Sunday afternoon, Sheldon Creed won the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series inaugural race at the Daytona road course. With their previously scheduled race at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park being canceled due to COVID-19 protocols, this was their sole road course race of the season.
In a post-race interview with Fox Sports, Creed said, “Brett is really good at road courses and he’s helped me so much. I don’t know, it was all about not making a mistake. He tried to cross me up over in turn three and five, but I just stopped mid-corner so he couldn’t get a run”
Zane Smith and Christian Eckes led the field to green in their first career road course starts in the Truck Series. When the green flag was thrown it was Smith who got a jump on the start and overshot turn one, allowing Brett Moffitt to steal the lead as he led lap one.
The stalled car of Mark Smith brought out the caution with two laps to go in Stage one, ultimately allowing Moffitt to secure his fourth stage win of the season.
Stage One:
- Brett Moffitt
- Sheldon Creed
- Christian Eckes
- Austin Hill
- Todd Gilliland
- Ben Rhodes
- Tyler Ankrum
- Tanner Gray
- Austin Wayne Self
- Derek Kraus
Eckes stayed out under caution along with Matt Crafton and teammate Raphael Lessard. A battle for the lead ensued between those three until Crafton took the lead on lap 15.
After battling for the lead the lap before, Eckes made a mistake in the international horseshoe, which spun him around and put him back into 18th position.
Crafton missed the backstretch chicane while leading the race with seven laps to go in the stage; this caused him to fall back to fifth once he got back up to speed. Sheldon Creed moved into the lead, followed by Lessard in second.
Differing strategies started to show as Eckes decided to bring his Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 18 truck to pit road to split the race in half. Moffitt and Lessard also came to pit road prior to the stage break.
On the final lap of stage two, Sheldon Creed made a mistake and thought the stage was over. Despite the issue, Creed was able to beat Austin Hill to the green/white checkered flag to win his fourth stage win of 2020.
Stage Two:
- Sheldon Creed
- Austin Hill
- Tyler Ankrum
- Zane Smith
- Kris Wright
- Spencer Davis
- Raphael Lessard
- Alex Tagliani
- Brett Moffitt
- Ty Majeski
Coming to 14 to go, Lessard blew the frontstretch chicane and had to come to a complete stop before he could return to racing; Crafton returned to the lead with Moffitt on his back bumper.
On lap 32, Jordan Anderson was stalled on track bringing out the third caution. They restarted with ten laps to go in the race with Crafton leading Creed, Tyler Ankrum and Eckes who all stayed out. Creed was able to get back to the lead on lap 34 when he passed Crafton on the backstretch.
With six laps to go, the caution flag flew when Derek Kraus was stopped on track on the exit of turn four.
The No. 40 of Carson Hocevar was the reason for the fifth caution as his Niece Motorsports entry lost power and was stopped on track. This setup for the first attempt of a NASCAR Overtime.
A battle between GMS teammates, Creed and Moffitt, continued when the green flag waved for the start of overtime.
After 44 laps and one green/white/checkered, Sheldon Creed was victorious in the Sunoco 159 at Daytona.
Results:
- Sheldon Creed
- Brett Moffitt
- Raphael Lessard
- Matt Crafton
- Austin Hill
- Tyler Ankrum
- Grant Enfinger
- Parker Kligerman
- Scott Lagasse Jr.
- Stewart Friesen
Next weekend, the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series heads to Dover International Speedway for the running of the KDI Office Technology 200. You can catch all the action from the Monster Mile on Friday, August 21st at 5:00pm EST on Fox Sports One.
