[Manager's Note: This post is the first regular article written by NASCAR RnR's newest scribe Cortney Dryden. Cortney will be focusing on the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series for us. Unfortunately due to some technical difficulties being experienced on SBN's platform this evening Cortney was unable to publish this article under her name but we were able to get it up under mine. Look for more great stuff from Cortney in the future! Welcome aboard Cortney, glad to have you here! - Bob (aka 4ever3)]
If you weren’t a fan of the "new Bristol", then you enjoyed the NCWTS Kroger 250 at Martinsville. The day was complete with beatin’ and bangin’, side-by-side racing, and a bevy of cautions. The trucks looked like bumper cars on the track thanks to the tire problem plaguing the drivers. They were loose in the marbles and once collecting rubber on rubber, it was like driving on ice. Another culprit, Chase Mattiolli, couldn’t keep up with the pace throughout the day and caused many of the cautions.
The most severe wreck of the day collected the numbers 31, 32, 51, 88, and 1 trucks and brought out the red flag. Jeffrey Earnhardt’s truck caught fire but he exited it unharmed. Though the speed tops out at around 97mph at Martinsville, Earnhardt was still shaken by the hit. "It was a super hard wreck," Earnhardt said. "It’s hard to believe at a track like this you can hit that hard."
But the day was all about the lucky #13 car of Johnny Sauter. Not only does he welcome his first daughter on Monday, but he is the first series regular to win a NCWTS or NNS race. Sauter was all smiles in Victory Lane celebrating his third career win. "I can’t believe we finally did this. [Martinsville] has been so hard on me," Sauter said. "But how about that Chevy Silverado? The only thing it’s missing is leather interior."
Kyle Busch, who finished a close 2nd, was understandably disappointed. "We had a shot and we gave it away", Busch said. "I couldn’t turn after the last restart. I’d like to win one here someday". Martinsville is an elusive racetrack for Busch who has not won a race here in any of NASCAR’s 3 series.
Kevin Harvick, who was a favorite to win the race, had a tough day too. He was involved in a wreck with Max Papis and Todd Bodine that put him 2 laps down but after receiving the Lucky Dog he got back on the lead lap and finished in 4th.
There is a 3-week break until the next truck race at Nashville Superspeedway. Todd Bodine won last year’s race but we’ll have to wait and see who gets to play guitar in Victory Lane when NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series rolls into Music City on April 22nd.
