Ross Chastain held off Nick Sanchez in NASCAR overtime to win Friday night’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Darlington Raceway.
The driver of the No. 45 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet only led three laps in the Buckle Up South Carolina 200, but led the right ones to score the victory — which was Chastain’s fifth career Truck Series triumph.
Ben Rhodes, Christian Eckes and Ty Majeski rounded out the top five at the line. Chase Purdy, Colby Howard, Taylor Gray, Ty Dillon and Tanner Gray completed the top 10.
In his first Darlington start in the Truck Series, Kyle Busch had an early exit with his night coming to an end after completing just six laps when his truck crashed into the outside wall in Turn 1.
Busch’s truck was damaged after crashing on lap two when his No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet spun while battling Corey Heim’s No. 11 Tricon Garage Toyota for the lead off Turn 2, hitting the inside wall on the backstretch. Busch finished 32nd in last place.
Heim swept the stages and led a race-high 77 laps but was collected in a multi-truck accident at lap 98, ultimately ending his day. The incident began when teammate Dean Thompson’s truck spun sideways next to Heim, putting Heim into the wall while Thompson, Matt Crafton, Rajah Caruth, Layne Riggs and Jack Wood collided behind them.
“We made it a lot better throughout the race. I thought we got really tight in stage one, and we made it better in stage two and was looking forward to making it better in stage three and kind of running away with that one. Unfortunately, it wasn’t that easy. We got taken out, and that is part of it,” Heim said.
The race was sent to overtime when Wood blew a tire and crashed into the Turn 1 wall with six laps remaining in regulation.