NASCAR Truck Series playoff picture after 2018 Fr8Auctions 250
By Asher Fair
With the first round of the 2018 NASCAR Truck Series playoffs, the round of 8, in the books, how does the playoff picture look?
Part-time driver Timothy Peters closed out the first of three rounds of the 2018 NASCAR Truck Series playoffs, the round of 8, with a victory in the Fr8Auctions 250 at Talladega Superspeedway in his #25 GMS Racing Chevrolet.
Peters’s victory in the 94-lap race around the four-turn, 2.66-mile (4.281-kilometer) Talladega Superspeedway oval in Lincoln, Alabama means that no additional driver was able to secure his spot in the second round of the playoffs, the round of 6, with a victory, as Peters is not in the playoffs.
As a result, the winners of the first two races of the round of 8, GMS Racing’s Justin Haley, who won the race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, and Grant Enfinger, who won the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, are the only two drivers who qualified for the round of 6 by winning races in the round of 8.
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Haley and Enfinger are set to be joined in the round of 6 by four drivers who qualified for the round as a result of their point totals. These four drivers are GMS Racing’s Johnny Sauter, Kyle Busch Motorsports’ Noah Gragson, Hattori Racing Enterprises’ Brett Moffitt and ThorSport Racing’s Matt Crafton.
Of these six drivers, only Haley finished the Fr8Auctions 250 in the top 12. He finished in fourth place in his #24 Chevrolet. Of the other five drivers, only Gragson, Moffitt and Enfinger finished the race. They finished in 13th, 17th and 19th in their #18 Toyota, #16 Toyota and #98 Ford, respectively. Gragson finished one lap off the lead while Moffitt and Enfinger finished two laps off the lead. Sauter and Crafton crashed out of the race and finished in 22nd and 26th in their #21 Chevrolet and #88 Ford, respectively.
The two playoff drivers who failed to advance from the round of 8 to the round of 6 are ThorSport Racing’s Ben Rhodes and Halmar Friesen Racing’s Stewart Friesen. Friesen finished the race in sixth place in his #52 Chevrolet while Rhodes finished in 16th in his #41 Ford.
Here is how the NASCAR Truck Series playoff picture looks with the round of 8 in the books. The totals in the “behind” column show where each driver currently stands in relation to the Championship 4 cut line.
Rank – Driver, Car, Team, Manufacturer: Points (Behind), Playoff Points (Rank)
1st – Johnny Sauter, #21, GMS Racing, Chevrolet: 3042 (+28), 42 (1st)
2nd – Brett Moffitt, #16, Hattori Racing Enterprises, Toyota: 3027 (+13), 27 (2nd)
3rd – Noah Gragson, #18, Kyle Busch Motorsports, Toyota: 3025 (+11), 25 (3rd)
4th – Grant Enfinger, #98, ThorSport Racing, Ford: 3018 (+4), 18 (4th)
5th – Justin Haley, #24, GMS Racing, Chevrolet: 3014 (-4), 14 (5th)
6th – Matt Crafton, #88, ThorSport Racing, Ford: 3003 (-15), 3 (6th)
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The Texas Roadhouse 200 is the next race on the 2018 NASCAR Truck Series schedule, and it is set to open up the round of 6 on Saturday, October 27. Be sure to tune in to Fox Sports 1 for the live broadcast of this race from Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia beginning at 1:00 p.m. ET.