Biffle scores fairytale Truck race win after 18 year drought

Stage 1

Polesitter Todd Gilliland in the Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota Tundra led the opening lap chased by the Fords of points leader Grant Enfinger (ThorSport Racing) and Johnny Sauter (ThorSport Racing) but it took only until Lap 4 for Enfinger to move through to P1 slipping inside Gilliland at Turn 1.

Behind them, Sheldon Creed (GMS Racing Chevrolet), Brett Moffitt (GMS Racing Chevy), and returnee Greg Biffle in sixth in the KBM Toyota.

Eleven laps in, the first caution came out for Tyler Ankrum’s Toyota striking the Turn 1 wall, and Gus Dean’s Chevy spinning onto the back straight.

The Lap 17 restart saw Enfinger easily hold off his pursuers, with Gilliland, Sauter and fast restarting Ross Chastain in the Niece Equipment Chevy running ahead of Biffle and Austin Hill’s Toyota in hot pursuit. Sauter and Chastain deposed Gilliland just before the fun was put on hold again, as Kyle Benjamin struck the wall and brought out the second caution. He went straight back to the paddock.

The Lap 25 restart saw Enfinger escape again as Chastain and Sauter dueled over second but soon Codie Rohrbaugh was into the inside wall on the exit of Turn 2 and out came the third caution.

Both Biffle and Gilliland chose the opportunity to pit, while Enfinger, Chastain, Sauter and Matt Crafton stayed out. Again, there were only a couple of laps before Angela Ruch struck the wall at Turn 2. The yellow became a red while Ruch’s car was dragged away by a wrecker.

A three-lap shootout saw Sauter steal the lead from Enfinger who also lost second to Hill, with Chastain in fourth ahead of Crafton and Gilliland.

Stage 2

The restart saw Gilliland stay out ahead of Jordan Anderson, Ben Rhodes and Tyler Ankrum who had spent so much time on pitlane in Stage 1, while Enfinger, Sauter, Crafton, Creed and Hill had pitted and were having to climb up from outside the top dozen.

Rhodes moved past Anderson into second on Lap 51 and started haunting leader Gilliland, but the yellow flew on Lap 56 for Sauter who had been nudged up the track and into the wall at Turn 4 by Hill who had gotten loose and washed up from the inside line. He too brushed the wall and pitted under caution for a checkover.

The restart barely got going before Corey Roper spun his truck but kept it off the wall but still brought out the sixth caution, at which point Anderson and Creed pitted.

The next restart saw the lineup as Gilliland leading Rhodes, Ankrum, Moffitt, Biffle, Stewart Friesen, Enfinger, Crafton, Chastain and Brennan Poole as the Top 10, ahead of Harrison Burton. However, Gilliland slipped back at the green flag and he spun and backed into the wall, as Austin Wayne Self simultaneously spun down into the inside wall. Out came the caution for the seventh time.

Rhodes would lead Ankrum, Moffitt, Friesen, Biffle, Crafton and Enfinger to the green, although Ankrum would spin off Turn 4 and down pitlane next time by without making contact with a wall, and the same was true with Anderson, so the race stayed green to the end of the 40-lap stage. Rhodes ended the stage ahead of Friesen, Burton, Enfinger, Poole, Biffle, Chastain, Crafton, Tyler Dippel and Creed.

Stage 3

With most but not all of the fast trucks pitting, Creed led Dippel, Rhodes, Roper, Self, Biffle, Friesen, Anthony Alfredo, Enfinger, Chastain, Moffitt, Crafton and Hill. Creed slid sideways up the track and hit Dippel, leaving Rhodes ahead of Biffle, Enfinger, Friesen, Crafton, Alfredo, Roper, Creed, Chastain and Hill.

However at the restart Rhodes didn’t get going – jammed in fourth gear – and pulled out of line to avoid causing a pile-up. The pile-up came less than a lap later, as Natalie Decker spun, Spencer Boyd spun in avoidance and Trey Hutchens III struck Boyd’s stationary truck. That brought out the 11th caution.

Enfinger and Biffle were leading the restart Alfredo and Friesen side by side behind them, but it was Biffle that emerged in front – the first time he had led a Truck race since 2001.

His joy was short-lived, as out came the 12th caution when Friesen slid up into the wall and had to pit for repairs.

Hill led Alfredo, Moffitt, Chastain, Enfinger and Creed as Biffle fell back to avoid a three-wide situation that threatened to turn bad. Chastain moved past Moffitt into third on Lap 119. Moffitt would have to pit seven laps later with left-side damage.

By the time Chastain deposed Creed to grab second, Hill was over three seconds up the road and that became five seconds as the leader was defter through traffic.

Alfredo stopped on Lap 137 but it was a bad stop as he stopped long and then pulled away before the refueler had finished.

Chastain pulled in from second place but the four-tire stop took a long time and he fell a lap down.

Self’s Truck stopped on track at Lap 152, causing the 13th and final caution in this 167 lap race.

Following pit stops, Biffle was up front ahead of Roper, Crafton, Ankrum, Burton, Creed, Enfinger, Poole, Hill and Moffitt. Crafton made short work of Roper and moved onto the rear bumper of Biffle who had last stopped on Lap 109. Alfredo had a spin but kept going and so the track stayed green.

With three laps to go, Crafton pushed up the track and couldn’t regain the ground he lost to leader Biffle who went on to win.

Ankrum took third, ahead of Enfinger, Burton and Creed.

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Laps Led
1	51	Greg Biffle	Toyota	167		18
2	88	Matt Crafton	Ford	167	0.963
3	17	Tyler Ankrum	Toyota	167	2.311	9
4	98	Grant Enfinger	Ford	167	2.898	44
5	18	Harrison Burton	Toyota	167	5.370
6	2	Sheldon Creed	Chevrolet	167	5.493	5
7	30	Brennan Poole	Toyota	167	7.055
8	16	Austin Hill	Toyota	167	8.977	34
9	04	Cory Roper	Ford	167	11.250
10	38	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	166	1 lap
11	24	Brett Moffitt	Chevrolet	166	1 lap
12	15	Anthony Alfredo	Toyota	166	1 lap	3
13	13	Johnny Sauter	Ford	166	1 lap	3
14	33	Josh Reaume	Chevrolet	166	1 lap
15	3	Jordan Anderson	Chevrolet	165	2 laps
16	34	Scott Stenzel	Chevrolet	165	2 laps
17	6	Norm Benning	Chevrolet	164	3 laps
18	10	Jennifer Jo Cobb	Chevrolet	162	5 laps
19	22	Austin Wayne Self	Chevrolet	136	31 laps
20	52	Stewart Friesen	Chevrolet	117	50 laps
21	99	Ben Rhodes	Ford	104	63 laps	20
22	54	Natalie Decker	Toyota	95	72 laps
23	20	Spencer Boyd	Chevrolet	95	72 laps
24	14	Trey Hutchens	Chevrolet	95	72 laps
25	02	Tyler Dippel	Chevrolet	89	78 laps
26	8	Anthony Mrakovich	Chevrolet	85	82 laps
27	4	Todd Gilliland	Toyota	69	98 laps	32
28	87	Joe Nemechek	Chevrolet	48	119 laps
29	44	Angela Ruch	Chevrolet	33	134 laps
30	9	Codie Rohrbaugh	Chevrolet	27	140 laps
31	45	Kyle Benjamin	Chevrolet	20	147 laps
32	12	Gus Dean	Chevrolet	10	157 laps