Friday nights Overton’s 225 at Chicagoland Speedway marked the halfway point of the season for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. It was the 11th race of the scheduled 22 race season.
Once more, the Truck Series put on a thrilling battle for the race win and continued to show that it’s the best of the three national touring series right now. Little did anyone know, it would also set the stage for what would be an exciting weekend at Chicagoland Speedway.
Here’s a look at who topped this week’s power rankings.
- Brett Moffitt – After falling out of the power rankings last week due to a late-race incident at Gateway, none of his doing, Moffitt and the No. 16 Hattori Racing team was able to secure sponsorship from Fr8 Auctions and was able to continue at Chicagoland this past Friday night. Moffitt started sixth and slipped back in Stage 1, finishing fifth. In the second stage, he improved his finishing position after finishing second and led for one lap. As soon as the third and final stage began, Moffitt was up front battling and contending for the race win with John Hunter Nemechek. It all started on lap 74, where Nemechek took the lead and since then, the two swapped the lead seven times in the last remaining laps. It was quite an epic battle for the race win with two drivers not backing down. On the last lap of the race, Moffitt made a move to the inside in Turn 1 to pass Nemechek for the win after only, Nemechek’s truck ran out of gas coming off of Turn 2 and thus Moffitt drove away with the race win. It was his third win of the year. The team noted in the post-race media availability, that they do have some races secured later on in the season, but still need full-time funding in order to compete for the championship. Previous Week Ranking: Fell Out
- Johnny Sauter – Sauter once again continues to prove that consistency is key if you want to win the championship in any of NASCAR’s top three series. He continues to be one of the best trucks on racetrack week in and week out. Despite finishing seventh and fifth in both stages, respectively. Sauter and his No. 21 GMS Racing team fought hard with a tight-handling race truck which wasn’t great in the dirty air, but with a late race caution on lap 122, the team was able to make adjustments only to have the jack fall during the pit stop which sent him to the back. With years of racing experience and knowledge, Sauter fought his way to a third-place finish earning his tenth top-10 of the season. He continues to lead the point standings over second place Noah Gragson by 65 points. Previous Week Ranking: 1st
- Noah Gragson – Gragson stays in this week’s power rankings after finishing fourth. It was a quiet but strong night for the No. 18 Safelite Kyle Busch Motorsports Tundra. After earning his third pole of the season, he consistently stayed inside the top-10 for most of the night. Early on in the first stage, Gragson led two times before being passed by John Hunter Nemechek on the last lap in Stage 1 and had to settle for second. The second stage, however, provided a much better opportunity for Gragson to earn stage points. When Korbin Forrister decided not to come in for tires, he restarted on the front row alongside Gragson. As soon as the restart happened, the No. 18 with four fresher tires passed Forrister for the lead and ultimately for the stage win. The third and final stage started to become a challenge for the 19-year-old youngster. It seemed as though his handling had started to go away just a tad before the last caution came out on Lap 122 when he came in for an adjustment like everyone. At the end of the day, the scoring pylon showed Gragson and his No. 18 Safelite Tundra in the fourth position. A decent Chicago outing for the KBM driver. Previous Week Ranking: 3rd
- Ben Rhodes – Rhodes finally gets a well deserved second place finish this past weekend. After not having the best of finishes and bad luck throughout the season, the cards and opportunity finally fell in his favor Friday night. He started ninth and finished sixth and 11th, respectively, in both stages. With the help of adjustments late in the going, Rhodes was there to capitalize on Nemechek’s misfortune on the last lap and earned his best finish of the season. This is exactly what the No. 41 ThorSport driver needs and it could be a chance to open the floodgates, where they could possibly begin to finish consistently inside the top-10 and peak at the right time of the season. Previous Week Ranking: Not Ranked
- Justin Haley – Last week’s winner, Justin Haley, came home in the top-10 after starting 10th. It was a relatively quiet night for the No. 24 GMS Racing driver. It wasn’t the best night for him and his team, but he was able to secure finishes of ninth and seventh, respectively. Haley is locked into the Playoffs with his win at Gateway and currently sits sixth in the standings. Previous Week Ranking: Not Ranked
