NASCAR notes: Blaney catches a break

“I really don’t know what happened”, Custer said.

Keystone Light Pole Award victor Kyle Busch’s slow start allowed outside polesitter Blaney to steal the lead early by the exit of Turn 1, controlling the field through the first caution on lap 31 for a spin in Turn 2. “I just got into one and saw an opening, and I took it….” He came out 14th, but moved to fifth heading into the final restart. “Obviously, the inside line isn’t the preferred line on the restart, but we got a good jump and were able to pull away”.

GMS Racing’s Brandon Jones had second chair for the restart when it came, but Crafton was able to see off his challenge as the field got back up to speed and Jones was soon demoted to third by John Hunter Nemechek (SWM-NEMCO Motorsports).

Busch and Johnny Sauter would trade the lead following the caution, before Custer returned to the top spot on lap 90. Custer pitted for repairs during the caution, handing the lead over to Crafton. Blaney quickly took the lead and held off Kyle Busch to claim his first series win of the season. Our truck was fast tonight.

“I have a lot of great memories with this rainbow paint scheme”, Gordon said. He would retake the lead on the green-white-checkered restart for the finish and pass Matt Crafton for the win.

One week after almost coming to blows with Ty Dillon on pit road at Watkins Glen, Smith found himself smiling and pumping his fist triumphantly in Victory Lane. I probably bunched everybody up because I was three-wide, but what are you going to do?

“Obviously, we didn’t like it, but it was NASCAR’s jurisdiction”, Blaney said. The truck is all messed up.

While under yellow for the fourth time of the night, heavy rain began to fall, causing a red flag for 45 minutes, 50 seconds while the track was dried.

After running out of fuel on the final restart, Crafton crossed the line seventh. He leads the season standings, six points ahead of two-time defending series Crafton. Timothy Peters, John Wes Townley, Spencer Gallagher and Ben Kennedy round out the top ten. “It’s a shame. We had the thing won”.

The penalty dropped Blaney a lap down, but the Brad Keselowski Racing driver got the free pass on the second caution of the night.

On Friday, Smith will try to celebrate for the second consecutive week by winning the Food City 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN).

The next Truck Series race will be the Chevrolet Silverado 250 at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Ontario on August 30.