HAMPTON, Ga. — Christopher Bell put on clinic in the Truck race, winning all three stages, and held off Matt Crafton on a two-lap run to the finish to take the checkered flag.
The driver of the No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota led all but 31 laps from the drop of the green flag. He won the first stage and won the second stage, but lost the lead to boss Kyle Busch on pit road under the fifth caution of the race.
He regained the lead with 18 laps to go, fought off Crafton on the final restart and scored the victory in the Active Pest Control 200.
“This place is so much fun, just the slipping and sliding” Crafton said. “That was some of the greatest racing I’ve seen in a long time. Everyone was all over that racetrack and that’s what it’s all about.”
It’s was Bell’s third career victory in 32 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts.
“This was definitely a race I had circled ever since we left here last February,” Bell said. “To come back and be as dominant as we were was really cool for me. It was just a dream weekend ever since we unloaded.”
Johnny Sauter, Ben Rhodes and Chase Elliott rounded out the top-five. Elliott’s truck failed post-race inspection (too low and missing lug nut).
“It was a very eventful day,” Sauter said. “This has been a tough racetrack for me. I seem to always have trouble. Tonight, we had a miss and I thought, ‘Here we go again.’ But it was a great race.”
Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon, Grant Enfinger, Timothy Peters and Ross Chastain rounded out the top-10.
Noah Gragson and Brett Moffitt brought out the first caution for a two-truck wreck on the first lap and Jordan Anderson tagged the wall with his left-rear exiting Turn 4. The truck went through the frontstretch grass when the splitter dug into the ground and was lifted off the ground.
Busch’s right-front tire went flat and his truck hit the wall with 18 to go. He finished 26th.
The race lasted 1 hour, 50 minutes and 44 seconds at an average speed of 108.477 mph. There were six lead changes among four different drivers and eight cautions for 38 laps.
T1702_UNOFFRES
