The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series was in the heat of the heartland this past Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway. There were definitely some thrills and spills, but some guy named Johnny Sauter who has been victorious multiple times this season topped this week’s power rankings.
- Johnny Sauter – Same song, second verse for the 2016 Truck Series champion. Sauter started fifth in Friday nights PPG 400. While he wasn’t all that dominant as he was in past races, he still found a way to make it to the top. In Stages 1 and 2, Sauter finished fourth and ninth respectively. However, after some late race cautions for incidents, Sauter found himself challenging for the win. It wasn’t until Lap 117, where he ultimately took the lead and led for the final 51 laps. It’s hard to stop Sauter and the GMS Racing No. 21 team at the moment as this was their fourth win of the season. They’ll be hard to beat when the trucks go to Iowa this week. Previous Ranking: 1st
- Stewart Friesen – Friesen and the No. 52 Halmar Racing team continues to shine this year in the 2018 Truck Series season. The Ontario, Canada driver started on the pole for Friday night’s race. It was just the second pole of his career, his first since Eldora of last year, and his first of the year. After slipping up on the start of the race, Friesen rallied back to the lead on Lap 30 and on Lap 34, where he held on to win the first stage. He was a mainstay in the top three as well for the second stage, as he finished second. Friesen gave all he could challenging Johnny Sauter for the win. However, he came up just .092 seconds short of the win. Previous Ranking: 4th
- Justin Haley – Haley and the No. 24 team continues to creep up into the top five finishing position week after week. He started 10th and finished eighth and third, respectively, in both stages. He even led just for a short period of time (three laps in total), before ultimately finishing third. It was Haley’s third top five of the season. Previous Ranking: Not Ranked
- Grant Enfinger – Enfinger scored another top five for the 2018 season. After starting in the eighth position, his No. 98 team fell outside the top 10 for Stages 1 and 2. When multiple cautions fell late in the race, Enfinger was able to capitalize and bring home his Protect The Harvest Ford in the fourth position to earn his third top five of the season. A solid effort by the Fairhope, Alabama driver. Previous Ranking: Not Ranked
- Matt Crafton – The No. 88 team gets an A for effort in this week’s power rankings. The Menards Ford driver has been having an up and down year so far. Prior to the Texas race, Crafton only had two top five’s and four top 10 finishes coming into the race. He started ninth and was able to power his way up to the second position in the first stage. Late in the run, his Ford F-150 got too tight in order to battle for the win. Despite the tightness of his truck, Crafton brought it home in the fifth position for his third top five of the year. However, he still remains winless in the 2018 season. Previous Ranking: Not Ranked
