The Drivin’ For Linemen 200 at Gateway Motorsports Park in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series showcased experience levels from veterans to up-an-coming talents, though, at the conclusion it wasn’t a seasoned driver or rookie going to victory lane, it was ‘middle-aged’ Darrell Wallace Jr. capturing his second-career triumph.
Wallace, 21, led a remarkable 85 laps of the 160 scheduled en route to a dominating win in the Truck Series reappearance at the Madison, Illinois track.
The win makes Wallace the third victor in the Truck Series this season, joining his team owner, Kyle Busch and defending champion, Matt Crafton.
It also reinstalls Wallace’s confidence in chasing an elusive Truck Series championship; he’s now ninth in points, 43 markers behind point’s leader Johnny Sauter.
“To have the troubles that we’ve had, and keep cool and come out and put on a dominate show like we did today shows a lot about (our team).” Wallace expressed post-race. “We are down, but we aren’t out of the fight.”
German Quiroga Jr., a former NASCAR Mexico Toyota Series champion, had a strong performance, relieving his team from the struggles throughout these past few weeks. He finished a career-best second, coming up a few car lengths short to Wallace in the race’s final laps.
“I wish it was first, not second,” Quiroga explained in the media center following the effort. “We finished second which is good for our comeback in the championship. We are getting there, closer and closer each week.”
Timothy Peters finished third, respectively, with Sauter, the new point’s leader, and Ron Hornaday Jr. completing the top five at the finish.
Cole Custer, who won the pole, setting a new track record for the event, Ryan Blaney, John Wes Townley, Chase Pistone and Tayler Malsam completed the top-10.
The caution flag flew seven times on the evening, which was the pivotal factor in allowing Wallace to gain track position and score the win.
Wallace rolled off the grid second and rocketed to the race lead before completing the first turn. He led the first 63 laps before succeeding his position on a green flag pit stop, which was disastrous.
Wallace’s crew let down the jack too soon when the tire wasn’t attached, causing damage to the right rear and costing him the race lead.
“It was wild,” Wallace said in victory lane after the race, “We got in a little trouble on the first pit stop, but a little adversity never hurts anybody.”
John Hunter Nemechek then pounced on the misfortune and muscled to the race lead, where he remained for 53-laps before the veteran Crafton took the top spot.
Tires issues, though, derailed a promising run for Crafton. His No. 88 machine pounded the outside wall in turn four bringing out the caution and ending his evening in the garage area.
“Just cut a tire,” said a frustrated Crafton. “Such a fast truck and it was handling great but there was nothing I could do when the tire goes except go into the wall.”
Under the caution, pit stops began, and prevailing was the 17-year-old Nemechek who won the battle off pit lane, giving him the lead, again, with a mere 30 laps remaining.
On the restart, though, Wallace resurfaced from the issues on pit lane and powered back to the top spot leaving an intense battle for second and third behind him.
However, the action was ceased again when Nemechek’s left rear went flat sending him spinning and giving the fans another restart, this time with about eight laps remaining.
Erik Jones, Wallace’s teammate, stole the lead on the race-deciding restart, however, he was clipped and spun around by Quiroga before leading a lap, sending him hard into the inside retaining wall and into the garage area.
“I guess we just got dumped again,” said Jones. “I don’t know what to do about that. I felt like it was our race. We had a great truck and I felt like we should have been there in Victory Lane.”
Quiroga, however, saw the incident in a different fashion.
“He started getting loose and drove in really deep into (Turn) 1 and he was slowing a lot on the exit and was already sideways, and I just kept on driving straight trying not to hit him,” Quiroga explained.
Back to the racing, business was picking up.
With four laps remaining, the machines came back to life and it was Wallace proving his dominance. He snatched the lead and eventually took the checkered flag, claiming his first win since Martinsville last season.
The Truck Series returns to action June 26th at Kentucky Motor Speedway for the UNOH 225.
