Fun fact: The last time a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Talladega Superspeedway decided on a green flag run longer than two laps was 2008.
Once again, both a race in Northeast Alabama and the shape of the playoffs were decided by who did and didn’t crash, and arguably whether or not race control wanted to enforce its rule against locking bumpers.
Brett Moffitt won the race, also continuing the trend of a non-playoff driver having won at Talladega every year since this format was introduced back in 2016.
Meanwhile, there was a lot of carnage in this race, a tremendous amount of carnage that went a long way to deciding who will race for the championship.
Most notably, defending champion Zane Smith has absolutely no other recourse but to win the final race of this round in two weeks at Homestead Miami Speedway after suffering several issues over the past two races.
On Saturday, Smith spun on pit road and actually barreled over tire carrier Charles Plank, which did not result in an injury but may have damaged his clutch. It sent Smith behind the wall and he finished the race 32nd and 44 laps down.
Ty Majeski and Grant Enfinger were involved in multiple crashes and face uphill battles to return to the championship race for the second year in a row. Ben Rhodes will enter that race at Homestead below the cutline but took an unorthodox path to giving himself an extended chance at a second championship as well.
But first, the updated standings:
Corey Heim, Advanced
Carson Hocevar +23
Christian Eckes +9
Nick Sanchez +3
—
Grant Enfinger -3
Ben Rhodes -5
Ty Majeski -19
Zane Smith -36
Enfinger, from the Alabama Gulf Coast, finished 13th at his home track.
“Pretty typical day at Talladega,” Enfinger said. “It’s unfortunate because we just didn’t have any speed in our Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet. It wasn’t from a lack of effort from our GMS Racing guys but we were just missing something today, even before the damage.
“I feel like we kept working ourselves back to the middle of the pack, in the middle of the storm and had nowhere to go.”
He was involved in three different incidents.
“Most guys would have called it quits,” he said. “I don’t know how many times were on the DVP. The truck was torn up from every angle so 13th is kind of a win. I know we have our work cut out for us in Homestead. Our mile and a half package is great and we just need to execute at Homestead. We’re still in this championship hunt.”
Majeski was already 14 points below the cutline entering the race and made that up through 14 stage points by halfway but the crash coughed them all right back up.
“I don’t know what the point situation is,” Majeski said. “It’s probably not good, but it’s probably a must- win next week. We did close to everything right today. I had really good stage points and felt like our strategy was right. We had track position when we needed it at the end of the first two stages, and we were in a good spot there.
“We were 13th before the last incident and I think we were within 5-7 of the cut, which is really what we needed to do today, but that’s a product of superspeedway racing, especially here at Talladega. These trucks are so unstable in the tri-oval and guys just continue to push through there and it was never successful once. It was a frustrating day, but we had a good Soda Sense Ford F-150, just a disappointing ending.”
He is the defending winner, for what it’s worth.
“Yeah, it’s a possibility,” he said. “You just need to go in there with a good mindset and that’s it.”
Ben Rhodes took an unorthodox path to a good day at Talladega because he actually bailed from the pack early in the first stage wanting to avoid the carnage that was indeed coming. He didn’t score any first stage point but scored five in the second stage, leading he and crew chief Rich Lushes to agree they needed to win or finish second.
They finished second.
“We’re happy, we are,” Rhodes said. “We’re not elated. Elated is for when you win but two years in a row, second place here is an indication of the trucks we’re building and how good we work together.”
At five points back going into Homestead, Rhodes said he will need another day just like Saturday where stage points and a good finish are the goal.
“The stage points are really going to be more important than the finish,” Rhodes said. “We finished 10th last year but advanced on our stage points so that’s our game right now, stage point racing, that’s how you advance when you don’t have the wins.”
Nick Sanchez finished seventh and was at the center of a couple of incidents, including one late with Matt Crafton that triggered the last massive pile-up.
“I was trying my best to stay tight to the bottom lane to not get put three-wide,” Sanchez said. “He kind of came up and I held my lane. I got him in the left rear, and it’s just plate racing, a little bit of me and a little bit of him.”
More on that in a bit, but Sanchez is three points above the cutline.
“That’s a big sigh of relief to not have to win at Homestead,” Sanchez said. “I’d like to win. I think we’ll bring a good truck.”
As for Crafton, he did not think it was a little bit of him, and there was a fight between them in the garage area after the race.
Sanchez says he was blindsided by Crafton.
“I was walking back to the hauler, felt a tap on the back, turned around and got punched in the face,” Sanchez said. “A cheap shot but it is what it is I guess. I’m all for fighting but no cheap shots. I never had a chance to get him back. It is what it is I guess. It’s part of racing.
“It was an aggressive move I made but it’s plate racing. It is what it is.”
In non-playoff news, Stewart Friesen and Greg Van Alst were taken to the hospital following their respective crashes on Saturday.