NASCAR Truck Series Championship 4 set, but not without controversy
By Nick Tylwalk
The stage is now set for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series finale, but the closing laps of the penultimate race packed in some major drama.
The Championship 4 are set for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, but it’s the final spot that will have people talking to Homestead and probably beyond after the closing laps of the Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway.
With Johnny Sauter, Christopher Bell and Matt Crafton already assured of moving on to race for the championship with less than 30 laps to go, the final spot was up for grabs between Austin Cindric and Ben Rhodes. The gap between them in points was so small that they were actually tied at times during the Lucas Oil 150.
Alas, they’d get even closer on Lap 129 — as in contact between their two trucks that sent Rhodes into the wall (collecting his teammate, Crafton) and out of the playoff chase.
Opinions on the incident varied wildly. The Fox Sports announce team came to the consensus that it was a “racing move” with Cindric committed to attempting a pass on the inside and needing to go for it as Rhodes had the faster truck most of the night. He went to the inside, Rhodes moved to block but Cindric was already committed and in that space.
Not surprisingly, the ThorSport Racing people saw it differently. Rhodes’ crew chief, Eddie Troconis, was the most vocal (via NASCAR.com), calling it a cheap shot and that “NASCAR should park them, they should penalize them.” Crafton told reporters that he suggested to Rhodes that “the 19 better not finish Homestead.”
Rhodes was fairly diplomatic, but even he was clearly upset.
"“He put me in a bad place and I’m trying to do everything I could to keep my spot. I’m not sure it was the right move on his part.”"
What matters now is that Cindric will move on while Rhodes and John Hunter Nemechek (who needed a win to advance but finished second) were eliminated. Cindric will be the ultimate underdog against Sauter, who enters with all kinds of momentum after winning two straight; Bell, a rising star who has won five times this season; and Crafton, a two-time Truck Series champion.
But as we saw at Phoenix, the Homestead race might be up for grabs until the very end, and it might take some contact — and some flaring tempers — before the title is settled.