Sunday afternoon, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series returned to The Lady In Black, Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina to run the In It to Win It 200, being 147 laps for 200 miles. The last time the trucks were at the Track Too Tough to Tame was earlier this year, which saw so much chaos and crazy wrecks, with 2020 champ Sheldon Creed piloting his number 2 GMS Racing Chevy to victory lane when it was all said and done. Creed would start on the pole, with three-time champ Matt Crafton starting beside him in the number 88 Toyota Tundra, and behind them would be Daytona winner Ben Rhodes in the 99 Toyota starting third, and Stewart Friesen in the number 52 Toyota starting fourth. The top-10 would be filled by the remaining playoff drivers, Carson Hocevar in the 42, John Hunter Nemechek in the 4, Austin Hill in the 16, Todd Gilliland in the 38, Chandler Smith in the 18, and Zane Smith in the 21.
At the green flag, Creed would pull away to a slight lead, with Crafton behind. Crafton and third place Rhodes would eventually fade back a bit, with John Hunter Nemecheck trucking his number 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota up to second. Nemechek would close in on the number 2 truck, and in turn three would finally pass Creed by diving down almost to the apron. At lap 17, the competition caution was displayed.
For the restart, Nemechek elected the inside lane, with Crafton starting in second on the outside. Nemechek got a shove by Hocevar in the 42 truck, though entering turn one Hocevar would swoop to the outside in an attempt to both block Crafton and pass Nemechek. Though he didn’t pass the 4, he would successfully take second place from Crafton. Further back, Creed in the number 2, who had earlier been shuffled back by pit stops, was rear ended by Ben Rhodes. Though he had a bad amount of damage, this hardly seemed to affect Creed. Rhodes, however, would have huge aerodynamic damage to his nose. Two laps later, the caution was thrown for debris.
Coming to the green flag, Nemechek would this time elect for the outside lane, with Crafton choosing the bottom side. Both Toyotas got a good launch, with Crafton using the shorter way around turn one to take the lead for just a moment. However, in turn two Nemechek would use the momentum on the outside lane to take it back. Further back, exiting turn two, Colby Howard in the number 9 Chevrolet was put three wide, taking the air off the right side of his truck and sending him into a spin.
At the restart, Nemechek would once again choose the outside, with Crafton once again taking the bottom. Nemechek pulled away from Crafton and third place Stewart Friesen, being virtually unchallenged for the lead. Eventually Friesen would fall to fifth, forfeiting third and fourth to Zane Smith in the number 21 and Sheldon Creed in the number 2, respectively. Eventually the green and white checkered flag was displayed, giving Nemechek his tenth stage win of this season, with Crafton finishing second.
For the next restart, Nemechek would take to the outside lane once again, with Creed to his inside. Not much would happen for the start of this stage other than teammates getting slightly together early on, though Chandler Smith would eventually pass both leaders. He pulled away to a very sizable lead, with Creed in second and Nemechek in third. Much further behind, Ben Rhodes attempted a slide job on the number 24 Chevrolet of rookie Jack Wood, though Rhodes wouldn’t have enough momentum to complete the maneuver. He got into the side of the 24, getting turned and collecting the 02 Chevy of Kris Wright, bringing out another caution flag.
Nemechek would once again pick the outside for this restart, with Sheldon Creed to the inside. Creed got a massive shove from Hocevar, allowing Creed to get out front and pull away from Nemechek.
Nearing the end of the stage, Chandler Smith in the number 18 ran down his teammate, Nemechek. On the final lap of stage two, Smith passed Nemechek for second place, and Creed won the stage.
Creed would, unsurprisingly, choose the inside lane, and Nemechek would pick the outside lane. At the restart, Creed was pushed by the number 13 of Johnny Sauter, allowing Creed to pull away once again. Later on, further back in the back, the number 19 Toyota of Derek Kraus made contact with the number 45 Chevrolet of rookie Lawless Alan, sending Alan into a spin. Alan would collect the number 1 of Hailie Deegan, bringing the caution flag out.
At the restart, Creed pulled away from Chandler Smith in second place, with Nemechek in third. This wouldn’t last long though, as the number 34 Toyota of Josh Reaume spun, bringing out another caution after only half a lap.
Restarting, Creed would pull away with barely any challenge, with Chandler Smith in second place. Smith was challenged for second by the number 98 Toyota of Grant Enfinger, though he would fall behind Nemechek in 4th place. Behind them, the number 21 of Zane Smith tried to find his way back to the top-five, passing the number 38 Ford of Todd Gilliland and trying to pass the number 75 Chevy of Parker Kilgerman. Kligerman wouldn’t give fifth place so easily, though, and would hold on to the spot.
Enfinger would fall back to 6th, with Chandler Smith behind him. Stewart Friesen made his way to third, with Todd Gilliland in fourth. Coming to the white flag, Creed would be unchallenged, and after a dominating performance of leading 104 of the 147 laps, he won at Darlington for the second time in a row. He also earned his second playoff victory in the 2021 season.
John Hunter Nemechek finished second in the number 4 Toyota, with Stewart Friesen in third driving the number 52 Toyota finishing third, fourth place going to the number 38 Ford of Todd Gilliland, and Parker Kligerman finishing out the top-five in the number 75 Toyota.
Photo Credit///Jared East/Getty Images
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