor Mosack

Note: Heim swept the stages, but due to his DQ, he loses his stage wins. Honeycutt and Gray finished second in the stages, so they move up to the stage winners.

Top Storylines of the Race

• Justin Carroll returned to the track after withdrawing from the race at North Wilkesboro Speedway due to illness. However, the No. 90 was one of two drivers, along with Jennifer Jo Cobb, to fail to make the field. Carroll has now failed to qualify in eight of the 15 races he and his family-owned team have attempted (that’s including his North Wilkesboro withdrawal).
• It was a historically bad qualifiying session for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing, as Tyler Ankrum, Christian Eckes, and Daniel Dye all started in the last three positions on the grid. Ankrum spun on his qualifying lap, Eckes did not take a lap after a practice incident, and Dye had a hung throttle issue. The team’s fourth truck, the No. 91 of Jack Wood, was the only one able to get a clean lap in, and he qualified eighth.
• Gray started on pole and led twice for 11 laps, fresh off of his first career ARCA Menards Series win earlier in the afternoon. Gray was largely the third-best truck, behind Heim and Honeycutt, but a late near-spin relegated him to 17th in the final running order.
• After a quiet first two stages, the final stage…