I'd like to thank all of you viewers for coming to enjoy tnights coverage. This being the first ever LIVE Event in for VAVEL on the Truck Series side.I'd say it turned out to be a pretty good result! From all of us here at VAVEL USA, I'm Steven Patrick. Be sure to come back Sunday for VAVEL's coverage of the Pocono 400 from Pocono Pennsylvania!
Matt Crafton wins. Justin Lofton takes second. Joe Nemechek pulls in a third place finish!
61 Llaps on that tank of fuel. My goodness.
THE FUEL LIVES AND MATT CRAFTON WINS THE WINSTAR WORLD CASINO 400!
WHITE FLAG FOR CRAFTON
3 To Go: Matt Crafton has a 13 second lead. At walking pace now.
4 To Go: Johnny Sauter now on pit road.
6 To Go: Joe Nemechek may be a dark horse now.
7 to Go: Matt Crafton now slowing way down. Saving as much fuel as he can.
8 To Go: Ron Hornaday now on pit road.
9 To Go: Ryan Blaney now on pit road.
10 To Go: Ryan Blaney is challenging Ron Hornaday for second.
12 To Go: Erik Jones on pit road.
18 To Go: Who's got enough fuel to make it to the end?
21 To Go: Darrel Wallace has found some grip on the top side. Looking to get back to the fifth spot.
24 To Go: The 88 team believe that Matt Crafton can make it to the end on fuel. Others saying they can only make it somewhere inside of five laps.
27 To Go: Darrel Wallace has fallen all the way back to seventh.
33 To Go: Sauter now gets around Wallace for the fourth spot.
35 To Go: Ryan Blaney now clears Darrel Wallace for third spot.
36 To Go: Meanwhile, Matt Crafton hold a 3.7 second lead.
39 To Go: Johnny Sauter has arrived to the show and wants fourth spot.
40 To Go: Scratch that. Wallace retains third spot.
41 To Go: Ryan Blaney finally going to get around Darrel Wallace for the third spot.
50 To Go: Erik Jones wants to get past both Wallace and Blaney.
52 To Go: Darrel Wallace currently holds third. He's fending off Ryan Blaney.
55 To Go: New leader, Matt Crafton.
57 to go: Ron Hornaday forces a three wide issue and assumes the lead!
58 to go: GREEN FLAG!
Lap 107: Pit road is open and Matt Crafton is the first truck on exit.
Lap 105: Debris is the culprit for the yellow flag.
Lap 105: CAUTION
Lap 103: Johnny Sauter gets around Erik Jones for third.
Lap 97: Gotta love the Texas heat. Worlds longest slip N' slide.
Lap 94: New leader, Matt Crafton.
Lap 92: Battle for the Lead!
Lap 90: Erik Jones can't get past Hornaday. Should probably start to lay back a little.
Lap 88: Ryan Blaney holds a constant lead over Crafton.
Lap 80: John Wes Townley falling like a rock all the way back to eighth spot.
Lap 77: Matt Crafton within a second now of leader Ryan Blaney.
Lap 74: Erik Jones about to pass Hornaday for third now.
Lap 73: Matt Crafton just blew by Hornaday for second.
Lap 71: Crafton takes third spot away.
Lap 70: Matt Crafton battles John Wes Townley for third.
Lap 67: Ryan Blaney assumes the lead.
Lap 66: GREEN FLAG
Lap 63: Still rolling under the yellow flag, sadly.
Lap 58: Leaders on pit road. Ryan Blaney is first off pit road.
Lap 57: For Timothy Peters, when it rains, it pours.
Lap 55: German Quiroga blew up, but then his team mate and point leader Timothy Peters tracked into the oil left over and slammed into the wall. Unreal.
Lap 54: CAUTION
Lap 53: Ryan Blaney challenging for the lead.
Lap 51: Matt Crafton assumes the lead.
Lap 50: GREEN FLAG
Lap 47: Pit road is open. No leaders coming down as they just were on pit road about ten laps ago.
Lap 45: Tyler Reddick just had his right front tire go down. Straight into the wall.
Lap 45: CAUTION
Lap 42: Mason Mingus just slammed the wall with help.
Lap 41: Ryan Blaney assumes the lead.
Lap 40: GREEN FLAG!
Lap 37: Ron Hornaday was the first truck off of pit road. Follwoed by Blaney, Crafton, Malsam, Burton.
Lap 36: Norm Benning spun down the back straightaway.
Lap 36: CAUTION
Lap 34: Matt Crafton now lapping trucks up to 19th place.
Lap 27: Ryan Blaney slowly creeping in on Matt Crafton for the elad. The gap is 1.2 seconds.
Lap 23: as a result of the flat tire, Timothy Peters currently runs in the 25th spot, two laps down.
Lap 21: Darrel Wallace working on Justin Lofton for the fifth spot.
Lap 20: Also note that Erik Jones is currently running in third. He's going to make some nosie soon.
Lap 17: Jeb Burton up to 11th past German Quiroga.
Lap 15: Tires already falling off. Two second difference from qualifying to now.
Lap 10: Matt Crafton has already opened up a two second lead. the 88 truck looks in perfect stride.
Lap 8: Tomothy Peters has a flat tire and is slow on the track.
Lap 6: Sauter gets loose and Ryan Blaney will take second.
Lap 5: Johnny Sauter to second. Ryan Blaney wants third!
Lap 4: They line up single file. A lot of sliding going on.
Lap 2: Matt Crafton assumes the lead.
Lap 1: GREEN FLAG!
9:18: One to go!
9:15: 167 laps around the Texas Motor Speedway. It's time.
9:11: "DRIVERS, START YOUR ENGINES!"
9:04: Yes, this anthem is pretty great! But did we just see an 11 year old put her phone down in her boot before performing?
8:55: Nearly time to get the opening ceramonies underway. Last chance to get food.
8:50: Really do have to pull for Erik Jones tonight. Skipping graduation, something you only get once to race. Hope he's satisfied with his result.
8:46: NCWTS Setup is on. Get prepared for racing!
8:40: only about half an hour left folks! The action is about to heat up!
8:32: Peppers on my pizza as well. Tell me when you're jealous.
8:27: Pizza is about to go in the oven. My night is about to get a whole lot better.
8:22: Timothy Peters should finish second tonight. But it'll be an uphill battle.
8:16: Only an hour left until the trucks light up the sky!
8:13: A victory tonight would also make Sauter the new point leader. He only trails Timothy Peters by one point.
8:11: Predicting there won't be a late caution and that Sauter is just going o run away with the whole field behind him.
8:07: Alright, it's time to pick a winner. After a strong run yesterday and today, lets pick Johnny Sauter to find the checkered flag tonight.
7:59: The 47 car of A.J Allmendinger hardly made it to Pocono due to a strained test session in Sanoma. The 47 crew arrived at the "Tricky Triangle" just two hours before the garage opened today.
7:52: Brett Moffit will also run in the 66 at Michigan.
7:47: Jeff Burton is going to be driving the 66 car at New Hampshire in the Sprint Cup Series!
7:40: More Texas sports information.. The Texas Longhorns are one win away from going to the College World Series. In the mean time, 100 minutes left until the green!
7:36: Dinner for myself tonight will consist of about six pieces of pizza. Cannot wait.
7:30: MLB Commisioner Bud Selig just called the 2014 MLB Draft the "Twenty Thousand Fourteen Draft". This folks, is why NASCAR is where you should be.
7:25: In case you haven't ehard yet, Denny Hamlin will be the polesitter for Sunday's Pocono 400
7:20 Officially less than three hours left until the green flag waves. Who do you have going into victory lane tonight?
7:15: Only two days until you get to hear Kyle Petty say "that's incredible" every two sentences.
7:12: So the X Games are in Austin? Everyone knows that racing comes before anything else.
7:07: That donut burger looked so gross yet so fantastic at the same time! Gotta try that out sometime to confirm how it really tastes.
7:02 And to prepare yourself for the race tonight, go ahead and look 100,000 Cameras. Interactive view of the Sprint Cup All-Star Race.
6:58: With still over two hours left until the green flag drops, now is the perfect time to go get dinner. You won't want to be eating during the race. Too much excitement.
6:53: Just so you know, if you're currently looking IndyCar qualifying at Texas, you don't belong here..... just kidding. Please don't leave.
6:48: The starting lineup for tonight Winstar World Casino 400:
Row 1: Justin Lofton, Matt Crafton
Row 2: Ryan Blaney, Johnny Sauter
Row 3: Erik Jones, Joe Nemechek
Row 4: Darrel Wallace, German Quiroga
Row 5: John Wes Townley, Ron Hornaday
Row 6: Jeb Burton, Tyler Reddick
Row 7: Brennen Newburry, Tayler Malsom
Row 8: Timothy Peters, Bryan Silas
Row 9: Tyler Young, Ben Kennedy
Row 10: Joey Coulter, Mason Mingus
Row 11: T. J Bell, Jennifer Jo Cobb
Row 12: Jimmy Weller, B.J McLoed
Row 13: Justin Jennings, Norm Benning
Row 14: Ryan Ellis
6:42: Lets hop back to Erik Jones for a moment. Erik is going to be skipping his high school graduation for the Winstar World Casino 400. If you can't tell, this young man loves his job. Erik will hope to make up for this tough decision by driving his Toyota into victory lane at the Texas Motor Speedway.
6:41: Darrel Wallace Jr. will be looking for a strong run Friday Night. "Bubba" as he's called isn't the most luckiest of people. Although he claimed his first career win last year at Martinsville, he still gets caught up in wrecks that are nowhere near his fault. By coincidence, most of his wrecks seem to happen with his truck owner Kyle Busch in the fray. With Kyle not in Texas, we can hope that Darrel's luck finally changes and he can put in a solid run with no issues.
6:40: In case you're curious as to why the trucks are running 400 miles, don't panic. The race is 403 kilometers. 250 miles total for those keeping score at home.
6:39: The good news for Truck Series drivers is that Kyle Busch is not in town this weekend. Kyle is putting all his focus on Pocono, and he shouldn't be blamed. But it's a big sigh of relief for the Truck field, as Kyle has won in all four races he's ran in the Truck Series this season. In his place diring the 51 truck this weekend will be Erik Jones. Erik has won in the Truck Series before, could he add another victory to his young NASCAR career?
6:38: Stirring trouble coming in the Sprint Cup Series. His name is Jimmie Johnson. In case you didn't know, Johnson is on a tear in the Sprint Cup Series now. It took him twelve races to get that first win, but then at Dover, he put everyone in the field to sleep. You can blame Jimmie's slow start to his offseason surgery and his lack of testing under the new rules package. But it now seems that the 48 team has their feet on the pavement, and are moving forward fast. ut if you ask any other driver in the garage, they'd probably tell you that they were scared of him even before hw got hot and was still in the slump.
6:37: Johnny Sauter also placed fourth fastest in final practice. He could be strong through the first part of the race. But as we transaition to night, the cards are sure to fall in another drivers direction.
6:36: After those practice runs, I'd say the advanatge to winning the pole goes to Johnny Sauter. They got his setup fastest in the daylight, which is when qualifying will take place.
6:35: Practice has just concluded at the Texas Motor Speedway. Both practice sessions were run under the sun the day before the race. Johnny Sauter posted the fasted time in first practice while German Quiroga was the fastest in second and final practice.
6:34: With California Chrome coming closer to it's destiny in the Belmont Stakes and a possible Triple Crown voyage, many are asking who will be the first driver to win the NASCAR Triple Crown. That being, win the chamionship in all three series, the Camping World Truck Series, the Nationwide Series, and the Sprint Cup Series. The closest any driver has come is when Greg Biffle, already a champion in the Trucks and Nationwide Series, came 25 points away from claiming the Sprint Cup title in 2005. If you were to ask me, I'd say Biffle still has the best chance to do so. But there are certainly other drivers who could. The only other drivers who have championships in two different series are Austin Dillon, Brad Keselowski, Bobby Labonte, and Johnny Benson. Take Benson and Labonte out of the equation since they're both out of the sport.Will either Biffle, Keselowski, or Dillon ever finish off the Triple Crown? Only time will tell.
6:33: The last fire suit that NASCAR Hall Of Famer Rusty Wallace ever wore has been stolen! Rusty's son Greg is offering a reward for it's return, no questions asked.
6:32: When you look at the entry list for the Trucks, there is not a single Sprint Cup driver. These Truck drivers are going to get to duke it out on their terms and not have to worry about beating Kyle Busch, or Brad Keselowski to take home the victory. All Sprint Cup drivers remain in Pocono for Sunday's Pocono 400.
6:31: With all the action coming on Friday Night, we're going to look at some of the top stories from the Truck Series, and all across NASCAR before the trucks light up the Texas sky in the night.
6:30: Welcome all, to this the first ever VAVEL USA LIVE event for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. I am your host for the action, Steven Patrick. Here to bring you all that is happening throughout the action packed Texas Motor Speedway.