In a race that saw the leader wreck and flip through the air on the final lap, rookie Kaz Grala drove through the carnage to win the Camping World Truck Series season-opener Friday night at Daytona International Speedway.
Leader flips on final lap in wild NASCAR Truck Series finish at Daytona
The first Truck Series race of the season featured a crazy finish and an unlikely winner.
Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
Matt Crafton was leading a pack of trucks on the final lap when the field fanned out and began racing three-wide down the backstretch. In the ensuing scramble, Grant Enfinger turned Ben Rhodes, who then clipped Crafton, causing the No. 88 truck to get airborne. Crafton did a complete rotation in the air before landing on another truck, then settling on its
All of the drivers involved were evaluated and released from the infield care center.
“I was coming off (Turn) 2 and I was like, ‘I’m going to win this race, I’m going to win this race,’” Crafton said. “… It’s been a long time since I’ve been in the air then I was in the air and then I saw lights and we had the wrong side down boys.”
The win was Grala’s first in 10 Truck Series starts. The 18-year-old is the youngest driver to win NASCAR national division race at Daytona.
Austin Wayne Self finished second, Chase Briscoe finished third, John Hunter Nemechek was fourth, and Joe Nemechek finished fifth.
“I didn’t know how to do a donut,” Grala said. “I didn’t know how to do a victory lap. I’m Polish, so I figured I should drive backwards.”
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