NASCAR Truck playoff results: Texas race ends with late-lap drama, Sheldon Creed win
Even though Sheldon Creed controlled most of Sunday’s Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway to lock in his spot to the Championship 4, the final laps of the Speedycash.com 400 centered on the drama between other drivers running in the top-five late in the race.
With three laps remaining, the caution flag came out for Christian Eckes, who spun hard into the Turn 4 wall after contact with Ben Rhodes, a playoff driver who was 33 points below the bubble before Sunday.
Rhodes made contact with the Turn 4 wall, then bounced back into Christian Eckes on his inside, sending the No. 18 car spinning down the front stretch. Eckes slowly got out of his wrecked car, then walked to side of the track to lift both of his middle fingers to Rhodes passing by.
Rhodes saw the incident differently.
“He almost put me into the wall for the second time,” Rhodes said on FS1 post-race. “So I’m trying to gather it up. We get into him, which is unfortunate.”
He said the No. 51 of Chandler Smith made a retaliatory move for his Kyle Busch Motorsports teammate in the final lap, forcing contact between himself and Josh Bilicki, although the race stayed green through the flag. Rhodes finished in 20th and received a tweet from Bilicki after the race.
“What the hell was that?” Bilicki wrote. “We had a great run going for our small @RBR_Teams and was inside the top 15 with one to go until #99 just flat out dumped us. Just remember, you have WAY more to lose than we do at Martinsville.”
Rhodes attributed the wrecks to the “lack of talent” at KBM. Eckes then waited outside of Rhodes’ hauler for a confrontation that ended with some shoving between the drivers and intervention by security officials, according to FOX Sports.
The late-lap drama helped keep Creed out front, especially in the final stage when the No. 2 driver raced high and allowed three trucks to sweep past him with fewer than 25 laps left in the playoff race.
Creed dropped to fourth, then raced back to third before a stroke of luck: Stewart Friesen and Johnny Sauter made contact while battling for the lead and wrecked from the front. Creed then inherited first place for the restart after the caution, and maintained his spot through the checkered flag despite the crashes behind him.
He won the first stage, then won his fourth Truck Series race of the season after leading 131 laps (of 152 total) to punch his ticket to Phoenix alongside GMS Racing teammate Brett Moffitt, who won at Kansas last weekend.
Austin Hill finished in second place and Zane Smith finished in third.
“Man, what a good truck my guy put together,” Creed said on FS1. “We’ve been inconsistent here, but we’ve always had speed and today, man, just awesome.”
Ben Rhodes hooks Christian Eckes and sends him into the wall.
"That's really not acceptable."- @jamiemcmurray pic.twitter.com/eINdTrCpWi— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) October 25, 2020
An upset @christianeckes gives the double-middle-finger saluter to @benrhodes at @TXMotorSpeedway #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/YYlD5gVDeK
— Jerry Jordan (@JerryJordan_KTT) October 25, 2020
The restart that sealed the chance at a title for @sheldoncreed.
Retweet to congratulate the @GMSRacingLLC driver on his victory at @TXMotorSpeedway! pic.twitter.com/hpHmjf8NxL— NASCAR Gander Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) October 25, 2020
NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck SpeedyCash.com 400 Results
Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas
Lap length: 1.50 miles. (Start position in parentheses)
1. (1) Sheldon Creed, Chevrolet, 152 laps, 59 points.
2. (3) Austin Hill, Toyota, 152, 47.
3. (6) Zane Smith, Chevrolet, 152, 44.
4. (20) Raphael Lessard, Toyota, 152, 33.
5. (2) Brett Moffitt, Chevrolet, 152, 41.
6. (7) Matt Crafton, Ford, 152, 47.
7. (18) Austin Wayne Self, Chevrolet, 152, 30.
8. (29) Dylan Lupton, Ford, 152, 29.
9. (11) Derek Kraus, Toyota, 152, 34.
10. (23) Tanner Gray, Ford, 152, 27.
11. (16) Tyler Hill, Chevrolet, 152, 26.
12. (28) Chase Purdy, Chevrolet, 152, 25.
13. (25) Jordan Anderson, Chevrolet, 152, 24.
14. (22) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 152, 23.
15. (36) James Buescher, Chevrolet, 152, 22.
16. (9) Tyler Ankrum, Chevrolet, 152, 21.
17. (19) Danny Bohn, Toyota, 152, 20.
18. (26) Dawson Cram, Chevrolet, 152, 19.
19. (32) Josh Bilicki, Toyota, accident, 151, 0.
20. (8) Ben Rhodes, Ford, 151, 32.
21. (5) Chandler Smith, Toyota, 151, 26.
22. (30) Ray Ciccarelli, Chevrolet, 151, 15.
23. (15) Johnny Sauter, Ford, 150, 14.
24. (31) Jennifer Jo Cobb, Chevrolet, 149, 13.
25. (10) Christian Eckes, Toyota, accident, 145, 20.
26. (35) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, 143, 11.
27. (34) Josh Reaume, Chevrolet, brakes, 131, 10.
28. (21) Stewart Friesen, Toyota, accident, 129, 9.
29. (13) Trevor Bayne, Chevrolet, engine, 118, 8.
30. (27) Natalie Decker, Chevrolet, vibration, 115, 7.
31. (12) Todd Gilliland, Ford, accident, 105, 7.
32. (4) Grant Enfinger, Ford, engine, 91, 9.
33. (17) Tate Fogleman, Chevrolet, accident, 51, 5.
34. (14) Ryan Truex, Chevrolet, suspension, 49, 5.
35. (24) Clay Greenfield, Toyota, accident, 42, 5.
36. (37) Trey Hutchens III, Chevrolet, ignition, 36, 5.
37. (33) Timothy Viens, Chevrolet, accident, 29, 5.
