One lap into the final stage of the NASCAR Truck Series playoff elimination race at Kansas Speedway on Friday night and the dynamic was figuratively flipped upside down.
Matt Crafton, who entered the night with a nine-point advantage over the cutline hit the wall and cut a tire and was forced down pit road. That would have been welcome news for Ben Rhodes, who himself entered the night three points below Nick Sanchez for the final transfer, but then he came to a slow with a vibration, himself.
Through it all, there was Matt DiBenedetto, who entered the night 20 points below the cutline and had no expectation of having a chance to point his way into the Round of 8 unless two of the three drivers ahead of him suffered some kind of catastrophic event.
So, you’re telling me there is a chance?
Crafton was forced to pit again, and again, until they started running out of tires due to the multiple punctures generated by a fender rub. Rhodes was also forced to pit with a fender rub, giving Crafton a chance to cling on for dear life at a chance to keep racing for a fourth Truck Series championship, both of their issues giving DiBenedetto something other than a must-win scenario.
Ultimately, Rhodes was able to stop the figurative bleeding, sinking Crafton and forcing DiBenedetto into needing a victory regardless. And yet, that’s exactly what DiBenedetto put himself in position to do, climbing himself into the top-10 and then a top-5 before racing up to third on the final, chaotic restart, but it was too little, too late.
Rhodes in, limping across the finish line in 25th, with DiBenedetto and Crafton the first cuts in the 2023 Truck Series Playoffs.
“This team fought so hard,” DiBenedetto said. “They worked their tails off to give me a good-looking truck and a good handling truck all night. We made the most of it for sure, and I’m just so thankful for everyone at Rackley WAR …”
DiBenedetto will leave the team at the end of the season.
“I just hate that we missed it and had that issue at Milwaukee and that took us out of it,” he said, recognizing that this was the difference in elimination. “We could be in the next round. This team, they deserve to keep hold their heads high, that’s for sure.”
Crafton, for his part, suffered misfortune from the start of the day when he lost his primary truck in a crash caused by running over debris — resentment he still harbored after his elimination.
“It all comes down to lap 2 in practice, when the [No.] 9 truck wrecked, and they did a pathetic job of cleaning it up,” Crafton said. “We ran through the debris when we went back out there. They were in a rush in practice, but it is what it is. It’s the cards we were dealt, and it folded really crappy for us.
…at the end of the day, we had some speed. We missed travels a little bit and got on the splitter. We weren’t terrible. Just kept putting stopper in the left front, and finally got it off.”
And then, just as they found speed, Murphy’s Law struck again.
“When it jumped sideways off of Turn 2, it hadn’t done that all night and it just caught me off guard,” Crafton said. “But I have to thank these guys. They worked their butt off today. From wrecking that truck in practice, and wrecking in the race, and wrecking in the race. It wasn’t meant to be. We’ll go on and do it again next year.”
Rhodes lives to fight another day even if Friday night was ‘taking our medicine’ as it was described to him during the race.
“I should be happy, we advanced,” Rhodes said. “I said it before, but the expectation was to advance. The expectation is to advance to the final four so doing what we are supposed to do isn’t a reason to celebrate. We’re just kind of moving on to the next round.
“Celebrating is for winning races or winning the championship. I’m more angry about this race than anything. I can’t say I’m happy because I’m not. Mixed emotions, how about that?”
ROUND OF 8
Bristol, Talladega, Homestead
Corey Heim +8
Christian Eckes +2
Grant Enfinger +2
Carson Hocevar +0
—
Zane Smith +0
Ty Majeski -6
Ben Rhodes -9
Nick Sanchez -16
With the standings in mind, it’s worth noting that Christian Eckes winning at Kansas in the most exhilarating way actually reset him above the cutline as opposed to three points below. Playoff points carry over from round-to-round, including those earned during the playoffs, so that could prove vital after Homestead.
Meanwhile, Ty Majeski losing five playoff points last week for an illegal bleeder in the valve stem actually means he starts this round six points below the cutline instead of just one. It wasn’t the worst possible outcome for Majeski and the ThorSport No. 98 team but it could loom large if he gets eliminated by fewer than five points after Homestead.
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.