(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)
By Aaron Bearden

Post-race review and analysis from the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway. 

(Note: Writer not present at the track this weekend. Observations are from afar.)

Who Won? 

Ross Chastain. He scored his first Truck Series victory after Stewart Friesen ran out of fuel in the closing laps.

Who Claimed the Stages?

Friesen, sweeping the opening stages of a race for the first time in his career.

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Ross’ Redemption

Ross Chastain was supposed to be contending for an Xfinity Series championship this season, competing full-time in a top-tier ride with Chip Ganassi Racing. He intended to make numerous trips to victory lane, backed by DC Solar and hopeful for a potential leap up to Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series competition if he found success.

Instead he spent Friday’s trip to Kansas Speedway driving for a pair of underdog teams in the Gander Outdoors Truck Series and Cup Series, piloting vehicles for the winless Niece Motorsports and Premium Motorsports. The lone DC Solar sighting came in the turns, where a contractually-obligated banner was displayed over the track – a ghost of a sponsorship promise that never came to fruition.

The logo hung over Chastain on every lap of Friday’s Digital Ally 250, a constant reminder of what could have been. But like he’s done all year, Chastain soldiered on. The Floridian stayed in the top-five through each of the opening stages, and surged as others faltered in the stretch run to claim an upset victory for himself and team owner Al Niece at Kansas. The triumph was his first in 66 Truck Series starts, and the first for Niece as an owner.

By itself the victory was special. But more important than that was what it symbolized for Chastain – vindication after a losing out on the opportunity of a lifetime for circumstances outside of his control.

“Aw, man, this is what sports is all about,” Chastain said in victory lane. “We had the world by the tail last fall, and everything got taken away from us. We didn’t quit, though … I’m going to celebrate this one a lot more than I did the last one.”

The win was Chastain’s second in the past year, following an Xfinity Series triumph with CGR last fall at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. At the time it was considered a triumph for an underdog, but Chastain hopes that with continual success he can earn an opportunity to be seen outside of his underdog status.

“I’ve been called an underdog my entire career and I’m tired of that,” he said. “I’m so sick of it. I know they mean well, but I just want to win!”

Chastain will be back at Kansas on Saturday, running in the Cup Series race. He also competes in the Xfinity Series for JD Motorsports and Kaulig Racing, where he’s declared for points and currently sits 13th in the championship standings.

Another Heartbreaker

While Chastain smoked his tires on the frontstretch, Stewart Friesen and Halmar Friesen Racing watched on from the pit lane with heartbreak setting in. Chastain’s emotional victory came at the expense of Friesen, who saw a breakthrough of his own slip away in the closing laps due to a mistake on the final set of pit stops.

Friesen dominated the early stages of the race, claiming both of the opening stages and battling points leaders Grant Enfinger and Brett Moffitt for the lead as the night went on. Entering the last round of green-flag pit stops any of the trio appeared capable of winning.

After the field cycled through pit stops, it was Friesen that led the way by more than six seconds. But there was an issue – his team’s stop hadn’t gone to plan. When Friesen brought his No. 52 Chevrolet to pit road, he believed the stop was meant to be for two tires. So after his crew changed the first two tires, the Canadian hit the gas and sped off to return to the track.

But the stop was meant to be for four tires. Friesen had fewer fresh tires than his fellow competitors, and his crew hadn’t given his machine enough fuel to make it to the end of the race.

A crash from Enfinger and Moffitt on Lap 139 allowed Friesen to save fuel while eliminating his closest competitors, and an additional caution for a stalled Josh Reaume on Lap 148 helped the playoff hopeful stretch his fuel even further. But in the end it wasn’t enough. Friesen held the lead into the closing laps, but ran out of fuel with three laps remaining and lost the lead to Chastain.

While Chastain drove off to a signature victory, Friesen limped home in 15th.

“We just can’t close it,” Friesen said afterward. “I figured I’d screw up a restart at the end, rather than run out of fuel. They said that we were to the good. I didn’t know we were taking four (tires). I thought for sure we were taking two. Just a lot of silence on the radio. That’s it.”

Heartbreak aside, Friesen still had a few positives to take away from the day. His 42 points earned trailed only Moffitt and Enfinger on the evening, and the two stage wins he secured scored a pair of playoff points that could prove crucial in this fall’s Truck Series playoffs.

There was also the blessing of being in a competitive truck at all.

“It’s been a dream to race at this level and thanks to all the car owners that have given me a chance after all these years,” Friesen said. “I came with nothing but a helmet bag.”

He’ll get another chance to score his first victory next weekend at Charlotte.

Crash and Disagreement

With 30 laps to go, the battle for the win seemed to be coming down to Grant Enfinger and Brett Moffitt. The duo had spent the previous run battling for the lead, and after Friesen’s pit road mistake they found themselves well ahead of anyone else that could contend with them down the stretch.

But the pair’s victory plans unraveled on Lap 139 when contact between the two resulted in a crash that eliminated them both from contention.

Moffitt was searching for a way around Enfinger when he got loose underneath the Alabamian, sending his No. 24 washing up the track and into Enfinger’s No. 98 machine.

Enfinger slid up into the outside wall. Moffitt spun. The caution flew.

Both drivers continued on, but their chance to win was over. They each rallied to salvage finishes of seventh and eighth, but never saw the lead again.

Afterward the pair found themselves in disagreement over who had caused the crash.

Enfinger felt that Moffitt had simply gotten loose under him.

“I felt like the 24 was just a little bit better than us, and I was trying to conserve tires,” Enfinger said. “We felt like the 52 was gonna be short on fuel, so I was just trying to save our tires, to make a run there at the end. Unfortunately, the 24 got loose underneath us, and kinda ruined both of our nights. These guys did a good job getting the truck put back together, and we were able to salvage a seventh-place finish.”

FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass reported that Moffitt felt Enfinger had doomed him by driving so tight to his No. 24 Chevrolet on the outside lane.

Should this disagreement form into a rivalry, it may be one symbolic of the championship battle. Enfinger left Kansas with the points lead, with defending champion Moffitt trailing in second.

Other Notes

  • After a quiet start two the year, Ben Rhodes has found consistent form over the past four races. Rhodes has two runner-up runs and an average finish of 5.0 during the stretch, elevating him to fourth in the championship standings.
  • Todd Gilliland bounced back from a difficult start to 2019 with a strong showing in Kansas, finishing a season-best third and salvaging some much needed momentum and self-confidence as a result. “We qualified fifth and finished third,” he said. “That doesn’t sound overly spectacular, but when we have been qualifying in the teens and finishing there too, this is a big difference. Just a big confidence booster and hopefully something we can carry into Charlotte and put our JBL Tundra up front again.”
  • Xfinity Series regular Brandon Jones struggled early in one of his part-time runs for Kyle Busch Motorsports, spinning out to force an early yellow. But Jones battled back top bring home a fifth-place finish – his first top-five since last July’s trip to Kentucky Speedway.
  • Friday proved to be a quiet night for Toyota prospect Riley Herbst. The 20-year-old kept his truck clean and avoided issue for a ninth-place result, securing his second top-10 in his fifth series start.
  • Johnny Sauter’s quest for a second-straight victory was dashed before the end go Stage 1. Mechanical issues forced Sauter  behind the wall early, relegating him to a 22nd-place finish after his crew scrambled to make repairs and send him back on track.
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Aaron Bearden Featured Gander Outdoors Truck Series Kansas Speedway