{"id":27516,"date":"2019-07-27T14:50:43","date_gmt":"2019-07-27T19:50:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=27516"},"modified":"2019-07-29T22:03:33","modified_gmt":"2019-07-30T03:03:33","slug":"ross-chastain-cruises-to-third-victory-as-truck-series-playoff-race-tightens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2019\/07\/27\/ross-chastain-cruises-to-third-victory-as-truck-series-playoff-race-tightens\/","title":{"rendered":"Ross Chastain cruises to third victory as Truck Series Playoff race tightens"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Ross Chastain, driver of the #45 Niece\/Acurlite Chevrolet, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Gander RV 150 at Pocono Raceway on July 27, 2019 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

Ross Chastain<\/strong> made it look easy on Saturday at Pocono Raceway, but the battle for Playoff spots intensified dramatically in the Gander RV 150 at the 2.5-mile triangular track.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Ross Chastain drives the #45 Niece\/Acurlite Chevrolet during the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Gander RV 150 at Pocono Raceway on July 27, 2019 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Pitting early near the end of Stage 2 in the 60-lap NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series<\/a> race, Chastain regained the lead on Lap 33 and held it the rest of the way, beating surging 18-year-old Tyler Ankrum to the finish line by 1.007 seconds.<\/p>\n

Stage 2 winner Harrison Burton charged from 10th<\/sup> to third during the closing 26-lap green-flag run and made a statement where the Playoffs are concerned.<\/p>\n

Burton, 18, posted his fourth top five in a span of five races and closed significant ground on Canadian Stewart Friesen, who self-destructed on the first lap. Burton trails Friesen by 13 points for the final Playoff position with two races left in the regular season.<\/p>\n

But no one was a match for Chastain, who won the first stage with ease on the way to his third victory of the season and reaffirmed his status as one of the clear favorites for the series title. Chastain dedicated his first Pocono win to Kaulig Racing crew chief Nick Harrison, who passed away at age 37 after last Saturday\u2019s NASCAR Xfinity Series race.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Ross Chastain, driver of the #45 Niece\/Acurlite Chevrolet, celebrates by eating a watermelon following his victory in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Gander RV 150 at Pocono Raceway on July 27, 2019 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Chris Trotman\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI know we were a little mad because we lost Nick Harrison,\u201d Chastain said. \u201cWe realize that everybody goes when it\u2019s their time, but, man, we miss that big boy. These boys (on the Niece Motorsports team), a lot of them worked with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got to work with him at Kaulig Racing this year. Man, we miss him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ankrum punished his No. 17 Toyota in a futile effort to catch Chastain during the closing run.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe and Ross were able to run away from the field,\u201d Ankrum said. \u201cI thought I had a good enough truck to chase him down, but I couldn\u2019t get close enough to him to catch the draft. I was just fighting \u2018tight,\u2019 and I burned my tires up trying to catch him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Short of a victory that would have locked him into a Playoff spot, Burton turned in an optimal performance from the standpoint of the points he gained.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Ross Chastain, driver of the #45 Niece\/Acurlite Chevrolet, celebrates winning the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Gander RV 150 at Pocono Raceway on July 27, 2019 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Chris Trotman\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI wanted to win really bad,\u201d Burton said. \u201cWe had a truck that was capable of winning. I think everyone kind of knew that\u2026 We were charging at the end, which was a lot of fun. I didn\u2019t expect to be able to do that that well. I thought we were in trouble there on that last restart, but we made a lot of ground up and were really aggressive.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as points, we gained a ton today, which is really, really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Playoff aspirations of Friesen suffered a major blow before the field cleared the first corner. Moments after the start, Friesen took a low line into Turn 1 and his No. 52 Chevrolet broke loose in the corner, collecting the Toyota of Anthony Alfredo and slamming into the outside wall.<\/p>\n

Friesen finished 32nd<\/sup> after failing to complete a lap.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Austin Hill, driver of the #16 United Rentals Toyota, leads the field to start the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Gander RV 150 at Pocono Raceway on July 27, 2019 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Chris Trotman\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cGot spun around, made contact with the wall,\u201d Friesen said succinctly after leaving the infield care center. \u201cJust a bummer. Got on the apron there and away we went.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a lot of friends and family here today, and I\u2019m really, really disappointed. I wish I could have done more to last a little longer out there, obviously. We\u2019ll be back\u2014it just sucks right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s a silver lining for Friesen, it\u2019s the location of the next race\u2014the half-mile dirt track at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. Friesen has more than 900 career starts on dirt in a variety of series and has finished second and third in his last two Eldora races. Burton finished 15th<\/sup> in his only Eldora start two years ago.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Media Center Interviews:<\/p>\n

Ross Chastian – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/PR2_NGOTS_Chastain_Gould_Efaw_072719.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Race – 10th Annual Gander RV 150<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pocono Raceway<\/strong><\/p>\n

Long Pond, Pennsylvania<\/strong><\/p>\n

Saturday, July 27, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

               1. (2)  Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 60.<\/p>\n

               2. (9)  Tyler Ankrum #, Toyota, 60.<\/p>\n

               3. (6)  Harrison Burton #, Toyota, 60.<\/p>\n

               4. (13)  Christian Eckes, Toyota, 60.<\/p>\n

               5. (4)  Brett Moffitt, Chevrolet, 60.<\/p>\n

               6. (8)  Matt Crafton, Ford, 60.<\/p>\n

               7. (7)  Todd Gilliland, Toyota, 60.<\/p>\n

               8. (16)  Johnny Sauter, Ford, 60.<\/p>\n

               9. (15)  Ben Rhodes, Ford, 60.<\/p>\n

               10. (10)  Grant Enfinger, Ford, 60.<\/p>\n

               11. (20)  Tyler Dippel #, Chevrolet, 60.<\/p>\n

               12. (22)  Anthony Mrakovich, Chevrolet, 60.<\/p>\n

               13. (12)  Jordan Anderson, Chevrolet, 60.<\/p>\n

               14. (17)  Gus Dean #, Chevrolet, 60.<\/p>\n

               15. (18)  Austin Wayne Self, Chevrolet, 60.<\/p>\n

               16. (24)  Natalie Decker #, Toyota, 60.<\/p>\n

               17. (23)  Mason Massey IV, Toyota, 60.<\/p>\n

               18. (25)  Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 60.<\/p>\n

               19. (27)  Ray Ciccarelli, Chevrolet, 59.<\/p>\n

               20. (26)  Josh Reaume, Chevrolet, 59.<\/p>\n

               21. (32)  Jennifer Jo Cobb, Chevrolet, 59.<\/p>\n

               22. (29)  Norm Benning, Chevrolet, 58.<\/p>\n

               23. (11)  Bayley Currey, Chevrolet, 58.<\/p>\n

               24. (30)  Bryan Dauzat, Chevrolet, 58.<\/p>\n

               25. (5)  Sheldon Creed #, Chevrolet, Oil Leak, 56.<\/p>\n

               26. (21)  T J Bell, Chevrolet, Handling, 33.<\/p>\n

               27. (28)  Bryant Barnhill, Chevrolet, Handling, 26.<\/p>\n

               28. (19)  Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, Handling, 24.<\/p>\n

               29. (31)  Daniel Sasnett, Chevrolet, Handling, 21.<\/p>\n

               30. (1)  Austin Hill, Toyota, Clutch, 21.<\/p>\n

               31. (14)  Anthony Alfredo #, Toyota, Accident, 2.<\/p>\n

               32. (3)  Stewart Friesen, Chevrolet, Accident, 0.<\/p>\n

Average Speed of Race Winner:  124.224 mph.<\/p>\n

Time of Race:  1 Hrs, 12 Mins, 27 Secs. Margin of Victory:  1.007 Seconds.<\/p>\n

Caution Flags:  4 for 12 laps.<\/p>\n

Lead Changes:  3 among 2 drivers.<\/p>\n

Lap Leaders:   A. Hill 0;R. Chastain 1-26;H. Burton # 27-32;R. Chastain 33-60.<\/p>\n

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Ross Chastain 2 times for 54 laps; Harrison Burton # 1 time for 6 laps.<\/p>\n

Stage #1 Top Ten: 02,16,17,18,2,24,4,45,51,98<\/p>\n

Stage #2 Top Ten: 02,12,18,22,24,3,4,88,98,99<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Ross Chastain made it look easy on Saturday at Pocono Raceway, but the battle for Playoff spots intensified dramatically in the Gander RV 150 at the 2.5-mile triangular track. Pitting early near the end of Stage 2 in the 60-lap NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race, Chastain regained […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":27520,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[16,663,252,655],"class_list":["post-27516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-gander-outdoors-truck-series","tag-pocono-raceway","tag-ross-chastain"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/NGOTS_PR2_Chastain_VL_072719-e1564455336713.jpg?fit=640%2C427","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-79O","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27516"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27524,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27516\/revisions\/27524"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}