Christopher Bell held on to win the winstaronlinegaming.com 400 after a wild finish at Texas Motor Speedway. This was his second series win in 2017 and his fourth career win in the Truck Series.
It was round seven for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in the 2017 season. The race had three stages. Forty laps made up Stages 1 and 2, while 87 laps made up Stage 3. Noah Gragson and Johnny Sauter set the front row in qualifying earlier in the day.
After Stage 1 began, Noah Gragson had a strong truck early and led his first ever laps in the Truck Series. However, there were a few cautions that took place on Lap 3 for Austin Cindric and Lap 7 for Jordan Anderson. Barring a few cautions early, there were some long green flag runs.
Last week’s winner, Johnny Sauter, took the lead on Lap 20. From there, Sauter held on to win the Stage 1. Even after pit stops, Sauter won the race off pit road.
Stage 2 began on Lap 47, with Sauter and Chase Briscoe on the front row. With Sauter dominating most of the stage, Christopher Bell, after starting 21st, took the lead on Lap 70. Not much action happened in Stage 2, and Bell, eventually went on to win Stage 2.
Stage 3 took place on Lap 86, with Bell and teammate, Myatt Snider, on point. Long green flag runs were the story in the final stage until a caution came out with 50 laps to go for Stewart Friesen who hit the wall on the frontstretch.
After a restart with 43 laps to go, there were six laps of green flag racing until another caution took place for Snider, who spun off Turn 2.
Race leader Bell had to survive a few more restarts after having two more cautions on Lap 137 and on Lap 157. During those laps, Chase Briscoe had come alive to be a strong contender for the win.
With the restart taking place with eight laps to go, it looked like the race would stay green. However, Kaz Grala and Myatt Snider got together in a crash, thus bringing out a caution.
The restart took place with two laps to go, as Bell and Briscoe were the race leaders. Briscoe had gotten a little bit of an edge on Bell, but Bell stayed side-by-side with him until the final caution took place after the leaders crossed the finish line. The caution was for Timothy Peters and Austin Wayne Self who got into each other, sending Peters into the grass and causing him to flip several times before eventually landing upside down. After the crazy crash, Peters was able to walk away under his own power. He was evaluated and released from the Texas Motor Speedway infield care center.
However, there was another issue that was taking place and that was deciding the winner. Both Briscoe and Bell were in a dead heat at the finish line. After some confusion, and video reviewing by the NASCAR officials, NASCAR declared Christopher Bell as the race winner.
There were 10 cautions for 42 laps and five leaders among eight lead changes.
The next scheduled NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race is Saturday night June 17 at Gateway Motorsports Park.
