NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Daytona Wrap-Up:

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series kicked-off its 2016 campaign at Daytona International Speedway. Johnny Sauter found his way to the front and managed to avoid getting caught up in the last lap carnage of the wreck-filled race, driving his truck into victory lane in the NextEra 250.

Christopher Bell’s Toyota Tundra was spun from a bump draft by William Byron on the last lap of the race. Bell’s truck fishtailed into Timothy Peters, caught air, and rolled ten times down the pavement. Nine other trucks were caught up in the wreck. As a testament to the safety of these racing machines, when Bell’s #4 came to rest, he calmly took down his window netting and acknowledged to the fans that he was okay.

Lap 93, just six laps before the closing wreck, saw front runners Timothy Peters #17 slamming into Cameron Hayley’s bumper. Hayley’s #13 ThorSport Racing machine spun out of control and piled-up nearly a third of the field. It forced NASCAR’s officials to bring out the red flag and delay the race for over thirty minutes. The wreckage left only 17 trucks on the lead lap.

Tight side-by-side racing was the norm from the outset. Reaching speeds close to 195 MPH, the truck drivers would constantly nudge one another to propel their line forward. As the runs grew longer the trucks lost grip on old tires and began to get loose and wiggle. When you combine the two, the trucks were bouncing off each other from the back and the sides. It made for some exhilarating racing for fans and television viewers.

With NASCAR’s new edition of the caution clock, which automatically cautions the field in 20 minutes, if there hasn’t been a previous need, put drivers and crew chiefs scrambling for last second strategies. Knowing from practice and qualifying (2nd), the Smokey Mountain Herbal Snuff team elected to pit with most of the field througout the event due to a fast truck from the outset. The strategy paid off by keeping Sauter’s #21 in the top 10 for most of the evening.

Johnny Sauter passed Ryan Truex’s #81 Hatori Racing truck from the outside lane with a push from Christopher Bell. Once out front, he held off Truex and Parker Kligerman to cross the finish line a full truck length ahead and reign victorious as the epic wreck was unfolding.

“I just had this feeling that our truck was so good yesterday that, if I didn’t make any mistakes, we were going to have a shot at this.” said Sauter. “Marcus did a phenomenal job calling the race… This is unbelievable, this is a big one.”

Sauter, who lost his father and best friend Jim in the fall, also stated, “This is extra special for me. This is my first win without my dad being around. I miss him a lot. He won here in the ARCA Series back in 1978, so for me to get the second win, this is pretty special.”

Chevrolet collected its first race win at Daytona in 17 tries and was Sauter’s 11th victory overall. With the addition to the Chase format that NASCAR installed for the Camping World Truck Series, it all but guarantees Sauter a spot in the last seven race showdown. The format was modeled after the success NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series saw from it being implemented two years ago.

Note: Christopher Bell was taken to the hospital for further observation following his dramatic wipe-out on the final lap. Bell, who races for Sprint Cup Champion Kyle Busch’s Motorsports Team, was released from from the hospital later that evening. No specifics were given about Bell’s condition, but he is expected to be back in his truck in Atlanta for next weeks event on February 27th.

2016 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series finishing order: