The NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck series went south for the 12th race of the 2020 season to the Daytona International Speedway Road Course.
Sheldon Creed came out victorious after leading just 19 laps and being a solid contender throughout the 46-lap event. Though he had to showcase his skills late due to an overtime restart and hold off his teammate and 2018 series champion, Brett Moffitt.
There were also several notable stories that were significant including issues resulting from the heat. The heat was a major factor for almost everyone in the race, including drivers like Carson Hocevar and Christian Eckes. Hocevar was stopped on the track and caused a late-race yellow. As he sat in blazing temperatures, safety officials came to his aid and the Niece Motorsports driver got out of his truck, exhausted. The same was true for Eckes who, after his incident, got out of the truck, and sat on the grass for a while.
With the heat being a major factor, playoff points are also starting to become a major factor as well, and the points are ever-changing.
We’ll detail that and other stories in this week’s takeaways.
- Parker Kligerman Earns Top 10 Outing – Kligerman finished eighth for his second consecutive top 10 finish of the season Sunday afternoon. It’s currently his best finish of the year after competing in four races. In what could easily be deemed as an up and down season after not being able to race at Atlanta and Charlotte due to a lack of owner points, Kligerman definitely makes the most of his efforts when he competes in a Truck Series outing.
- Jennifer Jo Cobb’s 200th Start – Possibly overlooked in Sunday’s race was Jennifer Jo Cobb’s 200th Truck Series start. While the Kansas City, KS native currently doesn’t have any wins in the series, Cobb does her best to make it in the show whenever there is qualifying. To date, her best finish is sixth at Daytona in 2011.
- Wayne Self Sees Best Finish – Austin Wayne Self’s No. 22 AM Racing saw their best finish of the year Sunday afternoon when the Austin, Texas native finished 11th. So far in 2020, he doesn’t have any top fives or top 10 finishes but is working on getting back to that point. His 11th place outing was certainly much needed after a disastrous finish at Michigan the week prior. In addition, Self managed to get some stage points, finishing ninth in Stage 1.
“Really proud of my AM Racing team,” Self said. “We started mid-pack, but we raced methodically and smart that put us in a position to get some stage points at the end of Stage 2. We were mired deep in the field for the start of Stage 3 but a fast No. 22 AIRBOX Air Purifier end allowed us to climb back through the field and finish 11th. It was a nice rebound from Michigan. Let’s see if we can go to Dover and get ourselves a top-10 finish.” - Triple Truck Challenge – Everyone’s favorite challenge is back, the “Triple Truck Challenge.” Beginning at the Daytona Road Course and lasting through Gateway, Truck Series drivers have a chance to win $50,000 should a driver win one of those races. Originally, before Sunday’s race, any full-time driver had an opportunity to earn up to $500,000 had one of those drivers won all three events. Now, however, Sheldon Creed is the only driver who has an opportunity to get half a million, should he happen to win at Dover and Gateway.
