Todd Gilliland has been really coming to life in recent weeks, driving Front Row Motorsports’ No. 38 truck. Sunday at WWT Raceway in Gateway, Gilliland worked his way around Zane Smith for the lead with 10 laps left. Gilliland powered away to the Stage 1 win.
This marks Gilliland’s first Stage Win of 2020.
Smith, who led 45 of the 55 laps in Stage 1, had to settle for runner-up. Smith has won two of the last three NGROTS events heading into Sunday’s race at Gateway.
Brett Moffitt finished Stage 1 in third, while Christian Eckes was fourth and Matt Crafton, who has a crinkled rear bumper, was fifth.
Sam Mayer, Ben Rhodes, Sheldon Creed, Ty Majeski and Tyler Ankrum rounded out the top-10 finishers in the opening Stage of Sunday’s race.
Johnny Sauter, who sits outside the Playoff cutoff, had another disastrous day. The driver of the No. 13 came into Gateway with high hopes, as he had never finished worse than fourth in seven previous Truck Series starts at the track. However, after 22 laps a bell housing failed on his truck, which put him out of the race.
Sauter will finish dead-last.
Stage and Playoff Points Awarded in Stage 1:
| Finish | Driver | Stage Points | Playoff Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Todd Gilliland | 10 | 1 |
| 2 | Zane Smith | 9 | 0 |
| 3 | Brett Moffitt | 8 | 0 |
| 4 | Christian Eckes | 7 | 0 |
| 5 | Matt Crafton | 6 | 0 |
| 6 | Sam Mayer | 5 | 0 |
| 7 | Ben Rhodes | 4 | 0 |
| 8 | Sheldon Creed | 3 | 0 |
| 9 | Ty Majeski | 2 | 0 |
| 10 | Tyler Ankrum | 1 | 0 |
