Justin Haley scored the win in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoff opener after he took advantage when Noah Gragson got together with his Kyle Busch Motorsports teammate Todd Gilliland in the final turn.
The Chevrolet Silverado 250 finish was just another to the collection of wild endings in the series history at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
Haley scored his second win of the season and advanced to the next round of the playoffs with the victory.
“That was amazing,” Haley said. “I knew going in there, Noah was going to do something not the smartest.”
The wild ending was set up by an overtime finish and Gilliland was in the top spot with Gragson in hot pursuit. As the duo entered the final turn, Gragson dove low in an attempt to pass for the lead and win but contact sent both trucks around allowing Haley to speed by and take the checkered flag.
“Should never have let him get to me,” Gilliland said. “Should have just given him the inside, maybe let him wreck himself, I don’t know. He’s done that to me on like five or six road courses. It sucks. We had the fastest truck and we didn’t win again. I’m going to have to talk to him for sure.”
Gragson was emotional and apologized for the move after the race.
“That one is on me, I was racing for the win,” Gragson said. “I apologize to Todd, I apologize to the 4 team and I apologize to everyone at Kyle Busch Motorsports. But, we’re in the playoffs and I’m trying to get a win.” Read More
John Hunter Nemechek, Brett Moffitt, Timothy Peters and Matt Crafton rounded out the top five.
“Our race strategy we went for stage points, so we ended up restarting like 10th, 12th on the final stage,” said Moffitt, who is now six points behind leader Johnny Sauter in the standings. “I just wish we could’ve got back to the front a little bit sooner. We had the speed where if we got to the front, we could pull away and go for a win. It just wasn’t our day, but overall a great points day.”
Sauter, Stewart Friesen, Austin Hill, Gragson and Alex Tagliani completed the first 10 finishers.
Gilliland was credited with an 11th-place finish.
Gragson won the first two stages of the race.
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series continues on Friday, September 14 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
