KNOXVILLE, Iowa – In what turned into a demolition derby, Austin Hill emerged the winner of the inaugural NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Knoxville Raceway Friday evening.
Hill managed to take the lead from Chandler Smith during the third of four overtime restarts during the Corn Belt 150 and survived the final overtime restart to earn his first victory of the season.
“If you’d have told me we’d have won a dirt race this year, I would have to you that you were lying,” Hill said in victory lane.
RESULTS: Truck Series Corn Belt 150
The final stage of the race was dominated by Kyle Busch Motorsports rookie Chandler Smith, who didn’t stop for tires during the final stage break and inherited the lead. With the race quickly becoming a one groove affair, Smith and his team were gambling that no one would be able to pass them on the bottom.
The strategy almost works for Smith and company. Smith held on to the point for much of the final stage, initially fighting with fellow rookie Carson Hocevar before Hill made his way into the fray late in the race.
The final stage was plagued with cautions, with the yellow flag waving no less than six times before the first overtime restart, which saw Smith leading Hill, Hocevar, Grant Enfinger and Todd Gilliland.
When the green flag waved for the first overtime restart chaos ensued as multiple trucks crashed before the field got to turn one. At least 10 trucks were involved in the crash that required a 14 minute red flag period for cleanup, including reigning Truck Series champion Sheldon Creed, Cup Series rookie Chase Briscoe and the debuting Donny Schatz.
“We don’t belong here, we should be down at Iowa Speedway. That’s what these trucks are made for,” said a frustrated Creed after climbing from his damaged truck.
The second attempt at overtime didn’t go much better as Austin Wayne Self and dirt expert Kyle Strickler crashed in turn one to bring the caution out again. Smith was still the leader with Hill lining up alongside him in second for the third overtime attempt.
Smith and Hill ran side-by-side through turns one and two, but behind them the caution would wave again as Stewart Friesen and Johnny Sauter crashed in turns one and two. However, NASCAR scoring showed Hill ahead of Smith at the last scoring loop prior to the caution, resulting in Hill being scored as the race leader.
The fourth attempt at overtime proved to be the charm as Hill quickly scampered away from Smith, who fell into a battle for second with several other competitors. Hill crossed the finish line well clear of Smith to earn his first victory of the season and seventh of his career.
“I kind of thought we were out of it there for a little bit,” Hill said. “We had that restart on the outside of the 38 (Todd Gilliland) earlier in the race and fell back all the way to like 20th. I didn’t think we were going to make it back up. Track position was huge. It was really hard to get around people. Kind of had to rough them up a little bit to get around them.”
Smith led more than 60 laps during the final stage of the race and openly questioned NASCAR’s decision to score Hill as the leader for the final restart.
“We needed some track position, led all those laps and I don’t think the call was right to be honest with you that they made,” Smith said. “It is what it is I guess. I guess that’s part of it.”
Grant Enfinger finished third, followed by Todd Gilliland in fourth. Derek Kraus swept the first two stages, but cut a tire down during the third stage and spun. He recovered to finish fifth.
Matt Crafton was sixth ahead of Ben Rhodes, Knoxville Raceway sprint car regular Brian Brown, Tate Fogleman and Danny Bohn.
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series travels to Watkins Glen (N.Y.) Int’l for the final race before the playoffs on Aug. 7.