William Byron dominates final stage for Spire’s first Truck win

NASCAR Cup Series regular William Byron has only two Camping World Truck Series starts since 2016, but he is batting .500. He dominated the final stage of Thursday’s Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 200 at Martinsville Speedway to score the maiden Truck Series victory for Spire Motorsports.

A rained-out qualifying meant Byron started thirty-second in his one-off for the part-time Spire operation, while Zane Smith was on the pole. Smith, who won the latest race at COTA, led every lap in Stage #1 in a segment that saw three cautions for accidents. Ben Rhodes won the second stage and he and much of the field pitted between segments, while Byron made his final stop twenty laps prior.

Byron’s strategy paid off as it placed him at the top for much of Stage #3, which saw a battle between former and current Kyle Busch Motorsports drivers as Byron traded the lead with Chandler Smith four times. He cleared Smith on lap 117 and led the remaining eighty-four laps to secure his eighth career Truck win.

“It was a lot of fun,” commented Byron. “[…] I’ve never won a race at Martinsville and struggled here when I was in late models.”

Spire Motorsports, a full-time Cup team, enjoys its second ever trip to Victory Lane and first in the Trucks in just three tries. The first win came at the Cup level in 2019, incidentally with a part-time driver in Justin Haley at Daytona.

Doing little to dispel the notion of the Truck Series being rife with inexperience, eleven cautions occurred throughout the race. When combined with the bumping and banging that naturally comes with short track racing, many were left unhappy: Lawless Alan, who collided with multiple drivers, had a post-race conversation with Hailie Deegan, who in turn called out runner-up Johnny Sauter for squeezing her into the wall during the race, though Sauter took responsibility for the incident.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	32	7	William Byron*	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	Running
2	36	13	Johnny Sauter	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	200	Running
3	2	51	Kyle Busch*	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Toyota	200	Running
4	5	4	John Hunter Nemechek	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Toyota	200	Running
5	3	99	Ben Rhodes	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	200	Running
6	4	18	Chandler Smith	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Toyota	200	Running
7	11	88	Matt Crafton	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	200	Running
8	12	23	Grant Enfinger	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	200	Running
9	1	38	Zane Smith	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	200	Running
10	8	16	Tyler Ankrum	Hattori Racing Enterprises	Toyota	200	Running
11	16	66	Ty Majeski	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	200	Running
12	7	98	Christian Eckes	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	200	Running
13	6	52	Stewart Friesen	Halmar Friesen Racing	Toyota	200	Running
14	10	19	Derek Kraus	McAnally-Hilgemann Racing	Chevrolet	200	Running
15	23	25	Matt DiBenedetto	Rackley WAR	Chevrolet	200	Running
16	18	75	Parker Kligerman	Henderson Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	Running
17	9	42	Carson Hocevar	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	Running
18	26	91	Colby Howard	McAnally-Hilgemann Racing	Chevrolet	200	Running
19	31	1	Hailie Deegan	David Gilliland Racing	Ford	200	Running
20	15	45	Lawless Alan	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	Running
21	13	15	Tanner Gray	David Gilliland Racing	Ford	200	Running
22	21	30	Tate Fogleman	On Point Motorsports	Toyota	200	Running
23	20	56	Timmy Hill	Hill Motorsports	Toyota	200	Running
24	35	32	Bret Holmes	Bret Holmes Racing	Chevrolet	199	Running
25	27	33	Chase Janes	Reaume Brothers Racing	Chevrolet	199	Running
26	19	17	Taylor Gray	David Gilliland Racing	Ford	198	Running
27	25	02	Jesse Little	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	198	Running
28	30	43	Blake Lothian	Reaume Brothers Racing	Toyota	198	Running
29	17	61	Chase Purdy	Hattori Racing Enterprises	Toyota	197	Running
30	14	44	Kris Wright	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	195	Running
31	22	22	Austin Wayne Self	AM Racing	Chevrolet	157	Brakes
32	33	20	Dillon Steuer	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	122	Accident
33	24	12	Spencer Boyd	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	119	Electrical
34	34	46	Kaden Honeycutt	G2G Racing	Toyota	107	Accident
35	29	24	Jack Wood	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	26	Accident
36	28	40	Dean Thompson	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	13	Electrical
DNQ		9	Blaine Perkins	CR7 Motorsports	Chevrolet
DNQ		90	Justin Carroll	TC Motorsports	Toyota
DNQ		35	Jake Garcia	McAnally-Hilgemann Racing	Chevrolet

Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for Truck points