The JAG Metals 350 at Texas Motor Speedway was race number two in the Round of 6 for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The race on the 1.5-mile quad-oval would be broken into three stages. Stages one and two would be 35 laps in length. The final stage would consist of 77 laps. The six playoff drivers that remained, Christopher Bell, Johnny Sauter, Matt Crafton, Ben Rhodes, Austin Cindric and John Hunter Nemechek, were all looking for a win and the guaranteed spot in the Championship Round associated with it.
Justin Haley would lead the field to green after capturing his first career pole and setting a track record in qualifying earlier in the day. As they crossed the starting line, trucks scrambled for the bottom groove. Matt Crafton had a bad wiggle coming through turns one and two on lap 4. The nose of Crafton’s truck shot towards the outside wall. Matt was able to regain control before hitting the wall, but he would lose several positions.
Just as Crafton gathered his truck back together, Tommy Joe Martins made hard contact with the outside retaining wall when something appeared to break on his truck. With the loss of control caused by the first impact, Martins came back down across the track and made more contact with the inside wall. Martins would climb from his truck under is own power and take the ambulance ride to the infield care center. He would eventually be released from the care center with no issues. Chase Briscoe was the only leader that pitted under this caution. His team was trying to fix a loose condition.
The restart came with 10 laps remaining in stage one. Justin Haley still had command of the field at the green. Christopher Bell challenged Haley side-by-side for the first lap, nearly clearing the No. 24 going into turn three, but Haley would power past and regain a solo lead at the point. In the challenge, last week’s winner Noah Gragson overtook Bell for second.
The top three began to yard the field, with several truck lengths separating each of them within their group. Gragson lost second to Bell with 18 to go in the stage. As the leader, Hayley, overtook the truck of Norm Benning off of turn two, Gragson nearly made contact with the now lapped No. 6 and had to get out of the gas. That allowed Bell to get around and assume the runner-up position.
Lap 25 brought excitement and disappointment. Christopher Bell caught Justin Hayley and passed him for the lead. Noah Gragson then challenged for the second position. Then, trouble on the backstretch. Patrick Emerling spun coming out of turn two. He would make contact with the inside wall and would not continue. He would take a ride to the infield care center.
Pit stops would happen as a result of this caution. The majority of the leaders would come to their crews for service, which included two tires and fuel. Justin Haley would be the first off pit road, followed by Gragson, Crafton, Kaz Grala and Myatt Snider. Ryan Truex would be the sixth truck to emerge from the pits after being the only front runner to take four tires. Crafton was the only playoff contender to come for service. Bell, Sauter, Rhodes and Cindric all stayed out. John Hunter Nemechek took a bit of a gamble and stayed out. He was reporting a chatter from his right front tire and was afraid it was going down. His crew advised him to stay out and complete the stage before coming for service.
Top ten coming to the restart, in order: Bell, Sauter, Cindric, Rhodes, JH Nemechek, Austin Hill, Jordan Anderson, Haley, Gragson, Crafton.
Bell would lead the field to green with 4 laps left in stage one. Sauter did not offer much of a challenge and would struggle in the outside lane to hold the second position. He and Austin Cindric battled hard for valuable stage points. Sauter would eventually secure the position.
Bell would win stage one by a healthy margin at the green-and-white checkered flag. The six championship contenders making up the entire top-six finishers in the stage.
Top ten at the conclusion of stage one, in order: Bell, Sauter, Cindric, Rhodes, JH Nemechek, Crafton, Snider, Grala, Hill, Gragson.
Those that did not pit in the earlier caution period took advantage under this one. Christopher Bell lead those drivers off pit road after taking four tires and fuel. Cindric, Rhodes and JH Nemechek all followed, with all taking four tires. Austin Hill took two tires and was the fifth driver to leave. He was followed by Johnny Sauter, who took four tires and had issues during his stop. The No. 24 of Justin Haley pitted under this caution as well and spent extra time getting attention from his crew. Haley felt that he had a loose wheel, so his team changed all four tires and sent the No. 24 back into battle. He was the seventh truck off pit road.
Top ten at the restart, in order: Crafton, Snider, Grala, Gragson, Stuart Friesen, Ryan Truex, Young, Briscoe, Regan Smith, Grant Enfinger.
The field took the green on lap 43. Crafton being challenged by Snider through three and four where Snider took the lead. Crafton fell back into a three wide battle for fourth that might have resulted in some contact.
After a furious first two laps, the pack settled into single-file racing in the bottom groove. Gragson did pull up to pressure Snider from behind. Myatt settled into a groove and put a few truck lengths between him and the No. 18 after a couple of laps.
Kaz Grala and Ryan Truex soon moved up to pounce on Gragson in seond. Grala took the position on lap 14 of the second stage. Truex would fall back after getting loose underneath Gragson trying to pass for position. Truex and Crafton would begin a battle for fourth.
Running hard trying to catch the lead, Grala got a little loose and allowed Gragson to catch and eventually pass him for second after battling for a few laps. Grala then started to fall back into the clutches of Crafton and the fight would be on for third.
With 12 to go, contact between teammates would bring out another caution. Battling for the 14th position, Johnny Sauter dropped below Justin Haley going into turn one. Sauter’s truck washed up the track just enough to make contact with the left rear quarter of Haley’s machine, sending the No. 24 into a long slide through the corner. Neither truck would sustain serious damage. Haley would come to pit road for fresh tires. Team communications appeared to indicate that neither driver was happy with the other.
Many trucks decided to take advantage of this caution and came down pit road for service. The top five trucks stayed out. Both Hayley and Sauter came for attention.
Top ten at the restart, in order: Snider, Gragson, Grala, Crafton, Truex, Bell, Rhodes, JH Nemechek, Cindric, Hill.
The restart would come with seven laps remaining in stage two. Myatt Snider, in control of the field, start to feel some heat from Gragson through turns three and four. Gragson completed the pass heading into one. Crafton, Rhodes and Cindric battled for the sixth spot, with Crafton coming out the loser and Rhodes the winner.
Noah Gragson took the win in stage two with around a .75 second advantage over Myatt Snider. It was his second stage win of the season.
Top-ten finishers in stage two, in order: Gragson, Snider, Bell, Grala, Rhodes, Crafton, Nemechek, Hill, Enfinger, Tyler Young.
Most of the leaders would head to pit road under this caution. Christopher Bell was the first out after taking two tires. Hill followed after taking no tires. Gragson took two and was the third to leave. Enfinger and Cody Coughlin followed, each without any fresh rubber. Truex, Crafton and Snider followed, each of them taking four tires. Staying out were Austin Cindric, Johnny Sauter, Justin Haley, Regan Smith, Chase Briscoe, Stuart Friesen and Tyler Young.
Championship contender Matt Crafton suffered a penalty on this stop. The crew had members over the wall too soon and Crafton would need to restart from the end of the longest long.
Top ten at the start of the final stage, in order: Cindric, Sauter, Haley, Smith, Briscoe, Friesen, Young, Bell, Hill, Gragson.
The restart on lap 77 saw Austin Cindric hold the lead while Sauter and Haley battled for second. Haley would take the position.
Noah Gragson got way out of the groove coming out of turn four and made contact with the right rear quarter of his truck with the outside retaining wall. He dropped back outside of the top 15 after restarting in 10th. He would continue.
As Gragson continued to fall through the field and Matt Crafton was stalking his way back towards the front, they met at the 18th position. They battled for a couple laps, but Crafton eventually won as Gragson continued to struggle after contact with the wall. They fought nearly .9 seconds behind the lead.
The leader, Austin Cindric, began to fight lapped traffic with 53 laps to go. Second place Justin Haley used that to his advantage and, with 50 laps to go, began to put some real pressure on the leader., cutting a .35 second lead down to less than .15 seconds.
Many of the leaders started to approach their pit window as the lead tallied lap 100. All trucks would need to pit at least one more time, but those who did not pit during the last caution were approaching decision time regarding green flag stops. Pit strategy seemed that it would be a major play in who would win the JAG Metals 350 and what drivers would move closer to advancing into the Championship Round of the playoffs.
With 44 laps to go, Johnny Sauter started to apply pressure to the second place truck of Justin Haley. The pressure lead to a slight mistake by Haley, as he got loose and moved up the track, allowing Suater to take the second spot. The bobble also allowed Chase Briscoe to take third place from Haley.
Just inside of 40 laps to go, Sauter laid the pressure on Cindric and forced a mistake from the No. 19. Cindric bobbled and moved up the track, giving Sauter the opportunity to jump around him and take control of the lead. Christopher Bell then moved into a position where he might be able to take advantage if Cindric made another mistake.
With 30 laps to go, the top-ten was, in order: Sauter, Briscoe, Bell, Cindric, Haley, Smith, Rhodes, Truex, Enfinger, Grala.
With 29 to go, Sauter, Cindric and Haley hit pit road for green flag stops. Cindric took right side tires and fuel. Sauter took fuel only. Haley took two tires and fuel. His front tire changer struggled and had a slow stop.
Chase Briscoe pitted on the next lap, as did Regan Smith and Stuart Friesen. Briscoe took right side tires as did Friesen and Smith. Smith’s crew struggled to get fuel into the truck, causing an extremely slow and bewildering stop.
The next lap saw Ryan Truex come to his crew for service. He would take no tires, a wedge adjustment to the left side and fuel.
After this round of green flag stops, Christopher Bell inherited the lead, but he would give it up after a couple of laps to come in to the attention of his crew.
While waiting for Bell’s stop, Kaz Grala came in for two tires and fuel as did Matt Crafton. Crafton’s crew put together an excellent stop.
Myatt Snider came in for attention, which included two tires and fuel.
With 21 to go, Christopher Bell made his stop, taking only right side tires and fuel. Ben Rhodes followed. He also took right sides and fuel. Rhodes had a bit of a hesitation leaving his pit box, possibly having some confusion on when to leave or possibly not having his truck in gear when the jack dropped, signaling him to leave.
Ben Rhodes returned to pit road almost immediately. His crew, as well as the driver, thinking that they did not get the right front lug nuts tight. His crew hit all the lug nuts again and sent him back in to battle. The stop took a long time as the tire changer had to go back to the wall for another nut. Rhodes lost a ton of track position. His status as a contender for the championship appeared to be in jeopardy.
Following this flurry of pit activity, John Hunter Nemechek emerged as the leader. Johnny Sauter and Austin Cindric battled for second. Hitting some lapped traffic allowed Suter to open up some distance on Cindric.
John Hunter Nemechek, hoping for a caution, eventually came to pit road with 12 laps to go as he ran out of fuel. It took some time to get his truck re-fired. His opportunity to challenge for the championship seemed to fade even more as he was caught speeding exiting pit road and would have to suffer a pass though penalty.
After Nemechek’s stop, Johnny Sauter assumed the race lead. He was followed by Cindric, Bell, Briscoe, Haley, Grala and Enfinger. There were seven laps to go.
Johnny Sauter held off a very determined Austin Cindric to win the JAG Metals 350. The win punched Sauter’s ticket to the Championship Round in Homestead. It was Johnny’s fourth career win at Texas Motor Speedway and his third win of the season.
Top ten finishers, in order: Sauter, Cindric, Bell, Briscoe, Haley, Grala, Enfinger, Truex, Crafton, Gragson. Championship contender Ben Rhodes finished 18th. John Hunter Nemechek, also a contender for the championship, finished 19th.
Playoff Standings, in order (Unofficial): Sauter, Bell, Crafton, Cindric, Rhodes, Nemechek. Suater (Win) and Bell (Points) have locked themselves into the Championship Four.
In victory lane, Sauter was asked how he and his team were able to execute throughout the race, Johnny stated, “Just a total team effort. Can’t thank thank everyone at GMS and on our ISM Connect Chevrolet. Hendrick horsepower’s 400th win tonight. Um, I gotta thank Hillbilly in the suspension room cause last time I didn’t say his name. So Hillbilly, that’s for you. Everybody at GMS, was just unbelievable. I was actually pretty worried about our truck after qualifying. It was pretty loose and all we did was lower the track bar a half a round”.
The last race in the Round of Six takes place at Phoenix Raceway as the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series runs the Lucas Oil 150 on Friday, November 10 at 8:30 p.m. ET. (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
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