Brett Moffitt wins frantic Talladega Truck race as Crafton, Sanchez fight

Brett Moffitt qualified for Saturday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Talladega Superspeedway by the skin of his teeth, and it paid off in the end.

Doing a one-off in a newly opened #34 truck for Front Row Motorsports, Moffitt qualified thirty-first but worked his way to the front by the third stage and was the top driver throughout the final segment as he led over half of it. It was not a simple Saturday drive, however, as he had to survive multiple restarts due to crashes bunching up the field six times in Stage #3.

A crash between Colby Howard and Chase Purdy set up overtime, which was followed by an even bigger accident on the first attempt. After riding behind the leaders to start the second restart, Moffitt tailed Christian Eckes until the latter attempted to throw a block but ran too far outside and lost the draft as Moffitt’s line surged ahead. Moffitt and Parker Kligerman then committed to the inside in front of fellow Xfinity Series regular Chandler Smith before Kligerman was shuffled out exiting turn four.

As they went through the tri-oval, Smith’s last-ditch overtake on the outside instead allowed Ben Rhodes to link up with Moffitt coming to the finish.

“I really had the mentality coming into today because it had been so long since I’d ran a truck at a superspeedway that I just wanted to try and learn in every situation. Normally, I get really nervous or worked up, but I just took it as a learning experience,” said Moffitt. “It’s been a while since I had to control a race like that, so just to be able to go do that and execute and believe in my skills and believe in myself and believe in this race team it was huge. It’s just a huge confidence booster of a day and my first time ever winning at a superspeedway, so I am pumped about that.”

Moffitt’s win was largely overshadowed by a particularly gruesome post-race confrontation between Matt Crafton and Nick Sanchez. During the first overtime, Sanchez clipped Crafton to trigger a massive wreck that collected eight other trucks, relegating Crafton to twenty-fourth while Sanchez still finished seventh.

According to Sanchez, Crafton sneaked up on him from behind in the garage area before delivering a sucker punch to the head. Sanchez hit the pavement which caused blood to pour down his face. As fellow driver Cory Roper arrived to pull him back, Sanchez yelled at Crafton, “I’m going to fucking kill you in Homestead! You fucked with the wrong guy, motherfucker!”

Crafton called back that “I’ll whip your ass. I got you at Homestead, bitch!”

Sanchez suggested he might have had his nose broken in the scuffle.

Greg Van Alst and Stewart Friesen also needed medical attention after being caught up in wrecks, resulting in hospitalisation. As of this article’s publication, Friesen was discharged on Saturday evening.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	31	34	Brett Moffitt*	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	99	Running
2	8	99	Ben Rhodes	ThorSport Racing	Ford	99	Running
3	4	5	Dean Thompson	TRICON Garage	Toyota	99	Running
4	28	25	Chandler Smith*	Rackley WAR	Chevrolet	99	Running
5	9	11	Corey Heim	TRICON Garage	Toyota	99	Running
6	29	43	Daniel Dye	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	99	Running
7	2	2	Nick Sanchez	Rev Racing	Chevrolet	99	Running
8	23	13	Hailie Deegan	ThorSport Racing	Ford	99	Running
9	13	75	Parker Kligerman*	Henderson Motorsports	Chevrolet	99	Running
10	21	45	Lawless Alan	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	99	Running
11	7	42	Carson Hocevar	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	99	Running
12	14	24	Rajah Caruth	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	99	Running
13	25	23	Grant Enfinger	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	99	Running
14	6	51	Jack Wood	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Chevrolet	99	Running
15	32	02	Garrett Smithley*	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	99	Running
16	15	32	Bret Holmes	Bret Holmes Racing	Chevrolet	99	Running
17	33	30	Ryan Vargas	On Point Motorsports	Toyota	99	Running
18	24	17	Taylor Gray	TRICON Garage	Toyota	99	Running
19	16	19	Christian Eckes	McAnally-Hilgemann Racing	Chevrolet	99	Running
20	10	61	Jake Drew	Hattori Racing Enterprises	Toyota	98	Running
21	5	98	Ty Majeski	ThorSport Racing	Ford	93	Accident
22	35	04	Cory Roper	Roper Racing	Ford	93	DVP
23	17	9	Colby Howard	CR7 Motorsports	Chevrolet	92	Accident
24	12	88	Matt Crafton	ThorSport Racing	Ford	91	Accident
25	19	15	Tanner Gray	TRICON Garage	Toyota	91	Accident
26	26	20	Greg Van Alst	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	91	Accident
27	36	22	Jason White	AM Racing	Ford	88	Running
28	1	4	Chase Purdy	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Chevrolet	84	Accident
29	3	35	Jake Garcia	McAnally-Hilgemann Racing	Chevrolet	79	Running
30	34	56	Tyler Hill	Hill Motorsports	Toyota	59	Accident
31	27	41	Bayley Currey	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	58	Accident
32	18	38	Zane Smith	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	55	Running
33	22	16	Tyler Ankrum	Hattori Racing Enterprises	Toyota	50	Accident
34	20	52	Stewart Friesen	Halmar Friesen Racing	Toyota	38	Accident
35	11	1	David Gilliland	TRICON Garage	Toyota	38	Accident
36	30	28	Bryan Dauzat	FDNY Racing	Chevrolet	5	Handling
DNQ		12	Spencer Boyd	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet
DNQ		10	Jennifer Jo Cobb	Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing	Chevrolet
DNQ		33	Keith McGee	Reaume Brothers Racing	Ford
DNQ		95	Clay Greenfield	GK Racing	Chevrolet

Bold – Currently in playoffs
Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for points