NASCAR Truck Series: Justin Haley wins 2018 Chevrolet Silverado 250

Justin Haley opened up the 2018 NASCAR Truck Series playoffs with his second victory of the season by winning the Chevrolet Silverado 250 in stunning fashion.

GMS Racing’s Justin Haley pulled off a stunning yet thrilling victory in the first race of the seven-race 2018 NASCAR Truck Series playoffs, the Chevrolet Silverado 250, at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

The 17th race of the 23-race season appeared as though it would come down to Kyle Busch Motorsports teammates Todd Gilliland, who was leading the race heading into the final turn, and Noah Gragson, who was running in second place and seeking to secure himself a spot in the round of 6 of the playoffs with a win.

Gragson spun Gilliland out in turn 10 of the 10-turn, 2.459-mile (3.957-kilometer) Canadian Tire Motorsport Park road course in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada on the 65th and final lap of what was scheduled to be a 64-lap race before it went into overtime.

But in doing so, Gragson spun himself out.

This allowed Haley, who started the race in eighth place, to blow by in his #24 Chevrolet to win the race, thus securing himself a spot in the round of 6 of the playoffs and becoming the first driver to do so. The win is his second of the season, as he also won the race at Gateway Motorsports Park back in June.

Here is a video of this thrilling finish.

NEMCO Motorsports’ John Hunter Nemecheck finished 2.223 seconds behind Haley in second place in his #8 Chevrolet. Hattori Racing Enterprises’ Brett Moffitt was the highest finishing Toyota driver of the race. He finished in third in his #16 Toyota.

GMS Racing’s Timothy Peters finished in fourth place in his #25 Chevrolet and ThorSport Racing’s Matt Crafton, who was the highest finishing Ford driver of the race, rounded out the top five in fifth in his #88 Ford.

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GMS Racing’s Johnny Sauter, Halmar Friesen Racing’s Stewart Friesen and Young’s Motorsports’ Austin Hill rounded out the top eight in sixth, seventh and eighth place in their #21 Chevrolet, #52 Chevrolet and #02 Chevrolet, respectively.

Gragson finished in ninth place in his #18 Toyota. Young’s Motorsports’ Alex Tagliani rounded out the top 10 in 10th in his #12 Chevrolet. Gilliland finished in 11th in his #4 Toyota.

The race featured a total of eight lead changes among six drivers. Aside of Haley, who led just two laps of the race, five other drivers led at least one lap of the race. Those drivers were Peters, Sauter, Gragson, Gilliland and race polesitter Ben Rhodes. Gragson, who won stages one and two, led more laps than anybody else in the field with 35 laps led.

Rhodes finished the race in 14th place in his #41 ThorSport Racing Ford after starting the race from the pole position. He spun out of the top six with just two laps remaining.

The race also featured a total of five caution flag periods, of which three took place as a result of on-track incidents and two took place as a result of the endings of stages one and two like usual. These five caution flag periods spanned a total of 18 laps. Of the 32 drivers who started the race, 26 finished it. Of the 26 drivers who finished the race, 21 finished it on the lead lap.

Here are the full race results of the 2018 Chevrolet Silverado 250 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

The next race on the 2018 NASCAR Truck Series schedule is the World of Westgate 200, which is scheduled to take place on Friday, September 14 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is set to be broadcast live starting at 9:00 p.m. ET.