Event statistics following the 13th race of the 2018 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season, the Eldora Dirt Derby 150 at the half-mile dirt track, Eldora Speedway, in Rossburg, Ohio.
Chase Briscoe edged Grant Enfinger by inches after a two-lap overtime shootout, scoring the victory in his first race of the season. After rubbing through the final two turns, Briscoe jumped ahead narrowly at the start of the front straightaway, and Enfinger – pinned up against the wall – couldn’t jump back ahead at the line. Officially, the margin of victory was 0.038 seconds. Stewart Friesen claimed third, with defending race winner Matt Crafton taking fourth, giving Ford three of the top four positions. Brett Moffitt finished fifth.
Race Statistics
Eldora Dirt Derby 150
Eldora Speedway – Rossburg, Ohio
- Winner (starting position): Chase Briscoe (3rd)
- Top Five: Chase Briscoe, Grant Enfinger, Stewart Friesen, Matt Crafton, Brett Moffitt
- Full Results: Chase Briscoe, Grant Enfinger, Stewart Friesen, Matt Crafton, Brett Moffitt, Noah Gragson, John Hunter Nemechek, Logan Seavey, Justin Haley, Nick Hoffman, Ty Dillon, Max McLaughlin, Tyler Dippel, Chris Windom, Sheldon Creed, Johnny Sauter, Jeffrey Abbey, Austin Self, Tanner Thorson, Myatt Snider, Austin Hill, Todd Gilliland, Wendell Chavous, JR Heffner, Justin Fontaine, Justin Shipley, Dalton Sargeant, Cody Coughlin, Ben Rhodes, Ryan Newman, Kyle Strickler, Norm Benning
- Laps Completed: 153
- Lap Leaders: 5
- Laps Led: Chase Briscoe (54), Logan Seavey (53), Ben Rhodes (44), Grant Enfinger (1), Stewart Friesen (1)
- Fast Qualifier: Ben Rhodes (N/A)
- Pole Position: Ben Rhodes (Top Finisher, Qualifying Race 1)
- Hard Charger: Noah Gragson (+21; 27th to 6th)
- Margin of Victory: 0.038 seconds
- Truck Count: 32
- Trucks Entered: 39
- Trucks Running at Finish: 30 (of 32; or 94 percent of the field)
- Drivers to Finish on Lead Lap: 23
- Cautions: 9 for 41 laps
- Average Speed: 59.130 mph
- Lead Changes: 7
- Qualifying Race Winners (Heats): Ben Rhodes (1), Todd Gilliland (2), Chase Briscoe (3), Matt Crafton (4), Stewart Friesen (5)
- Last Chance Qualifier: John Hunter Nemechek
- Stage Winners: Ben Rhodes (1), Chase Briscoe (2)
- Manufacturer Breakdown: Chevrolet (20); Toyota (6); Ford (6)
- Weather at Start of Race: 75 degrees Fahrenheit, clear, winds E 3 mph
- Weather at End of Race: 71 degrees Fahrenheit, clear, winds E 4 mph
Notes of Interest – Race Recap
- This was the sixth NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Eldora Speedway.
- This is Chase Briscoe’s first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory of the season and the second of his career. He won the 2017 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
- Briscoe is the eighth different race winner in the Truck Series this season. Johnny Sauter has a season-best four victories, while Brett Moffitt has three wins. Five other drivers have won races this season – Kyle Busch, John Hunter Nemechek, Noah Gragson, Justin Haley and Ben Rhodes.
- Briscoe has now won races in two consecutive Truck Series seasons, and won twice in 24 races. He’s won each of the last two Truck Series races in which he’s competed, as Wednesday’s race was his first of his season.
- In addition to winning each of his last two Truck Series races, Briscoe has finished in the top five in four straight races and six of the last nine. Overall, he has 11 top fives and 15 career top 10s in 24 races.
- Briscoe’s victory Wednesday came with truck owner Duke Thorson. Each of his victories have come with a different truck owner, as his win at Homestead-Miami in 2017 came with owner Brad Keselowski, whom he drove for in each of his first 23 career Truck Series races.
- Both of Briscoe’s victories have come driving a Ford. Ford now has two victories in Truck Series competition in 2018, both in succession (Ben Rhodes won at Kentucky Speedway on July 12).
- Briscoe led three times for a race-high 54 laps, one more than series debutant Logan Seavey, who led 53. He’s led six of the last nine Truck Series races in which he’s contested, and 11 of his 24 career events.
- Briscoe won from the third starting position, marking the second consecutive race in which a driver has won a Truck Series race from that spot. It is also only the second time a driver has won after starting third in 2018. It is also the first time a driver has won at Eldora after starting third.
- Both of Briscoe’s victories have come after starting inside the top two rows. His 2017 win at Homestead-Miami came from the pole position.
- In addition to winning the race, Briscoe also won the third qualifying race.
- Briscoe’s margin of victory was 0.038 seconds over runner-up Grant Enfinger, marking the closest finish of the season (previous was 0.092 seconds at Texas Motor Speedway, with Johnny Sauter edging Stewart Friesen) and the closest in the series’ six-race history at Eldora. The previous closest race at Eldora was 0.767 seconds, by Kyle Larson over Christopher Bell in 2016.
- This marked the third Eldora race that went into overtime. The inaugural race in 2013 also went 153 laps and the 2015 race went a record distance of 154 laps.
- Enfinger finished a season-best second in his 50th career Truck Series race, just shy of his second career victory. However, it marked a fourth top-five and ninth top-10 result in 13 races this season for the Alabama native, and the result moved him from fifth to fourth in points.
- Enfinger led a single lap, his fifth race led of the season and first since leading 36 laps at Gateway Motorsports Park in mid-June.
- Stewart Friesen continued his strong showing this year by finishing third (best among the 20 Chevrolet competitors), his fourth top-three result of 2018, including second straight; he also earned his fifth top-five of the season and eighth top-10, including sixth in the last eight races. Five of his seven career top fives have come in 2018 (only had two in first 25 career races).
- Defending race winner Matt Crafton finished fourth, his second consecutive top-five finish and fifth of the season, to give Ford three trucks in the top four. Crafton has never finished outside the top 10 in a Truck Series race at Eldora, the only driver to claim that statistic, and has finished all 910 laps at the half-mile with an average finish of 6.8 in six races.
- Brett Moffitt finished fifth, the highest-finishing Toyota driver. Moffitt has seven top fives and seven top 10s in 13 races in 2018, and remained third in the points standings.
- Noah Gragson finished sixth, his 10th top-10 finish of the season, tying him with Johnny Sauter for the most top 10s in 2018. Gragson remained second in the points standings.
- Gragson – who advanced a season-best 21 positions after starting 27th – failed to lead a lap for only the second race of 2018; he also did not lead a lap at Martinsville Speedway in March. It ended an eight-race streak of leading at least one lap.
- John Hunter Nemechek finished seventh, his third consecutive finish of seventh or better, and sixth top 10 in 10 races in 2018.
- Logan Seavey finished eighth in his series debut, after leading 53 laps. Surprisingly, it also marked the first race for Seavey at Eldora Speedway; the California native is the points leader in the USAC P1 Insurance National Midget Series, which runs exclusively on dirt.
- Justin Haley finished ninth, his fourth straight top-10 finish and ninth overall in 2018.
- Nick Hoffman rounded out the top 10, with his first career Truck Series top-10 in four career races; it also marked his first Truck Series race since 2011 at Kansas Speedway.
- Briscoe, Seavey and Hoffman were three of the 13 drivers to make at least their season-debuts at Eldora. Others also competing for the first time in 2018 were Ty Dillon (11th); Max McLaughlin (12th); Tyler Dippel (13th); Chris Windom (14th); Sheldon Creed (15th); Jeffrey Abbey (17th); J.R. Heffner (24th); Justin Shipley (26th); Ryan Newman (30th); and Kyle Strickler (31st). McLaughlin, Dippel and Strickler were also competing in the Truck Series for the first time.
- Points leader Johnny Sauter finished 16th, marking the second consecutive race in which he’s finished outside the top 10 (had finished in the top five in seven straight races heading into the previous race at Kentucky Speedway). He also failed to finish in the top 10 in either stage; not finishing in the top 10 in the first stage ended a string of 40 consecutive stages in the top 10. Still, Sauter holds a series-best 5.77 average finish, and has completed a series-best 2,106 of 2,109 laps.
- Polesitter Ben Rhodes, who won the most previous race at Kentucky Speedway, finished 29th. Rhodes led the opening 44 laps, but pitted five laps after the first stage ended, after missing the request to pit during the stage intermission.
- Two drivers – Jennifer Jo Cobb and Jordan Anderson – failed to competing in a Truck Series race for the first time. Anderson did not travel to Eldora while Cobb failed to transfer from the Last Chance Qualifier. It marked the first race Cobb has missed since last year’s race at Eldora, which she skipped as a driver (though Ray Ciccarelli and Korbin Forrister drove for her).
- A total of five drivers led the race.
- A total of 23 drivers finished on the lead lap, which ties the series-best mark set twice prior to Wednesday. Wendell Chavous was the 23rd and final driver to finish all 153 laps.
- Sixteen drivers improved on their starting position in the race.
- The next race will be Saturday, July 28, with the Gander Outdoors 150 at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania.
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