Brett Moffitt wins Phoenix Truck race with three-wide pass

Just when you thought he might be content to finish in the top three and advance to Homestead, Brett Moffitt showed he wanted more.

After a late spin by Riley Herbst set up a three-lap dash to the finish with Noah Gragson and Grant Enfinger on the front row but it was Moffitt who emerged victorious after a daring three-wide pass to the inside.

While Gragson and Enfinger made contact on the restart, moving up the track, Moffitt dove low below the apron and overtook them both out of Turn 2.

“We just had a bad ass Toyota Tundra,” said Moffitt. “We were focused (on Homestead) already and knew we just had to have a smooth night (tonight) but when the No. 98 (Enfinger) got up there we started worrying and knew we had to win.

“I can’t say enough about this group and all of our partners and HRE team.”

Gragson was able to finish second and he’ll join Moffitt, Johnny Sauter and Justin Haley in the Championship Four at Homestead-Miami Speedway next weekend to race for the 2018 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship.

Harrison Burton was third with Enfinger fourth and Stewart Friesen rounding out the top five. Sauter was sixth with Tyler Ankrum seventh and Derek Kraus finishing an impressive eighth in his first truck series start.

Christian Eckes and Sheldon Creed completed the top ten.

The final stage was slowed twice by cautions with the first yellow flag of the stage needed when John Hunter Nemechek spun while leading the race on Lap 177 trying to fend off Enfinger.

Stage 1

Gragson led the field to the green flag and stayed out front until Lap 33 when Moffitt was able to take the lead on the restart after the first caution flag of the race.

The yellow flag was displayed after a three-truck incident involving Todd Gilliland, Ankrum and Jason White in Turn 3.

On the restart Moffitt got a good jump and was able to pass his fellow championship contender and stay out front the rest of the first stage of the race.

The segment remained green the rest of the way with Friesen third and Burton fourth. John Hunter Nemechek completed the top five.

Justin Haley, Matt Crafton, Johnny Sauter, Ben Rhodes and Christian Eckes completed the top 10.

Stage 2

Burton was able to start the segment from the point and remained out front the entire segment to pick up the stage win.

Matt Crafton is trying to advance to the Championship Four after a one-year absence and finished just behind Burton in second. Friesen was third with Haley and Ben Rhodes completing the top five.

Burton, who is not eligible for the playoffs, led by as much as one second in the stage before Crafton was able to pull up to his rear bumper on the final lap going for the stage win and championship point.

Enfinger was sixth while Brett Moffitt was penalized for speeding during the pit stops and was forced to restart Stage 2 outside the top 10. The championship contender was able to rebound and finish seventh.

Gragson, Nemechek and Kraus completed the top 10.

Cla	#	Driver	4506	Laps	Time	Laps Led
1	16	Brett Moffitt	Toyota	150		19
2	18	Noah Gragson	Toyota	150	0.456	43
3	51	Harrison Burton	Toyota	150	1.131	46
4	98	Grant Enfinger	Ford	150	1.630	10
5	52	Stewart Friesen	Chevrolet	150	2.071
6	17	Tyler Ankrum	Toyota	150	2.617
7	21	Johnny Sauter	Chevrolet	150	2.784
8	19	Derek Kraus	Toyota	150	3.231
9	46	Christian Eckes	Toyota	150	3.252
10	2	Sheldon Creed	Chevrolet	150	3.346
11	88	Matt Crafton	Ford	150	3.750	1
12	41	Ben Rhodes	Ford	150	3.911
13	99	Chase Purdy	Chevrolet	150	4.230
14	25	Tyler Dippel	Chevrolet	150	4.524
15	54	Riley Herbst	Toyota	150	5.674
16	83	Dawson Cram	Chevrolet	150	5.789
17	4	Todd Gilliland	Toyota	150	6.239
18	20	Tanner Thorson	Chevrolet	150	6.259
19	22	Austin Wayne Self	Chevrolet	150	5.318
20	15	Stefan Parsons	Chevrolet	148	2 laps
21	49	D.J. Kennington	Chevrolet	148	2 laps
22	13	Myatt Snider	Ford	147	2 laps
23	3	Jordan Anderson	Chevrolet	147	2 laps
24	45	Justin Fontaine	Chevrolet	147	2 laps
25	38	Landon Huffman	Chevrolet	146	3 laps
26	33	Jason White	Chevrolet	143	6 laps
27	63	Jesse Iwuji	Chevrolet	138	11 laps
28	24	Justin Haley	Chevrolet	131	19 laps
29	8	John Hunter Nemechek	Chevrolet	128	22 laps	31
30	02	Austin Hill	Chevrolet	57	93 laps
31	10	Jennifer Jo Cobb	Chevrolet	30	120 laps
32	87	Joe Nemechek	Chevrolet	11	139 laps