In a race that featured 10 cautions — the second most in the history of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series — Nick Sanchez survived through an overtime finish to earn his first career series victory.
It was also Chevrolet’s 100th points-paying NASCAR win in the national ranks.
Driving the No. 2 Rev Racing Chevrolet, Sanchez led 26 of 101 laps at Daytona Int’l Speedway on Friday night.
Along with a massive crash on lap six — which involved 12 drivers and took Jake Garcia, Ty Dillon, Thad Moffitt and Layne Riggs out of contention — another “big one” occurred when Sanchez crossed the finish line of the Fresh From Florida 250.
Taylor Gray, who was running third, flipped upside down in his No. 17 Toyota.
“I watched the replay. I like Rajah (Caruth) a lot. I don’t know what he was doing. If you look at the replay, there is no hole to get in. The 91 (Jack Wood) is still at his right front. I don’t know if he is trying to stall a lane and just misjudged it. He just got the 91 in the left rear, and you saw it from there. I don’t know who hit me to flip me over like that,” Gray said.
The ensuing wreck collected nearly the entire field.
Meanwhile, Sanchez pulled away to collect the win, while Rajah Caruth finished second — his first top-five result in the Truck Series. Corey Heim placed third.
“That was a tough one. I really didn’t do anything. I avoided wrecks the whole race and I was there at the end and finished third. I really didn’t contribute to the draft at all. I just avoided wrecks and I just kind of figured this is what was going to happen. I didn’t feel like we had a truck to win tonight but I could run top five and we did,” Heim said.
Bret Holmes and Spencer Boyd completed the top five.
Matt Crafton, who was involved with the initial wreck on lap six and rebounded to finish seventh, explained the aggressive racing from his perspective after the conclusion of the race.
“It’s this way on all of the speedway racing. We could save the team owners a lot of money if we just went to a rental go-kart track and wrecked each other and drove through each other. They just shove each other until each other wrecks. They just don’t lift,” Crafton said.
“There were times at the beginning of the race — somebody was pushing the 19 and the 19 got into the back of me and I was pushing the 15 and turned him. It’s just a product of this racing.”