Nick Sanchez prevails in crash-marred NASCAR Truck race | Daytona Truck race results
DAYTONA BEACH — If ever a race deserved to end under caution ...
A record-breaking 12th yellow flag waved as a violent, massive crash broke out on the backstretch, giving Nick Sanchez his first Craftsman Truck Series win and mercifully ending a wreck-fest of a Fresh From Florida 250 at Daytona International Speedway on Friday night.
Sanchez, Rajah Caruth and Corey Heim escaped the carnage to finish 1-2-3, but nearly everyone else on the track suffered some sort of damage. The No. 17 truck of Taylor Gray got the worst of it, flipping up into the air and landing on other trucks before softly coming back to the ground.
All drivers got out of their trucks safely but Sanchez did it in Victory Lane, and though the race was far from pretty, a first Truck Series win is a first Truck Series win.
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“Right there, it was just classic Daytona,” Sanchez said. “Overtime restarts ... the odds of us finishing under green weren’t really (good) and I knew I had to take the lead on the white flag and hoped they wrecked and that happened.”
Sanchez emerged as one of the trucks to beat with just under 30 laps to go. Defending series champion Ben Rhodes held the lead, but cut a tire after some contact near the front and came in to pit. Upon rejoining the race, he was quickly caught by the lead pack and cut a tire again while being lapped, turning down into Toni Breidinger and bringing out a caution.
From there, the race devolved into short sprints of a few laps separated by crashes and spins. The 11th caution waved with six laps to go after Tyler Ankrum spun down the track, collecting Christian Eckes, Timmy Hill and Chase Purdy, setting up overtime.
On the restart, Corey LaJoie, making a Truck Series start for Spire Motorsports, shoved teammate Caruth to the lead but the two broke away too far, leaving Sanchez time and space to gather a big run and drag a line of cars around to the outside.
After taking the white flag, the inside lane finally reformed, but as the drag race intensified down the backstretch, Caruth clipped the left rear of Jack Wood, sending him spinning and setting off a chain reaction that nearly collected the entire field.
LaJoie was also caught up in the melee and finished 20th.
The caution flew and Sanchez, far clear of the rest of the field, was declared the winner.
Also a victim of the overtime wreck was DeLand native Daniel Dye, who was a fixture in the top 10 all night before settling for a 21st-place finish. Bret Holmes and Spencer Boyd rounded out the top five.
The race also included a short rain delay at the end of Stage 2. Johnny Sauter won Stage 1 with Ankrum claiming the 10 points and a playoff point for winning Stage 2.
Daytona Truck Race results
Nick Sanchez, No. 2 Chevrolet
Rajah Caruth, No. 71 Chevrolet
Corey Heim, No. 11 Toyota
Bret Holmes, No. 32 Chevrolet
Spencer Boyd, No. 76 Chevrolet
Stefan Parsons, No. 75 Chevrolet
Matt Crafton, No. 88 Ford
Timmy Hill, No. 56 Toyota
Bryan Dauzat, No. 28 Chevrolet
Christian Eckes, No. 19 Chevrolet
Tyler Ankrum, No. 18 Chevrolet
Jason White, No. 22 Ford
Bayley Currey, No. 41 Chevrolet
Stewart Friesen, No. 52 Toyota
Ty Majeski, No. 98 Ford
Tanner Gray, No. 15 Toyota
Grant Enfinger, No. 9 Chevrolet
Jack Wood, No. 91 Chevrolet
Taylor Gray, No. 17 Toyota
Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Chevrolet
Daniel Dye, No. 43 Chevrolet
Cory Roper, No. 04 Chevrolet
Codie Rohrbaugh, No. 97 Chevrolet
Dean Thompson, No. 5 Toyota
Mason Massey, No. 02 Chevrolet
Matt Mills, No. 42 Chevrolet
Toni Breidinger, No. 1 Toyota
Chase Purdy, No. 77 Chevrolet
Johnny Sauter, No. 45 Chevrolet
Ben Rhodes, No. 99 Ford
Keith McGee, No. 27 Ford
Lawless Alan, No. 33 Ford
Layne Riggs, No. 38 Ford
Jake Garcia, No. 13 Ford
Ty Dillon, No. 25 Chevrolet
Thad Moffitt, No. 46 Chevrolet
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona Truck race: Nick Sanchez survives 12 cautions, nabs first win
