Since graduating to the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2017, William Byron doesn’t do a lot of racing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. However, when he does, he’s always a contender, a fact he once again proved tonight at Martinsville Speedway.
Byron, driving the No. 7 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado for Spire Motorsports, scored the NASCAR Cup Series team its first victory in the Truck Series, in just their third start.
After both practice and qualifying were canceled because of lingering rain showers, Byron was forced to start the 200-lapper in 32nd, as a result of NASCAR’s Performance Metric System.
The NASCAR Cup Series winner was able to methodically work his way through the pack in the race’s opening run, taking the lead for the first time at Lap 105, partly as a result of a strategy call by crew chief Kevin ‘Bono’ Manion.
From that point, Byron didn’t look back, leading a whooping 94 of the race’s final 96 laps en route to his eighth career victory in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
Johnny Sauter – who hasn’t competed in a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event since running Daytona for G2G Racing — finished in the runner-up position, with Kyle Busch and teammate John Hunter Nemechek finishing third and fourth.
Defending champion Ben Rhodes made a late-race rebound to round out the top-five finishers. Chandler Smith, Matt Crafton, Grant Enfinger, Zane Smith, and Tyler Ankrum rounded out the top-10.
An incredible 71 of the race’s 200 laps were run under the caution flag in Thursday’s Blue Emu 200 at Martinsville Speedway after 11 caution flags plagued the overall ebb and flow of the event.
Making their NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debuts were Dillon Steuer (20), Chase Janes (33), Blake Lothian (43), and Kaden Honeycutt (46), all four of which ran into issues throughout the night, finishing 32nd, 25th, 28th, and 34th, respectively.
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series gets right back into action next weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway for the second annual Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt.
