The Craftsman Truck series would make its long-awaited return to Rockingham, NC, as “The Rock” would host the first top three national series race in 13 years this weekend. The stands were packed for what proved to be one of the best truck races of the year so far.
Jake Garcia led the field to the green flag of the event. Conor Mosack got loose inside of Bailey Currey, bringing out the first caution of the race on lap two. Garcia was able to retain his lead on the ensuing restart. Ben Rhodes started to smoke with what looked like a possible tire rub but actually turned out to be a power steering failure that he would struggle to fight all day long. Corey Day got a flat tire and sped on pit road when he came down for repairs, putting him out of contention early. By about lap 30, Chandler Smith had reeled in Jake Garcia, but after working on him for almost 10 laps, he would not be able to get past the leader and fell back to third as his teammate Layne Riggs charged first by him and then past Garcia to take the lead in the final laps of stage . This effort would give Layne his first stage win of his career.
The stage break would see our first bid at strategy as the leaders would be jumped by Grant Enfinger and Kaden Honeycutt as their crews took a gamble, only taking two tires. Matt Crafton slowed on the track during the caution with a dashboard fire, sending him from the lead lap to the garage. Enfinger led the field to green to start the second stage. About ten laps into the run, Riggs was able to get past Honeycutt and challenge Enfinger for the lead. However, he would get loose trying to make this move. Honeycutt took this opening to make an unreal 3 wide dive for the lead into turn one. Honeycutt would hold the lead until the leaders hit lapped traffic, and Riggs was able to get back around him and retake the lead. Riggs set sail and would sweep the stages at Rockingham.
The stage break saw six trucks jump the leaders on strategy. With Chandler Smith, Rajah Caruth, and Parker Kligerman leading the field to the green for the final stage. Intensity ramped up considerable as the pay window was open with several near wrecks in the pack from contact. However, the drivers were able to make it 9 laps before the second natural caution of the day came out after Ty Majeski and Grant Enfinger made contact going into turn one. This contact sent Majeski into the wall, bringing out a ten minute red flag to repair the SAFER barrier. Smith led the field on the ensuing restart, but it would only be green for a lap before there was a massive wreck on the frontstretch. A checkup in the front of the field would cause Stewart Friesen and Matt Mills to wreck into the wall and would also collect Tanner Gray. After another brief red flag to clean up trucks and fluid, Corey Heim would lead the field to green over Giovanni Ruggiero as the two would stay out banking on more cautions to slow down the pace. Tyler Ankrum would be third after pitting under the prior caution. This strategy would not pan out for the two leaders as they both ended up pitting with over 20 laps to go. Ankrum, however, fared much better as he was able to pedal his Chevrolet to the end of the race and his second career win. Smith and Riggs would attempt to make a late charge, but they missed their fuel numbers and also had to out in the last ten laps. This win would be Ankrums first in almost six years. With the last one coming at Kentucky in 2019.
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