NASCAR Truck Series: Chase Briscoe wins 2018 Eldora Dirt Derby

In his first race of the 2018 NASCAR Truck Series season, Chase Briscoe earned a victory in the Eldora Dirty Derby at Eldora Speedway.

ThorSport Racing’s Chase Briscoe had not yet driven in a NASCAR Truck Series race in the 2018 season before today. That changed this evening in the Eldora Dirt Derby, the 13th race of the 23-race 2018 season, at Eldora Speedway.

The 23-year-old Mitchell, Indiana native not only drove in the 153-lap race around the four-turn, 0.5-mile (0.805-kilometer) Eldora Speedway oval in Rossburg, Ohio, but he won it in his #27 Ford to double his career Truck Series win total, as he also won last year’s season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway for his first career Truck Series victory.

Briscoe held off teammate and second place finisher Grant Enfinger, who drives the #98 Ford, by just 0.038 seconds to earn his second career Truck Series victory.

Here is a video of the exciting wheel-to-wheel finish between Briscoe and Enfinger.

Halmar Friesen Racing’s Stewart Friesen was the highest finishing Chevrolet driver in the race. He finished in third place in his #52 Chevrolet. Hattori Racing Enterprises’ Brett Moffitt was the highest finishing Toyota driver in the race. He finished in fifth in his #16 Toyota.

ThorSport Racing’s Matt Crafton was the other driver who finished the race in the top five. He finished the race in fourth place in his #88 Ford, giving ThorSport Racing three of the top four finishing positions and nearly a podium sweep.

Noah Gragson, John Hunter Nemechek, Logan Norman Seavey, Justin Haley and Nick Hoffman rounded out the top 10 in sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th place in their #18 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota, #8 NEMCO Motorsports Chevrolet, #51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota, #24 GMS Racing Chevrolet and #83 MB Motorsports Chevrolet, respectively.

The race featured seven lead changes among five drivers. Aside of Briscoe, four drivers led at least one lap of the race. Those four drivers were Enfinger, Friesen, Seavey and race polesitter Ben Rhodes. Rhodes won stage one and Briscoe won stage two.

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Briscoe led more laps than anybody in the field with 54 laps led, but Seavey came close to Briscoe’s laps led total. In fact, heading into the final lap of the race, they were tied with 53 laps led. Briscoe’s victory put him over the top.

The race appeared to be well in the hands of Rhodes, who led every lap of stage one and 44 of the race’s first 45 laps before his #41 ThorSport Racing Ford sustained damage when he hit the wall in turns one and two and he was forced to come into the pits. He was never in contention after that and was the last driver to finish the race. He finished in 29th place, three laps down.

The race also featured nine caution flag periods for 41 laps. Of those nine caution flag periods, seven took place as a result of on-track incidents, as two took place as a result of the endings of stage one and stage two like usual.

The race was scheduled to last for 150 laps, but it ended up lasting 153 laps, as it went into overtime after a late caution flag period, setting up the epic battle between Briscoe and Enfinger for the victory. Of the 32 drivers who started the race, 30 finished it. Of the 30 drivers who finished it, 23 finished it on the lead lap.

Here is a link to the full race results of the 2018 Eldora Dirt Derby.

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The next race on the 2018 NASCAR Truck Series scheduled is scheduled to take place next Saturday, July 28 at Pocono Raceway. That race, the Gander Outdoors 150, is scheduled to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 starting at 1:00 p.m. ET.