GLADEVILLE — Carson Hocevar took the lead with 39 laps to go and went by during a caution with nine turns to go to stop Zane Smith and win the Rackley Roofing 200 Truck Series race to mark NASCAR’s tripleheader weekend at the Nashville to open a superspeedway.
It was his second win of the season and fourth consecutive top 10 finish in the Worldwide Express Chevrolet.
Polesitter Nick Sanchez was third, championship leader Corey Heim fourth and Bayley Currey fifth.
“I was a bit worried,” Hocevar said of the last few laps while holding his newfound Gibson guitar. “I have learned from experience that I must execute and control what I can control.”
Sanchez started from pole position after setting a speed of 161.915mph in qualifying. The rookie led through two early warnings until Rajah Caruth went inside on lap 39 and passed him for first place.
Caruth had to leave the track due to a problem with the fuel cell and had to go to the workshop for lengthy repairs before finishing 32nd, 31 laps down. Sanchez retook the lead but ceded it to veteran Zane Smith on lap 40. Smith held the top spot until the end of stage one on lap 45.
Corey Heim beat the field off the pit road and took the lead as the race went green again on lap 54.
He held the top spot until Bayley Currey passed him on lap 62. On lap 65, Heim regained the lead. He was still leading when the warning flag returned on lap 85 when Stewart Friersen retired. Frierson made no contact with a wall or another truck and fell by the wayside.
Much of the field pitted, but Matt DiBenedetto stayed out and took the lead. However, since the pit cars had new tires, he was overtaken by Heim after the restart on lap 93.
But a three-truck crash on lap 94 resulted in another caution, with Heim in the lead followed by Carson Hocever, DiBeneddo and Smith. One of the trucks involved in the accident was driven by Layne Riggs, whose father Scott won the inaugural NSS Truck Series race in 2001.
Heim retained the lead as stage two ended on lap 95 with caution.
That order stood until Dean Thomason hit the wall on lap 105, triggering another caution.
Hocevar had the wing and shot past Heim after the restart on lap 111 to take the lead. He was 1.2 seconds ahead of Heim when a warning was issued for a collision between Friesen and Christian Eckes with nine laps to go.
The top six trucks stayed on track while several others pitted to get tires.
On the restart with three laps to go, Hocevar held serve to secure the win over Smith in 0.271s.
“When I saw that I was clear (last restart) I just focused on the windshield,” said Hocevar, who started seventh. “I was the one who made mistakes and gave victory to others… I just stayed calm.”
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race – Rackley Roofing 200
(7) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 150.
(8) Zane Smith, Ford, 150.
(1)Nick Sanchez#, Chevrolet, 150.
(4) Corey Heim, Toyota, 150.
(2) Bayley Currey, Chevrolet, 150.
(12) Chase Purdy, Chevrolet, 150.
(15) Matt DiBenedetto, Chevrolet, 150.
(17) Tyler Ankrum, Toyota, 150.
(16) Ben Rhodes, Ford, 150.
(21) Jake Garcia #, Chevrolet, 150.
(5) Tanner Gray, Toyota, 150.
(24) Jake Drew, Ford, 150.
(6) Grant Enfinger, Chevrolet, 150.
(10) Taylor Gray #, Toyota, 150.
(23) Matt Crafton, Ford, 150.
(22) Timmy Hill, Toyota, 150.
(28) Toni Breidinger, Toyota, 150.
(18) Stewart Friesen, Toyota, 150.
(29) Nick Leitz, Chevrolet, 149.
(32) Mason Maggio, Ford, 149.
(34) Cory Roper, Ford, 148.
(9) Daniel Dye #, Chevrolet, 148.
(14) Christian Eckes, Chevrolet, 148.
(27) Jonathan Shafer, Toyota, 147.
(33) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 147.
(35) Chase Janes, Ford, 147.
(31) Layne Riggs, Chevrolet, 147.
(20) Hailie Deegan, Ford, 146.
(25) Colby Howard, Chevrolet, 144.
(13) Jack Wood, Chevrolet, 144.
(11) Ty Majeski, Ford, 133.
(3) Rajah Caruth #, Chevrolet, 119.
(36) Dean Thompson, Toyota, DVP, 104.
(26) Bret Holmes #, Chevrolet, accident, 92.
(30) Memphis Villarreal, Toyota, electrics, 26.
(19) Lawless Alan, Chevrolet, accident, 7.
Average speed of the race winner: 102.075 miles per hour.
Time of the race: 1 hour 57 minutes 16 seconds.
Victory Margin: 0.271 seconds.
Warnings: 7 for 43 rounds.
Lead Changes: 9 out of 7 drivers.
Summary of the leaders (drivers, time advantage, lap advantage): Corey Heim 3 times for 57 rounds; Carson Hocevar 1 time for 40 rounds; Nick Sanchez #2 times for 37 laps; Zane Smith 1 time for 11 rounds; Matt DiBenedetto 1 time for 3 rounds; Bayley Currey 1 time for 1 round; Rajah Caruth #1 Time for 1 lap.
Tier 1 Top Ten: 38,2,41,42,11,16,15,23,25,17
Stage 2 Top Ten: 11,42,25,38,99,16,41,15,66,19
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