Christian Eckes leads a Thorsport 1-2-3-4 finish at Las Vegas

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series made the trip out west to Las Vegas Motor Speedway to begin the Round of Eight, meaning a win for any of the playoff drivers will take them to the Championship Four in Phoenix.

John Hunter Nemechek and Chandler Smith led the field to the green flag for 134 laps at Las Vegas. The first caution came out on lap 5 when Chris Hacker got loose, causing his #45 truck to spin and hit the wall, taking him out of the race. John Hunter Nemechek would go on to win stage one.

Stage One Results:

1. John Hunter Nemechek
2. Todd Gilliland
3. Chandler Smith
4. Ben Rhodes
5. Stewart Friesen
6. Zane Smith
7. Christian Eckes
8. Sheldon Creed
9. Austin Hill
10. Tyler Ankrum

Todd Gilliland was showing in the second stage how strong of a truck he had, as on lap 38, Nemechek, Zane Smith and Friesen made contact going three-wide, giving Smith a flat tire. He was unable to get to pit road quickly and his tire came apart, throwing out the caution. Then with 11 laps left in Stage Two, John Hunter Nemechek’s truck fell into mechanical issues, causing him to go onto pit road. Todd Gilliland would go on to win stage two.

Stage Two Results:

1. Todd Gilliland
2. Ben Rhodes
3. Carson Hocevar
4. Stewart Friesen
5. Sheldon Creed
6. Tanner Gray
7. Austin Hill
8. Matt Crafton
9. Grant Enfinger
10. Chandler Smith

A huge wreck happened with 63 to go when Tyler Ankrum went spinning, then Chandler Smith slammed into Ankrum’s #26. Suddenly more implications occur when Sheldon Creed gets heavy damage after slamming into Smith, as well as Chase Purdy and Hailie Deegan. Austin Hill had the lead at the restart, but the caution came out with 54 to go as John Hunter Nemechek’s truck lost power.

On the next restart, Bret Holmes and Todd Gilliland fought for the lead as Brett Moffitt made the charge in the #25. Todd Gilliland then took the lead from Moffitt with 48 to go. Drew Dollar and Jack Wood got together to bring out a caution with 21 laps to go as Todd Gilliland was winning. On the restart, Matt Crafton made contact with a couple of trucks and got in a four-wide situation, sending him back to 10^th. Tanner Gray ended up with a tire rub after contact with Crafton. Carson Hocevar ended up having a vibration issue with 10 laps to go and spun coming onto pit road, bringing out the caution. The race restarted with four laps to go as Austin Hill squeezed through but Christian Eckes took the lead with teammates Crafton and Rhodes behind him. Ben Rhodes made a huge run on the final lap but as he had a chance to catch Eckes, the caution would come out from Tyler Hill to end the race and Christian Eckes would get his first career truck win as well Thorsport Racing finishing 1-2-3-4 for the first time ever. Ben Rhodes had the points lead after Vegas, as the Truck Series will head next to Talladega.

Victoria’s Foundation 200 Top 10:

1. Christian Eckes

2. Ben Rhodes

3. Matt Crafton

4. Johnny Sauter

5. Todd Gilliland

6. Stewart Friesen

7. Grant Enfinger

8. Austin Wayne Self

9. Ryan Truex

10. Austin Hill