The Camping World Truck Series never disappoints when racing at Daytona. Tonight was no different. In a race that was filled with a couple of big crashes, it was teammates that stuck together that ended up winning the race.
Tyler Reddick and Austin Theriault are the drivers for Brad Keselowski Racing. Those drivers proved tonight that teamwork pays off.
For much of the second half of the Nextera Energy 250 at Daytona International Speedway, the duo held the first two positions. However, it was the 19-year old who led a race-high 46 laps on the night. This propelled the second year driver to his first career victory in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
“Everyone here made this possible. I wouldn’t have been here if it wasn’t for my teammate Austin Theriault,” Reddick said in his post-race interview.
It was Theriault’s first ever time driving a truck. What a debut. Although it came at a restrictor-plate track, the Brad Keselowski Racing rookie made an impressive statement in his first-time out in what will be a part-time schedule as the No. 29 is racing for the 2015 Owners Championship.
On Lap 13, the first big wreck occurred when the No. 82 of Austin Hill shredded a right rear tire right in the middle of the field. This one took out five trucks, including Joe Nemechek, who is always a threat to win on plate tracks in which ever series he is entered in.
The huge wreck occurred one lap shy of halfway. Second year driver Ben Kennedy slowed around the top of Turn 3, thus resulting in a chain reaction. The No. 29 of Theriault and the No. 4 of Erik Jones made contact and caused the “big one”. Former series champion, James Buescher and championship contender Timothy Peters were caught up in this crash along with ten other drivers. The No. 07 driven by Ray Black Jr. was right in the middle of the Lap 49 accident. After pitting multiple times for repairs, the SS Green Light Racing driver recorded his best career-finish of fifth.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular, Bryan Silas received damage from one of the crashes and even with trhr damage he ended up getting a career-best finish of seventh. At one point in the race, Silas could not even see out of his windshield because his hood had flapped up blocking all of his vision. The Florida-native rebounded to get his third career top-10.
NASCAR XFINITY Series regular Ty Dillon led 37 of the opening 40 laps but failed to come up victorious. Towards the end of the race, Dillon would try to get a run on the outside but had little to no help and kept falling backwards, finishing 11th.
The driver of the No. 28, Ryan Ellis also recorded a career-best finish this evening. He placed 16th in the final rundown. His team FDNY Racing did something very special. All of the profits from FDNY Racing will go to some of the widows from the September 11th attacks and all of the volunteers who helped.
Tonight was Tyler Reddick’s night, and he will look to continue the good start to the season next weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
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